Grand Theft Auto: The Definitive Collection

Grand Theft Auto II is a much more polished follow up to the original, keeping the top down gameplay but giving it way more personality and depth. Set in the weird near future city of Anywhere City, you play as Claude Speed (yeah, the same guy from GTA III but its 2D variant), building a criminal reputation by taking jobs from rival gangs, stealing cars, causing mayhem and trying not to get shredded by the cops. The big addition is the respect system: every gang has its own opinion of you, so helping one can turn another against you, making the city feel more reactive and giving your choices actual consequences. The PlayStation version also improves the controls and camera considerably over its predecessor, adds more weapons, a proper save system and a more readable presentation, tho its visuals are still pretty blocky and the driving can feel sluggish. The radio stations are a great touch too, giving each stolen car a bit more character while the bizarre gangs and dark humor keep the whole thing feeling distinctly GTA. Still, the story is basically background noise, some missions are repetitive or poorly explained and the old school navigation can get annoying fast. People see it as a solid refinement of the original, and for PS1, GTA II is honestly a pretty good sandbox and easily one of the strongest 2D entries.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

Grand Theft Auto Advance is an ambitious lil GTA that brings the series back to its top down roots while borrowing some ideas from GTA III. Set in Liberty City shortly before GTA III, you play as Mike, a small time criminal whose partner Vinnie is killed in a setup, sending him on a revenge trip through the city while working for different crime figures. The story is pretty straightforward and some twists are ridiculously obvious but it does its job of pushing you through a solid mix of robberies, deliveries, shootouts and car based missions. The real star is still the sandbox: you can steal cars, cause trouble, take on taxi, police, ambulance and firefighter work, hunt hidden packages, complete rampages and races or simply drive around causing chaos, like in the later games. Visually, the pseudo 3D buildings and detailed vehicles are kinda impressive for the GBA but they come with some nasty slowdown, especially when the screen gets busy. The sound is decent but limited and the tiny screen can make driving and combat awkward, some missions also spike in difficulty hard while glitches and the AI can really test your patience.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was the most inventive of handheld GTA games. You play as Huang Lee, a spoiled Triad heir dragged into Liberty City after his father's murder and the story mixes gang politics, revenge and plenty of the dark humor the series is known for. The touchscreen is used for surprisingly clever stuff like hotwiring cars and making Molotov cocktails, while the drug dealing system gives you a reason to constantly explore the city and hunt for profitable deals. The combat and camera can be awkward at first and some missions lean a little too hard on repetition but the sheer amount of personality packed into the game is amazingly good for a handheld game. It's surprisingly funny, creative, deep and one of the best examples of Rockstar actually designing around a handheld instead of just shrinking a console game.

Grand Theft Auto III

Grand Theft Auto III is the game that turned GTA into the massive 3D crime sandbox we all know today. You're Claude Speed again, betrayed during a bank heist and left for dead, then thrown into Liberty City to climb the criminal ladder through jobs for the Mafia, Yakuza, Cartel and other shady characters. The story, voice acting and dark humor still work well while the city's three islands, huge vehicle selection, weapons, side missions, hidden packages and police system give you plenty to mess with beyond the main campaign. The New 3DS port uses reverse engineering, it reaches a somewhat playable state but it has a lot of cons: blurry menus, messed up fonts, broken dynamic lighting, overly shiny cars, jagged character models, occasional black roads, unreadable pager messages, slowdowns when playing MP3 files and of course, ocasional crashes.  I mean, it's still really impressive and it plays more comfortably than the mobile version, but in its current state it's hardly enjoyable. Good thing it's open source so anyone can optimize it, let's hope some gigachad does it someday.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is GTA III's bigger and much more colorful follow up. Set in 1986, you play as Tommy Vercetti, who arrives in Vice City after a drug deal goes horribly wrong and slowly builds his own criminal empire through gang jobs, robberies, assassinations and eventually buying businesses around the city. The '80s setting is easily the star with its neon streets, beach, flashy cars, absurd characters and one of gaming's most memorable radio soundtracks that give Vice City a personality that Liberty City simply didn't have. Gameplay also gets a nice upgrade with better gunplay, motorcycles, helicopters, more vehicle variety, improved combat and the ability to purchase properties, but the business system can make the later game feel more grindy than it needs to. On 3DS tho… the port works… but Vice City is explicitly less stable than GTA III with more serious bugs while blurry menus, broken lighting, shiny cars, jagged geometry and the rest of issues are still present here.