I played the first two games when they came out. The second was pretty much identical to the first except for the "loyalty" system and has been largely forgotten but never mind. They were fun games, and whilst they weren't the first to let you be the bad guy, it was somewhat satisfying the way the city seemed to work around you to clear up your mess and try to restore the status quo. Unfortunately however I never actually finished either of them because there didn't seem to be much progression. Yes, you'd get a new map to play on every now and then, and some of the missions could be done in different orders, but there wasn't much personality. The missions were just a means to an end - namely collecting enough cash to move on to the next level.

Ultimately I think they could have been largely forgotten in years to come, save for the "controversy" aspect.

Then this gem came along. Rather than just moving the same games into a 3D environment, the game has been designed entirely from scratch. It might as well have been called something different for all the similarity it has to it's predecessors. Not only do we have full voice acting by many household names which flesh out the characters and add that much needed personality, but the city itself feels far more alive and real than ever before.

Corners are no longer all at 90 degrees, there are literally hundreds of bonuses, secrets and extra missions you can do on the side whenever you want, you can backtrack at any point to visit previous areas of the game and see what's changed (although be careful of straying into the wrong neighbourhood if you've been upsetting people), full radio stations with a good selection of licensed music (and the ability to play your own MP3s on the PC version - nice touch), fully working public transit systems and a fascinating storyline of betrayal, loyalty and trust make this something that has to be played by everybody, no matter what your view on the violence aspect. Come on. Even if you don't want to complete the missions themselves you can spend hours just riding a taxi around town. Yes, this game even managed to make "Crazy Taxi" almost entirely redundant.

Whilst many people could argue (and with good cause) that the later games in the series such as Vice City and 4 are better in nearly every way, for me this will always be my favourite simply because it was such a welcome surprise - were it not for 3 then GTA wouldn't be the multi-million dollar franchise it is today.

I played the first two games when they came out. The second was pretty much identical to the first except for the "loyalty" system and has been largely forgotten but never mind. They were fun games, and whilst they weren't the first to let you be the bad guy, it was somewhat satisfying the way the city seemed to work around you to clear up your mess and try to restore the status quo. Unfortunately however I never actually finished either of them because there didn't seem to be much progression. Yes, you'd get a new map to play on every now and then, and some of the missions could be done in different orders, but there wasn't much personality. The missions were just a means to an end - namely collecting enough cash to move on to the next level. Ultimately I think they could have been largely forgotten in years to come, save for the "controversy" aspect. Then this gem came along. Rather than just moving the same games into a 3D environment, the game has been designed entirely from scratch. It might as well have been called something different for all the similarity it has to it's predecessors. Not only do we have full voice acting by many household names which flesh out the characters and add that much needed personality, but the city itself feels far more alive and real than ever before. Corners are no longer all at 90 degrees, there are literally hundreds of bonuses, secrets and extra missions you can do on the side whenever you want, you can backtrack at any point to visit previous areas of the game and see what's changed (although be careful of straying into the wrong neighbourhood if you've been upsetting people), full radio stations with a good selection of licensed music (and the ability to play your own MP3s on the PC version - nice touch), fully working public transit systems and a fascinating storyline of betrayal, loyalty and trust make this something that has to be played by everybody, no matter what your view on the violence aspect. Come on. Even if you don't want to complete the missions themselves you can spend hours just riding a taxi around town. Yes, this game even managed to make "Crazy Taxi" almost entirely redundant. Whilst many people could argue (and with good cause) that the later games in the series such as Vice City and 4 are better in nearly every way, for me this will always be my favourite simply because it was such a welcome surprise - were it not for 3 then GTA wouldn't be the multi-million dollar franchise it is today.