Where Lady Luck Whispers Secrets in the Reels

From Liberty City to San slot 88, Rockstar has built a rich world of career criminals, lunatics, and thieves, and we’ve loved each and every one. Although over 25 years old, the record-breaking views on the first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer is proof that Rockstar’s iconic game series remains one of the most popular franchises on the planet.

From humble beginnings — the series originally began as top-down car-stealing games — to creating some of the most advanced and realistic open world games in the industry, each new Grand Theft Auto game is worthy of celebration. So, with Grand Theft Auto 6 on the horizon, IGN has thought back on both modern blockbusters and retro classics to create a definitive ranking of all of Rockstar’s open-world crime games and determine which GTA game is the best.


Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars delves into the world of the Triads, one of the many criminal factions that have appeared on the sidelines throughout the series. It was released during the series’ popularity surge of the PS2 3D era, but opted to resurrect the original top-down design, albeit reinforced by a striking visual design inspired by GTA’s iconic box art. Sticking to tradition, it is yet another story of a small-time con making it big in the criminal underworld, but the main attraction is Chinatown War’s novel use of touch controls.

While Chinatown Wars has since been ported to several handheld consoles including PSP and iOS devices, many agree that the original DS version is the best experience thanks to the fun and unique ways Chinatown Wars utilized Nintendo’s touch screen. Not many other games on Nintendo’s dual-screened system will let you use the screen to hotwire a car.