This game was truly ahead of its time, it is an amazing third person open world crime sandbox set in Liberty City, heavily inspired by New York. In my unpopular opinion it is much better than Grand Theft Auto V in many ways and perhaps the best game in the series overall. It is simply a must-play, but it needs to be modded up a bit for the best experience.

Pros:
- Great attention to detail;
- Incredible soundtrack;
- Excellent voice acting;
- Awesome graphics for 2008;
- Great AI;
- Amazing writing;
- Captivating story;
- Lots of activities;
- Incredible DLCs with intertwining storylines;
- Engaging gameplay;
- A lot of satire and dark humor;
- Awesome audio design;
- Responsive combat;
- Very memorable characters;
- Great physics;
- Awesome modding community;
- Atmospheric world;
- Realistic driving;
- Amazing protagonist;

Cons:
- Absolutely terrible optimisation, but can be greatly improved with DXVK and some mods;
- Sluggish controls;
- Rockstar Games launcher;