So what happened to… Grand Theft Auto?

[bigsharn]

Well this is the first in my analysis on a series of games, looking back over the history and seeing what changed for the franchises, this week I’ve decided to look at Grand Theft Auto

The basic original idea for GTA was to play a criminal in America, trying to make it in the world. As we now know, this soon changed to creating as much carnage as you could in knock-off versions of New York city (Liberty City), Miami (Vice City) and San Francisco (San Andreas). Armed with an array of shotguns you could happily go on a rampage around the streets of the fictional American cities.
GTA: London 1969 was (unsurprisingly) set in London in 1969, and the much lesser known London: 1961 was set in London in 1961. Both add-on packs needed GTA to work, but 1961 also needed 1969 to work. Again, the goal was to make as much money as possible in the criminal underworld. Again, this turned into killing as many innocent civilians as you could.

GTA 2 came out and it was a little bit different, in that you had to earn respect of different gangs in order to progress to the next level… To start with you had the Zaibatsu gang (who featured in every level), a blue gang (Yakuza) and another gang (The Loonies) to work for, along with the Rednecks, the Scientists, and I can’t remember the rest off the top of my head. Again, the idea was to create as much carnage as possible… I mean… to make as much money as possible. But this had more of a realistic gang element than the other two games. There were no add-ons for this, which it's the only game in the series to not have any add-ons (and, another piece of useless information... the only one to use a digit instead of Roman numerals in the name)

GTA: III was on a whole new level when it came out for the PS2, for a start it was in 3D (which was a first for the series). For some reason it felt like the idea of the game was actually to ascend in the ranks of the criminal underworld, back to the original GTA ideals (wait. What?) But this time, being in 3D, you actually went and did the missions. Only at the end did you tend to go around on a rampage just for fun. It was set back in Liberty City in 2001 (the year of the game’s release), and after the next two games.

Soon after came Vice City, set in Miami Vice City in 1986. Again in 3D but again with a totally different game ideal. You’re Tommy Vercetti (this time they felt a need to name the character), someone who’s just got out of prison for murdering 15 people. Your boss (Mafia boss Sonny Forelli) has sent you to Vice to partake in the cocaine trade there. This is how the game starts and you’re set up. Someone guns down your two wingmen and you’re left to explain the mess to your boss. The game is spent working your way up in the criminal world as with the other games and making as much money as you can.[spoiler] Eventually it gets to the point where you take over the entirety of Vice City through acquiring properties, and Sonny shows up again claiming it all as his own as compensation for losing his cocaine. You (as Tommy) then gun down Sonny and take the properties for yourself. [/spoiler]As a result of the previous games, at this point you go on a victory rampage.

Then came San Andreas, set in California in 1992. You’re Carl Johnson and your mother’s just been gunned down by some bad people in a green car. The first part of the game is centred on gangland culture and taking areas from other gangs that operate around the city. (GTA 2 anyone?), though you’re part of one gang and one gang only. Grove Street. You find out that it’s a pair of corrupt police officers which (being the law) are always one step ahead. You end up going through San Fierro, Las Venturas and back to your hometown of Los Santos to settle revenge for your mother. [spoiler]You get the revenge you've been after since you started the game... [/spoiler]Then you go on a victory rampage and kill as many people wearing purple as possible.

These three are all glamorous and seem to make the entire criminal culture look glitzy and like a good thing. They’re far from realistic but extremely fun to play… Then came GTA IV...

Fast forward to 2008, and you’re back in Liberty City. You’re in the shoes of Niko Bellic, an Albanian running from his past and the war raging on over there (wait, what war?). Your cousin has told you stories of a huge mansion he owns, with his taxi business. You arrive and very quickly find out that not all is as it seems. Your cousin is a drunk, gambling, troubled man (granted, he never lied about the taxi firm) and you end up working in the criminal underworld to pay off his debts. You find a definite contrast between this and the glamorous GTA III series. It’s dark, it’s depressing, it’s realistic… but it’s still fun. You find yourself on the run from Russian gangsters, befriending a Jamaican that likes his weed and a Puerto-Rican drug dealer that prefers to deal in the more risky stuff. You work for anyone that pays just to survive really.[spoiler] In the end you kill the man you’re working for (you do however get to make a decision about who that man is)[/spoiler] and in celebration… you go on a killing rampage

Episodes From Liberty City aren’t all that much difference, in The Lost And The Damned you’re still in the depressed, dark world as with GTA: IV only you’re more likely to use a motorbike in your missions, it’s very brotherhood oriented and in the end you burn your clubhouse down. The Ballad Of Gay Tony is basically the storyline of GTA: Vice City, but with diamonds instead of cocaine and less property-buying options, oh, and a crazy Arab [spoiler]that by the end of the game, has given you a solid gold helicopter to use, a solid gold Uzi and a solid gold Rolls Royce Super Drop Top to play with at the end.[/spoiler] Why would you need all this? To go on an end-of-game rampage of course!

So how has GTA changed since the original? We’ve seen a shed load of different gameplay types, ideas and moods tossed around. But it all whittles down to the same thing. What is GTA all about? Going on epic rampages, blowing shit up, and having sex with hookers and killing them afterwards to get your money back (no? well I guess that’s just me then) Nothing’s really changed, maybe the graphics have improved massively and you’ve had a taste of the high life… But thanks to this series, you’ll always be the murderous thug you wanted to be since age 13 when your mum kicked you out of the house for attempting to eat a chicken sandwich (no? I guess that was just me as well…)