10 Best GTA Games - Ranked

4. Grand Theft Auto V

Speaking of not hitting home entirely, GTA V feels like something of a course-correct to GTA IV. Back with a vengeance was a far whackier goofball tone, mixed with some tabloid headline-chasing scenes like a protracted torture sequence and - in GTA V's remaster - a first-person mode so we could see all sorts of kills through the eyes of the characters.

Straight gameplay-wise this is the best of the lot, with the idea of switching between a trio of protagonists letting you drop into all sorts of in-progress crimes and sequences. It stumbles and falls regularly in the script department as you can tell Rockstar were struggling to match their idea of what GTA "is", with that of the baying public.

Grand Theft Auto was bigger than Jesus after over a decade of great reviews and positive buzz (many critics still cite GTA IV as not a roadblock, but a one-off masterpiece), meaning that whatever the next numbered instalment was going to be, somewhat had to "please everyone".

Thankfully, Rockstar playing it safe delivered a sales hit like nothing else, though going through it side by side with the earlier games and even GTA IV, there's a lack of purpose and passion that ultimately defines how this lands.