Certain, GTA 6 should be some time away, however there’s nonetheless loads of time to return and play all of your favourite Rockstar video games or compensate for those you missed. However which a part of the well-known Grand Theft Auto developer library must you prioritize first?
Properly, we have ranked our favourite Rockstar video games. From schoolyard antics to tragic tales of the American frontier, listed here are 10 of Rockstar’s greatest video games.
10. Manhunt
For a studio no stranger to controversy as a result of content material of its video games, Rockstar’s detrimental press surrounding GTA most likely did not measure as much as the post-Manhunt uproar. It might come as no shock that this stealth motion horror sport, during which you play as a demise row inmate pressured to participate in a collection of snuff movies for the disembodied voice of pre-Succession Brian Cox, garnered a horrifying response from the mainstream media and was banned in a number of nations because of this.
However this controversy solely tells half the story, as Manhunt is a superb sport and a singular one in Rockstar’s library (and it does not even speak about its inferior sequel). This disturbing satire of America’s fascination with violence is undeniably disturbing, however its strategy is properly psychological. Attributable to its open-world nature, the linear hallways create a really particular sense of stress that can not be expressed in lots of the studio’s different works. The result’s tight, centered, brutal motion to terrifying impact. Now, properly over 20 years later, Manhunt has lengthy been remembered…maybe principally due to how its bleak field artwork, staring off retailer cabinets, scared me as a child.
9.GTA3
Few video games depict the way forward for sport improvement fairly like Grand Theft Auto 3. The open world of Liberty Metropolis tells a winding story of gang warfare, drug trafficking, and betrayal within the collection’ first 3D installment. It is no exaggeration to say we’re breaking new floor, and the transfer to further dimensions and street-level cameras is only the start. When it got here to immersive city sandboxes filled with alternative, the PlayStation 2 had no equal. With a wealth of aspect missions and mini-games fused with the primary story, Rockstar has demonstrated its unprecedented storytelling expertise, telling the story of Claude’s truth-seeking by means of a cinematic lens, with an all-star solid (additionally together with The Sopranos alumni Frank Vincent and Joe Pantoliano) who match the story’s mob movie-inspired ambitions.
A part of GTA 3’s fictional New York might appear to be a small map to wander round immediately, however the gradual unlocking of three islands, every with its personal East Coast flavour, felt like a miracle again then. Admittedly, the repetitive, simplistic mission design and less-than-desirable automobile dealing with might not have aged very gracefully since its 2001 launch, however the partaking story and interesting (if stereotypical) characters nonetheless current. It is nonetheless value taking part in to see the place the roots of GTA (and plenty of different open-world video games) stem from.
8. Bully
Bree is usually described as “GTA however inside a faculty,” and in a manner, that is precisely what it’s. By substituting shotguns for slingshots and muscle vehicles for go-karts, the sport is ideal for anybody seeking to wreak havoc at a New England non-public boarding college moderately than working medication in fictional Miami or Los Angeles. The reason for the chaos is Jimmy Hopkins, a troubled 15-year-old who has dropped out of faculty. Tasked with navigating her yr at Bullworth Academy, varied classroom mini-games, varied faction quests, and hallway politics all assist inform Bree’s story, filled with teenage appeal and typical rock star social commentary.
Skating and biking by means of the Academy and its suburban setting is a pleasure, with memorable landmarks just like the colourful amusement park and the looming Glad Volts Asylum filling the huge map, which modifications ambiance with every season because the story unfolds. This world is the results of Rockstar adapting the GTA components to an unfamiliar and unconventional setting. Look a bit of nearer and you will see well-worn mechanisms twisted to go well with college life (for instance, being late to class dangers incurring the wrath of the trainer or director, which is Bree’s model of the association system).
Admittedly, Bully is a bit janky to play immediately, with its less-than-robust digicam and over-reliance on quick-time occasions, but it surely’s nonetheless a hell of a enjoyable time. And possibly if we’re actually fortunate, when Rockstar finishes GTA 6, we’ll get the sequel we have all needed for nearly 20 years.
