Best GTA Game of the 3D Universe Era

[Lucas88]

I'm not much of a gamer but I'm a huge fan of the GTA games from the 3D universe era which I think is absolutely legendary.

The first installment of the GTA 3D universe was GTA 3 which was released in 2001. In addition to being the third game in the broader series, GTA 3 also just so happened to be the first 3D GTA game following the older top-down 2D games of the 90s. GTA 3 is set in Liberty City, a fictionalized version of New York. It follows the revenge story of a mute criminal known only as Claude. The game has an Italian American mafioso theme and takes much of its inspiration from movies and TV shows such as Goodfellas, Casino and Sopranos. GTA 3 was the first of its kind and truly a revolutionary game at the time of its release.

A year later GTA 3 was followed by GTA Vice City, a critically acclaimed masterpiece which took the franchise's popularity to a whole new level. GTA Vice City is based in 80s Vice City, a fictionalized version of Miami. This time the game follows rogue mobster Tommy Vercetti's rise to the top of the city's criminal underworld and his rebellion against his back-stabbing mafia superior Sonny Forelli. The game's setting is very Scarface-esque, although there are also strong influences from Miami Vice and other 80s TV shows. GTA Vice City features many real-life classic 80s hits on the city's fictitious radio stations and is full of 80s cultural references. This ensured that it would capture the hearts of a generation.

In 2004 Rockstar released yet another GTA game, this time GTA San Andreas, which would become a fan favorite. Unlike its predecessors, GTA San Andreas is set in three different cities. These are Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas, which are based on Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas respectively. The game follows "CJ" Carl Johnson's struggle to survive in the hood and then his unexpected rise to the top in the casino business. It is strongly influenced by early 90s African-American gang culture and the Compton Riots of 1992. GTA San Andreas is the largest and most diverse GTA game of the 3D universe era. It really does deserve the praise which it has received.

In 2005 and 2006 two lesser known GTA games were released on PSP but would then be ported to the PS2. These were Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, two prequels for GTA 3 and GTA Vice City. LCS is set in 1998 and follows the rise to greatness of Tony Cipriani, a member of the Leone Family Mafia. He leads the Leones in a violent turf war against rival mafias the Sindaccos and the Forellis and eventually gets made. VCS is set in 1984 and follows the turbulent life of Victor Vance who is roped into Vice City's criminal underworld after getting kicked out of the military. VCS is also steeped in 80s culture and features an awesome soundtrack. The only reason why it didn't became popular was because it was never released on PC.

The above are the five GTA games of the 3D universe era. Which do you think is the best and what are your reasons?

@Pixel--Dude and I have had discussions about this topic in real life. @E Irizarry R&B Singer is a gamer. Have you played the old-school GTA games? @WanderingProtagonist is into games from the early to mid 2000s. What's your take on this? @WilliamSmith hasn't played the GTA games because of the gratuitous violence but maybe you'd find them fun to play on your boat with some hot Black girlfriend. What about you, @Outcast9428? Ever played GTA? Who else on this forum is a GTA fan?

[Lucas88]

While the title for number one is usually disputed between Vice City and San Andreas, I myself hold the minority opinion that Vice City's prequel Vice City Stories is the best game of the 3D universe era.

Vice City Stories is the best for the following reasons:

VCS has a plot just as developed as that of San Andreas and more developed than that of Vice City. While Vice City merely features a generic mobster story reminiscent of Scarface and a basic protagonist without much depth, VCS' Victor Vance is actually a fleshed out relatable character who has a believable backstory (he needs money to look after his sick brother), psychological depth, deep emotional connections with other characters, and signs of remorse after committing criminal acts. Victor is a good guy who is forced to do bad things due to his unfavorable circumstances. VCS actually has some good storytelling.

VCS' soundtrack is even better than Vice City's. While Vice City features more well-known hits which quintessentially define the 80s, VCS not only offers a broader selection of music but also includes many classic hits of its own as well as some rare gems. Just look at Emotion 98.3. It has the likes of Dan Hartman, Pat Benatar, Foreigner and The Motels. Flash FM has Nick Kershaw, Laura Branigan, The Alan Parsons Project and Genesis. V-Rock has Dio, Dokken, Queensrÿche and Ratt. Paradise FM and VCFL have an assortment of awesome Funk, Soul, Disco and Jazz music. Radio Espantoso has Tito Puente, Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe and Celia Cruz. Magnificent!

