5 Best Final Missions In GTA Games, Ranked

When recounting any adventure, it's often said that it's about the journey, not the destination. Sure, but that's no excuse to fumble the finale. Across the decades, the "Grand Theft Auto" series featured some truly spectacular final missions. These grand finales have featured bombastic action, emotional catharsis, and hardcore challenge that pushed players to their limits and made them earn their happy ending ... Insofar as killers can have happy endings.

Let's take a look at five different "Grand Theft Auto" games with particularly memorable final missions. Sure, some games have low-key epilogues, post-game quests, or side quests that can be completed at any time, but for this story, we're looking at missions that clearly mark the end of the main narrative. With that in mind, beware of spoilers for any GTA you haven't played yet.

We're also not looking at anything from "Grand Theft Auto Online." While various Heist Finale missions are certainly awesome in their way, they don't carry the same narrative weight as anything from the single player games. Maybe that will change with "Grand Theft Auto VI" and its inevitable online mode, but we'll have to wait and see, since "GTA VI" is scheduled for release on November 19, 2026, with any online mode following afterwards. For now, let's take a look back at five of the greatest final missions in "Grand Theft Auto" history.

In terms of sheer size and scale, 2004's "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" was bigger than any prior "GTA" adventure. Set across three distinct cities and the surrounding countryside, "San Andreas" told a massive story. In the endgame, the game barreled towards a finale that would see protagonist CJ go up against his old ally-turned-traitor, Big Smoke, and corrupt cop Tenpenny, all against a backdrop based on the infamous 1992 L.A. Riots.

"End of the Line," the final mission of the game, brings everything to a close in epic fashion. CJ and his brother, Sweet, finally put their differences aside and team up to take down Big Smoke once and for all, with CJ driving a SWAT truck into the wall of his so-called 'Crack Palace" and gunning down every drug dealer inside. It culminates in a boss battle against Big Smoke himself. But that's still not the whole mission.

The real finale of "End of the Line" is a massive, city-wide car chase through Los Santos. Initially, Sweet is hanging off a firetruck driven by the corrupt Officer Tenpenny, with CJ in hot pursuit. After CJ rescues his brother, Sweet takes the wheel and CJ gets to bring it all home in an on-rails shooting segment. If there's one minor letdown, it's that there's no proper boss battle against Tenpenny in the end; he just crashes his truck and dies from incidental injuries. Still, it's a fantastic ending to the PS2 trilogy of "Grand Theft Auto" and a satisfying conclusion to the story of "San Andreas."

Back in 2001, "Grand Theft Auto III" was a revelation. No other game had perfected the mix of on-foot adventure and vehicle-based gameplay. Were there better driving games? Yes. Were there better action-adventure games? Heck yes. But none combined them with the grace and fluidity of "Grand Theft Auto III."

The final mission, "The Exchange," put the player's skills to the test. First, protagonist Claude meets with his ex-girlfriend and current nemesis, Catalina, offering a large sum of money in exchange for the safe return of Maria, whom Catalina has kidnapped. Unfortunately, the deal is a trap, and Catalina strips Claude of his weapons and attempts to have him killed while escaping to the Cochrane Dam.

What follows is a brutal challenge gauntlet. First, you have to survive the ambush after losing all of your weapons, then you have to drive to the dam, and then you have to kill all of Catalina's men and blow up her helicopter with a rocket launcher. It's extremely challenging, especially with the iffy controls of "GTA III," which would be significantly improved in later games. Sure, you're fighting the controls as much as you're fighting the bad guys, and you'll probably die a bunch of times, but eventually, you will succeed. Beating "The Exchange" creates such a feeling of pride and accomplishment, you'll want to play the whole game all over again.

While "Grand Theft Auto IV" didn't have a pair of spin-off games like "GTA III" before it, it did have two expansions, "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony," which tell more stories set in Liberty City during the events of "GTA IV."

"The Ballad of Gay Tony" concludes with a mission called "Departure Time," which serves as a finale to the "GTA IV" 'trilogy' of stories, complete with a final confrontation against Ray Bulgarin, who conspicuously escapes justice during the events of "Grand Theft Auto IV." This final mission, and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" as a whole, also serves as a bit of fanservice to those who felt "GTA IV" was a bit too grounded and realistic compared to the likes of "San Andreas," not to mention competing games like "Saints Row."

"Departure Time" goes all out. After a shootout in the park, protagonist Luis drives a motorcycle to the airport, getting air support from ally Yusuf along the way. Oh, and Yusuf is flying a gold-plated attack helicopter. The missions ends with Luis driving his motorcycle onto Bulgarin's plane before it can escape. Bulgarin threatens to blow up the plane with a hand grenade, and Luis calls his bluff, shooting the Russian thug anyway. The plane explodes, but Luis escapes using a parachute in a move that would make Roger Moore's James Bond proud. It's righteously outrageous and a bit absurd, but isn't that exactly what "Grand Theft Auto" is supposed to be?

In the endgame of "Grand Theft Auto V," Franklin is given the choice to kill either Trevor or Michael, the two other protagonists of the game. While you can play through either of those scenarios, the true ending is for the three anti-heroes to team up and take down all of their foes in one fell swoop. This mission is called "The Third Way," and feels like the 21st century "GTA" version of the infamous baptism murders from the climax of "The Godfather."

After a big shootout (with help from Lamar), the three protagonists embark on a plan to take down Steve Haines, Devon Weston, Mr. Cheng, and Stretch. Basically, the trio (and Lamar) team up to kill everyone who had been bothering them for the whole game.

The mission makes tremendous use of the 'character switching' mechanic to keep the momentum up as the player characters embark on their various assassinations. Even with all the action and murder and car chases, though, the grand finale is an excellent dialogue scene where Franklin, Michael, and Trevor chat about the American Dream with Devin Weston before murdering him by stuffing him in the trunk of a car and then pushing it off a cliff. In any other "GTA" game, this mission would be an entire chain of quests, but thanks to the new gameplay systems of "GTA V," Rockstar managed to cram it all into a single mission. It seems the character-switching mechanic will return in "GTA VI" with the dual-characters of Lucia and Jason.

It's easy to dismiss "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" as a pastiche of "Miami Vice" and "Scarface." Still, while it certainly wears its influences on its sleeve, "Vice City" is so much more than the sum of its parts. There's lots of narrative subtext for players to chew on as Tommy Vercetti takes control by taking out the competition and buying up all of the major businesses in town.

It all comes to a head in the final mission, "Keep Your Enemies Close," in which Sonny Forelli, Tommy's old boss, goes south from Liberty City to Vice City to take 'his cut.' Maybe a better choice of words would be his 'pound of flesh.' To make matters worse, Tommy's closest ally, Lance Vance, sides with Forelli, betraying Tommy.

In situations like this, there's only one thing to do: kill everyone. The mission basically plays out like a twisted variation of the finale of the 1980s version of "Scarface," with Tommy's mansion under siege by Sonny's forces. Only, instead of being killed by the interlopers, the player, as Tommy, gets to kill both Lance and Sonny. it's a non-stop, high-octane gun battle and one of the toughest and most intense missions in "Grand Theft Auto" history. With everyone else dead, Tommy is the de facto king of Vice City, and after surviving the attack, it's hard to imagine anyone else daring to challenge his authority.