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Grand Theft Auto

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Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a video game series created and primarily developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), published by Rockstar Games and debuted in 1998. It includes eight stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original. Grand Theft Auto III and subsequent games in the series have been best-selling blockbusters which have also gained critical acclaim, including several Game of the Year awards from various sources. In addition, the series has emerged as being so popular and profitable that a long list of Hollywood stars have lent their voices to the games. Gangster film veterans such as Michael Madsen, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia and Ray Liotta have all voiced major characters. The name of the series and its games are derived from "grand theft auto", a term referring to motor vehicle theft.

Overview

The games allow the player to take on the role of a criminal in a city, typically a lowly individual who rises in the ranks of organized crime over the course of the game. Various missions are set for completion by the figureheads of the city underworld, generally criminal, which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Bank robberies, assassinations and other crimes feature regularly, but occasionally taxi driving, firefighting, pimping, street racing, or learning to fly an airplane are also involved as alternate adventures, which can be done at any time during the game, with the exception of the periods performing main missions.

In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto 2, the player is given a more in-depth storyline, in which they are forced to overcome an unfortunate event. This served as a motivation for the character to advance in the criminal ladder, and eventually leads to the triumph of the character by the end of the storyline. Furthermore, the storylines tend to intertwine with one another, creating a vast network of associations between people and locations that results in the appearance of certain characters and locales multiple times throughout the series.

The Grand Theft Auto series is notable for the large amount of freedom given to the player in deciding what to do and how to do it through different methods of transport and weapons. Unlike most action games, which are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, in GTA the player can pick and choose which missions they want to undertake, and their relationships with various powers are changed based on these choices. The vast cities of the games can also be roamed freely at any point in the game, offering many accessible buildings and minor missions. There are exceptions: Missions follow a linear, overarching plot, and some city areas must be unlocked over the course of the game.

Grand Theft Auto: III and subsequent games have been notable for their storylines, high quality of voice acting, and "radio stations," which simulate driving to music with satirizing DJs, radio personalities, commercials, talk radio, popular music, and American culture. All of this is seamlessly integrated in the realistic setting of a dysfunctional urban environment which parodies a real-life city. Players also often cite the music and humor of the series in explaining its appeal.

The game's influence on teenagers and adults alike has created a "cult" scene of GTA fans that see past the merits of the game itself and appreciate the retro feel and the good-old-days vibe the game emanates. People remember or imagine the time the games are set in and can enjoy the music, the atmosphere, the fashion, the slang and the cities from their favorite decade, such as the 1980s or the 1990s.

The use of vehicles in an explorable urban environment provides a basic simulation of a working city, complete with pedestrians who obey traffic signals. Further details are used to flesh out an open-ended atmosphere that has been used in several other games, such as The Simpsons Hit & Run and the True Crime series, which have less emphasis on crime or violence. Some compare this to open-ended RPGs such as The Elder Scrolls series, and foresee action games using a similar design.

The series has courted a great deal of controversy since the release of Grand Theft Auto III. This criticism stems from the focus on illegal activities, in comparison with "hero" roles that most other games offer. The main character can commit a wide variety of crimes and violent acts while dealing with only temporary consequences, including the killing of policemen and military personnel. Opponents believe that players will try to emulate this behavior, while proponents disagree for a variety of reasons. For specific incidents, see the individual game articles.

History

The original Grand Theft Auto (Windows version)
Grand Theft Auto 2 (Windows version)
File:Gta3-pc-police.jpeg
Grand Theft Auto III uses 3D graphics much more than its predecessors

The Grand Theft Auto series may be divided into eras, based on the inclusion of a numbering after the recognizable title name (e.g. Grand Theft Auto III) after the original Grand Theft Auto's release, and to a certain extent, the type of graphics engine used. For further information on each title, see their respective articles.

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto, the first title in the GTA series, released for DOS, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation in 1997/1998[1] as well as a reduced Game Boy Color port, and subsequently two expansion packs were offered:

Main article: Grand Theft Auto: Mission Packs
  • Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 (1999), an expansion pack of the original game, set in 1969 London. Available in PlayStation and DOS/Windows boxed versions.
  • Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961 (1999), another expansion pack of Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969, with missions taking place in 1961 London. London, 1961 is a free download for use only with the DOS or Windows version.

Grand Theft Auto 2

Grand Theft Auto 2 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Dreamcast, was released in 1999. Set in the unconfirmed future,[2] it featured updated graphics and somewhat different gameplay based upon the player's appeal to various criminal organizations. A reduced Game Boy Color port was also produced.

Grand Theft Auto III

  • Grand Theft Auto III (2001), set in fictional Liberty City (based on New York City) during the release of the game (October 2001),[3] brought a third-person view to the series, rather than the traditional top-down view of earlier titles (although the view is still made available as an optional camera angle). Graphics were also updated with a new 3D game engine. While not the first of its kind, the gameplay engine had expanded the explorable world of GTA III, doing away with a traditional game structure where the player faces a " boss" at the end of the level and moves onto a new level, opting instead for more realistic mission-based approach. Multiplayer was discarded (third party mods were later released, allowing for multiplayer gameplay) but GTA III improved in many other areas such as voice-acting and storyline (before, there was speech only in short animated cut scenes between levels, other communication was simply subtitles running on the bottom of the screen). Pop culture also is cemented into GTA III, drawing many aspects and ideas from popular films and shows such as Scarface, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos.

