The Grand Theft Auto franchise is one that has evolved massively since its humble beginnings all the way back in 1997. With more modern titles within the IP providing some of the most intricately designed game worlds that the industry has ever seen, the main appeals and gimmicks of the games have understandably shifted over time.
As many long-term fans of Grand Theft Auto will remember, the cheat codes that could be implemented to many GTA titles had the ability to wildly change the gameplay experience, fostering huge amounts of replayability. While these cheat codes are still available within newer titles to a lesser-used extent, they are still synonymous with GTA titles such as Vice City and San Andreas.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Wanted Level Down
The first infamous cheat code to be mentioned has found its popularity in the practicality that it possesses, as opposed to providing some sort of wacky factor that many other cheat codes may elicit. The cheat code in question is the wanted level down cheat, which can be used repeatedly to essentially wipe a wanted level down to zero.
This specific cheat code featured prominently within the cheat selection of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. With this cheat at a player's disposal, they can essentially wreak as much havoc within the world of San Andreas as they wish, without having to worry about the pesky police chases that such behavior earns players within the Grand Theft Auto formula of gameplay.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Flying Cars and Flying Boats
The flying cars and flying boats cheat codes that were available within San Andreas are two cheats that are very much within the same vein. These cheats speak more towards the aforementioned nature of some GTA cheats that providing a fun-factor, while surprisingly retaining some level of practicality.
Players who activate these cheats will either see the car or boat that they are in control of pilot like an aircraft, allowing them the ability to fly around the map at will. While at face value these cheats may just seem as fun gimmicks, they actually can allow for extremely fast and seamless map traversal, turning them into very useful and unique cheat codes.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - Invisible Cars
The invisible cars cheat code that featured within Vice City offers extremely little in the way of practicality, but the fun it exudes is more than present. As a player might expect, activating this cheat code turns all cars in the game completely invisible, turning NPC's and the player into ghostly figures floating down roads in sitting positions.
This is the classic type of GTA cheat code that many will find themselves activating purely out of post-game boredom and curiosity. While these kind of cheats are simply just gimmicks, the kind of relief and variety that they offer to the GTA experience are great representations of what cheat codes should be about, and why cheats within the GTA sandbox became so popular.
Grand Theft Auto 4 - Max Health, Armor and Ammo
With the 2008 release of Grand Theft Auto 4, the series first introduced the mobile phone menu screen, with cheat codes now having to be activated via making calls to unusual phone numbers. Undoubtedly, one of the most useful and often used cheat codes within GTA 4 was the max health, armor, and ammo cheat.
As might be expected, players could activate this cheat within GTA 4 to instantly fill their health, armor, and all ammunition to their maximum values. With how notoriously hard parts of Grand Theft Auto 4's story could be without a comfortable amount of armor or ammunition for quite a few weapons, this cheat code in particular essentially acts a cure-all for difficulty. A very on-the-nose and no-nonsense cheat, the utility that completely filling health, armor and ammo provides establishes this cheat code as one of the best within the franchise.
Grand Theft Auto 5 - Explosive Melee
When Grand Theft Auto 5 originally launched in 2013, it revolutionized what could be expected from games as a whole, let alone from GTA titles. With the unprecedented improvements to the scale and detail of GTA 5's map and sandbox, the conditions were also set for vast improvements in what could be expected from GTA cheats.
While not massively indicative of what new feats Grand Theft Auto 5 was capable of, the explosive melee cheat code that the game contained was still something that the franchise had not seen before. The popular explosive melee cheat code adds an explosive shockwave to any melee attack that the player inflicts. With this explosion activating when hitting vehicles, people, or any dynamic environment, the opportunities for fun with this cheat code are endless, turning melee combat into an extremely overpowered and chaotic element of gameplay.
Grand Theft Auto 5 - Invincibility
One of the potential cheats that instantly come to mind within gaming is invincibility. No longer constricting the player to the threats of any frequency of enemies, collateral damage, or fall damage, Grand Theft Auto 5 boasts its invincibility cheat code with pride.
To fully take advantage of the GTA 5 and its singleplayer sandbox without any limitations, the invincibility cheat code is utterly invaluable. Not only does this cheat allow for massive amounts of experimentation without the fear of being killed, but it also lends itself extremely well to be used in conjunction with many of the other cheats found within Grand Theft Auto, further compounding the efficacy and fun of using them.