In terms of pure fun, I found III to be the best, not Vice City or San Andreas, and probably not IV which incidentally, I will have to admit not playing yet. My reason for chosing the original Liberty City over all other candidates was the raw simplicity of it all. In was rough round the edges, ridiculous, totally unbelievable, and above all, very simple to understand. You did jobs, you played around, you did another job, you played around some more. You went around seeing just how much carnage you could wreak before the long arm of the law finally brought you down.
Getting onto six stars, then nicking a tank, then driving it through a star-down bonus tag - the world was my oyster. I mean, having FBI cars driving full pelt into and blowing up, again, and again, and again. Priceless.
Vice City and San Andreas just complicated matters. Most likely this will the the same, only more so. Okay, if I do get round to playing it and loving every bloodthirsty minute of it, then I will just have to offer my apologies won't I.