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Grand Theft Auto

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This article is about a computer and video game series. For other uses, see Grand theft auto.. For other uses, see Grand Theft Auto (disambiguation).

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a computer and video game series created and developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), published by Rockstar Games and debuted in 1998. It includes seven stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original, GTA: London 1969 and GTA: London 1961. 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 and Ray Liotta have all voiced major characters. Other famous voices that have been incorporated in the games include Axl Rose, Burt Reynolds, Chris Penn, Danny Trejo, David Cross, Deborah Harry, Dennis Hopper, Faizon Love, Frank Vincent, Gary Busey, Ice-T, Jenna Jameson, Luis Guzman, Miss Cleo, Philip Michael Thomas, Robert Davi, Shaun Ryder, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Michael Rapaport, Lawrence Taylor, Danny Dyer and The Game.

File:GTA Logo.jpg
Post-GTA2 design of the Grand Theft Auto logo

Series overview

The games allow the player to take on the role of a criminal in a big 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 event where they are either backstabbed and left for dead by someone they know, or experienced 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.

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 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. Players also often cite the music and humor of the series in explaining its appeal. 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.

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 favourite decade, such as the 1980s or early 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, 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. The series generally revolves around 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. Opponents believe that players will try to emulate this behavior, while proponents believe it provides an emotional outlet, as such actions in real life would have serious consequences. For specific incidents, see the individual game articles.

History

 
The original Grand Theft Auto (PC version)
 
Grand Theft Auto 2 (PC version)
File:Gta3-pc-police.jpeg
Grand Theft Auto III, the first game in the series which immersed players in a truly 3D environment

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 era

The first title in the series, Grand Theft Auto, appeared on the PC and PlayStation in 1998 as well as a reduced Game Boy Color port, and subsequently two expansion packs were offered:

  • 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 PC download.

Grand Theft Auto 2 era

Grand Theft Auto 2 for the PC, PlayStation and Dreamcast, was released in 1999. Set in the unspecified future, 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 era

  • Grand Theft Auto III (2001) 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). Multiplayer was discarded but GTA III improved in many other areas such as voice-acting and storyline. The game 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 violent content, making future games in the GTA series synonymous with violence. Following the success of GTA III, there have been three stand-alone Grand Theft Auto sequels (though all three are technically prequels to GTA III):
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), set in 1992 in a fictional state resembling California and Nevada, it features some of the first attempts at series continuity, and includes many new RPG elements. Throughout, there are references to previous games, most notably the main character from GTA III and several posters referring to GTA: Vice City. San Andreas attracted controvesy when a sex minigame that was cut from the game, but remaining in the game code, was discovered in both the console and PC versions of the game (See Hot Coffee mod). As a result, GTA: San Andreas was pulled from a number of retail outlets and was re-rated from "M" (Mature) to "AO" (Adults Only) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB); the first game in the series to be given an AO rating. Rockstar has since released a sanitized version of the game for both PC and Playstation, and reclaimed the "M" rating.
  • Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004), originally intended to be a topdown conversion of GTA III, it ended up becoming its own completely original adventure featuring both new and familiar characters.

Rockstar North has also developed the controversial Manhunt video game (2003), which is set in the GTA world (Carcer City, mentioned on one of Grand Theft Auto III's radio stations as a neighboring city)

Grand Theft Auto IV era

Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) was officially announced at the Microsoft 2006 E³ Press Conference on May 10, 2006. According to Microsoft, GTA IV will be launched on October 16, 2007 for the Xbox 360. Microsoft said that Xbox 360 will have exclusive, additional episode content on Xbox Live. Not long after this announcement, Take-Two Interactive divulged on their website a press release confirming that the game will be released simultaneously for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The release also announced the opening of the official website. There is no confirmation about which city will serve as the setting for GTA IV but most people believe it will be a return to London [citation needed]. Rockstar, however, has not yet commented on the setting.

Time periods of GTA games

GTA cities and towns

Cities

File:GtaUsaMap.jpg
Comparison map of Liberty City (upper right), Vice City (lower right), and San Andreas (left), all to scale.

Fictional

Non-fictional

Towns in the state of San Andreas (in GTA:SA)

  • Dillimore, San Andreas (Red County)
  • Palomino Creek, San Andreas (Red County)
  • Montgomery, San Andreas (Red County)
  • Blueberry, San Andreas (Red County)
  • Angel Pine, San Andreas (Whetstone)
  • Bayside, San Andreas (Tierra Robada)
  • El Quebrados, San Andreas (Tierra Robada)
  • Las Barrancas, San Andreas (Tierra Robada)
  • Las Payasdas, San Andreas (Bone County)
  • Fort Carson, San Andreas (Bone County)

Ghost Towns

  • Aldea Malvada, San Andreas (Tierra Robada)
  • Las Brujas, San Andreas (Bone County)

