Tophat Top 5: Debut

So, trying something new today, please bear with me. I wanted to add more stuff to this blog than just a weekly review, and since I don't have the income to fund more than one review a week, I thought to myself, why not do a top five countdown of things related to whatever I reviewed last? So here it is, the first of my Tophat Top Five's on Tuesdays! This week, best settings in a Rockstar title!

NUMBER 5
Vice City

With GTA3 bringing the sandbox crime mayhem into the 3D polygonal realms, it was time to do some interesting things with it. While GTA3 and Vice City were quite similar, Vice City added some cool things that have endeared the setting to me.

The gloriously ridiculous 80's style oozes from every building, car and NPC, the settings a varied (included are construction sites, beaches and dirtbike tracks to name just a few interesting places) and the vehicle list was expanded to include motorbikes, which have remained as one of my favourite modes of transportation in these sandbox games.

NUMBER 4
Liberty City (GTA4)

Many people would argue that a sandbox is only as good as the features that dwell within it. While this is somewhat true, I find that a visual style and attention to detail is also important. That's why GTAIV's Liberty City was so good in my opinion.

It had slick graphics and alot of detail in the physical city, while also offering hundreds of distractions like comedy clubs, bowling alleys and internet cafes. While the greyish next gen visuals don't hold as much personality as previous worlds such as Vice City, Rockstar's signature humour and social commentary invades via the TV shows, NPC chatter and the radio stations in particular.
All that said, GTAIV's rendition of Liberty City loses points for being a straightfaced New York clone.

NUMBER 3
Los Angeles (L.A. Noire)

While the main storyline is quite linear when compared to other Rockstar affiliated titles, L.A. Noire does still feature a big open city just made to explore. While not featuring many distractions like GTA4, the attention to detail and period authenticity really sold me on 40's L.A.

What can I say? I, the Tophat Gamer, loves me some classy hats. And L.A. Noire's male NPCs almost always wear a fedora. Win. Oh and the vehicles all look awesome. So, why did I like 40's L.A.? It seems somewhat authentic for the time, and driving around in an old timey car, looking for landmarks is a great way to spend my time. Also, I don't know if this is just me, but I noticed a sort of sepia tone to the visuals and it just looked... right.

NUMBER 2
San Andreas

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, San Andreas is still the biggest world map in any free roam game. It was so big that it couldn't be happy cloning just one real city. It featured three distinct areas, Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Fransisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). The game featured many distractions, including basketball, arcade games and various gambling games.


But the awesomeness of San Andreas doesn't stop at the varied locations or random distractions. The radio stations are back and feature not only hilarious dialogue, but also some of the best music I've heard in a Rockstar game. Songs such as Hellraiser, Horse With No Name, Welcome to the Jungle and, of course, All My Ex's live in Texas accompanied some of the strangest moments in my video gaming life.


To top it all off, the game gave us a number of insane toys to go nuts with, such as the bloody fun Combine Harvester, the Harrier jump jet and (possibly the most insane thing in a GTA game) the fan-favourite Jetpack. Pure. Awesome.
Besides, what other game had everyone looking for Bigfoot when there never was a bigfoot in the game?

NUMBER 1
The Old West (RDR)

As fun as jacking a car and going 10okm/h down the sidewalk through a crowd of squishy NPCs is, theres no doubt that people were looking for something different. Red Dead Redemption offered us something familiar, but alien at the same time. With similar mechanics to previous Rockstar games, it's the setting that makes Red Dead a completely new game.

Red Dead Redemption is set during the fall of the old west. It takes place in multiple locations ranging from the snow covered mountains in West Elizabeth, the dusty plains of New Austin and the rocky deserts of Nuevo Paraiso, Mexico. Inhabited by various animals who want to do nothing but eat your face and NPCs who want to steal your horse, Red Dead Presented us with a world where, if you didn't pay attention, you could be swallowed whole.

Like the previous GTA game, Red Dead Redemption featured a slew of minigames, from Five Finger Fillet, to Horse Shoes, to Bounty Hunting. But that wasn't enough for Rockstar. Outside of preset minigames, there were ambient challenges split into the cateagories of Sharpshooting, Hunting and Survivalist (based around the ever so manly flower picking mechanic). Back on the detail and personality side of things, theres newspapers and silent movies to watch which allow us to drink in the social fears and views from the time. Remember kids, "Medical Science will kill you and leave you dead!".

A beautiful, interesting landscape, filled with minigames and ambient challenges was more than enough to get this on my list. But the feel of a living world full of unique situations and active wildlife got this to the top. And the soundtrack didn't hurt either.