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

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!

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GTA 6: Could Carl Johnson (aka CJ) From GTA San Andreas Make a Return?

Carl Johnson (aka CJ) is easily one of the most beloved characters in the Grand Theft Auto universe and for good reasons. He went a long road from being a simple ghetto boy to a millionaire. He is full of hatred and willing to do anything he can, even if it’s unorthodox, in order to achieve his ambitious goals.

While we know for sure that the long-awaited game GTA 6 is coming next year to consoles, we already have a decent amount of information about what to expect. We can expect a more diversified and huge open world than ever, a lot of social activities, a female protagonist (Lucia), and more. But if we take a look back at GTA history and at a few facts, we can rapidly realize that there’s a good chance for GTA 6 to include Carl Johnson (CJ) as well. Perhaps he won’t appear as one of the protagonist characters, but even so, the fans would appreciate his return. Let’s see why we believe that CJ would make a return in GTA 6!

GTA 5’s Franklin Clinton confirms that Rockstar remembers CJ

Franklin Clinton is one of the three protagonist characters that appear in GTA 5, the latest game of the Grand Theft Auto series. He shares a lot with the legendary Carl Johnson: both of them are black and have the ghetto lifestyle, both have pretty much the same accent and attitude, and the examples could continue. It’s obvious that by introducing Franklin Clinton to the GTA universe, Rockstar confirms that it hasn’t forgotten about CJ. Perhaps it was also a hint that the GTA San Andreas protagonist would make a return in the future of the series, and now you understand why it isn’t farfetched to believe that GTA 6 would include CJ somehow. Let’s just hope that if it is true, CJ will play a major role in the upcoming game, even though he most likely won’t be one of the protagonists!

 Grand Theft Auto’s history gives us hope

If you know anything at all about the history of GTA games, you know very well that the guys from Rockstar have a passion for bringing back old characters in one form or another. For instance, Rockstar has included Niko Bellic as a template in GTA Online, the online mode for GTA 5, in order to let players create their own characters. Niko Bellic is a Yugoslavian war veteran who appeared as the protagonist character for GTA 4, another one of Rockstar’s enormous successes.

Also, let’s not forget that Claude, the deadly silent protagonist character from GTA 3, has been added in GTA San Andreas as a side character. Claude appeared in GTA SA as the new boyfriend of Catalina, the hysterical woman who fell in love with CJ but became frustrated and tried to get revenge on him.

Therefore, given the history of the GTA series that shows how Rockstar likes to bring back old characters in one way or another, we can realistically hope that CJ will indeed be included in the highly-anticipated game GTA 6, at least as a side character.

What’s your take on the subject? Do you believe that Carl Johnson (aka CJ) will indeed be included in GTA 6 or not? Feel free to tell us in the comment section and bring your own arguments to support the claim!

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GTA Trilogy or the Original Games: Which Ones Are the Best?

As we are all waiting for news regarding the highly-anticipated game GTA 6, we need to keep in mind that Rockstar keeps giving attention to older titles of the beloved Grand Theft Auto series as well. Probably all hardcore gamers who are now in their ’30s or even ’40s have played GTA Vice City, GTA III, or GTA San Andreas decades ago. That’s because those games have been insanely successful and influential for the video game industry.

There’s no wonder why the guys from Rockstar Games decided to remaster the famous trilogy: GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas. They did so and released the remastered trilogy in 2021, but guess what? The fans weren’t nearly as impressed as expected and for good reasons. The three remastered games indeed have much more modern graphics, but you know what they say that looks aren’t everything. Therefore, the million-dollar-question is this: are the remastered games worth playing or not? Let’s find out!

Tons of bugs in the GTA Trilogy

All three of the remastered GTA games, meaning GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas, are teeming with bugs and errors. The internet is loaded with complaints and videos exposing the numerous errors that the remastered versions of the legendary GTA games have. This can only mean that people will stick with the original ones if they want to relive the nostalgia of playing old GTA games.

Nobody should care enough about the graphics to be willing to neglect the sheer quality of the game, and boy, oh boy, does the remastered GTA trilogy lack quality!