Known protagonists in the GTA series

  • Claude/Claude Speed - Nameless in Grand Theft Auto III. In San Andreas a phone call upon completion of the game reveals his first name is in fact Claude. His last name was never disclosed, although some GTA gamers come to believe he is Claude Speed as is the name of the character in Grand Theft Auto 2. He is also known as "Fido" or "The Kid"; both names were given by other characters.
  • Tommy Vercetti - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
  • Carl "CJ" Johnson - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  • Mike - Grand Theft Auto Advance
  • Toni Cipriani - Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

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 replicate GTA's driving/shooting formula and open-ended sandbox play. Notable games that are often seen as doing so include:

As a result of such similarities, Rockstar has placed several Easter eggs to mock the competition. In GTA III, there was a mission called "Two Faced Tanner" in which players were required to kill an undercover cop who was "useless out of his car" (they even went so far as to give the pseudo Tanner a female's walking animation).

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

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 no one 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 (Tanner's walking animations were often criticized) and asking how they could have made something this bad. Another San Andreas Easter egg mocks True Crime, which was depicted on several billboards in the city of Los Santos.

Trivia

  • The TrueType font used for the "Grand Theft Auto" title text since Grand Theft Auto III is called "Pricedown". As the font also bears striking resemblance to the title sequence of the 1972-to-present game show The Price Is Right, the origin of the font remains disputed.[citation needed]
    • Ray Larabie is credited for creating the Pricedown font and naming it in 1998, before Rockstar adopted it for GTA III's title design and interface. It is also worth noting that Larabie was promoted as the art director for Rockstar Games in Toronto during the mid-1990s.[2]
    • The similarity of both font designs for the game show and the video game led MADtv to produce a 2003 sketch, where a game show "Grand Theft Auto" featured a The Price Is Right-like set with contestants killing each other with GTA-style weaponry.
  • Head Radio, an in-game radio station originating from the original Grand Theft Auto, made repeated appearances in following GTA titles, including GTA 2, GTA III and GTA: Liberty City Stories. The original Grand Theft Auto depicted the station playing a variety of music genres, while sequel renditions are depicted specifically playing modern pop and rock music.
  • The rap song "Grand Theft Auto" by Da Shootaz is the most frequently featured song in the series. In addition to appearing as a radio track in GTA, GTA2 and GTA III, a chorus of the track's music is featured as a pager ring tone in GTA III and as the opening theme song of a mock computer game in GTA: Vice City's intro movie.
  • Several radio stations, landmarks, area names and layouts are based on radio stations, landmarks and areas in and around Dundee, Scotland (the former ___location of Rockstar North's headquarters) and Edinburgh (Rockstar North's present ___location). Examples include:
    • Sunnyside, a district and turf of the Loonies gang in GTA2 is named after a mental hospital in Dundee.
    • The Wave 103 radio station in Vice City is a spoof of the Dundee radio station Wave 102.
    • The Verdant Bluffs desert district in San Andreas is named after the historical mill in Dundee called Verdant Works.
    • Bayside, a sea-side suburb in San Andreas is named after Tayside, a former local government region in which the city of Dundee was situated in.
    • The Leaf Links golf and country club in Vice City is named after Leith Links, a park in Leith, which is connected to Edinburgh. Leith Links is where the earliest record of golf is found in the world, and Leith bolsters its claim to be "the home of golf" because the first official rules were formulated there.
    • The Garver Bridge in the city of San Fierro, San Andreas is based on the Forth Road Bridge, which links Fife to Edinburgh. The Kincaid bridge, located in the same city and close to the Garver Bridge, is based on the Forth Bridge that also links Fife to Edinburgh.
    • There are also references to Scottish football teams and players in the computerised Horse Racing mini-game available in San Andreas's betting shops, such as "Henrik's Jaw", a joke at the fact ex-Celtic F.C. striker Henrik Larsson broke his jaw in a match during the period that San Andreas was in development.
  • Despite the violent nature of the games, GTA III and GTA: San Andreas have had strong anti drug use stances. In GTA III, there are several missions in which the player has to stop the spread of SPANK, a fictional drug. In San Andreas, drugs become a major focal point of the game, with a number of lead characters as heavy users of a number of drugs, and are cited as a major difference between the Grove Street Families and Ballas street gangs.
  • In the last episode of the second series of Swiss Toni, Swiss gets addicted to Vice City and, after some intense playing, has trouble telling real life from his virtual life. The fact that players can kill and rob a prostitute after sex in Vice City is also mentioned in the episode - and even encouraged by Swiss's co-worker.
  • In the film Over the Hedge, a game similar to Grand Theft Auto is parodied, dubbed "Auto Homocide 3".
  • Dave Chappelle did a "If Grand Theft Auto is real life" sketch in his show, where he leaves for work, pulls the driver of a passing car out, kills him after the driver shoots him and drives the stolen vehicle away. The sketch mostly parodies some of the unrealistic gameplay mechanics in the series. [3]

See also

Soundtracks (Radio stations)

Official sites

Fan Websites/Forums

General resource

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