Grand Theft Auto V

1 month - Open-world games. Arguably, no other genre has defined modern gaming more than the expansive, experimental, and exciting places this genre has taken us to. Over the past 30 years, we’ve gone from grey, empty streets begging to be torn up in a blocky muscle car to glorious, colourful fantasy lands full of adventure and opportunity. But what are the games that have stood out the most, pushed the form forward, and ultimately led to GTA 6’s moment? As part of IGN 30, I’m going to try to answer that question by walking you through five distinct flavours of open-world game before deciding on the greatest of them all. From web-swinging superheroes and sword-swinging monster hunters to bank heists and shrine raids, here are the 30 masterpieces of open-world game design.

1 month, 1 week - In today's Daily Fix:Rockstar finally dropped their extended look at Grand Theft Auto 6, and the game looks as dense as any GTA game before it. In fact, according to Rockstar, the map for GTA 6 is twice the size of GTA 5's, and three times the size of Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar North's co-studio head Rob Nelson also revealed that it took him about 80 hours to finish the game while primarily focusing on story missions. In other news, eagle-eyed fans spotted a Red Dead 2 easter egg in the new GTA 6 footage. Plus we’re riding Mine Cart Madness inside Super Nintendo World with The Ride Guys at Universal Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort.Presented by Universal Orlando Resort, and its newest theme park, Universal Epic Universe.

2 months - Rockstar's leading men have all reached iconic status, and the best of them are deeply complex: from Niko Bellic’s tragic yearning for a better life, to Arthur Morgan’s solemn journey of redemption. But in GTA V, Rockstar pulled off its most audacious narrative trick with Trevor Philips: a character who completely solves the gap between story and player agency. Trevor isn't just another open-world antihero; he is the literal manifestation of how we play Grand Theft Auto, gleefully reflecting the player's worst instincts.From his shocking, murderous introduction (RIP Johnny Klebitz) to his surprising moral code, Trevor bridges the gap between sandbox arsonist and writer's voice. Behind the crude violence and satirical absurdity lies Rockstar North at its absolute creative peak, using Trevor to deliver a middle finger to legacy media outrage and moral panic. As we look ahead to Jason and Lucia’s love story in GTA VI, it's worth examining why Trevor Philips remains the ultimate embodiment of Grand Theft Auto's darkest, most human satire.Join open-world obsessive Jim Trinca as he explores the legacy of Grand Theft Auto 5, Trevor Philips' backstory, the narrative chops of Rockstar North, Ludonarrative Dissonance in video games, Niko Bellic in GTA IV and Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, Steven Ogg's brilliant performance, and the evolution of Grand Theft Auto VI characters Jason and Lucia.Check out The Trinca Perspective playlist on IGN!

2 months, 1 week - The five modern mainline GTA games (and by that, we mean from Grand Theft Auto 3 onwards) contain 346 story missions. 346 opportunities for blockbuster moments, unforgettable sandbox spectacles, career-making crimes, and the occasional excruciating nightmare. But among the missed trains, RC planes, and yoga sessions are some of the most memorable gaming experiences ever crafted, courtesy of developer Rockstar Games. These are the missions that propel us to that next letter on the minimap, the ones that start with a goofy cutscene and end with an orchestra of explosions and emotions.These are the greatest Grand Theft Auto missions.

2 months, 3 weeks - Few missions in GTA’s history would make such a big and noticeable change to the geography of the host city as the GTA 3 mission, Bomb Da Base Act II, which goes some way to explaining why all 45 seconds of this short, sharp, Tin Can Alley sniper mission remains so memorable.Bomb Da Base in GTA 3 massively raises expectations for what’s to come, and proved to be a tantalising glimpse at the ever more complex, Bruckheimer-worthy setpieces that would come to define Rockstar’s later games, their narratives, and the subversive mission design that this most Triple-A of Triple-A studios is capable of.By today’s standards, it’s extraordinarily simple. But make no mistake: with GTA 3, Rockstar invented the modern video game, and with Bomb da Base Act II, GTA reinvented itself.

3 months - You don't become one of the biggest, most profitable media franchises in human history without stepping on a few toes, especially when there’s literally a violent felony in your name.Grand Theft Auto was destined to collide with controversy. Lawsuits, international incidents, and full-on moral panics have followed in the wake of the series’ unparalleled success. And while there’s often a kernel of truth to some concerns raised over the violent, over-the-top nature of GTA, advocacy groups and opportunists have spent decades disingenuously trying to take one of gaming’s greatest series down before it warps the fragile little minds of our children.From a sex mini-game mod called Hot Coffee, to moral outrage at the game's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques", these are Grand Theft Auto’s biggest controversies.