19 November marks the release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI, arguably the most eagerly-awaited entertainment product in history. This will be the eighth mainline entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, the first new game in the series in thirteen years, the first to launch on current hardware and the first to feature a named female protagonist (alongside a male one). With Grand Theft Auto V having sold over 230 million copies and made over $10 billion in lifetime revenue, expectations are high that GTA6 will be the biggest-selling game of the year, if not the decade. Enormous numbers of people will be playing it in a fortnight's time.
I'm not one of them though, as regular readers will be aware that I game on PC, and GTA6's PC version is not expected until next year at the earliest. However, with the game looming on the horizon, I did revisit the previous games in the series a few years back and decided to throw together a Gratuitous List of how good they are, because why not?
I haven't played most of the mobile spin-offs (Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and so forth), so this list is restricted to the main games in the series.
7: Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)
Grand Theft Auto 2 was released in 1999 and was the first game in the series to be worked on by writer Dan Houser. The game retained the overhead viewpoint from the original game, with enhanced lighting, but intriguingly shifted setting dramatically. Rather than being set in the present day in locations based on real cities, the game moved to a futuristic, almost cyberpunk setting with the bizarre "Anywhere City," which is divided into three different districts the player moves between. As with the original game, the player takes on missions from various criminals and organisations to improve their own standing. There is a faction scoring system, and more of a focus on the game's soundtrack. The "Head Radio" station also makes its first appearance.
In many respects the game is more polished than the original and features a more believable world, with gangs sometimes engaging one another and the police in combat and criminals robbing civilians on the street without your involvement. However, the sci-fi future setting feels at odds with the Grand Theft Auto experience, which is better rooted in a real or almost-real world. The idea of a futuristic open-world city game is a good one, it's just not executed well within the GTA framework, and arguably wouldn't be until Cyberpunk 2077 twenty-one years later. As it stands, this is merely adequate.
6: Grand Theft Auto, London 1969 and London 1961 (1997-99)
The original Grand Theft Auto and its two expansion packs, London 1969 and London 1961, have definitely dated since their release, but there's still fun to be had in the absolutely shameless destruction the player unleashes on the three metropolises of Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas, skipping town whenever the heat gets too much. The almost totally-nonexistent story and characters compared to later games is surprising these days, but the anarchic chaos you can unleash and get rewarded for can still while away an hour or two before you have to conclude that literally all of the later games can do this better and with more flavour. Also being able to see far enough down the road to drive fast without crashing into things is nice.
Still, it's very intriguing to see how the franchise first started, and the two expansions provide an interesting look at the GTA world outside of the United States, as well as idea of turning the series into a period piece, an idea the series would later return to.
5: Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
Arguably Event One for the open-world action-adventure genre. There'd been attempts beforehand, but GTA3 arguably nailed it better than ever. A 3D city packed with missions, side-jobs and random activities. Become a hitman for the mafia, but moonlight as a taxi driver or paramedic. Cause absolute have in cars, tanks and speedboats. Race cars, punch random people in the head and listen to a deranged radio talk show hosted by a guy called Lazlow (here the Only Sane Man in the Room rather than the increasingly depraved pervert of later games).
Undeniably influential and important, though in retrospect very much a prototype for what came after. The story and cast of characters is much more important than in GTA1 and 2, but still nothing compared to what comes after. The silent protagonist now feels a bit weird, and the low stakes and small city by modern standards can be a bit stifling. But in 2001 it was revolutionary, and indeed heralded the revolution.
4: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
Conceived as a GTA3 expansion and developed only in nine months, Vice City is impressive for both clearly being rooted in its forebear whilst being so much better. A bigger, more colourful city, the period 1980s setting, the fantastic soundtrack (for the first time with some recognisable big hits), the fully-voiced protagonist (by Ray Liotta, no less), the uptick in biting satire and the ability to buy property, run businesses and fly helicopters and seaplanes all combine to make a much more compelling gaming experience.
On the minus side, some absurd difficulty spike missions (using radio-controlled helicopters to position bombs in a building) could make the game briefly into a joyless slog, and main character Tommy Vercetti is easily the most loathsome protagonist in a GTA game to date, though arguably his journey from wronged chump to Scarface is well-executed. It's just a surprise - though maybe still a fun one - to find yourself playing the outright villain of the game.
