Oh sh*t, here we go again. After 10 years of waiting, Rockstar Games has finally released the official trailer for GTA 6. A game that will see the light in 2025, 13 years after its acclaimed predecessor (considered by many to be one of the best chapters of the franchise).
And since there is an expectation to be deceived we asked ourselves an eternal question: What are the best GTA games? Which ones are the most disappointing?
We have therefore drawn up our own ranking, from worst Grand Theft Auto to bestincluding only and exclusively the official chapters. So no spin-offs, expansions and online modes (sorry GTA Online, we love you).
Well, now we’re ready to argue with the fans: here is our ranking of the best GTA games.
The ranking of the best GTA games, from worst to best
7. Grand Theft Auto II
We clearly remember the writing of GTA II FRENZY. Writing that appeared in large letters on the screen when our character began to indiscriminately kill all the innocent people on the street. Apart from this aspect – which we recognize as fun – little else remains.
Effectively Grand Theft Auto II it represents a small step forward compared to the first chapter released two years earlier, from which it takes up the 2D view from above and the absence of a mini-map.
6. Grand Theft Auto
Top-down view, absolutely unrealistic car traffic and a character ready to sow chaos and destruction. GTA I represents the beginning of the legend, but for numerous reasons it ranks in penultimate place in our ranking of the best games of the franchise.
Published in 1997 for PC, PlayStation and GameBoy Color, the game introduces us to the three main cities that we will explore in the saga: Liberty City, San Andreas e Vice City. The player can “unlock” the different cities by advancing in level and, to do so, he will have to complete the missions assigned by the various bosses in the area. Do you remember the vast maps with markers indicating the most varied places? Here, forget them. The first historic GTA it had neither map nor minimapand to orient yourself there was only a bizarre green arrow that indicated the direction of the objective to be completed, either on foot or by stealing vehicles.
5. Grand Theft Auto III
A GTA III we certainly owe a lot of credit. After all, it is the first game in the saga to introduce a third-person view from the street (as well as true 3D). Despite this, more due to the merits of the other chapters than its own defects, the game only places fifth in this very personal ranking of ours.
The story is set in Liberty City in 2001, where the player experiences the story of the criminal Claude, who is betrayed by his girlfriend Catalina during a bank robbery. Managing to evade arrest in a daring way, Claude will have to get back on his feet soon to take revenge on Catalina and her new lover, the fearsome Miguel, a boss of the Colombian cartel. Despite some plot holes as big as Mount Chilliad, GTA III’s story entertains and stimulates. But above all it gives the player a good reason to take out anyone who gets in his way
4. GTA IV
The launch of GTA IV it was all but simple, given that on day one numerous crashes occurred which forced many players on PlayStation 3 to have to uninstall and reinstall the game. But despite the uphill start, the fourth chapter managed to give fans a good story, positioning itself as a good transition title between the PS2 and PS4 generations.
In particular, the game gave us a first glimpse of the large maps, with a Liberty City divided into large residential areas (reproducing the neighborhoods of the real New York). Of course, we had already seen similar solutions in GTA San Andreas, but the power of the “new” PlayStation 3 had allowed the developers to pay greater attention to detail. Furthermore, again from San Andreas, GTA IV resumes the possibility of going out to dinner with the various girls met in the game, with the possibility of starting relationships. In short, as anticipated, a passing title. A nice passing title.
3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
The first GTA to enter the podium of the best games of the franchise can only be Vice City. Everything about this game is iconic: the colours, the settings, the protagonist’s flowered shirt…well, maybe not that one. Do we want to talk about the music?
Vice City is the first game in the saga to introduce licensed songs to in-game radios. A certain one Abel Makkonen Tesfayewho today you perhaps know as one of the most listened to artists in the world under the pseudonym of The Weeknd, just a few years ago, declared that he became passionate about the music of the 80s while playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
The game also has no shortage of cultural references, with homages, quotes and Easter eggs to films such as Carlito’s Way and Scarface. In short, hands down one of the best GTA games.
2. GTA V
GTA V takes us back to San Andreas (which takes over California), more precisely to The Saints (Los Angeles), dove the player can control three playable characters. In fact, the story revolves around the ambitious Franklinto the psychopath Trevor and to the retired criminal Mike, who in order to make peace with his past (but also with his family and his present) finds himself having to take to the field again. In short a masterfully woven plotin which the player can experience the story from three different points of view, up to a poker of decidedly explosive endings (literally).
Grand Theft Auto V catapults us into a city that seems alive and fully exploits all the potential of the consoles of its generation (PS4/Xbox One), with impressive graphics and an incredibly vast game map full of points of interest (including including the famous Groove Street which we will talk about in the first position).
1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
From the ranking of the best GTA games you certainly couldn’t expect another title in first position. He, the one, the only and iconic: GTA San Andreas. A video game that has permeated the childhood and adolescence of entire generations, who know the protagonist’s house inside out CJresident Groove Street. The dialogues, the jokes, the music. Everything about this game is iconic. From that “Oh sh*t, here we go again” to the unmistakable sound of 90s west coast hip-hop productions.
Anyone who has played San Andreas remembers the map by heart (even though it wasn’t that limited), and remembers the sense of injustice in dealing with the corrupt agent Tenpenny. He still remembers the disappointment and disappointment in discovering that the traitor was Big Smoke, his lifelong friend.
If a video game is a work of art that tells a story and conveys emotions, then GTA San Andreas is THE video game.