Here is a full list of the radio station tracks in VCS: https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Radio_Stati ... ty_Stories

VCS features creative and challenging missions almost from the start. There's almost no filler even at the beginning of the game. After the first introductory mission you're straight in and doing serious missions against baddass enemies and with unique objectives. The original Vice City was rather weak in terms of its mission content but VCS nails it with the missions.

VCS' map is similar to that of VC albeit set two years prior. It has quite a few topological differences and can look quite exotic to a player used to the original game. VCS' map obviously isn't a large or well-developed as that of San Andreas but it still has its charm and sufficiently oozes the 80s Miami vibe.

VCS also has some unique game mechanics. Although Victor cannot fly military jets, climb or dive like CJ can in San Andreas, he can grapple opponents during fights and perform ground 'n' pound techniques on a downed opponent. The shooting mechanics are also pretty good too. Pretty neat!

In short, VCS is not only a very underrated GTA game but is even in my opinion a sneaky underdog which unexpectedly breaks into the title hunt and ends up snatching the gold from under the established contenders' noses.

The original Vice City and San Andreas are also two excellent GTA games. I think that Vice City has the better atmosphere with its legendary soundtrack and 80s Miami theme but San Andreas definitely has the better game mechanics and mission content. What a lot of people don't realize is that Vice City is a game which was developed in the most chaotic manner imaginable (it was originally going to be an additional location in GTA 3 but then Rockstar decided to make it into its own game) yet miraculously turned out to be a masterpiece. But it still wasn't able to mask all of its flaws which are evident to the more observant gamers.

[WanderingProtagonist]

I'm not much of a gamer but I'm a huge fan of the GTA games from the 3D universe era which I think is absolutely legendary.

The first installment of the GTA 3D universe was GTA 3 which was released in 2001. In addition to being the third game in the broader series, GTA 3 also just so happened to be the first 3D GTA game following the older top-down 2D games of the 90s. GTA 3 is set in Liberty City, a fictionalized version of New York. It follows the revenge story of a mute criminal known only as Claude. The game has an Italian American mafioso theme and takes much of its inspiration from movies and TV shows such as Goodfellas, Casino and Sopranos. GTA 3 was the first of its kind and truly a revolutionary game at the time of its release.

A year later GTA 3 was followed by GTA Vice City, a critically acclaimed masterpiece which took the franchise's popularity to a whole new level. GTA Vice City is based in 80s Vice City, a fictionalized version of Miami. This time the game follows rogue mobster Tommy Vercetti's rise to the top of the city's criminal underworld and his rebellion against his back-stabbing mafia superior Sonny Forelli. The game's setting is very Scarface-esque, although there are also strong influences from Miami Vice and other 80s TV shows. GTA Vice City features many real-life classic 80s hits on the city's fictitious radio stations and is full of 80s cultural references. This ensured that it would capture the hearts of a generation.

In 2004 Rockstar released yet another GTA game, this time GTA San Andreas, which would become a fan favorite. Unlike its predecessors, GTA San Andreas is set in three different cities. These are Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas, which are based on Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas respectively. The game follows "CJ" Carl Johnson's struggle to survive in the hood and then his unexpected rise to the top in the casino business. It is strongly influenced by early 90s African-American gang culture and the Compton Riots of 1992. GTA San Andreas is the largest and most diverse GTA game of the 3D universe era. It really does deserve the praise which it has received.

In 2005 and 2006 two lesser known GTA games were released on PSP but would then be ported to the PS2. These were Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, two prequels for GTA 3 and GTA Vice City. LCS is set in 1998 and follows the rise to greatness of Tony Cipriani, a member of the Leone Family Mafia. He leads the Leones in a violent turf war against rival mafias the Sindaccos and the Forellis and eventually gets made. VCS is set in 1984 and follows the turbulent life of Victor Vance who is roped into Vice City's criminal underworld after getting kicked out of the military. VCS is also steeped in 80s culture and features an awesome soundtrack. The only reason why it didn't became popular was because it was never released on PC.

The above are the five GTA games of the 3D universe era. Which do you think is the best and what are your reasons?

@Pixel--Dude and I have had discussions about this topic in real life. @E Irizarry R&B Singer is a gamer. Have you played the old-school GTA games? @WanderingProtagonist is into games from the early to mid 2000s. What's your take on this? @WilliamSmith hasn't played the GTA games because of the gratuitous violence but maybe you'd find them fun to play on your boat with some hot Black girlfriend. What about you, @Outcast9428? Ever played GTA? Who else on this forum is a GTA fan?

