Top 50 Favorites: #29
Hardly a new statement to argue that this is the most "vibey" GTA game, but if I have any semi-controversial remark to make it's that imo this smokes not only Grand Theft Auto III but also Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for nearly everything they're worth. The gunplay is incomparably better than the former, and the map here is much more contained - removing the long stretches of nothing that padded out a lot of missions from the latter. I will even defend those little RC missions, Rockstar weirdness matters! (And they aren't that hard imo). Obviously this still shows its age: not everything is as precise as the 7th gen games and upwards would make it. But above all else, this is just a downright fucking TONIC - vibrant characters blowin' off heads in neon-lit bloom at nightfall, so magnetic, man... like how summer vacation used to feel like as a kid. Vaporwave dreamscape. Totally sucks you right in and keeps you there. All that plus voice acting from a murder's row of Hollywood "who's who" from the era this is inspired by, Rockstar's timeless cynical-yet-juvenile sense of humor, and a soundtrack that will knock your socks off (Hyperactive!, Self Control, and Keep On Loving You have been stuck in my head for almost four years now) - chef's kiss. The first of these games that really felt like they found their identity moving forward. Lovely.
Hardly a new statement to argue that this is the most "vibey" GTA game, but if I have any semi-controversial remark to make it's that imo this smokes not only Grand Theft Auto III but also Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for nearly everything they're worth. The gunplay is incomparably better than the former, and the map here is much more contained - removing the long stretches of nothing that padded out a lot of missions from the latter. I will even defend those little RC missions, Rockstar weirdness matters! (And they aren't that hard imo). Obviously this still shows its age: not everything is as precise as the 7th gen games and upwards would make it. But above all else, this is just a downright fucking TONIC - vibrant characters blowin' off heads in neon-lit bloom at nightfall, so magnetic, man... like how summer vacation used to feel like as a kid. Vaporwave dreamscape. Totally sucks you right in and keeps you there. All that plus voice acting from a murder's row of Hollywood "who's who" from the era this is inspired by, Rockstar's timeless cynical-yet-juvenile sense of humor, and a soundtrack that will knock your socks off (Hyperactive!, Self Control, and Keep On Loving You have been stuck in my head for almost four years now) - chef's kiss. The first of these games that really felt like they found their identity moving forward. Lovely.