We all love different genres of games. We love Final Fantasy VII for its extremely engaging storyline. We love FIFA for it's perfect depiction of the modern game. We love Mortal Kombat for its bold introduction to violent video games. It doesn't matter what game, you love that game for what it is. But let us be honest, you cannot compare any of these games to the outstanding greatness of the phenomenon that is Grand Theft Auto. You name a game that allowed you to do anything close to what you can do in GTA before it hit the market. Name it......... You can't, can you?
 |
| Grand Theft Auto, PS1 (1997) |
|
Grand Theft Auto began as a budget PC game that allowed the player to do........anything. It was a game that forced flexibility, to do anything the player desired in the given play-space. Walk/Run/Drive anywhere. Steal a car, speed away from cops, start a riot, shoot everybody and every THING in sight. The mission system comprised of answering payphones throughout the city, which the player could do at any time. It was a risk and it was very violent. The team behind the game, DMA Design (now known as Rockstar North) had created a masterpiece.
The question remains; Is it the most genius game series ever created? The biased person inside me says "Yes". But, think about it. Everyone has played at least one GTA game or has played at least ONE of its clones. Here's a quick list of games that were inspired by GTA or have jumped into the sandbox genre bandwagon;
True Crime
Saints Row
Mafia
The Getaway
LA Noire
(and to some extend) Red Dead Redemption.
All of these games allow the player to complete missions at their own discretion, and do other things. Saints Row would be the closest GTA clone out of them all, but has since then became its own style, proving that it isn't trying to copy GTA in any way, shape or form.
 |
| GTA 2, PS1 (1997) |
|
Grand Theft Auto 2 was released two years later and followed the same style as GTA1, answering various phones throughout the game but also allowed the player to team up with or become enemies with certain gangs throughout the game, adding new weapons, vehicles and features along the way. In terms of innovation, it did a fair job. New weapons included Molotov cocktails and a new tesla gun, which would electrocute anything nearby.
 |
| GTA: London, PC (1998) |
In between these games, DMA released an expansion to the first game, known as Grand Theft Auto: London 1969, with a freeware prequel called GTA: London 1961 released a short time later. It had the same engine that was in GTA1, with minor graphical updates. Personally, I think it was....okay...
 |
| Grand Theft Auto 3, PS2 (2001) |
In 2001, DMA Design released Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Playstation 2. According to GamesRadar, it is number
Ten in their Top 50 Most Important Video Games of All Time, stating that it
"introduced us to an experience we'd never seen before". That being said, it became the first in the series to go 3D, and was also the first sandbox game series to do so. GTA 3 allowed the player to explore a fully 3D world, inside a new rendition of Liberty City, the first level in GTA 1. Cutscenes were used to tell the story, and offered full voice acting, except the protagonist himself, who would remain mute throughout the game.
According to
Metacritic, GTA 3 holds an average critic score of 97/100, making it the highest-rated PlayStation 2 game of all time alongside Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.
 |
| Metacritic's Top Ten PS2 Games by Average Rating. GTA 3 & Tony Hawk's 3 are tied at 97 | out of 100 |
In October 2002, Rockstar North developed Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The game utilized the same game engine as it did with GTA 3, using the RenderWare game engine. Gameplay-wise, nothing changed much. New features were added such as;
- Helicopters
- Motorbikes
- Business purchasing
- Clothing stores and much more
 |
| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, PS2 (2002) |
The game was set as a prequel to the GTA 3 universe, set in 1986 and starring a new protagonist, Tommy Vercetti who - unlike his GTA 3 counterpart - had full spoken dialogue presented by Ray Liotta and was much more aggressive. The game sports a vast 80s soundtrack and has many references from Miami Vice and Scarface. The game's map was larger in scale than that of Liberty City in GTA III, but in terms of density, Vice City had 2 thinner islands.
