A more cinematic take on the GTA formula that really nails its time and place. Sadly, its story is nothing you haven't seen before in other media (especially if you're a fan of mob films) and its open-world feels strangely empty to no real thematic ends. Worth a playthrough if you enjoy this sort of milieu, but far from essential.
wouldve been 4 stars if it wasnt racist <3 being set in a racist society is one thing, but its another to portray poc as evil outsiders (at worst) / general undesirables (at best). also specifically why tf where there only like 2 character models each for the black and asian people............. if you had even ONE character of color that was treated as a real human being worthy of sympathy it already wouldve been worlds better!!
Worthy successor BUT the linearity here really screwed up what it could have been. Like you just know while playing it something is missing and that something was very very essential. Still almost all the issues I had with the original were fixed up here and narratively there was a greater ambition for the period piece setting. The irrelevancy of the glamorous lifestyle and the wanton disregard for your fellow people was far more intensified got me way more invested so the ending really hit like a ton of bricks.