Grand Theft Auto III sold very well and became the first blockbuster game in the series, setting the precedent for subsequent GTA titles to be very successful. GTA III also attracted heavy criticism for its violence against police and its indifference to innocent bystanders, making future games in the GTA series synonymous with violence. Following the success of GTA III, the following titles released are stand-alone sequels (though all take place before GTA III chronologically):

Rockstar North has also developed the controversial Manhunt video game (2003), which is set in Carcer City, a city within GTA III canon.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Template:Future game

File:Nikoshooting.png
Grand Theft Auto IV

The next installment of the series, Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV), was originally slated to be released in October 2007 Worldwide for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, the first Grand Theft Auto game to be released simultaneously on the PlayStation and Xbox platforms. However, it was announced on 2 August, 2007 that the game will be delayed till Rockstar's Q2 2008 (which ends April 30, 2008)[4]. It has been confirmed that episodic content will be released on the Xbox 360 exclusively. Microsoft officially announced a strategic alliance with Rockstar Games over the rights to episodic content through their Xbox Live service at their X06 event. An announcement regarding the release of episodic content for the PS3 however is still expected, whilst fans speculate that each console will receive its own exclusive episodic content via their respective download services (Xbox Live for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3). GTA IV's game engine is the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (a.k.a. RAGE) used in Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis. The game once again takes place in a redesigned Liberty City that very closely resembles New York City, much more than previous renditions.[5]

Locations

Cities and states

Fictional

Non-fictional

Characters

Protagonists

Others

Similar games

Main article: GTA clone

Because of the success of the Grand Theft Auto series, notably Grand Theft Auto III and subsequent games, several other developers have attempted to emulate GTA's driving/shooting formula and open-ended sandbox play. Notable games that are often seen as doing so include DRIV3R, The Getaway series, The Godfather: The Game, True Crime: Streets of LA and True Crime: New York City[6][7], Saint's Row[8], Scarface: The World Is Yours[9] and The Simpsons Hit & Run

File:Truegrime.jpg
Billboard in GTA: San Andreas mocking True Crime: Streets of LA.

As a result of such similarities, Rockstar has placed several Easter eggs to mock the competition. One such Easter egg in GTA III references Tanner, the protagonist of several games in the Driver series. In a mission called "Two Faced Tanner" players must kill a "strangely animated" undercover cop who is "useless out of his car" (they even go so far as to give the pseudo Tanner a female pedestrian's walking animation).

In GTA: Vice City, during the mission "Autocide", the targets that the player must kill are subtle references to the main characters of Driver 2 (Dick Tanner, after Tanner), The Getaway (Marcus Hammond and Franco Carter, after Mark Hammond and Frank Carter), and True Crime: Streets of LA (Nick Kong, after Nick Kang Wilson). DRIV3R responded by sticking floatie-wearing characters named Timmy Vermicellis, after the protagonist of Vice City, Tommy Vercetti, since none of the protagonists in the GTA series could swim before GTA: San Andreas.

In San Andreas, while breaking into Madd Dogg's mansion, players will see a man playing a video game and making fun of the way the main character walks stating "How could Refractions [a parody of Reflections Interactive] mess up so bad? Tanner, you suck ass!!" (Tanner's walking animations were often criticized). Another San Andreas Easter egg mocks True Crime, which was depicted on several billboards in the city of Los Santos.

See also

Soundtracks

In-game radio stations

Official soundtrack releases

Notes and references

  1. ^ The actual release date of Grand Theft Auto is not clear. While Rockstar Games asserts in its official website that the game was released in October 1997, GameSpot and IGN indicated that the game was only released on February or March 1998, respectively.
  2. ^ Grand Theft Auto 2's manual uses the phrase "three weeks into the future", and phrases such as "X weeks into the future" or "X minutes into the future" are common phrases meaning "near future"; fictional journal entries on the game's official website, however, suggest 2013 [1].
  3. ^ According to the final entry of the official Liberty Tree "online newspaper", Grand Theft Auto III is implied to be set around the first release of GTA III, specifically, October 2001.
  4. ^ MCWHERTOR, MICHAEL (2 August 2007). "Take-Two Execs Explain GTA IV Delay". kotaku.com. Retrieved 2007-08-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Totilo, Stephen (2007-03-29). "'GTA IV' Revealed: Game Returning To City That Made It Famous". MTV. Retrieved 2007-04-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ True Crime: Streets of LA, IGN, October 31, 2003
  7. ^ Gameranking PS2 Average 77%
  8. ^ Douglass C. Perry, Saints Row Review, IGN, August 28, 2006
  9. ^ Chris Roper, Scarface: The World is Yours Review, IGN]], October 6, 2006

Official sites

General resource



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