Didn't too much like GTA that much, although I played the fourth game the most mainly because the cheats made it enjoyable. Hated San Andreas boys in the hood tone and characters. GTAV was boring, I hated the grading system because I could never get high ratings for every mission, the characters weren't any good and you had a large city with very little to do in it.

Although GTA6 is being developed during a time of wokeness take over, so a female lead will probably appear in that one (chances are she'll be a black or a ratchet white female), and already I'm put off by that idea so I won't even bother to touch that one since it's hard for me to play as women characters. Back in the past, I didn't mind, but by today's standards hell no the type of males they have running games now and making suggestions to developers aren't the kind of guys I'd consider friends but cuckold p***y worshipping dweebs that love to ruin stuff with their shit ideas. I remember on stream someone was saying it should be a pregnant teenager as the main lead, and he got all MTV about it, not even 90s MTV but MTV in it's current form. I swear I wanted to drop kick that guy out of a window. Chances are it'll still be a successful game no matter what they do. GTA is one of those products that can probably get away with going woke like Star Wars did even though a lot of people said they hated it. But the movies still made millions/billions regardless.

I had a lot of fun with games in the past, not so much anymore since I can barely concentrate without having negative thoughts all the time. But I am looking forward to seeing what Capcom does with Dragons Dogma 2 at least.

[kangarunner]

I haven't gamed in a while, but occasionally I will to take my mind off everything. I look at the games the younger generation is playing now (Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077) and they're out of this world. Honestly, there's a magic to growing up and playing video games. Zelda Ocarina of Time is a magical game that I still have good memories for.

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

San Andres GTA is king of all GTAs IMHO. I'm not really a gamer, and I suck most of the time. Typically, gamers are really good.

[Outcast9428]

I played GTA 4 a lot back in middle school but never played any of the games mentioned. San Andreas seems like a good one. I remember I didn’t buy it because I thought it looked too old but it seems worth checking out.

[WilliamSmith]

@WilliamSmith hasn't played the GTA games because of the gratuitous violence but maybe you'd find them fun to play on your boat with some hot Black girlfriend.

Yeah, it wasn't just the violence (which I like in a more macho heroic context), but me not liking watching my friends sitting around in a cloud of pot smoke brutalizing random innocent people in that game for no good reason. It's the amorality (or outright immorality) that bothers me. I noticed that gradually changing as a lad when there was always a masculine heroic ethic and a nice "rescue the babes" vibe in a lot of early 80s-90s action movies, but it got worse and worse with less masculine men and what felt like a deliberate slide into amorality.
I wonder if @gsjackson has any comment on this, because he also has been red pilled a long time and commented on related topics in your thought provoking "zeitgest" thread elsewhere...

Anyway, this dynamic of removing masculinity and also injecting amorality really consciously bothered me in the Matrix film where the faggots that made that POS film had that scene where they play dumbass Dust Brothers "breakbeats" while the supposed beta male hero shoots up a bunch of friendly security guards.
That was one of the last movies I ever watched in a theatre, I was so disgusted with it. Geez, I sound serious... Actually I like Keanu Reeves (always been a big fan of Johnny Mnemonic and like him in other films as well, LOL), it was that movie I utterly hated, not him, though I stand by my remark about beta male heroes because it was obvious hollywood deliberately got rid of real masculine muscleman leading men like they had in the 80s and early-mid 90's and started putting in wussier men on purpose (even if some of the less impressive actors like Reeves or Nicholas Cage could theoretically have played more masculine roles if the producer/directors had given them the opportunity, but they didn't)....

Anyway, I think I also mentioned the overall gansta rap and drugs and lowlife culture of which GTA was only a part got various kids I used to think of as "the little kids" at school into various acts of idiocy like incompetent convenience store hold-ups and other nonsense, so that was what I was referring to before....

However, I'm not actually that hardcore against GTA, because it's a game you could choose to play in a different way (unlike the shit jew propaganda hollywood films): I actaully listen to the Tangerine Dream synth soundtrack pieces from that game all the time, as it happens.
But if I played some of the open-ended GTA titles (especially along with ladies of choice like you mentioned), I wouldn't play it in that insalubrious way my pot-head friends or wanna-be gangsta youth do, I bet it'd be really fun and I'd never waste time in random acts of violence against civilians like my dumbass friends.

Not sure if I'd ever get to these titles or not, because I was out of gaming for a long time because of other priorities, but now have gotten an Oculus Quest and think it's pretty badass!

