20 Essential Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

1. Grand Theft Auto III

When the full power of the Playstation 2 was being realised, there was only one question on the minds of gamers; "will they do a 3D GTA". Come October 2001, Nobody was disappointed.

Taking the story back to the series' original setting of Liberty City (loosely based on New York itself) Grand Theft Auto III allowed players to rob, steal and murder across three huge islands. With a storyline that featured dealings with lowlifes, the mafia, the yakuza, corrupt policemen and some special business interests, the story gripped players from their very first carjacking and didn't let go until the closing scenes.

With an unprecedented scope for exploration, a seemingly endless array of vehicles, and complete freedom to cause as much carnage as was humanely possible, GTA III set a bar for open-world action-adventure games that has since never been surpassed. Subsequent sequels have taken the franchise on to new heights, but without this example to show the way, gaming as a whole would have taken a completely different path over the last 15 years.