While I was playing Grand Theft Auto IV yesterday, I realized how much fun the previous Grand Theft Auto games had been. Yes, Grand Theft Auto IV is, without a doubt, the most technically impressive game in the GTA franchise. However, my opinion stands, now much firmer than ever before, that Grand Theft Auto III is the funnest in the series. Yeah, yea, it mainstreamed the idea of an open world, a sandbox in which we can progress in uniform linearity or go totally bonkers with non-linearity, but I feel that what makes it better then it's sequels and prequels is that it has the greatest "campaign".

First of all, what does the word "campaign" mean when applying it to such an open game like Grand Theft Auto? Well, in the game there are missions that you can choose to do if you get bored stealing taxis from indian people and running over innocent pedestrians. It seems that you can do these missions out of order, but eventually some employers will disappear/die, and sometimes a major event occurs in the plot line. In GTA IV, they put a ridiculous amount of effort into everything in that damn game, including the campaign, and not excluding the multiplayer. However, I bet if they weren't busy with multiplayer, they would've had more time to make the campaign even better than it is now.

Don't get me wrong here, GTA IV's story is the best of the franchise, and it's missions are unbelievably enjoyable, better then the missions in GTA III. They're complicated, smart, and sometimes wicked difficult. If I could go back in time, there is nothing I would change about that game. Nothing. But then why do I think GTA III is a better game? Because, and I know this sounds stupid, they didn't put as much effort into it.

Back then, Rockstar didn't have such the large budget they do now, because to be honest, GTA I & 2 just weren't that good. All Rockstar had going for Grand Theft Auto III was the non-linearity and the missions. Therefore, when I was playing the game, I couldn't shake off the feeling that the open nature of the game was actually just a vehicle to deliver the missions, and since there wasn't much more to the game, I ended up giving all my attention to the story, missions, and action. It's like the first time you watch Star Wars IV. Or the first time you read The Hobbit. There's an aroma; a pleasuring, sweet feeling I get whenever I think about pulling indians out of taxis and running over innocent pedestrians in great, not-so-big Liberty City.

Oh and Claude is BAMF.