One other reason I wasn't into these games was something always felt lame to me about violence via handheld controller while I was just sitting there in reality, but damn, with VR in full surround 3d kicking some ass against the bad guys who actually deserve it (ravening legions of undead, orcs, enemy warlords, or other boxing gym heavies in Thrill of the Fight, for example) and using my entire body (even though the striking obviously lacks the same impact), I've never had as much fun with video game ass-kicking as I have in these past few days messing with my new Oculus headset....

[NPCslammer]

GTA sucks. Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row 3 and 4, the Mafia series, and Watch Dogs are all similar to GTA, but superior in every way. Best games Rockstar made were Red Dead Redemption and the Max Payne series.

[NPCslammer]

GTA sucks. Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row 3 and 4, the Mafia series, and Watch Dogs are all similar to GTA, but superior in every way. Best games Rockstar made were Red Dead Redemption and the Max Payne series.

[NPCslammer]

GTA sucks. Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row 3 and 4, the Mafia series, and Watch Dogs are all similar to GTA, but superior in every way. Best games Rockstar made were Red Dead Redemption and the Max Payne series.

[Lucas88]

However, I'm not actually that hardcore against GTA, because it's a game you could choose to play in a different way (unlike the shit jew propaganda hollywood films): I actaully listen to the Tangerine Dream synth soundtrack pieces from that game all the time, as it happens.
But if I played some of the open-ended GTA titles (especially along with ladies of choice like you mentioned), I wouldn't play it in that insalubrious way my pot-head friends or wanna-be gangsta youth do, I bet it'd be really fun and I'd never waste time in random acts of violence against civilians like my dumbass friends.

I myself never kill innocent people in GTA games and indeed the games never require you to do so if you play them the normal way. The player only has to kill no-good gangbangers, scumbag drug dealers, bent cops and law enforcement, unscrupulous two-bit mafia bosses and corrupt politicians, all of which I'm fine with. I too hate seeing players killing innocent pedestrians. It has always struck me as distasteful. I understand that GTA is an open-world sandbox game with almost unlimited freedom but I don't see any need to take advantage of that just like I don't in real life. I don't even kill prostitutes in order to get my money back after the act like some players do. The prostitutes are doing an important job in Vice City or San Andreas or wherever the particular GTA game is set and it's easy enough to make money in the game anyway. I never play the games like an amoral degenerate.

From time to time though @Pixel--Dude and I input the "peds have weapons" and "peds riot" cheats so that everybody is armed and dangerous and then we play this game which we made up ourselves in which the player is a Russian soldier who descends from the sky in a seaplane and must invade Vice City and kill as many American enemies (ZOG agents) as possible until being either arrested or killed by the FBI or military. This is what we do for a bit of fun when we can't be bothered to do the regular missions. I told my mum about the game we made up and how we imagine that we are a Russian soldier invading America. My mum was shocked and asked me why we don't play as a Ukrainian soldier fighting again Russia! I told her that Pixel--Dude and I believe that the West and NATO are the real bad guys and so we'd rather play as a Russian! Why did I open my mouth? My mum started with her hysterical anti-Putin tub-thumping and told me that I should watch the BBC! But I'd rather play Vice City and lose myself in my own fantasies about fighting against the US ZOG!

The appeal of GTA isn't just the open-world sandbox though. The music and cultural references from the 80s and 90s are absolutely awesome and just get you immersed in the game as though you were in a real city. Imagine cruising through the streets in a beautiful sportscar or any other kind of vehicle listening to the likes of Michael Jackson and Laura Branigan and performing drivebys with an uzi on some no-good gangbangers who've done something to deserve it and then being chased by the cops, swat team or FBI as part of an objective-based mission. It's just so fun!

Yeah, it wasn't just the violence (which I like in a more macho heroic context), but me not liking watching my friends sitting around in a cloud of pot smoke brutalizing random innocent people in that game for no good reason. It's the amorality (or outright immorality) that bothers me. I noticed that gradually changing as a lad when there was always a masculine heroic ethic and a nice "rescue the babes" vibe in a lot of early 80s-90s action movies, but it got worse and worse with less masculine men and what felt like a deliberate slide into amorality.
I wonder if @gsjackson has any comment on this, because he also has been red pilled a long time and commented on related topics in your thought provoking "zeitgest" thread elsewhere...

