Although Rockstar had a rocky start launching their online portion of Grand Theft Auto V, two quick updates for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have already rolled out fixing the problems. So connecting to the servers and keeping my rank and character is now guaranteed and knowing that I can hop back online with everything I’ve accomplished still being there is reassuring.

The developer has also owned up to their mistakes recognizing the inconvenience this has caused to gamers and has granted $500,000 of in-game money to everyone that has played online in the month of October. So basically everyone.  With everything GTA Online being fine and dandy now, I’m going to delve into how this online world owns up to the single-player world that delivered one of the best gaming experiences this past generation.

Basically, GTA Online is exactly, if not almost, the same as the campaign. Which is a great thing.  After creating my own character (can be male or female) with my own unique style, the open world is still available with me to do as I please whether it be jobs, races, robbing liquor stores, you name it. Rockstar has put it there. I can steal a helicopter and fly over a military base to simply jump off and parachute near one of their hangars to quickly escape with a jet locking on any authority patrol in the air and blasting them with missiles as they hopelessly try to stop me.

Instead of just me causing all this trouble, though, I’m put in a lobby of 15 other players thrust in the open world of Los Santos and Blaine County where they can do their biddings as well. That includes killing me if they feel like it.  I’ve encountered plenty of these random occurrences where I’m just minding my own business, doing my thing and boom! A vehicle crashes into me from the side pinning me against a telephone pole nearby and the player that did the deed steps out of his car with a rocket launcher and blows me up. Then I have to shell out a good $2000 in hospital bills in order for me to respawn.

Honestly, I don’t really mind when this happens because it’s great to know that I can choose to work together with these players to make money in different kinds of shenanigans…or get blown up by a rocket launcher. It doesn’t mean I can’t get my revenge though as I always spawn near my killer if he hasn’t tried to speed away already and if he has, I can still hunt him down. Players nearby you can be seen on the mini-map or if I’d like to see where everyone is, I can just open up the whole map at my own risk since unlike in single-player, everything is live!

The in-game phone is still essential to stay connected with your friends, purchasing high-end vehicles and managing your money online as well as getting updated on the latest jobs available. These jobs ranged from doing simple repos (maybe not so simple at times) or doing a drug bust where I found myself stealing meth or cocaine from gangbangers trying to make a sale. I then delivered the drugs to its new owner and made three grand off it. Seems legit right? Now these jobs ranged from 1-4 players and could be performed with friends, random people that join the lobby or can be undertaken solo if preferred. Either way, though, once I ranked up to level 15 gaining the title of a “Hustler” (you know that’s right), it gave me the right to own a submachine gun which made whatever job I chose much easier.

The ranking system works much like other games: the higher the rank, the more weapons and jobs become available. Rank can go up by completing these said jobs as well as messing around in the open world.  Robbing liquor stores scattered across the map and losing the cops are available right away.

That’s one of my favorite things to do. A buddy and I park a car near the entrance of the store, he waits while I walk in and aim my gun at the cashier, waiting for him to empty out the register. I yell into the microphone of my headset and tell him “Let’s go! Hurry Up! Give me all the money!”

It’s a neat feature that Rockstar implemented into the game, which makes the cashier actually collect the money faster as the intimidation bar fills up. He proceeds to throw the bag of money next to my feet and grabbing it, I burst out of the store with over one grand and hop in the car. My partner’s ready and barrels away from the scene with the cops alerted, but too late to catch us as we’re already hightailing 60 mph down the street in seconds.

All this hard-earned money can go to buying new clothes and accessories for my character, new weapons, upgrades and camos for my weapons, customizing my car or buying a new apartment giving me a garage along with it to store my vehicles safely. I can even go up to buying a tank if I wanted to, but plenty of liquor stores would have to be robbed for that kind of money…not that I’m complaining.

There are so many little things to do in GTA Online, that it’s better to experience it all on your own. Although it wasn’t a stable launch, it’s been polished to near-perfection and is a must play. Just as the single-player experience, it has become the defining essence of multiplayer gameplay in every sense with new and used tricks that only Rockstar can deliver successfully.