Grand Theft Auto | |
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Developer(s) |
DMA Design Tarantula Studios (GBC) |
Publisher(s) |
Windows, MS-DOS
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Distributor(s) | Take-Two Interactive |
Director(s) | Keith R. Hamilton |
Producer(s) | David Jones |
Designer(s) |
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Programmer(s) | Keith R. Hamilton |
Artist(s) | Ian McQue |
Writer(s) |
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Composer(s) |
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Series | Grand Theft Auto |
Platform(s) | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Aggregate score | |
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Aggregator | Score |
GameRankings | (PC) 78.50% (PS) 68.33% (GBC) 57.33% |
Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
CVG | 7/10 |
EGM | 6.5/10 |
GamePro | |
Game Revolution | B |
GameSpot | (PC) 6.4/10 (PS) 8/10 |
IGN | 6/10 |
Nintendo Power | 6.2/10 |
Grand Theft Auto is an open world action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive. It was first released in Europe and North America in October 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was later re-released on 12 December 1997 in Europe and 30 June 1998 in North America for the PlayStation. It is the first instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series, a series that has sold more than 150 million units as of September 2013. The story follows a group of criminals in three fictionalised versions of US cities as they perform bank robberies, assassinations, and other crimes for their respective syndicates.
The game was originally intended to be named Race'n'Chase and to be developed for the Commodore Amiga, starting in 1996. However, it was nearly cancelled due to production issues.
Its successor, Grand Theft Auto 2, was released in September 1999.
Grand Theft Auto is made up of six levels split between the three main cities. In each level, the player's ultimate objective is to reach a target number of points, which is typically achieved by performing tasks for the city's local crime syndicate. Each level is initiated at a telephone box and has its own unique set of tasks. Successful completion of a mission rewards the player with points and opens the opportunity to attempt harder missions for higher rewards, while failure awards fewer points and may permanently seal off opportunities for more tasks. Completing missions also increases the player's "multiplier", which increases the points the player gets for doing other tasks. When the player amasses a total of $1,000,000, the next city is unlocked.
There are eight playable characters in the game, four male and four female: Travis, Troy, Bubba, Kivlov, Ulrika, Katie, Divine, and Mikki (the PlayStation version only includes the four male characters, however). In actual gameplay, there is no real difference, since all player-characters wear the identical yellow jumper, although they do wear different coloured trousers and hair colours to each other and have the correct skin colours. Players may also name their character which, with the correct name, acts like a cheat code and alters gameplay.