GTA: Ranking the franchise's covers from worst to best

Modified Jun 16, 2020 12:14 GMT

The GTA franchise has been known for a lot of things: violence, humor, freedom, detail and colorful characters. However, one of the more under-appreciated elements of the GTA games is the art style.

The art style of every offering is unique and perfectly sets the mood of the game. A crucial part of this exercise is that it should be reflected in the cover or the box art for the game.

The art of box art in videogames has slowly been on the decline, and most AAA covers look painfully similar to each other: the protagonist wielding a gun and facing towards or away from the camera.

The GTA franchise, however, has maintained its love for putting out great box art with its games. Rockstar had first introduced the signature box art style with GTA III.

Here, we look at some of the best cover art in GTA games.

Ranking GTA cover art from worst to best

Keep in mind that these are subjective, and people will have differences of opinions.

Grand Theft Auto II

Grand Theft Auto: Advance

Grand Theft Auto: London 1969

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Grand Theft Auto III

This was the first GTA game to introduce the tile style of cover art that has now become synonymous with the franchise.

This cover art perfectly sets the tone for GTA III, which is a much more grim and grounded affair than the games that would come in the future.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

The cover for GTA: Vice City Stories lets the player know that they will be diving back into the 80s playground that they remember from 2002's GTA: Vice City, and immediately creates an impact.

It is very reminiscent of the cover of GTA: Vice City, but given both games are set in the same era and in the same city, that is to be expected.

Grand Theft Auto IV

GTA IV was a departure from the glitz and over-the-top nature of the previous games, and was a much more grounded affair.

The de-saturated color palette immediately sets the tone for the game, and is an excellent visual representation of what players can expect from the game.

Grand Theft Auto V

The player base was divided on whether GTA IV benefitted from the more grounded approach to gameplay and story. The discussion about the de-saturated color pallete and the vast presence of grey in the game world pushed Rockstar to tip the scales over to the other side with GTA V.

The cover for GTA V is symblomatic of the more colourful and over-the-top approach Rockstar would be going back to with the franchise.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Perhaps there is no other video game cover art in the history of gaming that can illicit more nostalgia than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'. The cover art is sure to bring back to mind the signature Main Menu theme of the game.

It does its job extremely well and helps sell to the player the world of Los Santos and its colourful characters.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

This happens to be the clear choice of the best box art in any GTA game amongst the community. Set in the Miami-inspired Vice City, the cover art does a brilliant job of conveying the mood and tone of the game.

By just looking at the box art, players knew that they were in for a trip down the 80s and streets drenched in neon.

Whichever cover is your choice, there is no doubting that Grand Theft Auto has perhaps one of the best-looking video game box arts of all time!