Since we were first introduced to the series in 1998, Grand Theft Auto has continued to innovate and display remarkable longevity in an industry where game turnover is extremely rapid. The series’ most recent release, Grand Theft Auto V, has been a mainstay on monthly NPD charts since it launched nearly four years ago in September 2013, mostly due in part to developer Rockstar’s exceptional dedication to constant seasonal and gameplay updates for the online community.
The 2013 hit however is just a building block to what is one of the most successful gaming franchises of all-time. Last generation, GTA IV was not only one of the pinnacle games for the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era, but its Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned story expansions created the narrative spiderweb that gave the game the proverbial “cherry on top” to an experience that seemingly had everything you ever needed in a GTA game.
But despite GTA’s continued success, and despite its well renowned vulgarity, cruelty, and awesome urban portrayals from east coast to west coast, there’s a method to the madness that’s not always delivered directly to players. Eighteen years and fifteen games later, it’s tough to capture every essence of the series, and a lot of smaller tidbits that the majority of people may have missed ranged from intentional parodies of itself, to subliminal messages that have evoked themselves as time has passed.
15 Fries Over Firepower
Anyone who’s played Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas surely remembers the hilarious, yet obscenely gluttonous food order that Big Smoke made at Cluckin’ Bell during the game’s “Drive-Thru” mission. Upon a quick run in with the Balla Street gang just before pulling out, players get caught it a memorable drive-by gun fight in an attempt to prevent Grove Street’s rival gang from making their way into your territory and gunning down the neighborhood.
But through all the chaos, flying bullets, and roller derby car collisions as you’re going toe-to-toe with your sworn enemies, Smoke has himself preoccupied in a most interesting way. He’s laid back, relaxed, and hogging all the food that you and your friends just ordered. Fortunately, Ryder and Sweet are hard at work on the trigger finger, yet Smoke has his priorities all scrambled in a bunch.
Hey, if the bullets didn’t get to him, the added cholesterol would have eventually…
14 A True Fine Wine, Whose First Glass Tastes Pretty Bitter
Grand Theft Auto V is arguably the greatest game in the series in terms of its commercial and critical success, making over $1 billion in sales within its first three days of release, and getting perfect scores from reviewers. But what also makes GTA V so significant is how it makes its predecessors look incredibly dated. GTA IV did the same thing to the likes of San Andreas, Vice City, and GTA III. Sure, successive games in a series tend to do this, but the way that GTA does so? I’m not sure if I should be excited or terrified.
Rockstar excels at making their previous games look like something that was made with a toaster. Try to get in a fire fight in Grand Theft Auto III? Bet you can’t aim to save your life. Try to hide and regeneration health in Vice City? Nice try, now go find a health pick-up. With the numerous gameplay improvements we’ve seen in each successive game, it will be excited to see what the eventual GTA VI would bring to us.
13 You Left Him With Who? Where? Doing What?!
Even if you’re one of few that hasn’t played Grand Theft Auto V, you can’t go around talking about the game and not mentioning Trevor Phillips. With his psychopathic demeanor and appetite for pure destruction, you’d think everyone would take a hint to keep their distance, right? Nope, and he’s in for the long haul with Franklin and Mike in their story across Los Santos.
But there’s one moment in particular where the average person would realize that they are in the worst case scenario of worst case scenarios. During the “Eye in the Sky” mission where Franklin must steal an antique vehicle for Devin Weston, Trevor is riding shotgun with an FIB cop in a helicopter while giving directions. He’s what?! Yeah, that’s right, this poor man is potentially at the mercy of Trevor Philips, thousands of feet in the air. Logic not only is absent from the mind of Trevor, but of Rockstar as well at times.
12 Will The Real Grove Street Please Stand Up
One of the most memorable locations in any Grand Theft Auto game is Grove Street. So when Grand Theft Auto V decided to bring players back in the “Hood Safari” mission to conduct a drug deal with Lamar, Trevor, and Franklin, people surely would have been excited the entire drive there. I know I was.
Los Santos in 2013 however is much more different than what we’d seen before. No longer was there the underpass just as you reached the end of the road. Gone was the sports arena sitting in the background in replace of a highway system overlooking a canal leading into the ocean. It was in this moment that GTA played with our hearts, only to put a small dent in them.
11 The Lost And The Dumb
The ending of Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Lost And Damned certainly was one of the more distressed endings in a GTA story. The game ends in a bit of a cliffhanger with Johnny and his crew’s hangout being burnt and destroyed right before their eyes. The notorious Lost MC of Liberty City was left the worse for wear. Where would they turn next?
