Classic GTA on Eurogamer: our favourite pieces revisited
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is here, a mouthful of a title for a fittingly gigantic collection, a bundle of GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas remasters, three of the most culturally resonating games of the modern era.
These are the games that inspired the modern open world, pushed (and were promptly pushed back from) the boundaries of what was acceptable, and changed video game ratings systems forever. Naturally, we're feeling a little nostalgic today, and so to mark the occasion we've gathered together a handful of our favourite features on the trilogy, from GTA 3 and a sweeping history of the open world phenomenon to the incredible story of the San Andreas "Hot Coffee" scandle.
Grand Theft Auto 3 is often thought of as the origin of the modern open world game. In the immediate years after its 2001 release, open worlds were "GTA clones", like early FPS games were all seen as clones of DOOM. But GTA 3 is only a part of the story, where open world games are concerned. Dan Whitehead, writing in 2008, takes us right back to the origins of the genre, in a sweeping history beginning with 1979's Adventure.