Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a video game series created by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and published by Rockstar Games in 1997. It includes six standalone games, and one expansion pack for the original, GTA: London 1969.
The games allow the player to take on the role of a criminal in a city. Various missions are set for completion, such as bank robberies, assassinations, and other crimes.
Sequels and expansion packs[edit | edit source]
There was one expansion pack for the original PC and PSX game:
There have been five standalone Grand Theft Auto sequels:
- Grand Theft Auto 2
- Grand Theft Auto 3
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- Grand Theft Auto Advance
GTA: London, 1969 was a continuation of the original GTA, except it is set in London. GTA2 features better graphics and gameplay than the first installment, considering that some versions of GTA1 were MS-DOS games, and GTA2 was made for Microsoft Windows.
GTA3 is much more controversial than its predecessors. Unlike the two former games in the series this game is fully 3D and provides the player with a "third-person view" rather than a "top down view". Vice City is set in a city inspired in different ways by the two movies Scarface and Miami Vice. The overall plot, some of the scenery and city layout in Vice City is taken from Scarface; however, other elements like a partner you begin the game with named Lance Vance is inspired by the character called Detective Ricardo Tubbs played by Philip Michael Thomas in the TV show Miami Vice, who also lends his voice as the sidekick in Vice City. It is more controversial than GTA3 due to the gang lifestyle portrayed by the Haitians, many Haitian-Americans actually attempted to boycott the game, and the original version included a final mission involving crashing an airplane into a building and bailing out at the last second (this was scrapped in the wake of September 11th). GTA: San Andreas is set in a southwestern area of the United States. The three cities in the game — Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas — are all inspired by the similarly named real-life cities Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. San Andreas is set in the early 1990s, with gang wars forming the backdrop of the plot. The series has been attacked as "morally ambiguous" at best and "immoral" at worst. Throughout the game, there are callbacks to previous games in the Grand Theft Auto series, most notably the main character from GTA3.
The Grand Theft Auto series is notable for the large amount of freedom given to the player in deciding what to do. Unlike most action games, which are structured as a single track series of levels, in GTA the player can pick and choose which missions they want to undertake, and their relationship with various powers are changed based on these choices. Players also often cite the music, humor, and "stress relieving factor" of the series in explaining its appeal.
Rockstar Games has since released an updated copy of the original Grand Theft Auto as a free download. An unofficial version of Grand Theft Auto 3 is under development for the NES.