Grand Theft Auto wouldn't come into stores again until October 2004 when they released a giant. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas featured the largest map to date in the franchise, with 3 cities and a vast countryside and desert that sat between all 3, and a large mountain to climb, Mount Chilliad. GTA San Andreas went further ahead in time chronologically, set in 1992, 9 years before the events in GTA 3, the game featured protagonist, Carl 'CJ' Johnson. The story centers around his return to Los Santos (depiction of Los Angeles) and has him battle his way up the criminal ladder in order to restore his family reputation, sprawling through San Fierro (San Fransisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). The game included a huge amount of features, including;
 |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, PS2 (2004) |
|
- Dating
- Gang Wars
- Graffiti Tagging
- Planes
- Parachuting
- Vehicle Modifications
- Head-to-Toe clothing options and more.
The game's story was inspired by movies such as Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society. Personally, San Andreas is my all time favourite. I love vast game worlds, and San Andreas definitely delivers a huge map to play around in.
Rockstar Leeds teamed up with Rockstar North to develop Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories for the PSP released in 2005 and 2006 respectively. LCS was set 4 years before the events of GTA III (1998) and centered around one of the main characters from GTA III, Toni Cipriani. Vice City Stories featured Victor Vance, the brother of Lance from GTA Vice City, and was set in the year 1984, 2 years before the events of Vice City.
 |
| GTA LCS was set in the same Liberty City as GTA III |
 |
| GTA VCS was set in the same Vice City as GTA Vice City |
These games would serve as a lengthy distraction from the upcoming GTA game which wouldn't see the light of day until it's announcement in late 2007.
Grand Theft Auto IV hit shelves in April 2008 on Xbox 360 and PS3, with the PC version released a while later in the year and broke sales records worldwide. The game was utilized under the Rockstar Advanced Gaming Engine (RAGE)
and the animation engine, Euphoria. Both allowed the game to present the most detailed, dense, and most realistic world to date, with characters exposed to a sort-of ragdoll effect if hit or shot.
 |
| GTA IV screenshot. Taken from IGN |
 |
| GTA IV: The Lost and Damned |
|
Personally, I was rather disappointed with GTA IV. It was brilliant, and very eye-candy to look at, but I felt it was.. .TOO realistic, especially for a GTA game. I see GTA games as all-round fun sandbox games with tonnes of features. GTA IV dimmed those features in favor of the graphics. Don't get me wrong, I thought the graphics were incredible and very dynamic, but I don't think it was really needed. The game world is not as large as GTA San Andreas but it is extremely dense. Maybe a little too dense and claustrophobic. But, then again, it is set in a new rendition of modern day Liberty City after all. The game's protagonist is a Serbian immigrant known as Niko Bellic, and is over on a revenge clause. The story is very engaging, but most of th
e characters are easily forgotten about. Instead of two separate games to close in the era of GTA IV, there were 2 expansion packs that focused on two other characters that the player may have met in the original game. The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were released one year and two years respectively after GTA IV and featured new weapons, cars and gave more insight on characters from GTA IV.
GTA IV IS good. But I felt I was playing a simulator more than a sandbox game. There wasn't as many features in GTA IV as there was in San Andreas. Taxi missions were removed in favor of a temporary taxi minigame presented by Roman Bellic, Niko's cousin. Vigilante missions were replaced with a tedious police computer feature, which only allowed you to catch up to 20 felons, with your only reward being an achievement/trophy. There were no ambulance missions, and no fire missions. These were a huge disappointment for me as they were my favorite side missions in the previous installments. Money was very scarce and worthless, just like it was in GTA III. The only thing you could really buy were weapons.
When you look back at it all, GTA is probably the most genius game to come to our home consoles. Most will disagree with me but everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But don't tell me I'm wrong. Whether you like it or hate it, GTA is a household name and if you ask anybody in the street "have you heard of GTA" you'll get a yes 95% of the time. GTA is as well known as Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario and Call of Duty. And with the release of GTA V coming out in another week as of this blog, I can assure that the game will sell double the copies in a day that GTA IV sold in a week. Okay, that's a bold statement and probably impossible, but you get my point. GTA V is innovation at its finest, based on what I've seen. As of today, GTA V is the most expensive game ever produced at $265 million (£170 million).
