Top 5 GTA games with the least amount of character customization

Character customization is a huge part of why some players love the GTA franchise, yet not every game in the series has good customization options.

Some games lack character customization simply because it would've been a fruitless endeavor to attempt it. For example, something like GTA Advance wouldn't be improved much by the addition of such a feature.

However, there are more egregious examples of games with no customization. Given that even games like GTA Vice City had a fair selection of outfits, it's bizarre to think that a game like GTA 4: The Lost and Damned has none of that.

---

---

Five GTA games with the least amount of character customization

5) GTA 3

This is the Claude most GTA 3 players will see 99% of the time (Image via Rockstar Games)

GTA 3 hardly has any character customization. Claude has the jail outfit, but he gets rid of that permanently as his default option. The player can give him a different skin on the PC port, but that wasn't easy to use effectively.

Not to mention GTA 3 players on other devices won't have that luxury. The Claude they see is going to look the same throughout 99% of the game.

Fortunately, this is the only game on this list that doesn't have zero character customization options. The remaining entries are ranked based on least surprising to most surprising.

4) GTA 2 (original)

Character customization would've been useless if this is what the player sees (Image via Rockstar Games)

It's worth noting that the later GTA 2 ports had the ability to pick a different protagonist, which is a form of character customization. A few different colored pixels isn't much, but it's still more than what some other GTA games offer.

However, the original GTA 2 just had the player play as Claude Speed. Like all of the other 2D universe GTA games, there was no way to change the character's clothing.

3) GTA Advance

Another example of a game where character customization wouldn't help much (Image via Rockstar Games)

Character customization would've been pointless in a game like GTA Advance, given how terrible the game's graphics were. Still, it has to be included in a list like this one.

There are no other protagonists to choose from other than Mike, but it's not too different in this regard compared to the next game on this list. This is also the first game to have zero customization options for the protagonist in all versions.

2) GTA Chinatown Wars

Character customization could work here, but it would've been too minor to bother with (Image via Rockstar Games)

GTA Chinatown Wars is yet another handheld GTA game. Like with the previous entry, there are no other protagonists to choose from and there are no clothing options, tattoos, hairstyles, etc. to choose from.

Huang Lee can give NPCs a tattoo, at least. Still, it makes sense why there is no character customization in this game given how minor it would've been.

1) GTA 4: The Lost and Damned

Johnny Klebitz has the same biker getup throughout the whole game (Image via Rockstar Games)

Surprisingly, GTA 4: The Lost and Damned has an appalling amount of character customization. There are zero outfits or options to personally change how Johnny Klebitz looks, which is strange given both GTA 4 and The Ballad of Gay Tony had some customization options.

Character customization isn't a must-have feature, but it's still a very popular one. To not have it in a game like The Lost and Damned is strange since it isn't a 2D game or on weak hardware.

Note: This article reflects the writer's personal views.