Well, we eventually find out what the gang has been up to for the past few years. We find out that Johnny K and his crew have relocated to the west coast. After a good ‘ol Phillips beating that ends Johnny, Trevor goes out of his way to take of the entire Lost MC gang single handed. Some may consider the early hours of as Trevor Phillips a proverbial changing of the guard for this new era of the franchise. But it’s the utter beat-down given by Trevor that put the final nail in the coffin for Johnny K, Ashley, and The Lost MC.
10 Do You Even Know The Heimlich?
Grand Theft Auto III has been widely regarded not only as one of the best, but one of the most important games in the PlayStation 2 era. Players rejoiced as their adventures with Claude as the then-new iteration of Liberty City saw them going even farther off the beaten path of the main story. Activities available included, but were not limited to: driving pedestrians around as a taxi driver, arresting criminals in the act, and taking injured civilians to the ER.
Wait? Taking them to the ER? First of all, trying to imagine Claude in any of these types of jobs to begin with is tricky enough. But a paramedic? For starters, you already have to steal an ambulance from the hospital (as with the other activities you can partake it). But for someone to actual enter an ambulance with not a paramedic, but with someone who just looks like trouble to begin with? Sure, let’s give it chance! Odds are you’ll die one way or another anyways.
9 GTA Does Time Travel
8 To Infinity And Beyond!
7 CJ The Fitness Guru
6 Dirt Bikes And Railroad Tracks Just Don’t Mix Well
5 The Diamond Deal’s Real Shining Moment
4 No Franklin, We Don’t Speak Dog
The most recognizable characters in Grand Theft Auto aren’t necessarily the ones you’re controlling, but the supporting cast members that have their own issues that make some of the greatest impressions. Think Lester, Big Smoke, Officer Tenpenny, Tony Prince, Ashley, Ken Rosenburg, you get the idea.
But a random dog in a side mission? Why not, it’s GTA after all. In an attempt to save adrenaline addict Dom, Franklin has to take directions from a stray dog in order to find him on a number of occasions. You heard right, Franklin Clinton spends the better part of a few hours in Grand Theft Auto V chatting it up with one of man’s best friends. Do we eventually find out the reasoning behind Franklin’s breaking of the canine language barrier? Of course we don’t.
3 Vice City’s Depressing Night Club Scene
Real life Miami, Florida is a town that lives for its nightlife. Its spring break vibe, and strips upon strips of bars and nightclubs make it the perfect setting for Rockstar in GTA: Vice City. However, the one thing that Vice City ended up lacking was populated areas. Sure, a game in the early 2000s may have had some trouble trying to procedurally generate large crowds without creating technical problems, but whenever you enter a nightclub with Tommy Vercetti, alone seeing maybe ten people busting their best moves on the dance floors is a bit of a die-hard disappointment.
2 Revenge of The Bellic
The tone of Grand Theft Auto IV’s story is one that’s saturated in a quench for revenge, with Niko taking the helm to dive deeper into the secrets of Liberty City. Before stepping on U.S. soil, Niko’s vindictive personality bodes well it his attempts to instill chaos within this urban jungle.
That tone however begins to contradict itself though during the latter portion of the game’s third act. Once you’ve finally gotten your hands of Darko Brevic, the man who betrayed Niko’s unit fifteen years prior to the events of GTA IV, the game gives you the option to get this, LET HIM LIVE! You’ve spent hours upon hours to get to this point, a point of closure, of ending this horrific chapter of Niko’s history, and there’s an option to let the man live.
1 A Cup of Coffee That’s Gone Cold
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, while a successful game, wasn’t without its string of controversial moments, none greater than its hidden mission, Hot Coffee. Upon its discovery, copies of the game were swiftly removed off the shelves of a number of retail stores, ratings had to be updated to identify the game correctly for the PC version, and a lasting infamous moment in the series was born.
Nearly a decade later, and Hot Coffee has become a relic to some of the even more talked about moments since its discovery. The Lost and Damned left no boundaries for full frontal male nudity, and Trevor’s interrogation/torture methods in GTA V dial things up to eleven. Is Hot Coffee the pioneering spirit behind some of the most talked about moments across Rockstar’s flagship franchise? Of course it is. But 13 years on, it pales in comparison to the added controversy of what Grand Theft Auto has and can do to its games now.
