Every Grand Theft Auto Decade, Ranked Worst To Best

Grand Theft Auto has taken place over five decades throughout the series’ history, but some of those periods were more entertaining than others.

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The Grand Theft Auto series has spanned five different decades since Rockstar Games debuted the open-world franchise in 1997. The developer has taken players from the palm tree-lined streets of Vice City in the 1980s (which might return in GTA 6) all the way to the tech-company hotspot of Los Santos in the 2010s. Longtime GTA fans have gotten to trace the genealogy of organized crime worldwide and across roughly fifty years of history, but which time period is the best?

Rockstar has given gamers a plethora of organized crime opportunities throughout the series’ 24-year lifespan, with each subsequent release adding more detail and depth to the developer’s depiction of the time period. For example, GTA 3’s Liberty City might have lacked the scope of future titles, but perfectly captured the essence of the leather jacket and baggy pants-wearing gangsters that were seen on TV and movies at the time. GTA 4 would go on to refine Rockstar’s portrayal of the time period with a wider array of factions, each with their own sense of style, like the biker gangs and the Russian Mafia.

Each GTA installment has been a snapshot of the criminal underbellies that took root in different eras of history. Rockstar has revisited certain decades with multiple games, polishing its interpretation of the period with every release, while other periods got nowhere near the same attention. The only major release that wasn’t based on an iconic epoch was GTA 2, which took place in Anywhere City, a peculiar near-future metropolis that’s a mishmash of multiple large metro areas. Aside from that black-sheep release, here’s every GTA decade ranked from worst to best.

#5 – Grand Theft Auto In The 1960s

The only Rockstar releases set in the 1960s were GTA: London 1961 and GTA: London 1969, which were both expansions to the original GTA released in 1999. These releases were launched when the series was still using 2D graphics and no voice actors. While the titles featured iconic London landmarks like Westminster and Hyde Park, its top-down visuals made all of these typically stunning areas lose their charm. The visuals also kept Rockstar from expanding on the fashion sense of the time, making it feel a bit lifeless and like it could have been set in any other city around the world.

Rockstar’s writing for the expansions included plenty of hysterical British expressions and dry humor, but the lack of voice acting kept many of the game’s best moments from landing as hard as they could have. Both of these releases are 22-years old, so it’s silly to compare them head-to-head with GTA’s 3D universe. Still, it’s a shame Rockstar never revisited The Big Smoke, especially after seeing how eye-popping Ubisoft’s near-future interpretation of London was in Watch Dogs: Legion.

#4 – Grand Theft Auto In The 1980s

Rockstar skipped the 1970s and went straight for the deco architecture and cocaine-fueled disco clubs of the 1980s. The era is a perfect fit for the criminal antics GTA has become known for, but the developer has only set two games in the time period, GTA: Vice City (2002) and its prequel GTA: Vice City Stories (2006). Both featured stunning renditions of the neon-lit streets of Miami at the time, the Hawaiian-shirt and flashy club fashion of the era, and a diverse cast of characters that represented many of the people who call South Florida home.

The Vice City installments of the franchise were essentially Rockstar’s version of Scarface, and the fact that it was the series’ second title with 3D graphics made it even more impressive for gamers. The company only set one main game and a shorter prequel in Vice City, which left fans craving more. The heavily-rumored release of GTA 6 has been said to be set in Vice City once again, which could propel Rockstar’s rendition of the 1980s to the top of this tier list eventually. For now, its a gem that deserves a modern polish.

#3 – Grand Theft Auto In The 1990s

The 1900s is where the entire GTA franchise was conceived, starting from the release of the original GTA in 1997, followed by the monumental release of GTA: San Andreas (2004), and finally GTA: Liberty City Stories (2005) that served as a prequel to GTA 3. The first GTA took place across Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas, and while all of these locations were in 2D, it served as the building block for every other release afterward.

GTA: San Andreas was a pivotal shift in the series, when Rockstar began addressing the socio-political climate of the periods its games are set in. Towards the end of the game, the entire city of Los Santos is torn apart by rioters when a corrupt cop – named Officer Tenpenny – who has harassed the protagonist CJ for the story’s entity is acquitted of several charges. That was a direct reference to Los Angeles’ Rodney King riots in 1992, which were sparked after a jury acquitted a group of officers who were videotaped violently beating Rodney King after his detainment. This was a turning point for GTA, which began to include clear references to major events for each decade.

#2 – Grand Theft Auto In The 2010s

GTA 5 is an unmatched parody of the technology-addicted and social-media obsessed period of the 2010s. The 2013 release redefined the level of detail expected out of modern open-world games and included more tech startup and pop culture references than can be listed in this article.

The in-game company LifeInvader was a conglomerate tech giant poking fun at Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google, companies which have become dominant in today’s internet-connected society. Even psychotic protagonist Trevor Phillips’ meth-cooking shenanigans is a hat tip to the AMC television series Breaking Bad, which was astronomically popular in the early 2010s. GTA 5 was a near-perfect combination of the nihilistic, attention-craving, and wealth-obsessed culture of the era.

#1 – Grand Theft Auto In The 2000s

Rockstar set its most exemplary installments of GTA in the 2000s. GTA 3 (2001) was the release that took the series from 2D to 3D graphics, giving gamers a whole new perspective on virtual worlds. GTA 4 (2008) revisited Liberty City and expanded on the developer’s movement towards social and political commentary. The release is considered the best GTA game in the entire series because of its stellar writing and its diverse depictions of the different people who inhabit Rockstar’s New York City recreation.

GTA 4 inspired the release of two expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, as well as the handheld release of Chinatown Wars. Most of these titles were centered around the stories of U.S. immigrants from all corners of the globe. GTA 4 protagonist Niko Bellic moved to Liberty City from Eastern Europe for a fresh start, only to be sucked back into the criminal underground, while Chinatown Wars follows the revenge arc of Chinese immigrant Huang Lee. Almost 14 million new immigrants settled in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. The GTA games set in the 2000s were not only stunning reflections of the period, but they pushed the series forward both from a technical and writing standpoint, making it the best Grand Theft Auto decade out of them all.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/gta-setting-decade-all-grand-theft-auto-games/