WillMontu's Full Review: Grand Theft Auto (GTA) for Windows
I first got into Grand Theft Auto when someone installed it on every computer in my high school programming class. The teacher did not mind, and the whole class got a kick out of playing multiplayer over the school. Surprisingly, that same teacher still teaches that class. I later had the chance to play the PlayStation version. The PlayStation version was also a lot of fun, but it lacked some of the features found only in the PC version. When the music does work, it adds a lot to the game, as each car has a “pre-set radio station”, and for each car you steal, the music is different. The London mission pack also has this feature, but it features DJ’s with very strong English accents.
I was later able to get hold of the full PC version myself. It came as a combo pack with both GTA and the London 69 mission pack. When I first installed the game, I had a few problems with the music. Whenever I wanted to switch cars, the game would momentarily freeze while the CD drive would switch tracks. This happened with several drives, but installing a “CD patch” fixed this problem, making the game playable again.
The game takes place in a large city with a bird’s eye view of everything. The graphics are third-person, but they are still 3D (i.e. driving past a building will show the top of the building at a different angle). The player is a person who can steal cars and get weapons. The goal of the game is to complete missions and get lots of points. Missions involve stealing cars, running over people, fooling cops, selling cars illegally, or other things that could put one in jail. When a mission is completed, the “multiplier” goes up, making it easier to gain more points. After a certain number of points is achieved, the player has the option to go to the next level up. Along with completing missions, it is also necessary to avoid the cops. Each time you level a pedestrian or fire a gun, the cops start coming after you. The good part of this is that the player can get extra points for running the cops over as well, but this usually makes them more mad and after you even more. The bad part is that the cops can either pull the player out of the car or use the kamikaze approach to blow the car or player up. When they really hate you, they resort to kamikaze maneuvers and roadblocks. The game also features some other goodies, such as remote-control cars, tanks, train jacking, and bomb shops. Like many other popular games, GTA features multiplayer support. Up to four players can compete over an IPX connection under either DOS or Windows. The goal is to simply kill the other players without killing yourself. Cops are usually not involved, but there are many cars to steal and blow up.
One of the best features of this game is that is a good stress reliever. It provides a cure for road-rage without actually getting tickets or prison time.
There are a few issues with the game, however. One is the save game option (or lack thereof). The game does not allow the player to keep progress until the end of each level, and the levels are usually fairly long. This is a problem for me, as the games does crash from time to time, and there are a few bugs, such as a failing a mission randomly or the player getting jammed in a car.
Another issue is the content. Some people may be offended by the use of certain four-letter words throughout the game (both visually and verbally) and the old blood'n'guts, but after all, it involves breaking the law.
The game consists of both DOS and Windows versions. I prefer to use the Windows version, as it works well under Windows 2000, and has easy video mode switching. The game supports anything from 320x200x256 up to more than 800x600x32bit.
Update 3/07
This was the game that started it all. Now we've got the Hot Coffee controversy, PSP ports, and GTA 4 on the horizon. Rockstar has released this game on its website for download, free of charge.
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