Grand Theft Auto

aka: GTA, Race 'n' Chase
Moby ID: 417
Windows Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/28 8:48 PM )

Description official descriptions

In Grand Theft Auto, the player takes the role of a small-time criminal trying to make it big with the mob. Stealing cars, doing jobs for the gangsters and behaving generally anti-social are the way to success.

The action moves through six levels spread over three different cities, each based on a real US city: Liberty City (based on New York City), San Andreas (based on San Francisco) and Vice City (based on Miami). To finish a level, a certain score must be reached. Stealing cars and crashing into traffic, driving over pedestrians and killing cops all raise the score, but the big points are made through jobs. Answering phones or entering special cars brings mission assignments, from simple "ditch-a-hot-car" jobs to supporting bank robberies or carrying out assassinations. Completing a mission will raise the score substantially and also increase the score multiplier, so that completing the next felony will gain even more points.

Criminal behavior comes with a price of course: if policemen witness a crime, the player's wanted level rises. At the lowest level, a single police car might give chase, whereas at the highest level whole car squads hunt the player, the police set up roadblocks and shoot to kill. The only way to evade the cops is to find a respray shop and get a new paint job with new license plates. This costs money which is deducted from the score, however. But even dying or being arrested are not the end. The player has several lives, and ending up in jail simply results in being stripped of all weapons and armor and the score multiplier being lowered.

The entire action is viewed from a top-down perspective, which zooms out while driving a car, for a better overview at high speeds. The cities are many screens large and can be freely explored. Crates are scattered over the cities, which might include weapons (from pistols to rocket launchers), armor or other bonus items: extra lives, police bribes (used to reduce the wanted level to zero) and get-out-of-jail-free cards (used to retain score multiplier and weapons when busted). Dozens of different vehicles are available for the taking, each with unique characteristics: a bus will handle very differently than a sports car.

Spellings

  • 侠盗车手 - simplified Chinese spelling
  • 俠盜獵車手 - traditional Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (DOS version)

86 People · View all

Team Leader
Lead Programmer
Lead Artist
Programming
Artwork
Map Design and Mission Programming
Writers
Music Written, Produced and Performed by
Audio Programming
Sound Effects
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 75% (based on 52 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 277 ratings with 13 reviews)

If you don't have a PS, buy one to play this game!

The Good
Where to begin, where to begin... Well, it is amazingly playable for a console game (as the gameplay is exactly the same as on the PC) - even I, a guy who shivers at the thought of having to play a game on anything except my trusty old '87 IBM keyboard, can spend hour upon hour in front of the TV playing this masterpiece. I read Tomer Gabels infavourable review of the PC version, and I must say that the problems he describes are exactly the reason I bought a video game console in the first place, and GTA runs just perfectly on a PlayStation - no getting stuck in walls, no jerky graphics, no problems whatsoever.

In addition to being perfectly programmed, GTA really has excellent presentation. The first game disc I've ever popped into my CD player, GTA has brilliant sound. Every time you step into a vehicle, a "radio" soundtrack starts playing, and even though it isn't always the sort of music I'd tune in to, it perfectly suits the gameplay, and I found myself hijacking pick-up trucks just to hear the country track with the part that goes "menfolk found their women scary, 'cause they were so big and hairy". And it ain't 'arf bad effect-wise, either!

Nice sound doesn't make a good game, but GTA has well designed levels, enough hidden surprizes, and a concept original enough to keep me hooked until I've finished it.

(And the graphics are great for a 97 PS game - nothing fancy, but functional.)

The Bad
Frankly, I will never be able to understand games (I understand the reason, I just don't understand why that reason should matter) where you cannot save at any given point. In the contemporary console style, GTA only lets you save in between levels (city maps, that is), and it's pretty darn frustrating to botch the one last mission you need to finish a city by, say, driving off the pier or being cornered by police without your handy SMG.

The Bottom Line
I would hate to think that anyone who owns a PlayStation hasn't played this game, as it's the most rewarding single-player console game I've ever played. The bad-ass atmosphere and great presentation just grip you from the start and keep you hooked 'til your fingers drop off (not an unlikely conclusion for a person with normal-sized hands, when playing with the PS controllers).

PlayStation · by Late (77) · 2001

Fantastic!

The Good
For one thing it's funny- however, some of the jokes are of an adult nature so kids under the age of 15 probably shouldn't play it (they wouldn't get the jokes anyhow...) The cars act more realistically in this game than they do in some racing games! The controls are right on and the gameplay is great. And the graphics, although bad, make the game that much funnier!

The Bad
The graphics are pretty bad.

