10 Video Games That Mocked Their Rivals

When it comes to open-world games that let you aspire to building a criminal empire, the Grand Theft Auto series has generally been considered the benchmark. Other series have tried to match GTA's combination of mission types, vehicular mayhem, and outright fun, and Rockstar has no problem with poking fun at these aspirants.

In GTA 3, the player is tasked with finding and eliminating an undercover police officer in a mission bearing his name, Two-Faced Tanner. During briefing, you are told that your target is 'strangely animated' and that he's 'more or less useless outside of his car.'

This is Rockstar's way of putting a challenger in their place, namely the Driver series. In Driver, you play an undercover cop named John Tanner. Driver 2, which came out shortly before GTA 3, introduced the game mechanic to their series of being able to get out of your vehicle and explore.

Driver 2 received criticism for its player modelling, graphics and minimal time on foot, which Rockstar was happy to exploit.

To top off the mockery, the game codes Tanner with a female pedestrian's animation, giving him a unique way of moving compared to any other male character in the game.