Some video games have players take the role of a hero who does everything within their power to stop injustice, and other video games let players actually be that injustice. There's a big fascination with walking down a darker path and exploring the seedy underbelly of the world of crime. It can be pretty fun to take part in fictional crimes, from heists to assassinations.
Some video games tell a thrilling story of being on the other side of the law, and others just let player cause as much mayhem as possible. Here are the 10 best crime video games ever, ranked.
10 Watch Dogs 2
The video game sequel Watch Dogs 2 was released in 2014. Instead of following up with Aiden Pearce in Chicago, it follows a hacker named Marcus in San Francisco as he joins a notorious group of hackers called Dedsec. The group's goal is exposing the corruption of the company Blume and making the public aware of the danger of the program ctOS that covertly harms the people of San Francisco.
Despite the noble cause that Marcus and the group are fighting for, they are still considered criminals. The game requires players to stealthily hack and take out enemies.
9 Mafia Series
The Mafia series is a collection of games that follows different protagonists as they rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld and fall through them. The first game follows Tommy Angelo who finds himself caught between two warring mafia families. The second follows Vito Scaletta as he tries to repay his father's debt, and Mafia III follows Lincoln Clay on his quest for revenge against a mob family.
Each game has an open world scattered with weapons they can collect. In Mafia III players can call in allies to help them with missions and interrogate NPCs.
8 True Crime: Streets Of L.A.
True Crime: Streets of LA came out in 2003. Players follow the story of Nicholas Kang, an LA police officer who investigates a case on bombings in Chinatown. Kang is a tenacious cop and players can play him as either a "Good Cop" or a "Bad Cop" with the choices they make.
Arresting criminals and taking them down non-lethal gives Kang "Good Cop" points and using lethal force and killing civilians gives him Bad Cop points. The amount of points a player gets in either meter determines the ending they get.
7 Saints Row Series
The Saints Row series is a collection of four games. Out of the crime games on this list, Saints Row is the most humorous one as the several of the plot points are written to be funny like the alien invasion in Saints Row IV. In the first game, players join the 3rd Street Saints gang and work to take out the rival gangs in the city.
The second one has them fight all-new rivals and the third has them become a major crime group. Along with fighting aliens, the fourth Saints Row has the player become the President.
6 Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Assassin's Creed Syndicate is the ninth main game in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Just like all the other games, the game is about the battle between the Assassins and Templars. It follows twin assassins Evie and Jacob in London, as they follow the path of the city's criminal underground to release it from Templar control.
Players can explore the open world and complete side quests once they finish main quests. Unlike the Assassin's Creed games that came before Syndicate, the main enemy of the twins' isn't the city's law enforcement, but the "Blighters" a Templer controlled street gang.
5 Hitman Series
The Hitman game franchise features Agent 47, an international contract assassin for works for the International Contract Agency or ICA. Agent 47 eliminates high profile criminals for powerful and wealthy clients. The main focus of the game is to take out assigned targets. The game ranks the players on the way they accomplish the assassination and even rewards them with items and cash bonuses.
Subtlety is the key to carrying out missions, as the game requires players to make Agent 47 blend in to get to targets and not arouse suspicion, like wearing disguises.
4 Yakuza 0
The Yakuza game franchise revolves around, as anyone could guess, a member of the Japanese crime syndicate. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the first game and follows the series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima as they found themselves involved in an incident that involves all of Japan's criminal organizations.
Players control Kiryu and Majima, alternating between their side of the story. The Yakuza series is an action-adventure game that has plenty of side quests and minigames that makes the game much more immersive, like running a business and playing arcade games.
3 Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs has players take on the role of an undercover police officer Wei Shen as he rises through the ranks of the Sun On Yee Triad and destroys it from the inside out. Players can explore the world after missions and do different activities like side quests. Shen can level up by gaining three different kinds of experience points, Triad Face and Police.
Triad levels up when he commits violent acts, Face levels up during civilian side missions, and Police levels up when he minimizes the damage done to properties, civilians and during police side quests.
2 Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 is the prequel to the original RDR. Set during the decline of the Wild West, players control outlaw Arthur Morgan as he tries to deal with rival gangs, lawmen and other forces intent on hindering him. Players can roam the world freely and interact with any of the NPCs they come across.
The Honor system was brought back which affects the options given to Arthur and greatly effects the story. There are benefits, and consequences, for being both honorable and dishonorable. Negative points in the Honor systems give players more when they loot bodies.
1 Grand Theft Auto V
It probably isn't a surprise that a Grand Theft Auto game is on this list, half this list could have been covered by just GTA games! But GTA V is the best (so far) out of the series and the best crime video game. The game's story mode is told through the perspective of Trevor, Michael, and Franklin, three men who each live a life of crime.
And then there's online where players can create their own character and can either play alone or in multiplayer as they complete jobs and challenges that earn them cash and rank.