Ranking the Grand Theft Auto games (since GTA III)

[vycyous]

How would you rank the GTA games based on how much fun you had playing them? For me...

1. San Andreas (what couldn't you do? Being able to climb and grasp onto ledges added a whole new element. Not to mention, swimming. Parachutes. The airfield in the desert became my home; my outpost from which I'd launch my shenanigans. Area 69 (51). The Harrier jet. Gambling. Tricking out your cars. Bicycles. Weapons and more weapons, both large and small. Even the early to mid '90s setting was done very well. Nice soundtrack. Finished 100%)

2. Vice City (first GTA I played; awesome 1980s Miami setting with a great soundtrack and possibly the most humor of any game in the series; the parallel between some movies and TV shows; completed 100% without a guide or looking anything up...I put a lot of time into this game)

3. V (from the time I've played so far on my PS3)

4. IV (I agree with many of you that IV has the best story and Niko might just be the most likeable protagonist of any GTA game. I hate to have this one so far down on my list, because the gameplay was/is great, the graphics still look decent, and I really had a lot of fun playing it. Excellent cover-based shooting system.)

5. III (played after Vice City, so it was hard to get into)


Edit: Added explanations

[Narco Reus]

Of the main games:

1. Vice City
2. San Andreas
3. GTA V
4. GTA III
5. GTA
6. GTA IV

[Pantha]

1. San Andreas (PS2 - Still the biggest and best GTA game)
2. GTA III (PS2)
3. GTA V (PS3 - Hope to enjoy it a lot more on PC)
4. GTA IV (PS3 & PC - disappointing compared to San Andreas)

[Kawasaki Teriyaki Anarchy]

1.SA (I still play this game from time to time there is just always something to do! Also my first GTA game)
2.V (Fun with friends,enjoyed single player and multiplayer very much now I just need a PC version!)
3.TBoG (This game really added on to IV and really suprised me)
4.IV (Niko is a very loveable character and the story was quite good too!.. Also mods)
5.Vice city (Had the best soundtrack and loved the whole 80's style just in general)
6. Vice city stories (I played this on my handheld and it was quite fun when going out and having nothing to do)
7.III (Really changed the whole GTA series forever)
8.TLaD (Don't get me wrong it was good but meh wasn't as enjoyable as IV or TBoG just my opinon)

[Chew Ass and Kick Bubblegum]

GTA 4
GTA 2 (yes, the second one was awesome)

Iam not going to rank others, because I haven't played them much.

[☘ Razz]

1. San Andreas
2. Vice City
3. GTA 3
4. GTA V
5. GTA IV

[Lloyd Franklin]

1: GTA IV
2: BOGT
3: TLAD
4: Vice City
5: GTA III
6 San Andreas

[Yes, this is Dave]

By some miracle my old PC was able to play GTA IV at (almost) max settings at a very smooth FPS, like 50-60 at all times. That was one hell of an experience and I poured 70 hours into it over the course of a week. I got a new PC and now I can't even get over 30 fps on GTA IV with constant stuttering even though this one has better specs than the last. So far this is what I've got:

1. GTA IV (Awesome story, I love Niko as a character)
2. GTA San Andreas (memorable setting, lots to do)
3. GTA II (I know I know, but this game never gets any credit! Everyone always talks about the 3D era)
4. GTA Vice City (it's the 80's)
5. Vice City Stories (I remember playing it on the PSP, you haven't played a portable game until you've played GTA on the go omg it's so great; I've seriously considered buying a DS just so I can get Chinatown Wars)

[Sgt. Pepper]

1) SA - so many improvements from VC and 3. No brainer choice
2) V - captialized and refined pretty much everything GTA does and added more customization and variety
3) Vice City - spectatular game during it's time; the music, setting, plot, voice acting, etc.
4) III - still one of my favorite games and absolutely left me wanting more, wish this was remade to the HD world
5) IV - I played this after V but even when the game came out in 2008 I wasn't attracted to it, dunno why it's my least favorite. Probably because the driving is terrible and the story is only semi-good.

[Odra]

After fixing the games (3D era: headlight reflections during rains, widescreen fixes, San andrea's frame limit etc.) I'd probably rank them like this:

1) San Andreas: Just wow, the flexibility, options and diversity was awesome even though the engine was showing its age.

Memorable Moment: Driving to San Fierro with Truth and realizing just how far you have traveled and how huge the world is.

2) GTA V: Might become "1" if the PC launch is good, they definitely got the game back on track after IV.

Memorable Moment: After watching my friend play and have difficulty controlling the helicopter, I instructed "Press Y to stabilize the chopper!". Which he did :)

3) Vice City: Best style, everything was superb, swimming and parachuting would have made it perfect for it's day.

