Grand Theft Auto

The Good
There is one part of GTA, which I think, is really great: The audio. This game has a great soundtrack, with all sorts of music (70's funk, 80's hard rock, gangsta rap etc.) and weird samples all mixed into one great musical melting pot. Each type of music has it's own radio station. By default different cars have their radios tuned into different stations. You'll hear techno music in a sports car and country music in a pick-up. You can switch channels while you are driving. I recommend you listen to the CD in your audio player at least once, so you can hear all those funny samples that have been mixed in between the songs. The sound effects are not bad either, the developers paid a lot of attention to tiny details (police scanner, things people say when you walk around with a gun, the little beeps you'll hear when you put a truck in reverse). Too bad there's so little speech in the game, cause the accents are great.

You have a lot of freedom in this game, you can play the missions or just mess around and do some very, very bad things. You can almost wreak havoc without limitations: slam your car into a police barricade, participate in high-speed car chases with the police, hijack, steal and assassinate.

Some of the missions are really cool (like using radio-controlled cars to assassinate somebody), others seem to be included into the game for the single purpose of making you race from one end of the map to the other. Once you reach San Francisco and Miami the missions become rather difficult and some of them are pretty annoying. Before the real meat of the mission starts you'll first have to make a couple of phone calls... great stuff when you have about 30 seconds to reach a public phone on the other side of the map in order to make the call :-<. Somehow I got the impression that the missions were a bit of an afterthought to the open ended crime simulator idea. Hmm, seems like I'm talking about the bad stuff already.

The Bad
Well, like Tomer says, the graphics are really bad. Of course great graphics are nice but I don't consider GTA's lack of graphic polish as a major problem. However there are some other things that took some of fun away from playing this game. I think I would have really enjoyed this game if:

• You could save your game. I think you should have been able to save your game after completing, for example, three missions. It can take you a couple of hours to reach the multi million score you need to progress. Moreover, sometimes you have to complete a pair of missions (up to 5 or 6 missions) before some other missions become available. It's frustrating to play those first five missions over and over again, but you'll have to, if you want to see what the other missions are like.
• There was a background story. Games like Star Control 2 offer a lot of freedom to the gamer, but you have the feeling something big is going on in the background. GTA has no background story. Consequently there is no build up of suspense, no "working towards a higher goal". You're just playing for the sake of collecting points. The levels and missions don't really seem to be tied together. I think it would be a great idea to add some RPG aspects to the game and let the player rise to the top of a crime syndicate (I've always liked big, over-ambitious games). But hey, Rockstar fixed that with the release of Vice City.

**The Bottom Line**
A highly explosive piece of software with more f***s per minute than a Tarantino movie. The use of cheat codes doesn't spoil the satisfaction you'll get from this game and saves you from a lot of frustration. It's the open-ended nature of the game that makes it great, not the missions.

The Good
The games of the Grand Theft Auto series have been called many things: from a despicable, filthy videogame that glorifies crime and violence, to a masterpiece of a young art form. I have been a firm proponent of the latter view ever since I first laid hands on the demo version of Grand Theft Auto in 1997.

While one must assume that its theme of urban crime and gang warfare has been a major reason for the commercial success of the series, and no doubt the high production quality of the titles has had a large impact as well, I am convinced that its real strengths lie deeper, and they are evident even in this very first installment. The reasons why Grand Theft Auto has become one of the longest-running and best-selling videogame franchises ever are to be found beneath the surface. In a time when game concepts and genres seemed to have been explored almost fully, its very mechanics established a new form of gameplay. Something that worked so well that it spawned not only a genre, but a new way of putting players into a game. And something that the players responded to so positively that the games’ elements have been often copied, but rarely matched – maybe because numerous imitators mistakenly assumed GTA’s success to stem from superficial aspects such as the violence, the obscenity, the grittiness, rather than its deeper qualities, thus coming up with a whole slew of mediocre “gangster” games instead of new, detailed, and open game worlds.

Starting out as a simple technology demo showing a zooming and scrolling top-down view of a 3-dimensional urban environment, the developers at DMA Design saw the possibility of using it to simulate a complete living city, and use it for a new game concept. Tentatively titled Race ‘n’ Chase, the idea was for players to take the role of a police officer hunting down criminals. As we all know, things didn’t quite work out that way. The developers figured that as a police officer, players would be bound to a lot of rules. For example, they would have to be punished for cutting a corner across the sidewalk, because it endangers innocent bystanders. This would have collided with the film-inspired, action-packed chase gameplay the developers were aiming for. Hence the decision was made to reverse the roles, and let players control a gangster outrunning the police force. Mob missions were added later as a means of giving the game events some structure and background, which would prove to become an increasingly central aspect for later parts of the series.