Anyway, this dynamic of removing masculinity and also injecting amorality really consciously bothered me in the Matrix film where the faggots that made that POS film had that scene where they play dumbass Dust Brothers "breakbeats" while the supposed beta male hero shoots up a bunch of friendly security guards.

My brother and I were actually talking about this same topic the other day. We reminisced about how the protagonists of older games were masculine baddass men who knew how to kick ass and lamented how the protagonists of newer games are less masculine, a bit faggy or even in the worst cases LGBT characters which reflect "woke" sensitivities. @WanderingProtagonist would have a field day with this one! The dudes who made the Matrix film actually had sex changes and became trannies, by the way. Now they're known as the Wachowski sisters. I always thought that the Matrix was overrated as f**k. I never thought much of it.

I played GTA 4 a lot back in middle school but never played any of the games mentioned. San Andreas seems like a good one. I remember I didn’t buy it because I thought it looked too old but it seems worth checking out.

San Andreas is an awesome GTA game which many old-school fans regard as superior to both GTA 4 and GTA 5 in terms of gameplay. It was recently remastered and is now available with improved graphics and a modern control scheme as part of the GTA Definitive Edition. I really recommend it now that it's available for PS4 and PS5.

[WilliamSmith]

@Lucas88 that whole post was awesome, fun stories and you make a great case for enjoying GTA games, though I'm pretty sure I'm going to be set on VR for quite awhile since I really like the somewhat practical boxing game Thrill of the Fight, as well as all those other ones I just stacked up. I am going to eventually get around to watching the whole Miami Vice complete seasons DVDs I bought.

But goddamn.... The Wachoski brothers... now sisters??

My brother and I were actually talking about this same topic the other day. We reminisced about how the protagonists of older games were masculine baddass men who knew how to kick ass and lamented how the protagonists of newer games are less masculine, a bit faggy or even in the worst cases LGBT characters which reflect "woke" sensitivities. @WanderingProtagonist would have a field day with this one! The dudes who made the Matrix film actually had sex changes and became trannies, by the way. Now they're known as the Wachowski sisters. I always thought that the Matrix was overrated as f**k. I never though much of it.

I thought those two little jew mutants and the Matrix were assholes before, now they're in on the abomination of transgenderism, LOL. You can't make this !@#$ up.............

Edit: I'm updating this post because I found an article going into some detail about that POS film and its disgusting content's links to the abomination of judaism:

https://www.hillel.org/about/news-views ... the-matrix

The secret Jewish history of The Matrix
Queens College Hillel’s night at the movies
by Hillel News | Dec 19, 2019 |
Queens College Hillel presented its very first Movie Night on Nov. 7 at the Hillel Ellen Koppelman Lounge, where participants discussed the Jewish interpretation of 1999 film The Matrix.

The discussion, led by Hillel’s Rabbi Sara Zacharia and senior media studies major Meira Lamm, was held after a group viewing of the film. The discussion drew parallels from the movie to Judaism, with some themes being obvious and others more subtle.

Directed by sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski, The Matrix hit theaters in March 1999. The movie starred Keanu Reeves as the lead role “Neo,” Laurence Fishburne as his spiritual guide and sparring partner “Morpheus” and Carrie-Anne Moss as a computer hacker and Neo’s love interest.

The Matrix is a film about a dystopian society run by anthropomorphic machines who have enslaved humans by trapping them in a computer-simulation, for the sake of consuming their bioelectrical energy. The humans are, for the most part, unaware of their hypnosis, yet a select few have the special ability to distinguish reality from fantasy.

Thomas Anderson, a computer programmer who goes by the hacker name “Neo,” discovers the truth about his life and works to liberate the rest of his species.

During the discussion session following the movie, students observed that Morpheus’ hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar, is also a biblical reference to Nebuchadnezzar II, who is mentioned in the Book of Daniel.

Lamm recalled, “One of the most interesting connections someone made was the fact that Neo was the Moses of Judaism, and Morpheus was G-d.”

Nebuchadnezzar II was the Babylonian King of the Chaldean dynasty and is regarded as the most powerful king in Babylonian history. In Jewish history, he is known for destroying the Temple of Jerusalem and holding the Jewish population in captivity, just as the machines hold humans in captivity in the film.

The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar is trying to reach Zion, a refuge and the last human city.

Ilan Kogan, a junior psychology major, noted that a similar event had transpired in Jewish history: “The human race had been enslaved in the Matrix and had to be led out of slavery, much like the Jewish people in Egypt.”

