Grand Theft Auto 1: Difference between revisions

'''Grand Theft Auto''', now known primarily as '''GTA 1''', was the first game in the [[GTA|Grand Theft Auto series]], released on [[PlayStation]], [[PC]] and later on [[Game Boy Color]]. Many GTA games have been made since.

Grand Theft Auto is set in [[Liberty City in GTA 1|Liberty City]], [[City of San Andreas|San Andreas]] and [[Vice City in GTA 1|Vice City]] in 1997. These renditions of the cities are vastly different from their more well-known counterparts in the [[GTA III era]]. In the game, the player can choose from one of about eight [[protagonist]]s, and even change their names. It begins with only one level to choose from.

 

The player works for [[Bubby]], and also for. They have the player do several jobs, ranging from stealing two taxis to killing the police chief. One mission also involves a trap in the form of a bomb on a bus that will blow up if it gets below 50 mph (this was inspired by the movie [[wp:Speed (film)|Speed]]). Once the player has enough points, A mafioso will want to speak to them. Apparently the player double-crossed [[Sonetti|Bald Man Sonetti]], and is a dead man if it happens again.  

Once again, the player must do several jobs to beat the level. Right away, Bubby calls saying "Sasha" has been kidnapped (failing the mission will reveal that Sasha is actually the boss' puppy). The player can choose to rescue her, or fail it and the cops will bring her in. Someone heard her scream in a trunk. Once the player does a bunch of jobs (including killing Sonetti) and have enough points again, Bubby will ask the player to come see him. Bubby will say the player did a good job, but the cops are close enough to looking up his ass with flashlights looking for the protagonist. Bubby, however, booked the player a flight to San Andreas.

Now the player has arrived in San Andreas. The player works for [[Uncle Fu]]. Once the player does enough work and gets enough points, they can see the old man. He is building a crime syndicate of extraordinary magnitude, and the player honors his family

Now the player works for [[Marcus|Brother Marcus]]. Most jobs involve killing. When the player gets enough points and goes to see him, Brother Marcus is proud, and apparently the player got the job done. He thinks the player has done a good job. Now he doesn't think he'll be seeing the player for a long time.

 

The three cities in which the game is set are modeled after real cities, in terms of landscape and style. They are [[Liberty City in GTA 1|Liberty City]] ([[wikipedia:New York City| New York City]]), [[City of San Andreas|San Andreas]] ([[wikipedia:San Francisco, California|San Francisco]]), and [[Vice City in GTA 1|Vice City]] ([[wikipedia:Miami, Florida|Miami]]).

 

 

At wanted level one, the police tend only to give chase if they are in the area anyway (but even a single wanted level will freeze and not dissapear, unless players can find a [[Pay 'n' Spray]], whereas at four, the police set up roadblocks on major roads, shoot on sight, and send everyone available to the player's location. The more crimes the player commits, the higher the rating goes. Also, sometimes the player automatically gets noticed, if a mission leads to someone calling the police, or in the case of bank robberies that not surprisingly put the police on full alert.

The police's aim is in general to arrest the player, although they will not hesitate in shooting or trying to ram them off the road in the desperate attempt to stop the player, and they get more trigger happy the higher the wanted level. On arrest, the player is dropped off at the nearest police station, losing all weapons and armour and half of the score multiplier, but the wanted level is reset back to zero.

The police are very determined to catch the player, but they can be evaded. Dotted around each city are a number of respray shops (if one of the cities are large for inexperienced players, then finding it will be difficult), where the player's vehicle can be resprayed, or have the license plates changed, to disguise it. This makes the police think the player is someone else, even if they see the player enter the shop, although this does cost money (i.e. points). The higher a player's wanted level, the more points it costs to have a car re-sprayed or plates changed.

Despite it's age, GTA 1 even included a multiplayer function, which allowed players to battle with human opponents. This was possible over either a LAN connection or using a null modem cable.

 

The game, with its violent subject matter, generated a great deal of controversy. However, this was deemed to be intentional, and was the first game known to have been publicised in such a way. [[Take-Two Interactive]], the publishers of ''Grand Theft Auto'', hired publicist [[wp:Max Clifford|Max Clifford]] to generate an aura of controversy about the game in the local media. As a result, politicians stepped into the fray. Whatever the impact on game censorship and the perception of video gaming, the publicity worked - the title was hugely successful simply because those attempting to ban the game were inadvertently generating publicity for it. This has been a known and recognised phenomenon of violent video games ever since.

 

* One of the hidden [[Easter Egg]]s in the game is the now famous "Gouranga" bonus, given for swiftly killing an entire group of [[Hare Krishna]] monks.

* The parts of the cities are based on their real-life counterparts, such as Liberty City's neighborhoods. There are neighborhoods like the Brix, which is based on The Bronx, Brocklyn (obviously based on Brooklyn). Vice City has the same thing, featuring districts such as Vice Beach and Banana Grove, which are based on Miami Beach and Coconut Grove.

*A character called [[El Burro]] also appears in [[Grand Theft Auto III]] and a character called [[El Burro (GTA CW)|El Burro]] also appears in [[Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars]].

*[[Head Radio]] is one (if not the only) original station left. It was in this game, and it was also a station in [[Grand Theft Auto 2]] as well as in [[Grand Theft Auto III]] and [[Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories]].