the game that changed it all
What I mean by that it that gta 3 is so expansive, has 3 enormous cities, all closely connected, with tons of story modes, but also little side quests as well. Thats why the gameplay is so great, you can do all the missions, but you can also easily go around killing anyone you want and run from the cops.
Graphic wise the game is 4 years old, and still are up to par in my eyes, running it a full graphics on widescreen....
and speaking of widescreen, alert to you pc gamers with widescreen: if you use the standard controls with mouse and keyboard (for 3 and VC) and have the aimer, the aimer is off a little left, and its really frustrating. luckily, if your like me and have a controller, you can use that, Thats why I docked it only one point.
but if you have a normal monitor then its a 10 for gameplay.
All and all, GTA 3 helped make games what they are today, everyone now wants a free roaming game where they can do anything they want, and more and more games are now trying to achieve this. and not have such a linear feel to it.