Normally, the Monday Freeview gives you a heads up on freebies that you will probably want to download. In this case though with iFruit, it is more likely an app you have the urge to download but probably shouldn’t waste a half gig of space on your iOS device for. As some of you may have already experienced only to give up, there were some pretty large problems with the transmedia experience tied from mobile devices to a person’s Rockstar Social Club account which of course ties together with their in game Grand Theft Auto V experience. Without even getting into the app itself, there were days where players couldn’t even download the app and then others where logging in was near impossible too.
Finally, when you do get in what you’ll find seems like a cool concept. Go in and customize the three vehicles owned by your three main characters. Play with chop, Franklin’s dog, and teach him tricks he can use in game. Browse LifeInvader, the in-game parody of Facebook. All interesting concepts that all ultimately end up falling flat of their potential.
The first piece of the app that loses its excitement is the Los Santos Customs car customization. Instead of giving the full selection of car customization on whatever vehicles you have in your garages, you’re only able to customize Franklin’s bike, Michael’s car and Trevor’s truck. Most importantly, these are just the mechanical upgrades and simple cosmetic options. The more advanced car customization pieces like body kits don’t exist and you only get to do this with the three ever present vehicles rather than more exciting acquisitions.
Chop The Dog may be the greatest letdown as it plays like a simple flash game version of a tamagotchi. Click away as long as you have credits and in the end you earn things like the ability to make Chop sit in Grand Theft Auto V. Remind me again why that’s exciting. This app suffers from the same problems GTA V does where it tries to make you feel excited for doing mundane tasks or subpar versions of what could be full sized games. Luckily for GTA V, it has tons of actual gameplay and a compelling story while iFruit just has minigames that don’t resonate or give you any desire to actually come back.
If you’re a 100% completionist and want everything unlocked in the game luck a custom license plate (even though you aren’t allowed to swear) and to have a dog that can sit, you can use iFruit but there isn’t really enough for you to justify a half gig of space on your iOS device other than that.