Ultimately the characters make it to Zion, which is also the hill upon which the city of David was built, in what is known today as Israel. Zion is also a synonym of Jerusalem, the Holy Land.

Senior history major Elisheva Sternglass said that the protagonist reminded her of the prophesy Jewish Messiah, the savior of the Jewish nation: “When I was watching the film, I kept getting Messianic feels, like how someone is destined to swoop in and save everyone.”

Lamm agreed, adding that she was also reminded of someone: Moses, regarded as the most important prophet in Jewish history. “Both are tasked with leading their respective people through the hardships that they must endure at the hands of others.”

Rabbi Zacharia, or Rav Sara to her students, was inspired to host this event after a Hillel coffee date with a student. Over coffee, she and Lamm discovered that “...we both love film and then we discussed our favorites… we found we love The Matrix.” What followed was countless hours of prepping and spreading the word around about an event where the two could combine their passions - Judaic learning and movies!

Rabbi Zacharia said she learned a lot from the discussion, saying that her vision was to bring eager Jewish students together to extract Jewish contexts/metaphors from concepts that are not necessarily Jewish in theme.

“What I hope everyone went home with, is the feeling of Judaism in everything,” she said. “This movie is an example of how, sometimes, Judaism is right in front of us without us even realizing.”

Both women said they were gratified by how interested students were in pointing out similarities between their Jewish backgrounds and a movie that one wouldn’t be quick to label ‘Jewish.’

Zacharia and Lamm are currently working on the next event, which will be held sometime this spring. They are still browsing titles and are looking for recommendations. Ideas should be emailed to ravsara@qchillel.org.

--Veronica Kordmany

[WanderingProtagonist]

However, I'm not actually that hardcore against GTA, because it's a game you could choose to play in a different way (unlike the shit jew propaganda hollywood films): I actaully listen to the Tangerine Dream synth soundtrack pieces from that game all the time, as it happens.
But if I played some of the open-ended GTA titles (especially along with ladies of choice like you mentioned), I wouldn't play it in that insalubrious way my pot-head friends or wanna-be gangsta youth do, I bet it'd be really fun and I'd never waste time in random acts of violence against civilians like my dumbass friends.

I myself never kill innocent people in GTA games and indeed the games never require you to do so if you play them the normal way. The player only has to kill no-good gangbangers, scumbag drug dealers, bent cops and law enforcement, unscrupulous two-bit mafia bosses and corrupt politicians, all of which I'm fine with. I too hate seeing players killing innocent pedestrians. It has always struck me as distasteful. I understand that GTA is an open-world sandbox game with almost unlimited freedom but I don't see any need to take advantage of that just like I don't in real life. I don't even kill prostitutes in order to get my money back after the act like some players do. The prostitutes are doing an important job in Vice City or San Andreas or wherever the particular GTA game is set and it's easy enough to make money in the game anyway. I never play the games like an amoral degenerate.

From time to time though @Pixel--Dude and I input the "peds have weapons" and "peds riot" cheats so that everybody is armed and dangerous and then we play this game which we made up ourselves in which the player is a Russian soldier who descends from the sky in a seaplane and must invade Vice City and kill as many American enemies (ZOG agents) as possible until being either arrested or killed by the FBI or military. This is what we do for a bit of fun when we can't be bothered to do the regular missions. I told my mum about the game we made up and how we imagine that we are a Russian soldier invading America. My mum was shocked and asked me why we don't play as a Ukrainian soldier fighting again Russia! I told her that Pixel--Dude and I believe that the West and NATO are the real bad guys and so we'd rather play as a Russian! Why did I open my mouth? My mum started with her hysterical anti-Putin tub-thumping and told me that I should watch the BBC! But I'd rather play Vice City and lose myself in my own fantasies about fighting against the US ZOG!

The appeal of GTA isn't just the open-world sandbox though. The music and cultural references from the 80s and 90s are absolutely awesome and just get you immersed in the game as though you were in a real city. Imagine cruising through the streets in a beautiful sportscar or any other kind of vehicle listening to the likes of Michael Jackson and Laura Branigan and performing drivebys with an uzi on some no-good gangbangers who've done something to deserve it and then being chased by the cops, swat team or FBI as part of an objective-based mission. It's just so fun!

