Ranking The Best Grand Theft Auto Games

4. Grand Theft Auto III

When GTA III took the plunge into the world of 3D action, it never looked back. This iconic tile was set in a fleshed out Liberty City that removed the arcade violent feel of previous Grand Theft Auto games and replaced it with a legitimate story arch. Enemies and heroes were no longer faceless targets and shapes, but became characters with their own ideas, purpose and personality quirks.

Grand Theft Auto III was a tale of revenge, of climbing up the rungs of the underground criminal ladder. The focus of story gives your character fair reason as to being locked out of certain game areas early on, as you had to work your way up through missions to unlock the full map. It was a great improvement upon the necessity of just money.

As GTA III expanded upon the idea of an open world, the game in turn became more grandiose. The move to 3D allowed you to do things that were previously inconceivable or not as effective in previous games, like stunt jumps, hidden SPANK packages and air travel. Additionally, the breadth of violence afforded to our protagonist Claude in turn improved dramatically. There was nothing quite like the feeling of going on a rampage, knowing that the only way for it all to end was for the game’s AI to destroy you.

Grand Theft Auto III is the rawest form of what every game afterwards needed to be at their core.