Before GTA V: Ranking Best To Worst Grand Theft Auto Games

4. Grand Theft Auto III

Like said before, this was a hard call. GTA III will forever hold its place in every GTA fan's heart for being the breakout game in the series that introduces the players to the 3D universe and brings a new life to Liberty City that Rockstar was previously unable to capture. One of the greatest things about GTA III is the ability to change the camera to a bird's eye view - a sign that Rockstar wasn't quite able to fully break away from their revolutionary 2D universe. Claude is an interesting protagonist to say the least. He is an emotionless character who does not speak, but manages to stay fresh in the minds of any gamer who has ever played a Grand Theft Auto game. Something about his presence speaks volumes, when the character himself cannot. While it is never revealed in the game why Claude does not speak, Rockstar released an article on their website that clarified that Claude's silence is for two reasons: One, they wanted the character to be relatable to whoever is playing him. Two, because the entire genre of a fully animated, fully voiced open-world game like GTA III had never been done (at least not to the extent Rockstar was going), they were unsure how to pull off the technological challenge of voicing a character outside of cutscenes. Playing it safe - rather intelligently - the developers decided not to voice a lead character until Vice City. Despite that one feature, which seems to serve more as a positive aspect and less as a flaw, Rockstar created an earth-shattering game that paved the way for third-person 3D open-world games like Saint's Row, Mafia, and Infamous.