Categories
Games

The Top Tier of Grand Theft Auto Villainy: The Most Evil Characters in the Iconic Series

Photo by trenchophotography on Unsplash

Although the legendary Grand Theft Auto game series is mostly about illegal acts such as stealing cars and killing people, we can safely say that some characters are more evil than others. GTA started its legacy way back in 1997, and since then, it has evolved tremendously when it comes to both the graphics and the gameplay itself.

GTA 6 is on its way, and it will finally make its long-awaiting debut in 2025. While there is still a lot more to learn about the upcoming game, which is also the most anticipated game in history, if we look at the insane number of views for its official trailer, we still have to learn a thing or two about the history of the series.

Let’s speak a bit about some of the most evil characters in the history of GTA, shall we?

S-Tier:

Catalina (GTA III, GTA San Andreas)
Trevor Philips (GTA V)
Sonny Forelli (GTA Vice City)
Devin Weston (GTA V)
Dmitri Rascalov (GTA IV)

Catalina is a woman who falls in love with CJ from GTA San Andreas and proves to be the embodiment of evil. She is always willing to run into trouble and break the law in order to have her own way. She dumps CJ at some point and gets Claude from GTA III as her new lover.

Trevor Philips is easily one of the most evil characters in GTA history. He is the kind of guy who would kill someone in their sleep or eat him alive just for fun.

Devin Weston from GTA V represents the epitome of corporate greed and manipulation. He is a billionaire businessman who has a vast network of influence and resources, and thus he is one of the most powerful men in Los Santos.

Dmitri Rascalov from GTA IV has a cunning and duplicitous nature. He is the primary antagonist in the 2008 game, and his betrayal and manipulation set off a chain of events that culminate in terrible trouble for Niko Bellic and his comrades.

A-Tier:

Big Smoke (GTA San Andreas)
Frank Tenpenny (GTA San Andreas)
Billy Grey (GTA IV: The Lost and Damned)
Steve Haines (GTA V)
Michael DeSanta (GTA V)

GTA San Andreas has been the source of some of the most interesting characters in the whole series. Big Smoke was a close friend of Carl Johnson, the main protagonist of the game. Big Smoke later betrayed him because he started to be tempted by money, fortune, and fame. In the last mission, CJ has to confront Big Smoke in an epic boss battle.

Frank Tenpenny, also from GTA SA, a character who was voiced by the famous actor Samuel L. Jackson, is a corrupt police officer. He is the epitome of abuse of power and authority, and he is also the puppet master who pulls the strings behind the scenes with his manipulative tactics and disregard for the law.

Michael DeSanta is one of the three protagonist characters in GTA V. He is a retired bank robber who tries to have a normal life, but the sins of his past won’t leave him alone. He doesn’t hesitate to kill and destroy if he has to. Furthermore, his difficult character makes him a horrible husband and father.

B-Tier:

Ryder (GTA San Andreas)
Ricardo Diaz (GTA Vice City)
Vladimir Glebov (GTA IV)
Jimmy Pegorino (GTA IV)

Ryder from GTA SA was also one of CJ’s close friends in the hood, but he later betrayed by going into the team of the Ballas. CJ even has to kill Ryder during one of the game’s missions.

Jimmy Pegorino, one of the characters of GTA IV, plays a major role as one of the antagonists. He is the boss of the Pegorino crime family, which is a relatively small-time mafia organization that operates in Liberty City.

C-Tier:

Salvatore Leone (GTA Liberty City Stories, GTA III)
Stretch (GTA V)
Franklin (GTA V)
Elizabeta Torres (GTA IV, GTA Chinatown Wars)

Franklin, one of the three protagonists of GTA V, is more like the kind of guy who kills when he considers absolutely necessary. Otherwise, he is not actually the kind of fellow who enjoys mayhem and killing, although he still wants to climb through the ranks of the gangsta lifestyle.

