[Swan]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

GTA3 has a very important place in gaming history. It’s not just the first 3D GTA game, it paved the way for the entire 3rd person open world genre which is one of the most common/popular game for mates to this day.

… HOWEVER … personally I consider it somewhat of a tech demo. It was essentially Rockstar showing what they could create, in terms of a gameplay engine. A prototype basically. Vice City was when they really refined it into something special (and also when mainstream popularity exploded) , and San Andreas showed the possibilities in terms of expanding the scope of these games.

In my opinion, the gaming “landmarks” in the GTA series are GTA 1, Vice City, and 5.

I dunno, the size of SA, the story, the attention to detail. I would say III, VC and SA are all landmark games in their own right.