Grand Theft Auto games are not what you'd call slow burners. Even though we've only seen 91 seconds of official GTA 6 footage via its recent first trailer, there was no time for dallying as it threw us head-first into its chaotic criminal world from the outset – a brash tactic each and every game has employed for the last 26 years. One of my all-time favorites kicks off with a tutorial mission that tasks you with stealing a squad car from a police compound, picking up a gangland snitch at a train station, driving him across town to an industrial compactor, and crushing the poor bastard alive while still inside the vehicle.
That game is 1999's GTA 2 – for me, the series' most underrated entry; misunderstood at the time and misremembered looking back. Having rediscovered my favorite Simpsons game from 26 years ago earlier this year, another rummage in my parents' attic while digging out Christmas decorations uncovered my original GTA 2 PC disc. To my delight, using the same external disc drive and legacy Direct X '96 combo, I was able to return to Anywhere USA for the first time since last millennium. And it felt like coming home.
