Which GTA has the most crime-themed story?

[Algonquin Assassin]

For me it's GTA IV with an honourable mention to TLAD too.

 

In GTA IV I love that the majority of the side missions are centred around something actually illicit that ties in perfectly with Niko being a hired gun/hitman. Brucie's exotic exports are really fun to do and of course with Dwayne's back up it helps enhance the other combat style side missions.

 

TLAD does an amazing job of the biker theme and it resonates well with its side missions like Stubbs' dirty laundry, the bike thefts, gang wars etc.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Algonquin Assassin

[Excalibur Voltaire]

removed

Edited March 20, 2020 by Legion of Hell
Flashback

[Ondr4H]

Playing gta online and buying flying cars with sharkcards.

 

Because that is like killing gangster series based mostly on single player beloved by many fans, and ripping their hearts in process.

[Crimie]

GTA III - double crossed in a heist, escape the prison bus with 8Ball, laying low in Hepburn Heights/Red Light District, getting your foot in the door with the mob, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Madsen, Frank Vincent, the gangs, the spank, "The Getaway", "Bomb Da Base".........great underground feel on the streets and the radio

[Femme Fatale]

VCS, since you run an empire composed of drug running, protection rackets, prostitution, and other illegal activities.

[Matrelith]

Vice City really nailed the criminal aspect with Tommy going from rags to riches, where he ends up pretty much owning the entire city as a criminal boss. Another easy one would be Liberty City Stories with the whole mafia aspect of the game.

[Guest Billy Russo]

Probably GTA IV

 

The gritty feel of Liberty City just added to that.

 

Being chased through the streets was a thrill, as well on the highest police chases. I still think the Heist mission Three Leaf Clover is one of the best ones they've ever done. Might not be as long as the GTA V ones, but it was a thrill ride.

[Johnny Spaz]

TLaD

[Eugene H. Krabs]

Without a shadow of a doubt, GTA VCS.

[Piggsy pls]

VCS, IV, and TLAD have the biggest emphasis on criminality IMO.

[Maibatsu545]

III is pretty much that. You even start out as a wanted felon right off the bat.

[SinZer0s]

San Andreas and IV

[TommyPayne123]

GTA 3 and 4.

[killdrivetheftvehicle]

GTA IV and TLaD, because crime is not beautiful. I'd love a GTA IV complete remastered.

[Cryo The Hunter]

San Andreas and TLAD.

[Steezy.]

It really depends, since each game focuses on different kinds of crime.

 

When it comes to the drug dealing aspect of crime and having an empire over the city, I'd say VCS

 

 

When it comes to the more gritty aspects, like assassination and kidnapping and armed robbery, I'd say IV

 

Chinatown Wars is worth mentioning too, running around the city selling and buying all kinds of drugs while staying on your toes for police ambushes and always keeping an eye on the day and time for deadlines and new deals, all in between the actual missions itself, which puts you in the middle of an in gang conflict with the Triads.

[jaljax]

GTA VCS & IV for me

[Bratva Assassin]

GTA 4, TLAD, and TBoGT, with San Andreas and Vice City being a close second and third.

[BoulderFaceplant]

Claude and Tommy are close, but I'm giving the edge to Tommy because the amount of power he gains is obscene.

[universetwisters]

LCS because you're always doing menial errands.

[Yinepi]

I can't help but to feel GTAIII did criminality the best. From the beginning of the game Claude is betrayed and left for dead in a city completely unknown to him. Giving insight into how the criminal underworld you were about to embark into operates. After that Claude is seen using a prison convoy ambush and terrorist attack toward his advantage, subetly indicating to us that quick thinking is pivitol to success in GTAIII. Then after escaping incarceration and playing Mr. Pimp for a brief moment, you're put out into the streets of a city where it's biggest asset is the fact that it has none. If you wanted to acquire a fancy new sports car or a high end M4 rifle? You had to search for it. There wasn't an actual map (radar doesn't count) so you, the player, were forced to scout the city on your own and try to find the quickest routes.

 

Unlike the succeeding games, in GTAIII's world there were no distractions from being a criminal. The game play itself really focused down on that. More than GTAIV I'd say.

 

You couldn't hang out with friends and play pool.

You couldn't go base jumping.

There was no deep sea diving.

You couldn't buy new clothes.

 

In GTAIII's grim grey city, all you had to do was not follow that proverbial train, but rather steal it and use it toward your advantage.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Yinepi

[GTA-Biker]

GTA SA-while the story goes all over the place in SF and LV,during the LS parts it really feels like CJ is a street gang member,recruiting your homies, driving around in a lowrider, doing drive by on rival gangs, having gang wars to take over rival gang's turfs...

