Ranking the GTA games from worst to best
It doesn’t get much bigger than Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto when it comes to video games, and its legacy is untouchable. So we’ve gone through the main games in the series, ranked them from worst to best, and given them an official tier too.
GTA is the franchise that single-handedly popularized open-world sandbox games, and has had nearly as much controversy as it’s had sales – a lot. Rockstar’s violent and grim take on crime has sold several hundred million units with the mega-successful GTA V selling 140 million copies as of February 2021.
Every game has been accompanied by an engrossing story filled with memorable characters, missions, and insane activities to complete. They are all unique in their own way, which is why it makes it a difficult task to rank them all from worst to best. But we have done so and given each one a tier too.
Also, check out our ranking of the Resident Evil and Far Cry games too!
Grand Theft Auto games tier list
Before we delve into the official ranking, here’s a quick summary of each game with an assigned grade.
Here is our official tier list of all the GTA games in alphabetical order:
- S-Tier: GTA 4, GTA 5, GTA: San Andreas, GTA: Vice City
- A-Tier: GTA 3, GTA: Liberty City Stories, GTA: Vice City Stories
- B-Tier: GTA 2, GTA 1, GTA: Advance, GTA: Chinatown Wars, GTA: London
- C-Tier:
Just to explain the system, our S-Tier games are undisputed greats, the A-Tier titles are great, the B-Tier games are just missing something, and C-Tier ones are not worth your time.
Main GTA games ranked worst to best
8. Grand Theft Auto
For newer gamers, it’s hard to imagine that Grand Theft Auto 5 started here. Even by PS1 standards, the graphics were extremely primitive, and the in-game camera jerked around more than a rocking horse.
However, it introduced people to the idea of vehicular homicide, killing for money, and various other gameplay elements that would become scrutinized by the media, making the series so well-known. GTA 1 also received some healthy expansions in the form of the GTA: London spin-offs.
7. Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto 2 expanded upon a few ideas that its predecessor had introduced such as an improved save system, better missions, more NPC randomness, and open-world unpredictability.
GTA II essentially laid the foundation for the third major game in the franchise, and its modern setting allowed additional benefits over GTA 1 such as weapons and vehicles.
6. Vice City Stories/Liberty City Stories
Whilst both games are great additions to the series, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories are essentially extended DLC of the original games.
Liberty City is more noteworthy for its story as it serves as a prequel to GTA III, as evidenced by its changes to the city. Whereas Vice City Stories went a bit more gung-ho and added a whole new gameplay element, Empire-Building, both to the benefit and detriment of the game.
5. Grand Theft Auto III
It may be the third official entry in the Grand Theft Auto, but GTA III is arguably where the name really got started. Rockstar went big and bold for GTA III and changed the camera perspective to fully third-person.
Completely 3D rendered character models brought the world to life, as did GTA’s take on New York City. There was an incredible amount of content for players to enjoy with Rampages, Stunt Jumps, and Hidden Packages to find. GTA III was unlike any other game on the market, and a silent Claude pretty much kickstarted the craze that many others would follow.
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Vice City took everything that was great about GTA III and went bigger and better. It still retained all the weird and wonderful activities that made the third game a breakout hit, but it added properties, helicopter missions, and much more.
Vice City is Rockstar’s tribute to the 1980’s film Scarface with most of its aesthetic being influenced by the famous gangster film starring Al Pacino. To many, the game features the best GTA soundtrack and has had requests for years to revisit it – which we may do with GTA 6.
3. Grand Theft Auto IV
There was incredible pressure on Rockstar to successfully transition GTA to the PS3 and Xbox 360 after a spellbinding run of games on the PS2 and Xbox. They did so admirably with GTA IV, delivering a realistic, immersive playground in Liberty City once more.
Grand Theft Auto 4 had a tonal shift towards realism, and this was reflected in its vehicle handling and physics. It had arguably the most powerful story in the franchise, following the rise of lowly immigrant – Niko Bellic.
This did also mean that there were fewer zany activities like Rampages though. Nevertheless, the game was well supported by its Multiplayer which served as a great template going forward.
2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The only thing holding San Andreas back from first place is the outdated moving and shooting mechanics, otherwise, this might have featured even higher.
San Andreas was so far ahead of its time in terms of different activities you could do. GTA was continuing to innovate by giving players endless side missions: Driving Schools, Burglaries, Races, more collectibles than ever before, and even freestyle Lowrider contests.
CJ’s story was tremendous and San Andreas’s creativity made for some truly crazy missions to partake in. Plus, you could fill him up with junk food, make him look like Hulk Hogan, or turn him into an Olympic athlete of fitness.
1. Grand Theft Auto 5
There’s a reason as to why GTA 5 is the biggest selling piece of media ever – including video games, cinema. Rockstar took a huge gamble by altering the protagonist structure of previous games and allowing players to switch between three main characters instead.
- Read More: New Rockstar games to be announced at E3?
The move was a stroke of genius and made a game packed full of content even more diverse and enjoyable. The enormous map contained Scuba Diving, Base Jumping, Golf, Pool, Darts, and a vast array of other activities. The main game is stacked with hundreds of hours of content, and Rockstar decided to add GTA Online to make the package of quite frankly ridiculous value.
Generating billions of dollars within itself, GTA Online has experienced unprecedented success and taken the franchise to new heights. The game’s longevity is bullet-pointed by the fact it’s coming to a third generation of game consoles, and all this makes GTA 5 the best game in the series.
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Image credits: Rockstar