Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a sandbox style video game series created by Dave Jones and primarily developed by Scottish company Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and Rockstar Leeds in England and published by Rockstar Games.
The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, driving, and occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements and has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent undertones. The series focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game. The antagonist in each game is commonly a character who has betrayed them or their organization or someone who has the most impact impeding their progress.
The series began in 1997 and currently has eight stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original. Film veterans such as Michael Madsen, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia and Ray Liotta have all voiced major characters in many installments in the series. The name of the series and its games are derived from "grand theft auto," a term referring to motor vehicle theft. At September 26, 2007, the Grand Theft Auto series had sold over 65 million units.[1] Today it is one of the most popular games series on the market.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 stabbed in the back and left to die 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 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 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 has less emphasis on crime or violence.
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 of violent video games 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.
Grand Theft Auto IV
he 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, the game has been delayed, but will officially be released April 29th, 2008.[2] It has been confirmed that episodic content will be released exclusively for the Xbox 360. Microsoft officially announced a strategic alliance with Rockstar Games over the rights to episodic content through their Xbox Live service at their X06 event[citation needed]. 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.History
The Grand Theft Auto series may be divided into canons, 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, the first title in the GTA series was released for DOS, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation in 1997/1998.[4] The game is set in three different fictional cities, Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas. A reduced Game Boy Color port was later released, and subsequently two expansion packs were offered, set in London.
The second game in the series, Grand Theft Auto 2, was developed for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Dreamcast and released in 1999. Set in the indeterminable future,[5] 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 was released in October 2001. The game's setting takes place in fictional Liberty City, which was based on New York City, around October 2001.[6] Grand Theft Auto III 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 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 (in previous GTAs, 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 Godfather.
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.
After the success of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in 2002. This game was set in 1986 in Vice City, which was based on Miami. Vice City was also the first game to introduce fully functional flying vehicles that could be used by the player, such as sea planes and helicopters. Influences for the game included movies such as Scarface, Carlito's Way and the TV series Miami Vice.[citation needed] In fact, the entire basic storyline of the game is an homage to Scarface, including the climactic gun-fight in the main character's mansion at the end.[citation needed]
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in October 2004, had its setting in the early '90s, focusing on California gang life and the awakening of the drug epidemic brought on by crack cocaine. The setting was in the fictional state of San Andreas, which was based on some California and Nevada cities, specifically Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.
San Andreas also attracted controversy when a sex minigame that was cut from the game, but remained in the game code, was discovered in both the console and PC versions of the game. Dubbed the Hot Coffee mod, the minigame allowed players to have sex with the players girlfriends in the game. 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 an edited version of the game for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2, and has reclaimed the "M" rating.
Grand Theft Auto Advance was also released in 2004. Originally developed to be a top-down conversion of GTA III for the Game Boy Advance, it ended up becoming its own completely original adventure, set roughly a year before Grand Theft Auto III[citation needed]. Unlike the Game Boy ports of I and II, Grand Theft Auto Advance did not tone down the excessive violence and adult dialog common to the GTA series. The game received an "M" rating from the ESRB.
In 2005 and 2006, Rockstar released two games for the PlayStation Portable: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories respectively. Liberty City Stories is a GTA III prequel set in 1998's Liberty City. A PlayStation 2 port was released by Rockstar on June 6, 2006. Vice City Stories was released on October 31, 2006 and set in 1984 Vice City, two years before the events in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. A PlayStation 2 port was released for this game on March 6, 2007.
Controversy
The Grand Theft Auto series has been a source of considerable controversy since the creation of the popular Grand Theft Auto III installment, which was accused of glorifying carjacking and other criminal acts[citation needed].
A sequel released shortly thereafter, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, also came under similar criticism for hate crimes: a mission in the game involves a gang war between Haitians and Cuban refugees, with the player acting on behalf of both gangs to plot against one another. Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups highly criticized the game for this and similar scenarios, including using phrases such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" in reference to the gang with which the character is having a shoot-out. After the threat of being sued by the Haitian-American Coalition, Rockstar removed the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game's subtitles[citation needed].
The following sequel, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, is similar. After the game's release, unofficial patches became available on the PC version enabling the player to engage in crudely rendered sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for sex used in the game). This prompted suspension of the game's production, application of an Adults Only (AO) ESRB rating to the "Hot Coffee" version, a re-release of a version lacking the controversial content to restore the Mature (M) rating, and a class action lawsuit against Take Two Interactive[citation needed].
Critics have also targeted the exploitative and violent attitude toward women in the series. Although not encouraged to do so in any of the games, players may utilize the services of prostitutes, and then subsequently rob and murder them.Similar games
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,[7][8] Saints Row,[9] Scarface: The World Is Yours,[10] The Simpsons Hit & Run, Just Cause, Mafia and Total Overdose.
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, in addition to the "TRUEGRIME" garbage truck cheat code, which also mocks the game.
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