7.GTA4
There is a robust argument that Niko Bellic is the strongest of all GTA protagonists, and I might most likely agree with that. Whether or not every thing in GTA 4 is as tall round him is open for additional dialogue. His 2008 return to Liberty Metropolis tackled surprisingly darkish questions concerning the American Dream and what it means to be an immigrant in trendy Western society. It is a large a part of the story, providing a stunning quantity of maturity and depth for a studio that has traditionally approached tales from a extra daring angle. In hindsight, the town itself was a revelation for its time, filled with a wide range of detailed sights and sounds, even when its visuals recreated the brown-and-gray blur that plagued many Xbox 360-era video games.
Nonetheless, the place GTA 4 lets down is its goal design and basic gameplay, which principally entails shifting folks from one location to a different and assassinating a single goal. Properly, other than the incredible three-leaf clover financial institution theft mission, which might later develop into GTA 5’s central hook. However there isn’t any denying Nico’s longevity as a personality and the very actual and grounded struggles he fights all through the story. I can definitely perceive why he would wish to go bowling along with his cousin…
6. GTA Vice Metropolis
There are few online game places as iconic as Vice Metropolis. Its neon-drenched streets, accompanied by an all-time assortment soundtrack of 80s hits, served because the setting for many individuals’s central reminiscences of the PS2. Rockstar’s time-traveling journey to the Nineteen Eighties is anchored by the primary character, Tommy Vercetti, performed splendidly by Goodfellas’ Ray Liotta. Launched only a yr after the groundbreaking GTA 3, it is outstanding how far Vice Metropolis has are available in simply 12 months, not solely in its star-studded solid and distinctive storytelling, but additionally in the way in which its design brings each nook of Miami it is set to to life.
A captivating story filled with similarities to Scarface introduced a brand new sense of extra and gave a blockbuster fashion to a collection that in some ways had but to get off the bottom. These early days are evident within the comparatively poor controls and outdated mission design. Within the twilight of the marketing campaign, makes an attempt to vie for management of companies and stability money-making plates throughout the town do not fairly assist the story’s extra bullet-proof ambitions. Nonetheless, that does not take away from Vice Metropolis’s total attraction. It stays a landmark piece of Rockstar historical past. And we will not wait to return to these seashores and golf equipment in GTA 6 subsequent yr.
5. Max Payne 3
Rockstar printed the primary two video games developed by Treatment and determined to convey Max Payne in-house for the third entry. Maybe unsurprisingly, leaving Max’s Finnish inventive behind resulted in a totally totally different tone, however simply as thrilling. Gone are the pulpy comedian strips, melodramatic monologues, and moonlit grays of neo-noir New York, and of their place is a sensory overload due to shiny daylight, bullet ballets on the dance ground, and the now-defunct soundtrack composed by Hels. Max Payne 3 builds on the bullet-time basis that made the collection a hit in a post-Matrix world, transporting a tortured former NYPD cop to Brazil within the midst of a vicious gang battle that results in a conspiracy darker than something Sam Lake has concocted.
The choice to focus on social points displays the distinction between Rockstar and Treatment as builders. The previous is at all times a pointy assault on the nation and deep-rooted home points, whereas the latter turns inward for extra clever tales of non-public struggles. Each are legitimate, and each work on the planet of Max Payne. So all three entries are nice in their very own methods. However all of them have one factor in widespread. It is an unparalleled energy journey as you activate Bullet Time, leap backwards by means of the air, and rain down twin Uzi bullets on anybody who stands in your manner. scrumptious.
4. GTA San Andreas
If the hole between GTA 3 and Vice Metropolis was massive, it could take an industrial machine to measure the gulf between Vice Metropolis and San Andreas. In simply two years, Rockstar took every thing they’ve discovered from earlier Grand Theft Auto video games, made some large modifications, and blended all of them collectively to create the primary model of California. This huge (at the very least by PS2 requirements) province has a number of cities, that are steadily unlocked as you progress by means of the story. The street journey between them conveys an amazing sense of scale, as does the extremely various mission design and intensive solid of characters you meet throughout your stint in every metropolis.
It is not simply its sheer measurement that is spectacular, however the wager Rockstar has taken in relation to gameplay. San Andreas options parts stolen from the RPG and life sim genres, permitting you to sculpt your character to customise your look and regulate your physique relying on the load you carry or the variety of crackin’ bell buckets.
And naturally, there’s CJ himself, the primary character who continues to survive the memes that comply with him like a shadow. His story, delivered to life in earnest by rapper Younger Mayray, is a story of redemption and survival that pits him towards a few of the collection’ most memorable foes, chief amongst them the despicable Officer Tenpenny, performed by Samuel L. Jackson. All of it got here collectively to create certainly one of Rockstar’s greatest video games, and the very best GTA of the PS2 period.
