Holiday Buyers' Guide 2006 - PS2

For the crime lord… Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy (read ourreview of GTA: San Andreas)

If the gamer on your list loves to do things in games they'd never do in real life - like, say, steal cars or murder bystanders - then there's only one thing better than getting them a Grand Theft Auto game: getting three of them for $30.

Collecting Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in one package, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy gives players three full organized-crime dramas, five clockwork cities and miles of open countryside to explore.

Of course, odds are that any fan of virtual crime simulators already have one or all of these games. (That's why we've listed backup choices, folks.) But if they've never ventured into Liberty City, Vice City or the fictional state of San Andreas, then this is the best way to do it.

Second choice: Scarface: The World is Yours

Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.