Memorable Moment: Can't chose, from getting into a car and listening to the radio, to discovering you can deliver pizza for a living.

4) GTA IV: Placed above III simply because its the most modern iteration of the series on the PC (Until V is released) and that (barely) redeems the unlikable characters, flat storyline and peculiar choices made toward gameplay mechanics, wannabe-race-sim driving, LaD and BoGT corrected some mistakes but it was to late to get rid of the sour taste.

Memorable Moment(s) =
IV: Discovering the phone feature to shut down all the calls.
LaD: Shooting a shotgun from a bike!? NO WAY!
BoGT: Climbing to the tallest building and skydiving,

5) GTA III: The grandaddy of the 3D era. The WOW factor of realizing how intricate the city was and noticing all the quirks the devs added (such as what happens when you bump into a cop), its no spring chicken, but it can still entertain to this day.

Memorable Moment: Finding out you can't swim.

[Kilder_Meister]

Publicado originalmente por skyace65:

as someone who's only played vice city, can i ask why SA was so good?

For me the game was so good, it brought a great immersion for the players; much freedom; you could shape the game to your liking with cheating and modifications; the possibility of being a respected and feared marginal was really cool; the game was not very heavy, so many could play without problems. I played almost every GTA, and my list is this:

San Andreas: Great immersion, the ability to shape the game to your liking with cheats and the map was gigantic with many secrets, I cite the suicidal photographer as a secret that scared me when I was younger haha.

V: Many innovations, good story and an amazing multiplayer.

Vice City: City that is set in Miami, with good music, charismatic characters as Ricardo Diaz and very good missions. Unfortunately after you beat the game was a bit boring, because cities were not very large.

IV: Never really liked Liberty City, I prefer the other cities, but she with a beautiful graphic. The story is good, since it deals with immigrants in the United States; Niko is charismatic; smart cops. Few weapons, the friendship system is bad, the multiplayer is too bad, the strange system is precarious.

Liberty City Stories: I enjoyed the story about the Italian mafia, I liked the songs, Salvatore Leone is very charismatic, and the search for respect within the Mafia is fun. Much like Vice City in some aspects such as the types of weapon, but is not compatible with computers. The game is too simplistic.

[リシテア]

1. GTA 3
2. GTA San Andreas
3. GTA V
4. GTA IV
5. GTA Vice City

[Yellow Dice (Old)]

1.Vice City
2.San Andreas
3.V
4.IV
5.III
6.1
7.2
?:Vice City Stories
?:Liberty City Stories

[Mustard Tiger]

1. GTA: San Andreas - Based on time of release and how impressed I was, this game just barely takes the #1 spot. I played this all they way from 2005-2013 on/off which is damn impressive for a sandbox game. There is notthing about this game i can really complain about. It's the full package.

GTA V - Amazing, but I had to put it at #2 becuse it felt too short and sweet and there are actually a few things that bother me enough to complain about. First off, 69 main story missions makes it about 1/3 shorter than any other main GTA game besides 1 & 2. It lightly brushed over Franklins gang life and Trevor's meth business and that was a bit disapointing to me. The country side was a tad too empty and the fact that the casino STILL isn't open makes me sad :(

3.GTA IV - This was nothing short of amazing when it came out. There were no games at the time that I remember that came close to how real this game was. It just had an amazing amount of detail for a 2007 game and it blew my mind. Unfortunatly it did make some stepback from SA in terms of features, but I quickly forgot about them as I seeing what the physics engine was able to do.

4. GTA Vice City - Still not done this, but I believe it's a clear step ahead of 3.

5.GTA III - Didn't have the PC to play it when it first released and only finished this once back in 2009. Just too outdated to be any higher.

[Plats]

1. GTA V
2. GTA IV
3. Ballad of Gay Tony
4. San Andreas
5. GTA Online (Very Boring)
6. Lost and Damned (Haven't played much)
7. Vice City
8. Chinatown Wars
9. GTA III (It's terrible)

That's how I rank the ones I've played

[Spirou]

1. GTA San Andreas. Phenomenal game : huge map, customization, vehicles... nothing's missing.
2. GTA Vice City. The more I play it the more I find the 80's environment incredible. The story is really good and the soundtrack stunning.
3. GTA V. Amazing game but I haven't been playing it that much, still waiting for the PC version to give a full opinion. (It'll probably be higher than that in my rankings)
4. GTA III. Had a lot of fun on this one but still a bit cold compared to the ones that came after.
5. GTA IV. At the fifth place but not a bad game, It simply didn't grab me.