Is GTA III underrated/forgotten?

[SpaceBooger]

It looks like if I start with Vice City I won't enjoy going back to III... It also sounds Vice City is much better and III is skippable. So should I skip III and play VC, SA, then four, or should I really play through III first?

[RyaNtheSlayA]

It looks like if I start with Vice City I won't enjoy going back to III... It also sounds Vice City is much better and III is skippable. So should I skip III and play VC, SA, then four, or should I really play through III first?

No real reason to play III for anything more than nostalgia's sake as far as I'm concerned.

[ZeroAX]

It looks like if I start with Vice City I won't enjoy going back to III... It also sounds Vice City is much better and III is skippable. So should I skip III and play VC, SA, then four, or should I really play through III first?

I'd say skip playing IV instead.

[Gamerforlife]

It looks like if I start with Vice City I won't enjoy going back to III... It also sounds Vice City is much better and III is skippable. So should I skip III and play VC, SA, then four, or should I really play through III first?

While I like VC better, I will say a few nice things about GTA III. It has a bit of grittier, darker feel than Vice City I think. Also, the story is not bad, and if you prefer a silent protagonist (like Gordon Freeman) you won't get that in Vice City

In terms of gameplay though, VC is better overall.

There's also some Grand Theft Auto games on the PSP that might be worth checking out. They're like side stories to GTA III and Vice City. At the time, I was so impressed at seeing a GTA game on a portable device.

[Luke]

Play III first. You'll really miss out on some great moments and at the same time you'll hone your GTA skills.

The sequels also have plenty of nods to III, so you'll miss out on those as well.

[D.D.D.]

III, VC, SA, IV. If you haven't played any of them, you'll have fun along the way.

[RCBH928]

I wrote a topic about this once about playing inferior prequels. Is it worth playing prequels that have less features? I am guessing the answer is no, and this is where GTA 3 falls in.

When it came out it was probably the most amazing thing. But as time went by, the sequels got bigger and better. Better graphics and bigger cities, more features.

Think like the AKI wrestling games, do you want to play WCW vs NWO or do you want to play No Mercy ?

[Luke]

I wrote a topic about this once about playing inferior prequels. Is it worth playing prequels that have less features? I am guessing the answer is no, and this is where GTA 3 falls in.

If you don't care about story and progression, I agree. But I'm the type of guy who will play through Devil May Cry 2 before the third installment whether 3 is better or not (it is).

GTA provides a great story, would be a shame to miss it.

[RCBH928]

I wrote a topic about this once about playing inferior prequels. Is it worth playing prequels that have less features? I am guessing the answer is no, and this is where GTA 3 falls in.

If you don't care about story and progression, I agree. But I'm the type of guy who will play through Devil May Cry 2 before the third installment whether 3 is better or not (it is).

GTA provides a great story, would be a shame to miss it.

I see your point, I also have another topic saying that "story is the most important element of a video game" I play games for the atmosphere. This is why I am so hooked up with Eternal Darkness right now.

but the fact is GTA's has different stories not a continuous one. I also think(or remember) San Andreas having a better story than GTA III, and not sure if GTA4 has a better story over SA .

With continuous sotries, Assassin Creed, i would play them in sequence.

[ZeroAX]

Actually all 3 PS2 GTA games take place in the same universe, with a lot of characters and references between games. I played GTA 3 in the summer-autumn (yes it took me so long to beat this game, cause of ALL the hours I was wasting exploring the city. I knew it by heart. No need for a GPS like GTA 4 which made exploring tedious and boring) of 2002 (just as I was entering high school) and in the summer of 2005 (just after finishing high school) I played San Andreas and when I did the mission where

you "fly" to Liberty City and go to the Pizzeria where you had blown up a person in his car in GTA3 as Cladue

I got very nostalgic (even if it was only 3 years, but you know how big a difference 3 years were when you were a kid-teenager), and it made me smile.


People usually don't mention GTA when it comes to games that cause them to have beautiful emotions ("murder, crime simulator" and all), but to me that wonder of exploration, the countless hours I spent creating my own fun, made each and every one of those games special for me.



Play them in order. It's worth it. Every city (LC, VC and the state of SA) has its own magnificent sights, and you are going to create a lot of gaming memories exploring these masterpieces of open world game design.