Has any game ever topped this?

Was there ever a sandbox game before GTA ? Not saying GTA was a goddamn revolution in gaming..but it was still innovative nonetheless.

With that said though..the series has definitely been in decline, especially story wise as the makers are clearly running out of inspiration. But that shouldn't take credit away from where it's due.

And cmon..who isn't a fan of Lazlow Jones ?! GTA will always have the best radio stations

Old habits die hard, so I can definitely see myself picking up a copy of GTA5 when it releases.

Rockstar is my shepherd...I shall not want. ( Red Dead, Bully, Max Payne, Manhunt, Midtown Madness..these guys know how to entertain )

I would give you GTA 3 which was highly innovative. Every other game after it was adding extra things, changing the story, the characters, and the setting.

As for the story, I read books, and watch movies. GTA is mediocre at best when it comes to story telling, as it sells no atmosphere and the stories are repetitive garbage more fit for B-Movies. This whole "living the American dream" thing was done by Scarface, and the GTA franchise have never been about story as about steeling cars, and causing hell.

The movies you mentioned are very good and are well done, that the GTA story appeals to you is frankly surprising.

Dude, I've been playing GTA since it was available on the computer and you could only play with that birds eye view. I'm not trying to take anything away from GTA, I play and enjoy this game, but I often find myself getting bored with this series. They have introduced new stories and characters, but essentially the game has remained the same (story wise). You go around completing missions and killing people, am I really supposed to be impressed with that. The game is fun to play, but it's not going anywhere near my top 10-20 games.

P.S. I wasn't serious about the movie thing, but I did enjoy your list of movies.

Lord Spencer wrote:I would give you GTA 3 which was highly innovative. Every other game after it was adding extra things, changing the story, the characters, and the setting.

As for the story, I read books, and watch movies. GTA is mediocre at best when it comes to story telling, as it sells no atmosphere and the stories are repetitive garbage more fit for B-Movies. This whole "living the American dream" thing was done by Scarface, and the GTA franchise have never been about story as about steeling cars, and causing hell.

The movies you mentioned are very good and are well done, that the GTA story appeals to you is frankly surprising.

I don't play GTA for the story, tbh. That's not the strong part of the game, the overall sandbox experience, the ability to do what you want when you want is why I play GTA. I know some people who have the game and don't even play the storyline, they roam and cause havoc or they play online(which is underrated). And I disagree that it has no atmosphere, the atmosphere and overall vibe in GTA:VC, San Andreas and even 3 specifically are pretty great.

The story-line? there are SO MANY people these days who just ignore the singleplayer story-line in total. I was playing Crysis 2 for 2 weeks before I started singleplayer and Just Cause 2 (imo, the greatest sandbox game ever), I had been free-roaming for a solid 100 days before I even did the first mission.

Why don't we talk about the graphics? and how whenever a new GTA comes out, the grpahics are always mind-blowing
And the GTA gameplay is FANTASTIC! the cares you drive, the guns you shoot and the realism of the game.

The GTA series (along with Final Fantasy, Call of Duty and Super Mario) will go down as one of the most iconic gaming series EVER

In terms of multiplayer, NOTHING has ever topped this franchise.

Decent storyline too

Talking about innovation- Starcraft revolutionized RTS's