they’re just prequels really, I can’t remember anything groundbreaking. It’d /maybe/ be better to play 3 and vice city first, but it’s mostly just callbacks. Liberty city stories protag is just a quest giver. Neither super spoils the other but I might be wrong.
Mercury was a before release review game, which for mobile graphics was pretty mind blowing for me at the time of release.
https://youtu.be/vSWmmA9PkZ0?si=OsdH1ue1kpJ04S6Z