10 Video Games That Influenced EVERYTHING You Play
2. Grand Theft Auto III
Why is it any time a new open world/sandbox game comes out, it's almost immediately slapped with the "Grand Theft Auto clone" moniker?
It's never, "It's an Ocarina of Time rip-off but in the future" because that too is an open world game.
Whilst OoT is great on its own merits, Grand Theft Auto was an absolute game changer back in 2001. Not just in the literal sense of switching from 2D to 3D, but in the milestones it garnered with it.
We hadn't seen a world so densely packed and lived in up until this point. Nor had we seen this much attention to detail in a world so big, yet full of small details that could easily get missed if you don't explore them.
Is it unfair to call every new game afterwards a "GTA clone" because it has similar elements? Is Sleeping Dogs a rip-off despite being on the other side of the law?
The repercussion that GTA III was so influential is evident today. The notion that a sandbox game should be filled with activity and not just background prettiness is all down to one little crime series making that leap into 3D.