Review: Grand Theft Auto - 13/08/2008 by Andrew
Action-Adventre/RPG
It's amazing how far the Grand Theft Auto series has come and this is even more amazing when you look back at how it all started. Released on the Playstation and PC back in 1997 it featured a top down viewpoint of a pixelated character, which pretty much ran amuck earning points as he or she went (yes, you could choose to play as a female character). The more serious the crime, the more points and the more heat from the Police.
Before I get too much further, I need to let you in on a relatively unknown secret – you can download the original GTA for free from the wonderful people at Rockstar Games. Go do this now and then keep reading.
As the title suggests, you cannot escape needing to carjack people -walking is for suckers after all. You received your missions via telephone booths and then you had to set about completing them (some with a time limit) in order to gain points as well as a mulitplier, which made the points earning part of the game all the more easier. GTA is set in all three of the major GTA cities; Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas. Initially you start in Liberty City where you start picking up missions and playing through the story. To complete each city it's a matter of getting enough points, which can actually be done without completing any missions though it's much easier gaining a few multipliers first. One trick I found was to continuously target the Police vehicles, eventually the Police vehicles will stop coming (there must be a finite amount the game can draw or something).
Graphically, it's a dogs breakfast, even average for 1997. You can take the resolution up to 1600x1200 (and as low as 640x400) though even at the highest res it looks quite poor. Sound wise it's also average with only basic sound effects and none of the voice acting we've loved in the more recent GTA's. You do hear the crackle of a police radio and you can make out a few phrases here and there but nothing special. None of this really matters as the gameplay was, and still is, fantastic. The missions are well written, driving is chaotic and the crimes are outrageous. One of the famous bonuses in the game was to kill the entire precession of Hare Krishnas for mega points - easily obtainable with a high powered sports car.
There's even multiplayer support to play over LAN or NULL modem cable, though this really doesn't add much to the game itself, all the fun is really to be had in the single player game.
As this game is now a freebee, it should always have a place on your USB memory stick. Truly one of the greatest games from the 1990's.