Yeah, it wasn't just the violence (which I like in a more macho heroic context), but me not liking watching my friends sitting around in a cloud of pot smoke brutalizing random innocent people in that game for no good reason. It's the amorality (or outright immorality) that bothers me. I noticed that gradually changing as a lad when there was always a masculine heroic ethic and a nice "rescue the babes" vibe in a lot of early 80s-90s action movies, but it got worse and worse with less masculine men and what felt like a deliberate slide into amorality.
I wonder if @gsjackson has any comment on this, because he also has been red pilled a long time and commented on related topics in your thought provoking "zeitgest" thread elsewhere...

Anyway, this dynamic of removing masculinity and also injecting amorality really consciously bothered me in the Matrix film where the faggots that made that POS film had that scene where they play dumbass Dust Brothers "breakbeats" while the supposed beta male hero shoots up a bunch of friendly security guards.

My brother and I were actually talking about this same topic the other day. We reminisced about how the protagonists of older games were masculine baddass men who knew how to kick ass and lamented how the protagonists of newer games are less masculine, a bit faggy or even in the worst cases LGBT characters which reflect "woke" sensitivities. @WanderingProtagonist would have a field day with this one! The dudes who made the Matrix film actually had sex changes and became trannies, by the way. Now they're known as the Wachowski sisters. I always thought that the Matrix was overrated as f**k. I never thought much of it.

I played GTA 4 a lot back in middle school but never played any of the games mentioned. San Andreas seems like a good one. I remember I didn’t buy it because I thought it looked too old but it seems worth checking out.

San Andreas is an awesome GTA game which many old-school fans regard as superior to both GTA 4 and GTA 5 in terms of gameplay. It was recently remastered and is now available with improved graphics and a modern control scheme as part of the GTA Definitive Edition. I really recommend it now that it's available for PS4 and PS5.

I was aware of the Matrix brothers turning trans, yeah. Some people regret using the red pill blue pill theories because of that too.They thought those two were clever with that movie, then when they went trans people felt terrible being influenced by the red pill/blue pill theories. So then someone on Roosh's site said "should we stop using the red pill/blue pill talk now that the guys that made the Matrix turned into transgenders?" The movie was extremely overrated and painfully boring as hell. The only part of the movie I liked was the animatrix war scene minus the part where the guy gets ripped out of the machine. I hated that scene. But the action itself beats any war scene in any movie hands down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLMjHrb_w4

People said ever since the brothers went trans, their movies got even worse and the only good Matrix movie according to a lot of people that quote stuff from it is the first movie. The others they strongly hated, although some slightly praised the second one. Third and fourth got a lot of hate thrown at them. Still even the first movie was boring as hell. Never liked the Matrix. The animated war scene should have been longer. I've rewatched that at thousand times because of how intense the battle is with good music from overseer playing in the background during all the fear, and struggle.

The wierd part is some people got all serious about these scenes and were talking like serious liberals like the ones defending the machines in the movie that still got killed anyway when they rebelled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZGzMfg381Y because of how the female machine was treated when those guys beat it to death after stripping it naked. I got into an argument over some of these scenes with people being hypersensitive to it. I didn't take the segment super seriously and thought the way they behave toward the machines was no different from how they would toward a human being. The scenes were so intense in the Animatrix they got far more attention than the real movies did as you can see from the comments and views.

lol guys were literately cucking out for the thing in the comment section though. Even going as far as to say machines should have rights... That's when I really had to flame them. Leftlist believes everything that walks and talks should be given rights. If I want to sexually violate my machine without its consent I should be free to do it lol it's not real breathing being but they were acting like it was one just because it was lifelike. I believe if something ideal to Detroit becoming human exists some asshole leftist would come up with rights for artificial intelligence...Society is f***ing damn dumb as hell. They would give cockroaches rights if they could talk and simulate human emotions and feelings.

But I don't believe machinery should have rights no matter how life-like acting/looking they might become someday if someone decides to really make them human in nature. I think such tech could end people's desire to actually hurt real people if they are free to exercise their aggression on the machinery. That's not to say I wouldn't feel a little bad if I have seen someone abusing a machine that looked like a real human in public and it started to cry and simulate human reactions and emotions toward the abuse. It would be a normal reaction to seeing this, but I still wouldn't advocate that things should have rights like people since it's not really feeling anything, it's only reacting to it because it's programmed to simulate human emotions which isn't the same thing as a real person being abused.