3. Purple Lifeless Redemption
Rockstar had proven cinematic ambitions for years earlier than Purple Lifeless Redemption arrived in 2010, so it was solely pure that they might in the future deal with one of the crucial basic movie genres: the Western. Closely influenced by the likes of The Wild Bunch, Purple Lifeless’s story of a transcontinental outlaw who embraces being the final outlaw takes fan-favorite John Marston to Mexico to search out his former mentor Dutch van der Linde. Set in a extra rural setting than beforehand anticipated from Rockstar’s open world, cinematic thrives take maintain and permit for spectacular creative achievements to be expressed. Bustling streets have given option to dusty canyons, and the house as soon as dominated by incessant radio chatter is now stuffed with the masterful music of Woody Jackson.
Purple Lifeless Redemption’s gradual tempo permits the story to unfold elegantly, with Marston’s practically invisible enemies hanging menacingly within the background, patiently ready for a memorable snowy showdown. After which there’s the ending. I will not spoil it right here for many who did not have an opportunity to witness it, but it surely’s protected to say that within the 15 years since, it is lengthy been remembered as certainly one of video video games’ most surprising finales.
The trail to get there’s paved with decidedly mundane mission design and numerous horseback driving, however there’s nonetheless sufficient character within the dead-eye taking pictures system and endlessly enjoyable minigames (Liar’s Cube, you) that enables Purple Lifeless Redemption to age with nice grace. It nonetheless stands as certainly one of Rockstar’s three best achievements.
2.GTA5
Grand Theft Auto 5 is a blockbuster in each sense of the phrase. It is not simply the variety of copies bought or the manufacturing prices, however each facet of the design. They proudly put on their extreme clothes, which is mirrored within the drive for cash displayed by every of the three primary characters. This greed, itself Rockstar’s clearest critique of capitalism and the unsavory characters it breeds, culminates in GTA 5’s signature heist mission, a collection of daring motion set-pieces during which every fights to achieve a bonus over the opposite. These marketing campaign highpoints mix seamlessly right into a vibrant, partaking map of Los Santos, with Rockstar’s signature humor exuding in each sight and sound, from avenue nook billboards to radio station ramblings.
This sandbox has been entertaining followers since its building in 2013, and has been constantly expanded and improved to at the present time with the addition of GTA On-line. We have created a complete new ecosystem for gamers to dwell in, tackle more and more complicated heists, and even construct looping racetracks that stretch into the sky. It is only a ridiculous beast in and of itself. However whereas it could be the expansive multiplayer mode that led to GTA 5’s large success, it is the story of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor that has confirmed to have essentially the most endurance, at the very least for us. That is the very best Grand Theft Auto marketing campaign has ever been, and we will not wait to see how Rockstar tries to prime it in GTA 6.
1. Purple Lifeless Redemption 2
The end result of Rockstar’s work so far, Purple Lifeless Redemption 2 was launched in 2018 and took the colourful world of video video games to the following degree. The extent of element in its huge frontiers is extraordinary, with each creature, each animal and human, responding faithfully to your each transfer. This makes interactions with these digital personalities really feel surprisingly actual. This well-crafted turn-of-the-century American West is dwelling to many quirky, harmful, and memorable characters, however none is extra memorable than protagonist Arthur Morgan.
His journey represents the top of Rockstar’s storytelling, exhibiting a degree of complexity and nuance not current within the studio’s different video games. The trials and tribulations of the Van der Linde gang result in a collection of memorable and harmful missions, due to the rising desperation of their chief Dutch. This story is a narrative filled with excellent chapters. A turf battle between the Grey and Braithwaite households results in the siege of a manor home, a serious financial institution theft in the primary metropolis of Saint-Denis results in an surprising keep on Guarma Island, and tensions between the Wapiti Indians and American troops result in a fiery gunfight. It might be onerous to choose a favourite from that record. Purple Lifeless Redemption 2 is an unlimited, epic tapestry steeped in cinematic fashion, and the very best sport Rockstar has ever given us.
Simon Cardy is a senior editor at videogameaddicted, the place he principally spends his time wandering round open-world video games, indulging in Korean motion pictures, and despairing over the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Observe him on Bluesky. @cardy.bsky.social.