Thus from the get-go, the centre of the GTA concept was the living, detailed, simulated city environment. Vehicles rolling through the streets and obeying traffic rules, pedestrians walking the sidewalks, a working public transport system, and emergency services that would respond to the events in the city – this was always at the core of Grand Theft Auto. It is why most players report that they spend more time experimenting with the game world than actually completing missions. The conscious decision to use a realistic city scenario instead of something more fantastic or futuristic, as with most other games of the genre, was very important as well. Most players were familiar with the theme, they knew what driving a car in a city should feel like, and how the environment should react to extraordinary events. Some of the ideas were still a tad too ambitious for the time, but no other game before Grand Theft Auto had ever come as close to a realistic, open, densely detailed and simulated game world.

Apart from the two central ingredients of the open game world and the reactive simulation, the designers’ love for detail was another main aspect for GTA’s success. These supposedly unimportant elements mean a lot of effort on the developer’s side, but in the end it is a main reason for its longevity, and why players spend so much time in the game world. Instead of taking players by the leash and leading them through the game’s storyline, liberal exploration of every nook and cranny of the game world is rewarded with little extras or jokes. In this regard, Grand Theft Auto pales in comparison with its own sequels, but within its possibilities, the levels are diverse and interesting to move around in. Power-ups, nice backyards, hidden areas and secret missions keep the cities from getting boring all too quickly.

Finally, the concept of freedom of choice has been consistently implemented in the game’s actual storyline missions as well. Should players choose to accept a predefined mission, and there is no obligation to, they are given instructions on what needs to be done, not how to accomplish it. Thus, players can really take advantage of the open world, and all the possibilities it gives them. Players are free, even encouraged, to think outside the box and find their own solutions. Again, this means a lot of additional effort for the developers because of the huge number of situations they have to consider, but it pays off in terms of player enjoyment. Each GTA player can find their own way of completing certain missions, and develop their own strategies, hence ending up playing a quite individual game of GTA.

On to some more technical aspects, many players criticised the game's graphics on perspective. This might be a valid point on the Game Boy or even the PlayStation versions, as the low resolution and colour depth really do not fit a game of this scope that well. However, the true-colour and high-resolution PC version is a joy to look at. Although the city can look a little bit too blocky at times, the textures are nice to look at and the cities all have their own style and personality. The top-down view is a wonderful thing and suits the frantic chase gameplay well. Of course, I can also only praise the 60-minute original soundtrack.

The Bad
The camera movements could have profited from a little more tweaking. Too often, the car disappears behind a high building, or the zoom-out does not take place quickly enough, leading to unnecessary crashes because one cannot see far enough ahead.

The collision detection can be quite annoying. Unrealistic rebounds after crashing into buildings, the sometimes sudden and almost unpreventable explosions, and cars getting stuck in between buildings – these problems just happen far too often, and can lead to extreme frustration.

And finally, the lacking save system that has been so often criticised. I appreciate the fact that it makes the game more challenging. Too often, the "quick-save and quick-load" of newer games removes all the challenge, I for one can often not resist the temptation of this cheap strategy, even though it means I'll probably enjoy the game a little less. But given that a GTA level can take well over an hour to complete, the lack of a save feature is just impractical. I do not always have the time for a non-stop 2-hour gaming session, which often leads to me not booting up the game because I don't want to invest that kind of time. Make the player pay for saving the game, make it hurt, like in GTA2 where you have to spend quite some in-game money for activating the save feature. But don't just prevent players from interrupting their session. It's not nice.

The Bottom Line
I have spent a lot of time in Grand Theft Auto. I probably know the streets of Liberty City as well as those of my hometown. The game is technically "tidy", although arguably unspectacular. But like the good old days of videogames so many of us fondly remember, it is the gameplay that just won't let you go. After 12 years, I still regularly feel like revisiting this wonderfully designed and simulated city, and just drive around in it a little. It appeals to the primitive fascination that made me play with my Matchbox cars when I was a little younger. It appeals to my love of old Hollywood gangster movies and chase scenes. It has memorable characters and nasty, challenging missions. And it allows me to play the game the way I want to play it.