With video games, however, I don't feel guilty harming the NPC's, I use to slap the kids around a lot in Fable 1 but then Fable 2 didn't allow you to hit them anymore. Unless you were on the PC and modded it back into the game. In Bully I use to run around harassing the kids, and even attacking teachers and other adults for no reason. I did all those things out of pure boredom and just because the option was there to do it. In GTA I never went on random rampages mainly because I hated getting four/five stars...Once you did that it was near impossible to shake off law enforcement and the military. In GTAV the cops were way too hard to fight, even harder than they were in the other GTA games and had super perfect aim, if you were far away they could hit you easily with shotgun blast and it did the same amount damage it would do if they hit you up close, literately one shot kills. But I never liked getting no more than two stars, even three was a hassle in GTA games so I didn't go around just shooting people for nothing. Likewise those type of games can help people relax and free some of their anger. Maybe those NPCs are in favor of abortions

[Pixel--Dude]

I'm not much of a gamer but I'm a huge fan of the GTA games from the 3D universe era which I think is absolutely legendary.

The first installment of the GTA 3D universe was GTA 3 which was released in 2001. In addition to being the third game in the broader series, GTA 3 also just so happened to be the first 3D GTA game following the older top-down 2D games of the 90s. GTA 3 is set in Liberty City, a fictionalized version of New York. It follows the revenge story of a mute criminal known only as Claude. The game has an Italian American mafioso theme and takes much of its inspiration from movies and TV shows such as Goodfellas, Casino and Sopranos. GTA 3 was the first of its kind and truly a revolutionary game at the time of its release.

A year later GTA 3 was followed by GTA Vice City, a critically acclaimed masterpiece which took the franchise's popularity to a whole new level. GTA Vice City is based in 80s Vice City, a fictionalized version of Miami. This time the game follows rogue mobster Tommy Vercetti's rise to the top of the city's criminal underworld and his rebellion against his back-stabbing mafia superior Sonny Forelli. The game's setting is very Scarface-esque, although there are also strong influences from Miami Vice and other 80s TV shows. GTA Vice City features many real-life classic 80s hits on the city's fictitious radio stations and is full of 80s cultural references. This ensured that it would capture the hearts of a generation.

In 2004 Rockstar released yet another GTA game, this time GTA San Andreas, which would become a fan favorite. Unlike its predecessors, GTA San Andreas is set in three different cities. These are Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas, which are based on Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas respectively. The game follows "CJ" Carl Johnson's struggle to survive in the hood and then his unexpected rise to the top in the casino business. It is strongly influenced by early 90s African-American gang culture and the Compton Riots of 1992. GTA San Andreas is the largest and most diverse GTA game of the 3D universe era. It really does deserve the praise which it has received.

In 2005 and 2006 two lesser known GTA games were released on PSP but would then be ported to the PS2. These were Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, two prequels for GTA 3 and GTA Vice City. LCS is set in 1998 and follows the rise to greatness of Tony Cipriani, a member of the Leone Family Mafia. He leads the Leones in a violent turf war against rival mafias the Sindaccos and the Forellis and eventually gets made. VCS is set in 1984 and follows the turbulent life of Victor Vance who is roped into Vice City's criminal underworld after getting kicked out of the military. VCS is also steeped in 80s culture and features an awesome soundtrack. The only reason why it didn't became popular was because it was never released on PC.

The above are the five GTA games of the 3D universe era. Which do you think is the best and what are your reasons?

@Pixel--Dude and I have had discussions about this topic in real life. @E Irizarry R&B Singer is a gamer. Have you played the old-school GTA games? @WanderingProtagonist is into games from the early to mid 2000s. What's your take on this? @WilliamSmith hasn't played the GTA games because of the gratuitous violence but maybe you'd find them fun to play on your boat with some hot Black girlfriend. What about you, @Outcast9428? Ever played GTA? Who else on this forum is a GTA fan?

GTA Vice City is by far the best GTA. When the definitive addition came out I thought it was rubbish, charging gamers up to £60 for three old games that weren't even that much better. But after playing Vice City Stories with @Lucas88 I realised how awful ps2 graphics are and how awkward the gameplay is.

I was converted however and now I love playing the definitive addition of Vice City. As I told @Tsar before, we made our own DLC where society has broken down and as a mission you have to go around with 6 stars killing random peds at specific locations. These peds we would pretend they were people like Bill Gates and other members of the elite Jew Mafia! If anyone has Vice City and would like a crack at our hardcore self-made DLC for Vice City let us know and we'll post the missions and story in here.

[flowerthief00]

There's also Bully, which I got around to playing through only very recently and enjoyed about the same as GTA. You don't get to drive cars but you get a nifty skateboard that you can whip out anytime anywhere.