Wanted Level in GTA 2: Difference between revisions

[[Grand Theft Auto 2]] was the first [[Grand Theft Auto]] game with six '''wanted levels''', which, with only minimal changes, appeared in all [[GTA III Era]] and [[Grand Theft Auto IV]]. In [[Grand Theft Auto 1]], there was only a minor difference between the first and fourth (the highest) [[Wanted Level in GTA 1|wanted levels]]. The overhauled six-star system would prove to provide much greater 'spectrum' of threat, allowing the player to easily escape when only one police "head" was present, and presenting them with an almost unsurvivable challenge at level six.

Wanted levels, as in GTA 1, are displayed and measured with "head" icons (rather than the stars seen in later games), but new to GTA 2 was the shaking of the heads when police knew the player's location, essentially a visibility indicator.

*'''One head''' - This is displayed when the player commits a "minor" (by the standards of GTA) crime - such as shooting/running over a few pedestrians, attacking a police officer or exploding a car. One police car is sent to your last known location, eg. they check the wrecked car or the place of the murder. If they don't find you, they will drive away and your wanted level will disappear. A maximum of one police car chases you, and police run slower than the player.

*'''Six heads''' - At six 'heads', the army replace all police forces. Pedestrians disappear and normal cars become a rare sight, the player instead encountering soldiers armed with Uzis who shoot at the player, and all kinds of army vehicles driving on the roads. These include [[tank]]s, [[Pacifier]]s, [[Land Roamer]]s and [[Armed Land Roamer]]s. Luckily, tanks and armed Jeeps won't chase or shoot at the player; Land Roamers, however, are driven by armoured soldiers, and they will do whatever it takes to take down the player (they do not perform arrests). Roadblocks will now be formed with tanks which shoot at the player, making them supremely dangerous obstacles. It is very difficult to decrease the Wanted level now - army vehicles cannot be resprayed, and almost no civilian cars are present on roads, so the player is on a search for [[Police Bribes]] (in GTA 2 these remove the entire wanted level, but are very rare), or parked vehicles to drive as fast as possible to the respray shop.

*'''Max Paynt respray shops''' - Here the player can respray car to immediately lose any wanted level the player receives. Remember that public service vehicles and gang cars cannot be resprayed (Taxis are okay). "Max Paynt" appears to be an early reference to the Rockstar-published game ''Max Payne'' (which came out 2 years after GTA 2).