Finally, I would also like to assess the GTA concept from a very, very distant bird's eye view. Personally, I see two main directions future videogames will have to explore and help develop. On one hand, new ways of telling immersive and emotional stories – with the media no longer in its infancy, it is time to find ways of really appealing to people’s innermost feelings, of making truly “mature” games. It has happened with movies, and it will have to happen with interactive entertainment. It is important to keep an eye on experimental developments in this area – projects such as Heavy Rain come to mind. On the other hand, there is the mechanics of game world simulation. Game worlds have to be believable, and to be believable they must feel alive. Giving players freedom of choice and simulating a world that reacts according to their actions is central to the interactive element which sets games apart from other forms of entertainment. After decades of largely linear games, it is hard to imagine where this could take us. But one thing is for sure: wherever tomorrow’s non-linear games will take us, they will owe much of their heritage to that little development studio in Scotland, who in the mid-1990s re-defined what a game world can be.

The Good
Near the end of my high school years, an old friend of mine installed a computer game that was all the rage at the time. It was known as Grand Theft Auto, and when he started a new game to show me how it worked, he moved his character around for a bit before deciding that it wasn't the game for him. The thing is, he didn't get very far into the game before reaching his decision, as the game's blocky graphics put him off despite his system meeting the requirements.

This year, playing the original game from 1997/98 is my first foray into the GTA world. The game is spread across three fictional cities (based on New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, respectively) with two levels each. The game involves you doing anything you like in three fictional cities based on the real-life US counterparts. You can, for example, walk around the three cities in the game, steal a car and drive around, go on a killing spree, and other stuff (with all your actions likely attracting the police). However, the highlight of this game is taking on a set of missions, most of them involving stealing cars, killing or following gang members, bombing their hideouts, and other stuff. You don't have to successfully complete each and every mission, just enough to reach your target score and advance through the game.

A huge variety of cars are on offer, ranging from the useless-as-shit Beetle to the super-fast Beast GTS. You can steal any car you like, but a faster car is recommended if you are on missions with strict time limits. Then, you can drive like a hoon, risking people's lives and smashing up the car you are driving to the point where it is about to explode, in which case you can steal another one. I like the Beast GTS as it helps me get to destinations quicker, while smashing into heaps of cars and mowing down a few pedestrians. Steal too many cars, and the police will be onto you.

Grand Theft Auto uses CD audio tracks but doesn't play them constantly throughout the entire game. Instead, they play only when you get in your car and start driving around. You see, each car is tuned into its own radio station, with only two of the worth listening to. The radio stations pause as soon as you get out of the car (unless you change the music mode to "constant") and continue when you get back in. The tracks can be accessed outside the game, meaning that if you enjoyed listening to a particular station, you can load up the track and start listening it as many times as you like without any interference.

Scattered through each city are crates, containing something that will help you get through the missions, and it is either a weapon or a power-up. There are four weapons to choose from, with the most effective ones being the rocket launcher and the flame-thrower. I found the power-ups quite useful as well.

There are a couple of things that I found amusing, if you are on foot. One is encountering the monks with their orange robes and getting in their way on purpose. They follow you no matter where you go, even when you cross the road. Another is deliberately bumping into people so that they curse at you.

You are supplied with three maps - one for each city - which have to be used to make your way around the city, to find out the best route to your target destination. All of the maps are clear and show the complexity of each city. They point out the number of bomb shops and respray shops that you need to go into every now and then. In my opinion, Grand Theft Auto taught me how to read maps properly.

The graphics are excellent, and there are a total of six FMV clips which you only get to see when you have completed a level. These clips have a character having a word with you, and this is the same character who gives you your missions. Some characters congratulate you, some insult you. My favorite is El Burro, the gay Mexican that you get to deal with when you reach San Andreas.

The Bad
Like many games of its time, your progress through the game gets saved. Unfortunately, you can't just go to the menu and choose the "Save Game" option (there is none). Instead, you have to wait until you complete the level. This is a major let-down of the game since levels take ages to complete.

Also, I didn't like the zooming effects as you drive around the city, smashing things up and doing other stuff.

The Bottom Line
I believe Grand Theft Auto is the first game that allows you to do anything. You can, for example, you go on a killing spree in the three cities or complete missions to earn money. The latter option is recommended as you earn more money by doing things that may or may not attract the police. To get around the city, you can steal cars and use the arrows to direct it to your destination, and listen to some great tunes along the way. As I just mentioned, maps of the three cities are supplied with the game, and I recommend that you use them as a reference. There are up to four weapons that you can use, with all of them become useful in certain situations.

GTA is possibly the best game that I have played so far. Right now, I am walking around Liberty City and blowing up police cars as I go along. But I would love to play all the missions again, especially the ones that I missed. I look forward to playing the sequels, especially the games where the view is presented in third-person.

There are several cheats for the game, but I found that some of them make certain missions unplayable. Enabling the "All Weapons" chat, for example, will cause the game to not let you pick up the flame-thrower you need to blow up a limo. The only way I could fix this is by not entering the cheat as one of my names and start the level again.