GTA series - whats the best of the bunch

[undercovergeek]

Reading a lot of stuff about Watchdogs, not a lot of happy people out there but a lot of references to GTA and how Watchdogs doesnt compare. I dont see the GTA range mentioned often

Looking for a bit of guidance on the series. I played the top down original and San Andreas on PS2

I have a PC that will play any of them on decent settings and a PS3

So which ones the best and which format?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

4 is the only one that's worthwhile.

I'd recommend Sleeping Dogs over GTA though. 

[W8taminute]

I liked V better than IV.  My all time favorite though was Vice City but that is going to look dated compared to today's games.

[smittyohio]

I liked V better than IV.  My all time favorite though was Vice City but that is going to look dated compared to today's games.

It's not even so much the visuals as the controls... I tried playing it with a keyboard / mouse, and it just is almost unbearable, especially the driving.   There are hacks to get it to somewhat work with a controller, but it wasn't worth it for me. 

[RooksBailey]

Reading a lot of stuff about Watchdogs, not a lot of happy people out there but a lot of references to GTA and how Watchdogs doesnt compare. I dont see the GTA range mentioned often

Yeah, Watch_Dogs seems to be yet another sloppy, over-hyped console port based on what I am reading.  Shame, I was looking forward to it.  Fortunately, unlike a lot of other people, I knew better than to pre-order.   ;)

As for GTA, the best one for the PC is GTA IV.  To be honest, I never cared for it.  I think I played it for four hours before deleting it from my HDD.  But your mileage might vary.

Like others have said, Sleeping Dogs is also a good open-city type of game that you might want to consider.   And I also heartily recommend Saints Row III and IV.  Even Prototype I and II can be fun in a similar vein.

[RooksBailey]

I was poking around the Steam GTA IV forum and discovered something important: if you are running Win 8, there seems to be a good probability that you will have a devil of a time getting this game to run.  Seems people are getting all sorts of compatibility errors that are difficult to resolve.   So, keep that in mind if you are still considering getting GTA IV. 

[Yskonyn]

I found the story in most GTA games top notch and super fun, although I cafés the least for SAN Andreas' gangbanger storyline.
The territory in the game was huge though, so as a sandbox lots of fun to be had!

Story-wise my favorite is the latest game, though. Its brilliant in every single way and characters are memorable. Even the smaller roles.

What I dont like about V though is that the threshold of vehicles dissapearing when out of view is much closer than in earlier games.
Note that I only play it on the X360 so it might be a limitation of the relative age of the system compared with the amount of content and quality of visuals the game has.
But it prevents you to make those big old fashioned road crossing blockades and cause huge explosions; every time you wander off a bit to far to get the next car your pileup behind you vanishes and traffic starts to move again.
No idea if this is different on PC.

But for a fun experience with lots of content you can't go wrong with any of the games I feel. :)

[skeptical.platypus]

4 is the only one that's worthwhile.

I'd recommend Sleeping Dogs over GTA though.

Very much agreed re Sleeping Dogs. As far as open world games I've played, it's Skyrim, Sleeping Dogs, and GTA IV, in that order.

I haven't played GTA V (I can't handle controllers), but GTA IV is the best of 1-4.

[undercovergeek]

Is 4 playable with keyboard and mouse then? I see its only 19.99 on steam

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Yup, that's how I played it.

If you're not in any particular hurry, I'd suggest holding off for now.  Both Sleeping Dogs and GTA IV go on sale quite frequently and you'll likely be able to get one or the other for $5 or so within a few weeks.

EDIT: In fact, using that handy isthereanydeal link GR provided, I see that Sleeping Dogs is on for $5 right now.  Never used this company myself though.

http://www.gametap-shop.com/buy-download-pc-games/Sleeping-Dogs---Digital-Edition-2437-13.html

[RooksBailey]

I just wanted to follow up on my warning about people with Win 8 experiencing difficulties running the game.  I just reinstalled my copy and gave it a run with no problems save the need to remove GfWL (you can't save a game with it running).  There is a file you can download to disable GfWL, so that takes care of that (but it DOES prevent you from playing online). 

[Lord Zimoa]

Enjoying very much GTA V and I recommend GTA V Online as well, especially playing with friends or crews is utterly fun!

I would play the whole GTA V SP game first though, before plunging into GTA V Online, but it is the best game of the series and now I`me looking forward to the expansions.

Like mentioned before by some here, the characters, the story, the details , the jokes....  all is so well done. Fluid UI and gameplay, Rockstar deserves all the credit... the game plays perfect on a console.

GTA V and GTA V online are just one of the best that are out there at the moment in open world fun gaming.

Also a rumor is Read Dead Redemption 2 and RDR2 Online is in the works? I  miss Mr. Marston... would be cool to see him back.

[jomni]

Not GTA but if you're after similar game style, Pandemic's Mercenaries series is recommended. There are no silly crime spree plots.

Sleeping dogs is really good. Love the story and hand to hand combat mechanics.

[Jarhead0331]

GTA V is the best of the series, without question, however, it is not available on PC. It is only on console. Of the PC titles, GTA IV is the best and there are some excellent mods out for it, as well.

Sleeping Dogs is a great game too, but I would not put it ahead of GTA IV as far as open world games go. In Sleeping Dogs, I found less incentive to really deviate from the main story and explore the world. so once I completed the story, I had no desire to go back and play anymore.  That being said, the story was great and held my attention through completion, which is exceedingly rare for me these days.

[undercovergeek]

thanks for all comments guys - i think im going to go for IV on the PC

mods you say JH?