WorthPlaying writes: "I've been around the Grand Theft Autouniverse since its inception under heavy controversy in 1997. It's never been a perfect beast, but after refining the formula in GTA III and its offspring Vice City and San Andreas, Rockstar nearly single-handedly created the modern version of the "sandbox" game, allowing mostly free-form exploration within large urban environments, high-speed car chases, and lots of gunplay. While they've never been very deep games and the narrative has always been light (GTA III didn't even bother naming the lead character), they were fun. The race has gotten much tighter in recent years with upstarts like Saints Rowand Mercenaries throwing down, while complaints about the aging engine, retro graphics, and lack of innovation have surfaced. A lot of hopes were pinned on Grand Theft Auto IV doing for the franchise in 2007 what GTA III did over half a decade ago, but they're not particularly well-placed. GTA IV for the PC tries hard but fails to make the same kind of impact."