The Bottom Line
Don't worry about the graphics. This game isn't for people with 2 Ghz computers and GeForce 3's. This game's emphasis is on good fun and good humour- and it succeeds at both very well! Some of the content is either offensive, innapropriate, or both, so youngins beware!!!

Windows · by Ben Fahy (92) · 2001

Really Funny! Loads of Fun!

The Good
Everything. Hijacking, murdering, hit-and-run, freedom to do whatever I feel like doing. I got the demo of this game and by the next day had placed my advanced order. The gameplay is such a unique platform. Nothing else like it.

The Bad
The Windows version's graphics sucked. They were plain out stupid.

The Bottom Line
Freeform, mission based game that simply is a necessity to any gamers collection. Simply put, get this game.

DOS · by Andrew Morris (5) · 2001

[ View all 13 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Weird bug: Endless chases Daniel Saner (3503) Oct 27, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Grand Theft Auto appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Banned

Grand Theft Auto was banned from stores in Brazil.

Cities

The game takes place in the cities Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas. These cities are also the showplaces of the following 3D games of the series.

Cover

When Take2 bought BMG Interactive, they re-released Grand Theft Auto in Europe with another box-cover, which looked more attractive than the previous one, which was quite boring.

Development

The original concept for GTA was that the player was supposed to be the police and he had to go around catching car looters, robbers, gang members and so on. In the late design stages, the team argued among themselves that it would be better if the players role be reserved. After a heated battle they all agreed on reversing the players role.

Doubled Player Glitch

Go to a bike, without weapons.

Press "ENTER" and hold "Ctrl" at the same time.

Take the car behind and smash the bike.

Now you will see a copy of your self.

Dont drive over him, you'll just die :)

Freeware Release

As a way of saying thank you to the many fans of the series, Rockstar released a freeware version of GTA on its website, http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/, updated to support the latest operating systems and Direct X software.

German version

When playing the game with German language settings, it is not possible to choose the female protagonists.

Police Trick

The streets of GTA maintain a finite supply of police cars in the face of escalating crime levels (largely thanks to the singlehanded effort of the player); an ex-roommate discovered that if you can put aside the gratification at delivering the coup de grace, blowing up their vehicles, and instead leave the coppers with barely-functional, heavily-damaged wagons, you can move through traffic largely with impunity -- whenever a police presence would be triggered, instead of dashing to the scene of the crime in powerful cruisers they would stagger on to the screen in the same fleet of dented Chitty-Chitty Bang Bangs you mercifully spared.

Should the police cars blow up, the department appears to instantaneously replace the exploded car with a brand new one with everything in top condition; cultivate their deprivation, however, and you can cause the entire force to limp along while you cruise by in the fastest ride that you can grab.

References

  • In Vice City, you often see clothes that have been hung out to dry above alleyways and roads. Some of the blankets say "GTA" or "CM" - the initials of artist Craig Moore who worked on the game's textures.
  • In San Andreas, one of the missions assigned to the player by Uncle Fu's crime syndicate is the killing of mob boss Don Traegeri. This is most certainly a reference to Don Traeger, who was involved in establishing publisher BMG Interactive in 1995.

References to the Game

The cover of heavy metal band Megadeth's album Rude Awakening features vehicles from Grand Theft Auto.

Awards

  • PC Gamer
  • April 2000 - #50 (tied with Caesar III) in the Reader's All-Time Top 50 Games Poll

Information also contributed by Daniel Saner, Itay Shahar, Kartanym, Karthik KANE, PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual, Steve . and Zovni

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Grand Theft Auto 2
Released 1999 on PlayStation, Windows, 2000 on Dreamcast
Grand Theft Auto Advance
Released 2004 on Game Boy Advance
Grand Theft Auto III
Released 2001 on PlayStation 2, Windows, 2011 on Macintosh...
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Released 2002 on PlayStation 2, Windows, 2011 on Macintosh...
Grand Theft Auto IV
Released 2008 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Released 2004 on PlayStation 2, Windows, 2005 on Xbox...
Grand Theft Auto V
Released 2013 on PlayStation 3, 2013 on Xbox 360, 2015 on Windows...
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Released 2009 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, 2010 on Windows
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Released 2005 on PSP, PlayStation 2, 2013 on PlayStation 3...

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 417
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by robotriot.

Game Boy Color added by Brolin Empey. PlayStation added by Grant McLellan.

Additional contributors: Erwin Bergervoet, Unicorn Lynx, Apogee IV, Paranoid Opressor, Sciere, Havoc Crow, DreinIX, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Victor Vance, FatherJack.

Game added November 12, 1999. Last modified March 6, 2024.