Salvatore Leone, who is a pivotal character in the Grand Theft Auto series, has been prominently featured in games such as GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA III. He is the Don of the Leone crime family, and he exudes power and authority whenever he gets the chance, commanding respect and fear throughout Liberty City. However, he is an intelligent guy and one who prefers to act cunningly and strategically in difficult situations.

Stretch, who is also known as Harold Joseph, is a member of the Ballas gang in GTA V. He is one of the high-ranking members of the gang, and he is known for his ruthless demeanor and willingness to resort to violence to maintain control over his turf in Los Santos.

Making such a top-tier list and also being objective may be impossible, as each and every character in the GTA series has their own personality and level of “evilness.” Therefore, feel free to leave your own opinion in the comment section!

Categories
Games

Valorant vs. Counter-Strike 2: A Battle for Tactical Dominance

Credit: Steam

Playing first-person shooters can be an extremely fun activity, especially if you bring your buddies along to compete against one another. Two of the most popular shooter games out there are Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant, and for good reasons. Both of them offer realistic graphics and challenging gameplay that has the potential to keep players glued to their consoles and PCs for hours.

Saying for sure if Counter-Strike 2 is better than Valorant or vice-versa might be impossible, as both of these two games have their own charm. Both of them are unique in their own way, and let’s also not forget the fact that people are unique and have different tastes.

Valorant: the new kid in town

Valorant is a game developed by the guys from Riot Games, and it came out at a time when many of us had to stay at home because of the COVID pandemic: in 2020. The devs promised to revolutionize the genre of tactical shooters. Valorant is known for combining unique character abilities with precise gunplay. Each of the agents in the game offers a different set of skills to the battlefield, allowing for various strategies as well as team compositions.

There are numerous ingenious ways of outplaying opponents in Valorant. You can opt for deploying smokes and flashes or summoning walls and turrets, for instance.

One of the best features that Valorant has to offer is represented by its focus on teamwork and coordination.If you want to be successful in this game, it’s crucial to focus on effective communication and synergy with the rest of the teammates. It’s like in football: no matter how good you are individually, it doesn’t matter if the rest of the team doesn’t help you.

Counter-Strike 2: A Huge Legacy

Counter-Strike 2, even though it was released in September 2023, it carries the huge legacy left behind by Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. That’s because CS 2 is practically everything that CS 1.6 and CS: GO did best but on steroids. The developers from Valve took everything to a whole new level.

CS 2 has better graphics, as well as new weapons and more elaborated maps. To be successful in this game, your precision and reflexes need to be at top level. Split-second decisions can make the difference between victory and defeat, especially if you play the game online against others. A good CS 2 player also has a good knowledge of the maps, as that can make him win a battle.

Simplicity is perhaps the main aspect of CS 2. That’s because there are no character abilities or special powers. It’s just you and your weapon. This simple approach fosters an authentic and competitive experience for the numerous players of the game, where in order to succeed, you have to rely only on skill and strategy.

Conclusion: it’s a matter of preference

The answer of which game is better, Valorant or Counter-Strike 2, depends on what each player values most when it comes to tactical shooter games. If you want dynamic character abilities and team-based tactics, Valorant is the game for you. If, on the other hand, you want the purity of skill-based gameplay and the thrill of classic gunfights, it means that you should definitely go for Counter-Strike 2.

What’s for sure is that either you’re a fan of Valorant or you prefer playing Counter-Strike 2 more, there’s always a great chance to find other people interested in any of these games, and you can play with them at all times. Playing the story mode is something that anyone can do; it’s the online multiplayer mode of a game that truly counts if you want to prove that you are good at playing that game.

Categories
Tech

How to Choose the Perfect Smartphone for You

Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash

Everybody has a smartphone nowadays, but unfortunately, not everyone knows how to use such a device properly. That’s because a lot of smartphone users don’t know how to benefit from the best of what such a device has to offer, while others use it in abusive ways in the middle of a conversation or at the cinema.

There are thousands of smartphone brands and models out there, and these handy little gadgets become more and more powerful every year. While it’s impossible to predict with absolute certainty what the future of smartphones will look like, we can still focus on what we have in the present.

