Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, San Andreas (Xbox)
Over the past few weeks I have been buying from used game stores copies of the older 3D Grand Theft auto games on Xbox and Xbox 360. I purchased GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA 4. I bought and played all of these games back when they came out but over the years I sold and traded them in for newer games. I wanted to relive these games from my past to see how they hold up, especially compared to GTA 5 which I have on the Xbox one. I have tested all the games to make sure they work but I have only put a significant amount of time into playing GTA 3 as I am trying to go in order. I am not sure if my plan is to play each game to completion but I would like to play each game at least as long as it takes to see how they hold up. While I played these games on the PS2 back in the day, I no longer have that system so I will be paying the Xbox versions of them (specifically on my Xbox 360 ).
I had played a little of GTA 1 and 2 on the Playstation and I remember wishing these games were in 3D and how cool that would be. After seeing pictures of GTA 3 in magazines at the time it definitely became a game I was looking forward to. I got GTA 3 for the PS2 on the same day as Tony Hawk 3 and while I was still looking forward to GTA 3, THPS3 was the game I was looking forward to more and thus was the first one I played that night. When I did get around to playing GTA3 I was mesmerised as I had never played a open world 3D game like that before. I would just drive around the first Island of Portland listening to the radio (Chatterbox and flashback were my favorite)for hours. For the year between the release for GTA3 and Vice City I would go back to GTA3 and either go through the story missions, hunt around for the hidden packages, or just drive around aimlessly. Even as the game worlds got bigger in later GTA releases I was never as impressed with them as I was in GTA3 and as such it remains to this day my favorite GTA game.
My appreciation of GTA3 made my anticipation of Vice City even stronger. Magazine stories and pictures were no longer enough, I would spend a long time trying to watch small videos of the main character firing a gun or and video that was released online (which was very few back then). Needless to say that year felt like an eternity (very different for me now a days) While I did love the game, it was not as great for me as GTA3 was. The soundtrack was great as was the atmosphere and the story was a major improvement over GTA3 but it was for some reason a little bit of a let down for me. Regardless I still very much enjoyed playing it back in the day. I would drive around aimlessly, play (and complete) the story missions, cause mayhem (especially once I figured out how to get the attack helicopter) all the while listening to that great 80's soundtrack.
I would have to wait another 2 years for the next GTA game, San Andreas. 2004 was a big year in gaming for me as I bought Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and San Andreas and among those GTA was my least favorite. San Andreas was (and still is) in fact my least favorite GTA game in the 3D era. I did not like that game at all, not the story, not the characters, not the changes that were made to the gameplay, not the soundtrack, even the map itself I felt was a step down. San Andreas is the only 3D GTA game that I have not finished the story mode on. I really did not like the RPG elements that they added to eat (especially the weight and muscle maintenance system). In taking a second look at this game I hope to see some redemption for it as I understand it is the favourite GTA game of many people.
I have gotten a few missions into GTA3 and will continue going through it until I feel satisfied with my updated impressions to move on to the next game. I am currently playing through newer games as well so it will take a while for me to get through all of them. As I go I plan on writing a little something here on each game as I am through with them.
