Still Fabulous

Niko's story starts cinematically and moves very slowly; Luis's doesn't hesitate to throw you into firefights (or off of a building). Niko has difficulty accessing high-powered cars and guns; Luis has no problem picking up a supercar, or explosive shotgun shells. Niko's missions pissed me off with their infrequent and unforgiving checkpoints; Luis's missions have plenty of checkpoints and are a trivial inconvenience to retry.

(I still hate the shit out of losing my weapons when I'm arrested, but, whatevs. Being able to call up a Gun Van helps, too.)

The Ballad of Gay Tony is a bit on the short side, and it doesn't have the gravitas of Niko's personal tale of redemption and vengeance. But it still has some of the best action, storytelling, and sandbox mechanics of the GTA franchise, or really of any game.

I'm sure that graphical expecations will leave it behind eventually... but for its breakneck pacing and generous checkpointing, TBOGT holds up really well, ten years later.

Better than: Grand Theft Auto IV
Not as good as: eh... The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt?
It'd be a real shame: if the upcoming re-launch loses the rights to Vladivostok FM's club music.

Progress: Finished the main missions, none of the side missions.