Everything about Grand Theft Auto Series totally explained
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 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 and currently has nine
stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original. Film veterans such as
Michael Madsen,
Burt Reynolds,
Dennis Hopper,
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. By
September 26 2007, the
Grand Theft Auto series had sold over 65 million units; as of
March 26 2008, the franchise has sold over 70 million copies worldwide according to
Take-Two Interactive.
Overview
The games allow people 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 developed storyline, in which they're forced to overcome an event where they're either betrayed and left for dead or experienced an unfortunate event, which serves as 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; specific examples of this are the plots for
Grand Theft Auto III and
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
The
Grand Theft Auto series, belonging to a genre of free-roaming video games called "
sandbox games," grants a large amount of freedom to the player in deciding what to do and how to do it through multiple methods of transport and weapons. Unlike most traditional action games, which are structured as a single track series of levels with
linear gameplay, in
GTA the player can determine the missions they want to undertake, and their relationships with various characters are changed based on these choices. The 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 more prevalent voice acting, and
radio stations, which simulate driving to music with
disc jockeys, radio personalities,
commercials,
talk radio,
pop music, and American culture.
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 traditional "heroic" roles that 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, such as
Jack Thompson and
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, 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.
History
| Summary of titles |
| Title |
Developer |
Platforms |
First Released |
| Grand Theft Auto |
DMA Design, Tarantula Studios |
DOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Game Boy Color |
October 1997 |
|
DMA Design, Tarantula Studios, Rockstar Canada, Runecraft |
DOS, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows |
April 29, 1999 |
|
DMA Design, Tarantula Studios, Rockstar Canada, Runecraft |
Microsoft Windows |
June 1, 1999 |
| Grand Theft Auto 2 |
DMA Design, Tarantula Studios |
Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows |
October 22, 1999 |
| Grand Theft Auto III |
DMA Design |
PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox |
October 22, 2001 |
|
Rockstar North |
PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox |
October 27, 2002 |
| Grand Theft Auto Advance |
Digital Eclipse |
Game Boy Advance |
October 25, 2004 |
|
Rockstar North |
PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox |
October 26, 2004 |
|
Rockstar North, Rockstar Leeds |
PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 |
October 25, 2005 |
|
Rockstar North, Rockstar Leeds |
PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 |
October 31, 2006 |
| Grand Theft Auto IV |
Rockstar North |
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
April 29, 2008 |
The
Grand Theft Auto series may be divided into canons, based on the inclusion of a numbering after the recognizable title name (for example Grand Theft Auto III) after the original Grand Theft Auto's release, and to a certain extent, the type of
graphics engine used.
Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto, the first title in the
GTA series was released on
PlayStation in 1997/1998 and also for Windows PCs. The game is set in three different fictional cities,
Liberty City,
San Andreas, and
Vice City. A reduced
Game Boy Color port was later released. Subsequently, were offered, set in 1960's
London.
Grand Theft Auto 2
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, 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 was released in October 2001. The game's setting takes place around that time, in fictional
Liberty City, which is loosely based on
New York City, but also incorporates elements of other American cities.
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).
Grand Theft Auto III sold very well and became the first blockbuster game in the series.
After the success of
Grand Theft Auto III,
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.
, released in October 2004, had its setting in the summer of 1992, 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. Their counterparts are Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas respectively. The game also included a countryside in between Los Santos and San Fierro and also between Los Santos and Las Venturas, and a desert in between Las Venturas and San Fierro.
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
Windows versions of the game. Dubbed the
Hot Coffee mod, the minigame allowed players to have sex with their in-game girlfriends. 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
Microsoft Windows,
Xbox, and
PlayStation 2, and has reclaimed the "M" rating.
Handheld games
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 original adventure. Unlike the Game Boy ports of
I and
II,
Grand Theft Auto Advance didn't tone down the violence and adult dialog common to the
GTA series. The game received an "M" rating from the ESRB. It was developed by an external developer,
Digital Eclipse.
In 2005 and 2006,
Rockstar released two games for the
PlayStation Portable, both developed by
Rockstar Leeds.
is a prequel to
Grand Theft Auto III set in Liberty City in 1998. A PlayStation 2 port was released by Rockstar on
June 6,
2006.
was released on
October 31,
2006 and set in Vice City circa 1984, two years before the events of
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. A PlayStation 2 port of the game was released on
March 6,
2007. It was the last installment of the third generation series, and the final game set within the
Grand Theft Auto III canon.
Grand Theft Auto IV
The latest installment of the series,
Grand Theft Auto IV, was released on
April 29,
2008, after a six month delay. It was the first
Grand Theft Auto game to be released simultaneously on the
PlayStation 3 and
Xbox 360 platforms.