GTA VCS-the empire building really feels like being a 1980s Miami drug lord

GTA TLAD-R* did quite a good job of making a game where you play as an outlaw biker (along with Road Rash,it's the best biker game IMO),from riding in formation with your club brothers, to stealing bikes for Angus, to shootouts with AOD

GTA 3 and 4-both games did a good job of showing how Claude and Niko went from small time thugs to the most notorious hired hitmen in the city (VC also did similar,except that Tommy was a gangster instead of a hitman)

[Rhoda]

I think I felt more like a criminal playing IV for the first time. As Niko, I'd literally been thrown off a boat and after a brief (but gutting) realisation that my streets weren't paved with gold, I was left sleeping on a broken sofa bed and fending for myself in a country that already hates me. I had almost no money, and earned so little at first I wondered why the hell I was even bothering. I wound up mugging people in the street just for pocket change.

 

This changed somewhat in V when I first gained control of Trevor, who seemed to be a criminal just for the sheer love of it. It didn't feel right if I wasn't committing some sort of mis-deed in some fashion.

[Algonquin Assassin]

I can't help but to feel GTAIII did criminality the best. From the beginning of the game Claude is betrayed and left for dead in a city completely unknown to him. Giving insight into how the criminal underworld you were about to embark into operates. After that Claude is seen using a prison convoy ambush and terrorist attack toward his advantage, subetly indicating to us that quick thinking is pivitol to success in GTAIII. Then after escaping incarceration and playing Mr. Pimp for a brief moment, you're put out into the streets of a city where it's biggest asset is the fact that it has none. If you wanted to acquire a fancy new sports car or a high end M4 rifle? You had to search for it. There wasn't an actual map (radar doesn't count) so you, the player, were forced to scout the city on your own and try to find the quickest routes.

 

Unlike the succeeding games, in GTAIII's world there were no distractions from being a criminal. The game play itself really focused down on that. More than GTAIV I'd say.

 

You couldn't hang out with friends and play pool.

You couldn't go base jumping.

There was no deep sea diving.

You couldn't buy new clothes.

 

In GTAIII's grim grey city, all you had to do was not follow that proverbial train, but rather steal it and use it toward your advantage.

 

This is a great point. Playing GTA III for the first time was something truly unique. The fact as someone else said above you were a wanted felon from the get go made it feel even more powerful.

 

Even though in GTA IV we arrive in the city as an illegal immigrant we still had somewhere to go in the form of Roman and it didn't take long to start feeling more comfortable slowing making friends and whatnot. In GTA III it basically makes you feel like a fugitive on the run.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Algonquin Assassin

[Crossbones]

Obviously its GTA IV for me.

[Rumblebud]

-

Edited November 7, 2019 by Benny Guy

[iiCriminnaaL]

The Lost and Damned; it's all crime-ridden, from the plot, to the cast, the side-missions, activities, weapons, and even the HUD and fonts reflect that.

Edited April 12, 2019 by iiCriminnaaL 49

[TheSantader25]

SA. It captures many different areas of crime. More than any other GTA. 

[Typhus]

IV wanted to create that feeling, but I would argue it never quite reached the level of Grand Theft Auto III in that regard. How could it with such a rich narrative? Niko goes from rags to better rags, sure, but along the way he gets revenge on the man who screwed him and his friends, and he makes a whole bunch of new friends who he clearly cares about. He goes from this outsider grappling with PTSD and depression to someone who is genuinely loved and has connections all over the city. It's bittersweet in places, but Niko wins.

But Fido? His safehouses are all drab and filthy, he starts out as a goon and ends the game as one, he betrays everyone around him as soon as the opportunity arises. Even if Niko comes the closest, no other protagonist has felt as mercenary and heartless as him, or inhabited a world which seems so hopeless and sleazy.

[Mister Pink]

For me, Vice City due to Vercetti's drive to take over Vice City and pull-out all the stops. Because Vercetti was kind of driven by his own greed. I mean, he's a wiseguy that did a lot of time. Now he's out in Vice City in the height of a cocaine epidemic. For a player, that seemed pretty fun. 

 

San Andreas too, due to taking over territories, pimping missions, graffiti tags, killing that guy in the black vest that always had 2G's on him, the introduction of stabbing people from behind among many other things. Only thing about SA is that although CJ would have participated in some of those things anyway, half of the stuff he did wasn't out of greed but more  just to rescue his brother and he fought or at least was vocal about his detestation of that guy being kept as a crack slave and the crack ruining the community. He was more moralistic than Vercetti. 

 

Then we have Niko. He was driven by vengeance and I don't think by greed or power. It was kind of a moral/emotional crusade Niko went on. So kind of agreeing with what Typhus said too. 

 

I think the GTA game that makes me feel that the character is just out for himself (in a lovable way) makes it for me feeling more "criminal." Because if a GTA character is morally driven to kill a bad guy, it's not so bad. But if a GTA character is out to kill for money and profit, that to me is more devastating. And Trevor could have been that guy but Trevor was so annoying. I had no empathy/sympathy for him. But Vertcetti did time and was f*cked over by his "family" as was CJ, so instantly I was on their sides.