Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City vs Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is an open-world racing game from Rockstar North / Toronto (2010) while Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition is an action-adventure horror game from Rockstar Games (2023).
What each one is
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is filed under Open-World and Racing. In contrast, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition under Action-Adventure and Horror.
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City includes both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony together and does not require a copy of the original Grand Theft Auto IV to play.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: It’s the early ’90s. After a couple of cops frame him for homicide, Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Most Grand Theft Auto games are set in fictional parodies of well-known United States cities, in a number of different time periods. The games are split into three different universes (2D, 3D, and HD), each with their own reinterpretations of previously established settings. The universes share the names of cities, several brands, and background characters who never make physical appearances in the games (with a few exceptions), but are otherwise… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Ever since the release of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, the Grand Theft Auto series has been a major success, both critically and financially. It has shipped over 470 million units, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. In 2006, Grand Theft Auto was voted one of Britain's top 10 designs in the Great British Design Quest organised by the BBC and the Design Museum . (Wikipedia)
No Wikipedia detail on file.
At a glance
| Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 6.4/10 | 7.0/10 |
| Steam rating | Mostly Positive (74%, 10,072) | Very Positive (80%, 16,017) |
| Critic aggregate | 79/100 | No aggregate |
| Price | Not listed | $59.99 |
| Install size | — | 19 GB |
| Steam Deck | Untested | playable |
| Released | 2010 | 2023 |
| Developer | Rockstar North / Toronto | Rockstar Games |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City vs Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityOpen-world racing gameGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive EditionAction-adventure horror gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityOpen World, Action, Automobile SimGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive EditionSexual Content, Open World, ActionThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityScore 6.4 · 74% on Steam · 79 criticGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition ✓Score 7.0 · 80% on SteamThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City10,072 reviewsGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition16,017 reviews · 19 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityNot listedGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition$59.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueGrand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition (GamingPickz Score 7.0)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Open WorldActionThird PersonCrimeAdventureSandboxSingleplayerThird-Person Shooter
Where they differ
Automobile SimMultiplayerShooterDrivingGreat SoundtrackRacing
Sexual ContentViolentAction-Adventure1990'sCombatGore
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2GB / AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel® Core™ i5-6600K / AMD FX-6300 |
| Minimum RAM | — | 8 GB |
| Install size | — | 19 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City · Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City and 1 for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition in scope?
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City has drawn 10,072 Steam reviews. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition has drawn 16,017 Steam reviews and installs in 19 GB.
Is Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition rates higher (7.0 to 6.4). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.