All I wanted to do was buy a suit. But as I sped toward the high-end shops in town, a motorcycle cut me off and I swerved, hitting a pedestrian. No time to check on her — the cops were already coming. A 15-minute-long chase ensued, and at one point I was sure I heard a chopper following me. I only escaped by jumping off of a cliff, speeding through some poor farmer's field, and hiding out in a marsh, where it seems the cops didn't think to look. Now everything's calm, so I can finally see about that suit — but I should stop at the body shop first.

There are plenty of reasons to play Grand Theft Auto V. It's set in a massive city, for one, filled with lots of fun diversions and cars to steal. And the core gameplay, from the driving to the gunplay, feels better than in any previous game in the series. But the best part might just be the story.

GTA V is the first game in the series to have multiple protagonists, and rather than being a gimmick, the trio of anti-heroes elevates a cliché crime story into a lengthy, engaging narrative. While many blockbuster video games inch ever further toward what feels like interactive cinema, GTA V shows developer Rockstar moving in a different direction: expanding beyond its previous fixation on film and crafting a story that works specifically because it's a game.