3: Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
The most recent and best-looking GTA game, for the next thirteen days anyway, GTA5 is probably the most obvious entry point to the franchise as well. It's also the longest game in the series (for now, anyway), has the largest map (etc) and its structure of having three protagonists you switch between is arguably the most ambitious and interesting idea Rockstar have had for the series (GTA6 only gives you two). It's a hugely compelling and playable game with a lot of fun, and some impressive tennis and golf minigames.
Why doesn't it come in higher? The main problem the game has is tone, it's trying to merge the more grounded crime drama of GTA4 with the zany insanity of late San Andreas and falls down somewhere in the middle. It feels like it would have been better to have either been more serious or more comedic and stuck to that tone, and it would have worked (Rockstar picked a lane with the more serious, grittier Red Dead Redemption 2 and it paid off splendidly). The other option would have been to move linearly over time from one tone to another, as San Andreas did, but the three-character structure encourages a more chaotic merging of the ideas. I'd also argue the game fails in its main idea of having three interesting protagonists, as the game is really just the Trevor & Michael Show, with Franklin occasionally showing up (with the occasional feeling they're trying hard not to have Franklin become CJ Mk. 2 from San Andreas and make the mistake of making him too bland to compensate).
This also doesn't account for GTA Online, which of course offers a multiplayer experience with vast amounts of new vehicles, weapons and missions, which some people have lost thousands of hours to over the last decade.
2: Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost & The Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony (2008-09)
Grand Theft Auto IV pivoted hard from the barking madness of San Andreas to deliver a gritty, grounded crime story about the American Dream as seen by an immigrant trying to escape his violent past and dragged back into violence and murder. It feels like this game was written by Dan Houser after bingeing on nothing but HBO dramas for six months solid. The dark humour of the series is still here, but used more sparingly than in previous games.
The move surprisingly worked, helping assuage fan complaints over heavier-feeling cars and a smaller map than San Andreas. Some of the best voice work in the series and then-incredible HD graphics combined with the best combat in the series to date to make for a really compelling game. The game's reputation for being a bit of a downer was mitigated by its expansions. The Lost & The Damned is about a motorcycle club going through tough times, whilst The Ballad of Gay Tony sees you playing bodyguard to a flamboyant nightclub owner. Cleverly, the three storylines entwine around one another, with you not finding out the real story of a heist that goes wrong in the original game until you've played both expansions.
1: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
GTA3 spanned a small city, Vice City spanned a bigger, hotter city and San Andreas spans an entire state, home to three separate cities (Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas), half a dozen small towns and impressive areas of desert, forest and mountain. Over twice as long as GTA3 and featuring an immense cast of heroes, villains and deranged oddballs, San Andreas allowed protagonist CJ to hit the gym and become a musclebound hero, or pork out and become totally spherical. CJ can also fly jet aircraft and, in a first for the series, swim. As well as taking over businesses, you can lead your criminal gang to take over entire neighbourhoods. San Andreas feels like The Lord of the Rings to Vice City's The Hobbit: something that is right across the board bigger, better, more interesting and more fun.
San Andreas plays out like a TV show with four distinct seasons, each one more bananas than before. The first feels heavily inspired by Boyz n the Hood, with a touch of The Wire added, being grounded in the urban dystopia of gang-controlled Los Santos. The second act has CJ blackmailed into doing crimes for the police, but thanks to a conspiracy theorist hippy and a blind racing driver, he becomes a business owner magnate in San Fierro. The third loses all touch with reality and has CJ breaking into Area 51 in a jetpack to steal an experimental aircraft whilst beating enemies to death with a dildo, between planning robberies on casinos in Las Venturas. The final act has CJ returning home to wrap up business and seize control of Los Santos's criminal underworld using his new resources and allies. It's a compelling arc almost gleeful in the twists the story takes along the way, helped by CJ being arguably the most likeable protagonist in the series (though it's up to you whether you make him a hero, antihero or psychotic villain). The sheer amount of fun the game lets you have overcomes its dated visuals and occasionally corny dialogue.
Where will Grand Theft Auto VI sit on the list? The game promises to be a mixture of the heavier drama of Red Dead Redemption 2 and the lighter, sunnier tone of Grand Theft Auto V, in the most visually stunning game in the series to date. It'll be interesting to see where the consensus on it rests.
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