There are video games that do not need introductions. It’s not a figure of speech, they literally don’t need to be introduced because it seems like everyone knows it and new generations are born with that knowledge in their mind. The list is very short and surely we all agree on which is the undisputed king in this regard.
To the saga Grand Theft Auto de Rockstar Games It has become more than just a video game. Loved and hated in equal measure, it has transcended the boundaries of the industry and has reached all corners of the world: from newscasts and newspapers to movies and series. Without going too far, the film Free Guy is a comedy about NPCs based on a world like GTA V.
This is all wonderful because it means that video games have a much bigger impact than some people think. Of course, this case is not always positive. Many people, especially politicians and journalists, continue to maintain that GTA (and video games) are responsible for the violence of the youngest.
However, the matter has another side. GTA V y GTA Online They have become the undisputed leaders of this type of video game for 10 years and currently there are few alternatives that can face the giant. Red Dead Redemption II and Red Dead Online They are good examples… although from Rockstar Games itself. In other words: there is no competition and comparisons are already responsible for sinking anything similar. Saints Row (2022) is perhaps the most recent example… and it didn’t go too well either.
GTA was not always the undisputed king and in the early 2000s there were very interesting alternatives
The introduction has made clear something that we all know: Grand Theft Auto V he is the undisputed king and his heir, GTA VI, promises to continue his legacy. However it was not always so. In the early 2000’s, there were quite a few alternatives and some were really good. Many stayed by the wayside and others are still alive… but in the shadow of the great giant. I have 15 alternatives, so we are going to go in chronological order (more or less) so as not to go crazy.
- Driver 2 (2000)
- The Getaway (2002)
- Mafia 1 (2002)
- True Crime: Streets of LA (2003)
- Driver 3 (2004)
- True Crime: New York City (2005)
- Gun (2005)
- Yakuza (2005)
- Saints Row (2006)
- Just Cause (2006)
- The Godfather (2006)
- Scarface: The World Is Yours (2006)
- Bully (2006)
- Red Dead Redemption (2010)
- Sleeping Dogs (2014)
2000-2004
The first stops on our list are Driver 2 (2000) y Driver 3 (2004), two installments of a forgotten franchise. Driver 2 did not have the crazy gunfights of GTA, since its experience was focused on the driving and in escaping from the police. Unlike its predecessor, we could get out of our car (damaged or not) to steal another. Driver 3 would later take note of other similar video games and introduced more madness, chases and shootings. All this wrapped in stories of mafias and gangs.
The year 2002 gave us two authentic jewels: The Getaway y Mafia I. Both games were very good and offered mechanics that GTA players have never seen before: from leading the way with turn signals and road signs to recovering health from leaning against walls and interacting with the police in ways other than bullets. His stories are brutal and very mature.
While The Getaway takes place in London in the 2000s, Mafia I takes place between 1930-1938. Mafia I had an amazing remake called Mafia: Definitive Edition and several sequels. Getaway also had sequels, but it has never received the remake it deserves… and it won’t be because fans haven’t been asking for it for decades.
2003-2005
It only took a year for another very fun and exciting alternative to enter the scene: True Crime: Streets of LA (2003). and later came True Crime: New York City (2005). Comparisons with GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas were not long in coming, although there was one essential difference: they showed the other side of the law. They were policemen with very particular ways of doing things.
While Streets of LA found a lot of inspiration in Hong Kong cinemaNew York City focused on offering an urban New York police story and introduced movements such as being able to shoot while jumping in the air… something that we would see later in the masterful Max Payne 3. I remember True Crime: New York City as a very crazy, fun and great experience. We play in Manhattan!
the western Gun (2005) represented a great change with respect to the rest of the alternatives. It is set in the wild west 1880 and a lot of people basically watched a GTA-style western. Third person open world, horses, revolvers and lever action rifles, cowboys vs. Indians, time slowdown and first person aiming. Needless to say, Gun’s benchmark was Red Dead Revolver. It was valued as the best western video game so far.
While some were shooting in New York and the Wild West, others preferred to opt for Yakuza (2005). A story of revenge and kidnappings in the city of Tokyo. Although it is not the best alternative for GTA of the time, we will agree that it was the birth of a legend that extends to the present day. Not only has it outlived the giant Rockstar, but it has garnered incredible success around the world.
2006
The year 2006 was huge for those looking for alternatives to GTA. There can be no more variety: from the follies of Saints Row y Just Causegoing through the seriousness of The Godfather y Scarface: The World Is Yourseven the haunting Bully. Not all of them were beloved and successful video games, but it was more than evident that the Rockstar Games formula was liked and they tried to adapt it to different styles.
At this point, we can say that we have finished the beginning of the 2000s, but there are two installments that cannot be left out of this list: Red Dead Redemption (2010) and Sleeping Dogs (2014). Needless to say that Red Dead Redemption is a spiritual successor to Red Dead Revolver and found a lot of inspiration in Gun.
In case of Sleeping Dogs It was curious, because it was originally announced under the name True Crime: Hong Kong. High production costs and delays led Activision to cancel it, but Square Enix picked up the rights, continued to work on the original idea, and was eventually released under the same name… but unrelated to True Crime.
We had many alternatives between 2000 and 2014, but things relaxed as the years went by due to the great popularity of GTA V (2013). To give you a more general picture, this is what happened in the franchise while all of the aforementioned games were being released:
The launch of GTA V marked a before and after for these types of video games. Of all the franchises mentioned, only Yakuza y Red Dead Redemption have had truly successful releases… although the latter belongs to the same company Rockstar Games. Just Cause 3 and Just Cause 4 were also very famous for their crazy things. Finally, Mafia: Definitive Edition was a great game and its reception was very positive.
In conclusion: GTA V has been in charge of turning the Grand Theft Auto franchise into the queen of this style of games. It has been left with the whole cake and there are no deliveries that compete even for a piece to take into account. Few survivors remain, and those who remain live in the giant’s shadow. And it seems that it is only the beginning, since the madness that we have seen for GTA VI (hasn’t even been announced) it’s just the beginning. What are the limits of the empire of Rockstar Games?
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