Figuring out which is the right smartphone for you can surely be intimidating, considering that there are more brands and models out there than there are stars in the Universe. But don’t lose hope, as we’re here to help:

Establish your priorities

Before you go ahead and explore the vast world of smartphone offers, take some time and consider what you want and need from such a device. Do you like to take lots of photos? Are you into mobile gaming? Are you more interested in processing power, above all else? Do you want to open numerous web pages and navigate across the depths of the internet? Depending on what matters most to you, you should choose the smartphone that suits your needs the best.

If, for instance, you want your future smartphone to navigate through the internet a lot so that you can read a lot of cool articles from websites such as billionaire.com, it means that it’s paramount to choose a device with lots of RAM power. If mobile gaming is your thing, on the other hand, you should definitely buy a smartphone that has great hardware power in all areas: RAM, CPU, GPU, and storage space.

Screen size and display

Most smartphones nowadays have large displays, but not everybody likes the idea of maneuvering such huge screens. Don’t worry, as there’s something for everyone out there! You can simply choose a smartphone that has a smaller display, such as the iPhone SE line of devices. Those gadgets are small and compact, offering some of the fastest processing speeds on the market.

On the other hand, plenty of smartphones nowadays come equipped with the so-called one-hand mode. This is a very useful functionality that will simply make the entire content from the display smaller in order to allow you to use the phone with just one hand. As a result, it doesn’t matter anymore if your phone’s display will be larger than you can handle as long as the one-hand mode is there to save the day!

Battery life

Let’s face it: being forced to carry a charger with you each time you leave the house is indeed very unpleasant, which is why taking the battery life of your future phone into account is also paramount. Lots of smartphones nowadays come with impressive battery power, as it can make the device last for even two days after a single full charge. Of course, these phones are usually more expensive than the rest, but it’s definitely worth investing a bit more for better quality.

Budget

Surely, you cannot buy the smartphone of your dreams if you don’t have enough money. You cannot get your hands on one for free, either, as generosity is in nobody’s trait list. Therefore, you need to have a budget prepared before you go out there and start looking for your next smartphone. If you’re aiming for premium devices such as the latest flagships from Samsung, Huawei, or Apple, you will have to spend around 1,000 euros for such a device. Midrange phones, on the other hand, cost around half that amount. If you can be satisfied with what an entry-level phone has to offer, you can get one at even 100 bucks.

Looking for the smartphone you wish for doesn’t necessarily have to be stressful, as the internet is loaded with information to help you get the best option for you.

 

Categories
Tech

Is It Still Worth Learning Programming Amid the Rise of ChatGPT?

Photo by James Harrison on Unsplash

Artificial Intelligent (AI) tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT have taken over in the latest months for many of us, as too many people prefer to use them to get their work done faster and easier. ChatGPT can easily “spit out” lines of code for an entire app if you ask it, as long as you are as specific as possible.

As a result, it was only a matter of time until people started to wonder if it’s still worth learning to code when we have ChatGPT to do it for us. Coding indeed requires a lot of work and intellectual effort, and even so, not even the best programmers on the planet can’t get completely away from writing bad lines of code. So, is it still worth learning to code?

Yes, definitely!

Learning to write programming code is still worth it, even amid the rise of AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. First of all, learning to code, regardless of the programming language you want, will help you understand a lot more about how technology in general and apps in particular work. Each and every app on the internet, including webpages and video games, which are still apps, at least technically speaking, were built using programming code such as PHP, JavaScript, Python, C++, and so on. Learning to code can definitely make you understand those apps’ structures. You can thus grant inspiration to build new apps and have all the freedom in the world to modify them as you wish.

Programming gives you “God-like” powers

If you’ve ever tried programming and coding, you know very well the great sensation of “God-like” powers that such an activity can give you. It allows you to build entire apps or games from scratch, using nothing else but a text editor such as Notepad++ or Sublime Text 3. Building an app using nothing else but your own knowledge cannot possibly leave you unmoved, and learning programming gives you the perfect opportunity to delight yourself with “God-like” creative powers.

