If I had to rank them…and I’m leaving Liberty City and Vice City Stories out as I didn’t spend much time with either…it’d be…
GTAV > VC > III > San Andreas > TBoGT > IV > TLaTD.
GTAV is a fucking work of art, from the meticulous world they created to the radio stations to the three man storyline and delivering a character so great in Trevor Phillips it got the actor who played him roles on two of the most popular shows on television. It’s a game I don’t know how Rockstar could improve upon, especially now after the Housers departure and Take Two’s shifting focus to its multiplayer. Hopefully they’ve kept tract of all the cool aspects other games have brought to the table in recent years like all the hijinks and gadgets you can use on the highly interactive npc’s of Watch Dogs, as well as hopefully a real focus on hand to hand combat which my pick above Sleeping Dogs excelled at. (It counts god dammit!) GTAV is a game, much like RDR2 that I can pop in every few months and just spend an afternoon traversing its fucking gorgeous world…I just wish there was more interactivity with that world’s residents. Absolutely love it, but I’m bummed I’ll never experience all of the seemingly cool shit they added to multiplayer as I have no interest in that with trolls and my shitty internet speeds.
Vice City…also, another work of art, though after starting a Miami Vice binge, it’s pretty shocking just how much they pulled from that show, especially the first dozen eps or so. This, much like V was a big sit back and cruise around game. Spent so many nights racing my bike up and down the neon lit beach front listening to arguably the greatest licensed soundtrack in video gaming history. I recently played it for the first time in like fifteen years while on a plat run and was reminded of certain things however, the map just isn’t as good as GTA III’s for its general lack of hills and landscape diversity, and the smudgy “trails” filter is beyond ugly when used at anytime other than night. Also, I can’t believe there was no full control camera back then, at least they included a map…something I was surprised GTAIII didn’t have after revisiting it as well. If it wasn’t for that, the rather light on content radio offerings, and that stupid Ballers glitch at the payphone in the last area, that might’ve ranked second as it still holds up really well for the most part and I hope gets some sort of remaster next year for it’s 20th Anniversary. The map was a perfect size, easily memorable, and lent itself well to the missions on hand with very few instances of crowding issues and narrow streets, that and some really iconic missions…who doesn’t remember that beeper message warning us not to get in the car and the events that followed? Also, its cartoonish look worked really well for it and was part of its initial appeal, I kinda wish they had stuck to that route more than they did with the sequels. In fact…because of that, I think it would be the easiest to remake…but I imagine if they do have something special in store for us in 2021, it’ll be using the GTAV visuals.
San Andreas, I just wrapped up last week platting on the ps4 (horrible port) and while I dig the many things it brought to table like its rpg elements, car customization, clothing and tattoos, swimming, all of the aerial vehicles, the list goes on and on, I still wasn’t fan of its story, think there was too much wasted space in trying to be too big for its britches in scale making the overall map not as easy to learn making it a genuine pain in the ass to traverse if you managed to get stuck in the middle of nowhere with no ride or having to repeat a mission. Not to mention its green/orange tint made everything look pretty ugly outside of sunset/night moments, thank god they ditched the trails filter though. My biggest complaint is there were so many issues with the radio stations. First there was no pop, very little in the way of female artists, the country channel’s selection irked the shit out of me as instead of also giving Patsy Cline two songs (like The Statler Bros.) including “Crazy”, they give that to Willie Nelson, but then give some other shmuck “Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies be Cowboys”, and why the fuck is the dj of that channel so fucking campy? Shit isn’t consistent, her and the dude that hosts the techno channel are too over the top and clash with Axel Rose, Chuck D, and whoever that boring fuck is that hosted Radio Los Santos. Also, speaking of RLS, WHY THE FUCK DID THEY NOT INCLUDE THE BEST FUCKING LINE IN ICE CUBE’S “Had a Good Day?” It all leads up to the AK line, but NOPE! Can’t be too violent considering the other songs in the game. While not bad, I found myself switching stations way too often compared to Vice City, and would’ve appreciated a Latin focused channel of mariachi music.
GTAIV…man, it took me forever to get into that game and that didn’t happen until The Ballad of Gay Tony when they finally realized the controls and handling of its cars needed a little tinkering with. At least I’m pretty sure they did some quality of life improvements with that last dlc, as I clearly remember warming up to the game with that one after spending an ungodly amount of time having to reset certain controls each and every time I entered or exited a car as back then I had a bad habit of resting my thumb forward on the left thumbstick which would swing the camera down to a closeup license plate view. Who was the fucking genius that thought putting a camera tilt on the steering stick was a good idea? Between that and the beyond awkward motion of Niko (especially when running), it was a pain in the ass to play in a location I just wasn’t thrilled about returning to. I honestly could go without having to ever play in a New York city themed location ever again in a video game…unless it does something new with open world offering bringing an alien invasion or zombies to the table. I wanted a Cloverfield game set in that map so bad years back. But yeah, GTAIV was a huge bore with frustrating controls and the less I say about the Lost and the Damned the better as I fucking hated the obnoxious lead of that expansion with a passion. I think Rockstar did too after how they had him go out in V. (Such a GREAT moment!) Ballad of Gay Tony brought fun back into the mix however, had a likable main character, and the club aspect of the campaign was a nice touch for what it was…would’ve liked to have seen that expanded upon in V. Imagine one of the three guys actually running a club, or strip joint? Missed opportunity there…as was the lack of vigilante missions.
Now, regarding Sleeping Dogs, it’s easily my favorite of the games that were inspired by GTA. It rising from the ashes of the True Crime series offering a really great storyline and having more of a focus on hand to hand combat (as well as excellent gunplay) was a welcome addition to the open world action game genre, its wonderful atmosphere and voice acting which made certain npcs super memorable (PORK BUN GUY!) was a huge plus as well. Too bad its developer was shut down and we never got a sequel, folks say the Yakuza games might soothe the itch I have for that game, but from what I’ve played of its spinoff “Judgment”…while really good, is nowhere near as satisfying combat-wise. Sleeping Dogs was so good, I platted it for the PS3 AND the PS4, and am seriously thinking about making an alt PSN account so I can do it again. Great game!
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