Battle of the GTAs

The town: London more or less as it was in the '60s, jam-packed with hipsters, mods, intimidatingly psychotic gangsters and not-so-veiled references to campy spy spoofs.

The music: An extremely listenable medley of 1960s Britpop, Herb Alpert-inspired horn riffs and bombastic tunes designed to stir patriotism in the English. Again, they're all tied to whatever car you're currently driving.

The violence: Still cartoony, but now extremely British.

Why it's the best: No other game lets you start a gunfight with sharp-dressed, scooter-riding Mods in front of Buckingham Palace while close approximations of 1969's hottest pop ditties scream in your ears.

Why it isn't: It's the original GTA with '60s attitude and Cockney swagger instead of urban blight. Pass.

Does it hold up? As much as we love the Carnaby Street style, this one's better left in the past. We'd love to see a current-gen update, though.

Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.
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