On the other hand, AI tools such as ChatGPT can definitely rob you of the creative powers and satisfaction that only learning to code can give you. Usually, it’s the hardest things in life that are also the most satisfying, and that definitely applies to a programming career.

Problem-solving skills

While programming focuses on learning a coding language such as JavaScript, Python, PHP, or Java, it can also be used to open a broader perspective for you. Such an activity can definitely teach you how to break down complex problems into smaller and more manageable tasks. You don’t have to be the reincarnation of Einstein to realize that this can be a skill that is applicable across various domains and is essential for numerous professions.

Developing AI

Did you know that if you’re interested in AI, learning programming can be a fundamental step? That’s because understanding programming languages, data structures, and algorithms is crucial when it comes to developing AI systems.

Ultimately, we need to remember that even though AI tools such as ChatGPT can perform specific tasks, it cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution. There are plenty of tasks and applications where traditional programming is still needed and more efficient.

Programming skills remain in high demand across various industries. Whether you’re interested in data science, software development, cybersecurity, or many other domains, programming can open up numerous career opportunities.

Categories
Games Tech

Master the Road: Top Apps and Video Games to Learn Driving Skills

Photo by Samuele Errico Piccarini on Unsplash

Learning how to drive a car can be one of the most pleasant experiences a man can have in life. While we should do it only under the guidance of a professional, there are plenty of apps and games out there that can help us practice driving a car even more in a virtual environment and from the comfort of our own house.

While there’s nothing like the real deal of actually driving a car in the real world, games and apps can grant you that level of comfort resulting from the fact that there’s no risk involved. Let’s check out a few of the best games and apps that simulate the driving experience:

Driving Academy – Car School Driver Simulator 2020

Available for Android and iOS devices, Driving Academy – Car School Driver Simulator 2020 has a comprehensive driving simulation experience to offer, as it allows users to practice various road signs, driving maneuvers, and plenty of traffic rules in a realistic virtual environment. There are multiple levels and challenges to consider, as this simulator can be a great choice for both beginners and experienced drivers alike.

City Car Driving

City Car Driving is a realistic driving simulator, and it was built for PC users. This simulator offers a wide range of vehicles and environments to explore. While using City Car Driving, players have the freedom to hone their skills in various driving conditions, as the simulator offers advanced driving physics and customizable settings. There are lots of types of streets to explore, from rural highways to urban streets.

Forza Horizon 4

Even though it is primarily known as a racing game, Forza Horizon 4, which is exclusive to Xbox One consoles and PCs, can offer a realistic driving experience due to its open-world environment and dynamic weather system. As a player, you can explore the virtual countryside of Britain, obey the traffic laws, and also participate in numerous driving challenges and events.

iRacing

iRacing, a game that is available exclusively for PC, is usually aimed at those who are racing enthusiasts. However, this game offers high-fidelity driving simulation with cars and tracks from the real world. iRacing has a strong focus on realism and competitive multiplayer racing, and it provides an immersive experience for those who want to improve their driving skills and racecraft.

Car Parking Multiplayer

Car Parking Multiplayer is a multiplayer mobile game that focuses on parking skills, exactly as its name suggests. Therefore, this simulator offers realistic car physics and a wide variety of parking challenges. As a player, you can choose to either practice alone in a free-roam mode or bring your buddies along and compete against one another.

Dr. Driving

Available for Android and iOS devices, Dr. Driving has been downloaded more than 100 million times, and there’s no wonder why. This is a popular driving simulation game that adds a focus on realistic driving physics and traffic scenarios. Players have the chance to practice city driving, parking, and highway cruising while they complete missions and earn rewards.

Surely, the best way to simulate driving a car is to also grab a gamepad steering wheel and use it for one of the games/apps mentioned above! However, nothing beats the real deal of actually driving a car in the real world!

Exit mobile version