Grand Theft Auto represents the pinnacle of AAA games, not just in huge-scale production values, but in the kind of innovation that rewrites the rules for what games can even be. It seems only Rockstar is capable of fully nailing this style of game. Of course, with its level of success, that hasn't stopped other developers from trying.
Rightly or wrongly, these games are often dubbed GTA clones, a label that automatically assumes it's an inferior imitation to the real McCoy. However, that doesn't mean these games don't have their redeeming features and innovations that offer something different, or in some cases, even arguably improves on GTA's shortcomings--yes, even one of the greatest game series of all time is imperfect.
Even as GTA 6 promises to be the most refined vision of open-world gaming that eclipses all the competition, there's still a good chance you'll find some feature in these clones that’s more compelling than Rockstar's own criminal paradise.
"Open-world game" for many players means having the freedom to explore and do whatever you want within a large sandbox. However, Mafia's Lost Heaven was very much a "faux-pen world" that served as one large movie set you'd just drive around from mission to mission. While that might sound like a criticism, it worked in favor for Czech developer Illusion Softworks and its atmospheric period piece set in 1930s America.
In taking a more mature and serious direction, Mafia was also more realistic in many ways, from the real-time damage of vehicles to a more in-depth minor- and serious-offense system from the cops compared to GTA's star-based Wanted System. It may not appeal to players looking for a sandbox for wanton criminal chaos, but when it comes to telling the story of a humble man's rise and fall in the world of crime, and the ultimate consequences, few games do it as memorably.
GTA clones may imitate GTA, but you can also argue that GTA very consciously pastiches popular crime and gangster dramas, such as Vice City's amalgamation of Miami Vice and Scarface. So you can certainly see the appeal of a game where you get to play Tony Montana for real, based on Al Pacino's likeness, while André Sogliuzzo (handpicked by Pacino himself) makes for a faithful soundalike.
While licensed games can get a bad rap for being lazy cash-ins, Scarface: The World Is Yours is a great example of not just aping the source material but expanding it with an alt-universe scenario where Montana survives the original 1983 movie's finale and then mounts a campaign of revenge. More importantly, it introduced ideas and mechanics that improved upon the other GTAs at the time, from a more robust targeting system to a deep money-laundering system that also impacted the heat you'd get from cops and rival gangs.
Most delicious of all is a Balls meter that builds up when performing a range of actions like taunting enemies and driving dangerously, which then activates a ridiculously OP rage mode, preceding a similar mechanic from GTA 5's Trevor years later.
When you think "GTA clone," Saint's Row is probably the one that springs to mind, being the first to take Rockstar's crime-filled open-world formula to the HD era. But it's really with its sequel where it carves out its own identity, opting for a more over-the-top and zany tone that wasn't trying to be realistic, which was all the more notable at the time when GTA 4 went down the path of subdued, gritty realism.
Volition's series excels in giving the player the freedom to fully create and customize their own protagonist. That in turn gives you the option to create a "Boss" that you can actually have fun spending time with in the open world of Stilwater for many hours compared to GTA's prescribed sociopaths. And when this genre often carries the baggage of being testosterone-fueled, being able to create a fully voiced female protagonist who can go on crime sprees in 2008 was a ballsy move when it's taken nearly two decades for Rockstar to give us its first playable heroine.
My personal pick for GTA clone that I would happily replay over any GTA has to be Sleeping Dogs. It’s already refreshing by transporting the urban open world template to Hong Kong, which while not a geographically accurate representation of the former British colony, nonetheless nails its atmosphere from the background chatter of local Cantonese voices to the humid and neon-lit streets.
But where Sleeping Dogs excels over GTA is its combat. That's not just in the martial arts-inspired melee brawling, which features some truly brutal takedown animations, but even in the gunplay where you can vault over cover and then enter bullet-time like you're in your own John Woo action movie. While there's criticism over its arcadey driving mechanics, I'm willing to forgive it when you can jump out of your speeding car to hijack someone else's.
Apart from its mature gangster themes, the Yakuza games really aren't like GTA at all, though that doesn't stop people from making the comparison. But where GTA offers huge open sandboxes, Yakuza excels in its density. With locations like Kamurocho (based on Tokyo's infamous red light district Kabukicho) it really does feel like you're exploring its streets intimately, where there are plenty of shops and businesses you can enter instead of walking past a lot of glorified set-dressing.
With so many entries to choose from, it would be easy to pick a newer installment with more robust visuals and a first-person exploration option that allows you to better appreciate the details inside a Japanese convenience store. But Yakuza 5 is an apt choice here because it's one of the only entries that includes driving sections, during which you’re driving a taxi that has to follow traffic rules properly one moment and then speed down a highway in an arcade racer against a street-racing gang the next.
That's only a fraction of the different minigames you can enjoy. Whether it's job simulation like running a ramen stand, or teenager Haruka performing J-pop routines via rhythm action games, or relaxing with bowling, or even playing Virtua Fighter 2 in the arcade, there's just so many things to do. And it's all executed with compelling arcade audio-visual feedback that Sega has naturally accrued decades of experience in.
GTA may be for mature audiences but Lego City Undercover asks, "What if you could take that popular open-world game design and make it family-friendly?" Obviously, that requires some significant adjustments, such as how your protagonist Chase McClain is working for the law on the hunt for an escaped convict, while its Lego City is more accurately an overworld made up of smaller levels or districts.
Nonetheless, when you can explore a bustling city with dozens of vehicles or also have some playful on-foot traversal like wall-jumping and swinging from poles, while constantly hearing plenty of gags riffing on pop culture, it's an age-appropriate entry point to Rockstar's style of open-world games ... even if you have to admit that breaking the law is a lot more fun.
Ubisoft may already specialize in open-world games like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry, but Watch Dogs' contemporary urban setting puts it firmly in the category of GTA clone, though its hacking mechanics also set it apart. But while the first game's moody setting, story, and protagonist made for an offputting debut, Watch Dogs 2 doesn't just improve on its predecessor--some would even argue it's a more fun time than GTA.
Marcus Holloway makes for a cooler and more relatable protagonist, and while San Francisco's map isn't on the same scale as GTA 5's Los Santos, it's often a lot livelier given your ability to hack just about everything or interact with the city's huge cast of dynamic NPCs, often leading to unpredictable but memorable situations.