Grand Theft Auto 3 is one of the most important games in its genre. Not only is it one of the first titles to truly perfect the open-world format, but the way it achieves decent storytelling, solid character development, and impressive world-building while maintaining the potential for mischief is simply revolutionary. It forged a formula that has been adopted by the likes of Saints Row, Simpsons: Hit and Run, and Sleeping Dogs, as well as other Rockstar projects like Bully and Red Dead Redemption. Grand Theft Auto started life as a top-down action-adventure series with an impressive degree of non-linearity, despite being somewhat restrictive thanks to its core game design. Later entries would prove to be far more influential.