Playing GTA 4 in 2024 To Prepare For GTA 6 In 2025... 💥

Late last year I decided that in preparation for Grand Theft Auto 6 I would play GTA 4 as the last GTA that I played was GTA China Town Wars on the DS and I also dabbled in the Nintendo DS GTA China Town Wars a few years back.

My GTA journey originally began with a Grand Theft Auto Demo Disc on the PlayStation 1 that was timed at 10 minutes. I'd go to my mate Lee's house and take it in turns to play the ten minutes before handing over the controller. Looking back now, it was actually a great way to play as it meant no matter what happens the other person gets a go after 10 minutes!Thinking back now, I don't think I ever actually owned the FULL game for GTA1 or GTA2.

My next GTA experience would be when the PS2 version of GTA 3 was released in 2001. It was the reason I bought a PS2 as I had heard how amazing the 'open world' was in the game. Again, I never completed the exploits of Claude in Liberty City but the structure of the missions and the open ended nature of the gameplay left me wanting more. It was at this point though that my PS2 became a machine that solely existed to give me access to the next Pro Evolution Soccer Video game and I didn't dip into GTA San Andreas at all despite my friend Fran having the game and constantly telling me stories about his exploits in San Andreas!

When I got my PSP in around 2006 I stumbled across some great reviews for GTA Vice City Stories so I scooped up that disc and was blown away by the music and the setting and the fact that it was running on a handheld console. It was like having a PS2 in my hand!

My next GTA encounter would be when I bought a second hand Nintendo DS around 2010 in order that I could mod it and make it look cool with a black after market case. When I had the DS looking very cool I decided I needed the best video game that the platform could offer to test drive my purchase and after a lot of research I jumped into GTA China Town Wars. This game was epic and made use of the two screens really well with various mini games and clever uses of the stylus.

After that my GTA hiatus took hold for another 14 years as I didn't check in with any GTA's between 2010 and 2024. When I finally did check back in it was to sample GTA4 as it was on a Steam SALE and I was fuelled by GTA 6 hype! My Steam deck was the weapon of choice as I sat downstairs half watching some crap on Netflix that my other half was watching. GTA 4 in 2024 immediately impressed me with the characters and the story. 

The environments felt alive and of course all this has been said before but putting myself in the shoes of someone playing this when it first came out meant that I could really see just how amazing this game was at the time. Of course it's a lot of window dressing as you can't explore that much of the world really but if you meet the game on its terms in 2025 there is still a cool experience to be had. By the end of the game I must admit the missions were creaking a bit as it felt rather repetitive and stretched out but overall I had a blast meeting the characters and playing as Niko Belic.

Having never played GTA 5 but at the same time owning GTA5 as it was given away by EPIC a few years back, I'm not sure whether to jump in and play it now or should I just wait for 6...???