Over the past week, I've done some extraordinary things.

I've broken in and out of prison, I've stolen military hardware from an aircraft carrier, and I've parachuted into a top-secret lab under cover of night.

It's been a pretty great time, in GTA Online.

GTA Online is the MMO-lite online component of Grand Theft Auto V, in which you take control of a custom avatar of your choosing and take on missions and challenges across the entirety of GTA V's sprawling map.

For all the various things you can do in GTA Online, heists, which were released as a free update last week, are a whole new kinda thing. Here's Rockstar's trailer:

If you just want to play along with friends, you can team up for co-operative "jobs," which pit you and your teammates against computer-controlled enemies and have you stealing cars, interrupting street deals, or just killing waves of bad guys.

GTA is more varied than most other popular online games,  like Call of Duty, Destiny, or even Battlefield.

It often feels like you're all co-starring in an action movie.

 "Ready… three, two, one, go. [Door opens.] Okay, we're in."

(source:kotaku.com)