Are there any games out there similar to the ORIGINAL GTA?

[Spud1]

With all the recent discussion/news of GTA IV that i've been hearing around the web, i've been prompted to re-visit the original GTA and GTA2 and have a bit of a play with them.

I had forgotten how much fun they are compared to GTA 3 & > ! This is what the GTA series should be about; crazy, semi-cartoon like fun, chasing missions down from ringing phones, getting a 'gou-ranga' or 'elvis has left the building', stealing a tank and going on a rampage through the cities..

I miss all of that, its just not present in the new games to the same degree. Sure you have most of the same basics like stealing cars etc, but the focus seems to be much more on the story and attempts at semi-realism than the pure, unadultrated fun of the first two games. They try to be too complex - especially in VC and SA when there is too much other 'stuff' to worry about than just having fun.

Put another way - they are entirely different games that don't deserve to share a name/brand..

Anyway with my dislike of the new GTA games affirmed (so that no-one suggests them to me ) they left me wondering if there are any other, similar games that have been released more recently? Or am I stuck with the new attempts?