Simplified missions

Here’s one thing we like about the old GTA games a lot: the missions were a lot harder compared to the newest GTA games, such as GTA 5. While we spent numerous hours trying to untangle the mystery at a specific mission and pulled our hair out, guess what? That was part of those games’ charm! On the other hand, Rockstar has reckoned that it would be a good idea to simplify a lot of the missions of the old GTA games as they create the remastered versions. While such a move may be comforting to some gamers, most of the old-school fans of the iconic Grand Theft Auto franchise cannot appreciate such a decision.

The legendary “All we had to do is follow the damn train, CJ!” line has its charm because that specific mission in GTA San Andreas was extremely hard. In fact, a lot of the missions from GTA SA were hard, which is one of the reasons we love that game so much. It would have been a lot better if Rockstar never simplified that mission.

Conclusion

Usually in life, nothing beats the original, and that simple principle applies here as well. This means that in our book, the original GTA games are far better than GTA Trilogy: The Definitive Edition, which came out in 2021. GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas have the merit of being the first GTA games to make the transition from a 2D to a 3D environment, not to mention the extremely fun and addicting gameplay.

What’s your take on the subject? Feel free to tell us in a comment below if you think it is worth it to play GTA Trilogy: The Definitive Edition or not!

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GTA 6 is Coming, But Which is the Best Game in the Series So Far?

After a long wait, we finally know for sure what GTA 6 looks like, as well as when it will launch, due to a recent official trailer from Rockstar Games itself. There’s a lot more information to find out, that’s true, but it’s still joyful that we finally have some official info about the highly-anticipated title. The trailer has been viewed a record number of times in just a few days after its launch.

The sad aspect is that GTA 6 will be a console-exclusive game, at least for its first months. Later on, we can expect that the game will be adapted for PC as well, in a similar way as it happened with GTA 5, the previous game of the legendary series.

It’s time to try to find out which is the best GTA game so far. Although we can realistically expect that GTA 6 will be the best, it’s time to consider only the titles that have already been released:

GTA 5

GTA 5, the game that came out in 2013, is easily one of the best games of the Grand Theft Auto series, if not the best of all time. This game has pretty much everything you need if you’re a fan of open-world and RPG games. You can take on a lot of dangerous missions, use your weapons to give everyone a hard time, steal cars, and a lot more. The possibilities are just endless in this game.

GTA 5 is also known for its online multiplayer mode, which is commonly known as GTA Online. Despite being over a decade old, GTA 5 has aged like good wine, as it’s being played even today by numerous gamers.

GTA San Andreas

GTA San Andreas has its 20th anniversary this year, and it’s one of the best games of all time if we just consider the gameplay itself. This game is highly-immersive even today if you are not bothered by the obsolete graphics, as you can get CJ (aka Carl Johnson, the protagonist) in pretty much any role you want: doctor, taxi driver, cop, burglar, pimp, and so on.

There’s no wonder why many folks consider GTA San Andreas the best game of the Grand Theft Auto series. This game has everything, and as a player, you get to do a lot of fun stuff even after you finish the story mode, as you can be regularly involved in gang wars to defend your territories,  get your hands on numerous collectibles, and so on.

GTA Vice City

GTA 3 was a legend, as it was the first game of the Grand Theft Auto series that made the shift to a 3D environment. But it was GTA Vice City, a game that came out in 2002, that brought the whole thing to a different level. Vice City has some impressive graphics for its time, and it was set in Miami, the same location that the upcoming GTA 6 will embrace. GTA Vice City also impressed due to its gameplay and entertaining missions, as the game rapidly became one of the most influential ones in the history of gaming.

Let’s face it: no gamer in his 30s hasn’t been using cheat codes in GTA Vice City at least once in order to wreak havoc on the streets of fictional Miami.

GTA IV

GTA 4 was a revolutionary game for its time. This game, which came out in 2008, brought the graphics to an unprecedented level for the Grand Theft Auto series. Niko Bellic, the protagonist, is a veteran of the Yugoslavian War who came to the US to have a better life. However, he rapidly became entangled in a dangerous game from which he needed to be slick and deadly enough to escape. The gameplay of GTA 4 was also at a whole new level, as it introduced new realistic mechanics.

It’s pretty much impossible to say which one of these games is the best GTA title, but probably GTA 5 fits in that role the best.

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