Defines the term "sandbox gaming"!
User Rating: 8.9 | Grand Theft Auto III PS2
Back in the day, games that gave you a sandbox environment was either an RPG or Real-time / Turn based Strategy. Then all of a sudden GTA3 came out of nowhere and gave us a 3rd person shooter / driving game that combines missions based objectives into a huge world to explore. You were always presented with multiple missions and you could do them in any order you want. There's also items you could search that would give you bonuses. The graphics were excellent and still look pretty decent today. The city is lively and rich in details. The character models are simplistic to make the game run smoothly. The music is awesome. There's actually radio stations that you can listen when you drive around and the amount of music / banter is huge. It never gets old. The sound effect are pretty good as well.
The gameplay this game offers is expansive. You can run around or simply hop into a car and drive around. All missions are varied and some of them offer a decent challenge. There's a lot of side-stuff you can do, for example you can steal a taxi and try to drive people to their destination as fast as you can.
This was ground breaking and still a blast to play today. Very recommended! 
