Though it originally started as a top-down 2D game over 20 years ago, the Grand Theft Auto series has become the gold standard of open-world games, and even the very worst games of the series are still better than other free roamers out there.
With each generation of consoles, Rockstar has pushed the systems to their limits, whether it’s porting whole maps onto handheld consoles, creating dense narratives, or continuously building on the living, breathing Los Santos for the past eight years. From the in-depth customization to the limitless possibilities, the quasi-fictional cities of the Grand Theft Auto series have become iconic, and Metacritic helps find which GTA is the best.
Updated on July 6th, 2021 by Kevin Pantoja: Not many video game franchises have evolved as much over the years as Grand Theft Auto. Although the highest-rated installments are typically those from recent years and since it became more of an open-world experience, the original games still got solid reviews. Although not all of them have official Metacritic scores, it's still worth looking into the best GTA games.
Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004) - 68
It's often the least talked about entry into the Grand Theft Auto franchise but it's also one of the most unique installments. Following the hugely popular releases of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the series made an unexpected move with Grand Theft Auto Advance, coming to the Game Boy Advance.
Being a handheld system, it couldn't live up to what the PlayStation 2 games did. However, it was mostly well-received as it was a prequel to GTA III set a year prior. It still kept the open-world elements but reverted back to the top-down camera perspective from the earliest games. Some of the aspects that were panned were the driving mechanics and the soundtrack.
Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999) - 70
For a lot of fans, the series didn't become a must-play until Grand Theft Auto III in 2001. The previous entry, Grand Theft Auto 2, was a strong game in its own right, though. For the most part, this mostly played like the original game but still had a lot of fun qualities that made fans appreciate it.
Among the new additions was a respect system that went up or down depending on which crime organizations you did work for, which was interesting to navigate. The game was also more interactive in terms of other vehicles and the pedestrians roaming the streets at any moment.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006) - 86
Being a prequel to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Vice City Stories was exclusively released for the PlayStation Portable and was then ported over to other consoles the following year. Being set in the '80s, it has one of the most fun and vibrant-looking open worlds that Rockstar has ever built, and it even looks great for the PSP.
Though Vice City Stories is among the lowest of the lot, that doesn’t mean it’s bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it’s far from bad, as it’s one of the best games that was ever released for the PSP.
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad Of Gay Tony (2009) - 87
Being the second expansion pack to GTA IV after the release of The Lost and the Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony can barely be called an expansion pack, as it has almost as much content as the main event.
The game is set at the same time as GTA IV with the events happening concurrently, as players control Luis, an ex-drug dealer who becomes the bodyguard of a high-profile nightclub owner, Gay Tony. The expansion pack is beloved for having much more glitz and glamor compared to the grimy GTA IV.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005) - 88
Just like Vice City Stories, Liberty City Stories was made for the PSP and builds the lore of GTA III, being a prequel to the events of that game. It’s more of a traditional gangster story as opposed to the absurd stories that GTA became known for, as it follows Tony Cipriani's rise through the ranks of the Leone crime family, just like in Mafia and The Godfather.
And long before GTA Online became a worldwide phenomenon in the 2010s, there was an online multiplayer mode in Liberty City Stories, which allowed six gamers to play together. Though that might seem like nothing by today’s standards, it was a big deal in 2005. On top of that, the game had a custom soundtrack ripping capability that wasn’t available in the console ports.
Grand Theft Auto: The Lost And The Damned (2009) - 88
Generally considered the better of the two expansion packs, The Lost And The Damned again takes place in Liberty City over the course of GTA IV. Just like The Ballad of Gay Tony, though it’s the same map of GTA IV, has the exact same gameplay mechanics, and only features a new storyline and characters, but it’s still far superior to most games.
The way the story of Johnny trying to protect The Lost Motorcycle Club interweaves the storylines of GTA IV is the game’s most impressive achievement.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (2009) - 90
Chinatown Wars is special because it’s the only GTA game for portable devices that didn’t get a proper console port. Though it was made exclusively for handheld devices, it can now be even played on a cell phone, which is an incredible feat considering how expansive the game is.
However, Chinatown Wars is also interesting because it went back to the series’ roots of being a top-down game, which was the model for the first two GTA games. It also features fun mini-games not found in the proper games in the series, such as actually having to hot-wire a car before players can drive it.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) - 95
Above all else, Vice City is by far the most stylish game in the GTA series. It’s basically Rockstar’s vision of Scarface, which ironically clearly influenced the creation of an actual open-world Scarface video game that came four years later.
Vice City is best known for the introduction of zany cheats, such as turning a vehicle into a flying car, which became a classic staple of GTA games. It also added tons of new vehicles like planes, motorcycles, and helicopters.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) - 95
After the release of Vice City, Rockstar plunged even further into satire and social commentary, and San Andreas is the best example of exactly that. The contrast between the gangbangers and the Mulholland Dr. multimillionaires, both of which feature predominantly throughout the game, and the way both are portrayed as criminals is staggering.
But on top of that, there were some major RPG and customization elements added to the game, including buying property, getting haircuts, and working out, not to mention that San Andreas has the best GTA map.
Grand Theft Auto III (2001) - 97
Though GTA III is certainly not better than the ones that came after it, it has such a high score because it was the very first of its kind. The GTA games that came before it were all top-down 2D games, whereas Grand Theft Auto III is a 3D open-world game and it changed the industry forever by setting the gold standard for the genre.
However, it isn’t rated so high only because it was the first of its kind, but because it cemented Rockstar’s schtick; the humor, the world-building, and of course, the outrageous crimes committed by the protagonist.
Grand Theft Auto V (2013) - 97
Rockstar learned from the mistakes they made with GTA IV, as the roads are much more open (as opposed to the tight roads of Liberty City), it’s brighter and sunnier, and the characters are much more interesting and deliver some of the series’ best quotes. Not only that, but GTA V marked the first time that the whole world was free to explore from the very beginning, as every other entry in the series had sectors of the map blocked off until players progressed through the game.
The world of GTA V isn’t entirely original, as it’s the same as the one from San Andreas, but it has been completely rebuilt and there are almost limitless things to do in it. And even though the game is almost eight years old by this point and fans have moved on to the online mode, the world is so big that people are still finding new things to do in story mode.
Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) - 98
It’s a little hard to believe that GTA IV, the first in the series released on the seventh generation of consoles, is the highest rated in the series. There are a lot of issues with the game that were ironed out in GTA V. Whether it’s the criticized driving mechanics, the texture popping, or the visually grey setting, the game is far from perfect.
However, it features possibly the densest and most realistic storyline in a GTA game and one that’s surprisingly mostly free of satire, as the game follows Niko Belic, an Eastern European ex-soldier pursuing the American dream. New York is masterfully rendered as the new and improved Liberty City, and even though it has been seen several times before, it has never been more immersive than in Grand Theft Auto IV. It's ranked as the best Grand Theft Auto game.