I played GTA from GTA 1 to GTA 4. I have always been more interested by the story rather than the free roaming.

What I can say about them:

• 1 and 2 : a revolution. Being so mean and bad was cathartic for me, it was really mind blowing as I am a “too nice” guy
• gta 3 : a revolution. Discovering the game on the PS2 of a friend, I was drooling over the beautiful 3D models, the music, everything. I had to wait a bunch of time to get it on PC though.
• Vice City : wonderful atmosphere, the colours, the music. The story over the top. My favourite.
• San Andreas: not bad. The missions were interesting, but I felt no connection with the “boys in the hood” atmosphere. At the time, I listened very few hip hop so the whole gangsta rap hype was not interesting to me. -GTA 4: I liked the settings, “russian immigrants”. The campaign was cool. However all the rest felt a chore… The mandatory mini games with the gangster calling you every 10 minutes and being angry if I don’t go bowling with him was ridiculous. Then I gave up GTA all together. To be frank, I was a bit fed up with the American settings. Always the same street, atmosphere, culture… On the other hand, other games like Sleeping Dogs were a breath of fresh air. You really feel in another environment, and something as simple as driving left on the road is a great change.