GTA IVs
game engine is the
Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (also known as 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.
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 some episodic content through their
Xbox Live service at their
X06 event.
Times Online reported that
Grand Theft Auto IV recorded 609,000 copies in first-day sales, in the UK. In its first week,
Grand Theft Auto IV sold approximately 6 million copies worldwide and grossed over $500 million.
Controversy
The
Grand Theft Auto series has been a source of considerable controversy since the release of
Grand Theft Auto III. Some controversy can be attributed to
publicist Max Clifford, who planted sensational stories in
tabloids in order to help sell that game.
The fourth game in the series,, also came under criticism. One mission in particular, in which the player must instigate a
gang war between Haitian and Cuban gangs, has been controversial. Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups criticized the game. Jean-Robert Lafortune of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition is quoted as saying that "The game shouldn't be designed to destroy human life, it shouldn't be designed to destroy an ethnic group," for this and similar scenarios, including lines in the game's script such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" during an altercation between the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of being sued by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar removed the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game's subtitles.
After the release of,
hackers managed to find unused code in the game and released unofficial patches for the
Windows version enabling the player to engage in sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for sex used in the game). These mini-games were never intended to be playable in the final version of the game, but were left partially intact in the game's code. This prompted application of an Adults Only (AO)
ESRB rating to the version of the game containing the leftover code. Take-Two Interactive was forced to re-release the game in order to restore the Mature (M) rating. A class action lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code.
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.
Jack Thompson lawsuits
Lawyer
Jack Thompson has been involved in a number of attempts to get families of murder victims to hold the
Grand Theft Auto series accountable for the death of their loved ones. He is currently facing permanent
disbarment.
The shootings by Joshua and William Buckner
The families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young people shot by teens William and Josh Buckner, filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive Software retailer Wal-Mart, and PlayStation 2 manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America, under advice from lawyer Jack Thompson. Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in
U.S. District Court on
October 29,
2003 that the "ideas and concepts as well as the 'purported psychological effects' on the Buckners are protected by the
First Amendment's free-speech clause." The lawyer of the victims,
Jack Thompson, denied that and requested the lawsuit move to a state court and under
Tennessee's consumer protection act. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, and the case was closed.
The murder by Devin Moore
In February 2005, a
lawsuit was brought upon the makers and distributors of the
Grand Theft Auto series claiming the games caused a teenager to shoot and kill three members of the Alabama police force. The shooting took place in June 2003 when Devin Moore, 17 years old at the time, was brought in for questioning to a Fayette police station regarding a stolen vehicle. Moore then grabbed a pistol from one of the police officers and shot and killed him along with another officer and dispatcher before fleeing in a police car. One of Moore's attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was GTA's graphic nature - with his constant playing time - that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore's family agrees. Damages are being sought from the
Jasper branches of
GameStop and
Wal-Mart, the stores from which
GTA III and
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games' publisher
Take-Two Interactive, and the
PlayStation 2 manufacturer
Sony Computer Entertainment. The case is currently being heard by the same judge who presided over Moore's criminal trial, in which Moore was sentenced to death for his actions.
In May 2008,
Jack Thompson appeared via satellite on the
Glenn Beck program on
CNN's
Headline News. Thompson mentioned
Devin Moore and said regarding
Grand Theft Auto III and "There's no doubt in my mind [...] that but for Devin Moore's training on this cop killing simulator, he wouldn't have been able to kill three cops in
Fayette, Alabama who are now dead and in the ground. We are suing
Take Two,
Sony,
Wal-Mart, and
GameStop for having trained Devin Moore to kill. He had no history of violence. No criminal record."
The murders by Cody Posey
In September 2006,
Jack Thompson brought another lawsuit, claiming that
Cody Posey played the game obsessively before murdering his father Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone Schmid, and stepsister Marilea Schmid on a ranch in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims' families. During the criminal trial, Posey's defense team argued he was abused by his father, and tormented by his stepmother. Posey was also taking
Zoloft at the time of the killings. The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders wouldn't have taken place. Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages.
Similar games
Due to 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 game style play. Subsequently, the term "
GTA Clone" has come into use by video game critics and players alike to refer to the many titles released following the massive success of
Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, which attempt to emulate the gameplay style of games from the
Grand Theft Auto series. More specifically, a
GTA Clone is often an action sandbox game that usually contains a large free-roaming map that can be explored on foot or in a vehicle, as well as a large crime element with a crime-related storyline and missions.
Notable games that are sometimes seen as
GTA Clones are
Crackdown, and,
Saints Row and .
.]]
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
water wing-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
GTA: San Andreas, while breaking into mansion, players will see a man playing a video game and making fun of the way the main character walks stating "How could Refractions [aparody 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.
Further Information
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