Infinity Ward and Activision basically came out of nowhere with last year's smash hit Call of Duty. Its intense World War 2 action and solid production values scored big with both gamers and reviewers, and the multiplayer mode that was thrown in turned out to be not half-bad.

There are simply some titles that captivate audiences for years at a time due to their addictive gameplay and their rich environments. These are the games that constantly seem to host newer challenges or larger secrets each time you play the game. Mario did it on consoles in the 80s.

As you can notice by my reviews in the past I liked Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City quite a bit. I could easily look past the graphics and the glitches and see the greatness that the gameplay represented.

By now, you probably know how this works. The new Grand Theft Auto game comes out in October, but only on the PlayStation 2. Xbox and PC owners have to wait a half a year or so for their versions of the game, and each always has the potential to be better than the original release.

Tons of variety; Well-written dialogue; Terrific casting; Great surprises; Same strong gameplay

Random audio problems on some systems; Gang AI not too bright; Soundtrack could have been a bit better

Rockstar Games truly revolutionized gaming with the release of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001. It took open-ended action gameplay to heights most developers hadn't even thought of, much less planned or completed development on.

Itâ??s here, itâ??s finally here... Xbox owners can at long last sample the fitting delights of the final chapter to the GTA3 trilogy, as the format-defining experience that is GTA: San Andreas hits European shop shelves.

THE VERDICT: If you don't already own Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, make it your priority to pick it up on any of the three platforms it is now available for. It's a massive, extremely imaginative and enjoyable action game which anyone can pick up and make their own.

This is a well done port of an excellent game. Despite some minor issues related to a slight lack of visual polish and a few technical quirks, GTA: San Andreas has survived the translation from Playstation very nicely.

Every year, an innumerable amount of videogame titles see the light of day, many of which are bland and uninspired copycat releases. One distinct game series seems to have survived the test of time while spawning countless imitators that aimed to mimic its open-ended, free roaming style of...

The best version of one of the top games of this generation - buy it now.