10 Iconic Rockstar Games - Ranked From Worst To Best
Definitely one of the hardest rankings we've ever done.
Rockstar Games are one of the most recognisable game developers on the planet, and their back catalogue is something to behold.
The team have turned out a number of highly successful games, proving their chops by lampooning American culture, recreating the dangerous world of the Wild West, and dropping a few unsung titles in between. A wide range of historic periods and themes have been covered, and they don't have any plans to stop, with Red Dead Redemption 2 coming at the end of 2017.
Whilst all of their games haven't been incredible smash hits, they continue to produce consistently excellent titles that excite gamers and sell like hotcakes. This is often due to the developed trust in their ability to create engaging gameplay experiences.
A lot of their games are also incredibly well written and funny, and work as an excellent juxtaposition to the ultra-violence they're often criticised for.
This list seeks to pick 10 of the best and worst Rockstar games and rank them from worst to best. What is Rockstar's best game? Let's find out...
10. Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
Remember when Rockstar surprised everyone with a table tennis game?
Developed as a tech demo for their RAGE tech (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine) the title was initially just a way to test their grand ideas, but Rockstar ended up releasing the full game near the launch of the Xbox 360. Without it, we may never have had the level of fine-tuning you see in their later titles like Red Dead Redemption and GTA V, which both run on the same beast that powered this little gem.
When interviewed about the game, co-founder Sam Houser stated "our mission brief at Rockstar is to make titles with innovative gameplay about subject matters we were interested in".
Essentially, the guys at Rockstar love table tennis, and thought that no game had quite grasped the joy of it just yet. The game received great praise for its effective, simplistic gameplay, something that underpins Rockstar's design philosophy. It was an accessible game with tight controls and excellent graphics for the time.
Unable to rank alongside their other unforgettable games, this title was held back by the sheer confusion that Rockstar had pivoted into the sports genre, producing a small-scale title not dependent on an intricate open world.