It took exactly three installments for the GTA series to evolve from an eccentric action game with dated graphics to an industry-changing cultural phenomenon.
Of course, now only the most ardent fans of the series will be able to play Grand Theft Auto 3 without shuddering, but here’s the harsh reality: few projects stand up to such a test of time, especially when it comes to the first games. However, it was in GTA 3 that Rockstar laid the foundations on which it subsequently created not a successful sequel, but numerous competitors and imitators.
In a sense, Nintendo contributed to the rise of GTA. At the time of Nintendo 64, the authors of the first GTA from DMA Design planned to create a three-dimensional action game about aliens, with transportation and relative freedom of action. But then Shigeru Miyamoto intervened and demanded that everything be redone. As a result, Body Harvest was greatly delayed and the team switched to the isometric car action game Race ‘n’ Chase, which later evolved into Grand Theft Auto.
The video is available on meganoikz’s YouTube channel. The rights to the video belong to Rockstar.
Related materials
The best games for brain and memory development.
The era before GTA 3
The pseudo-3D engine seemed dated, but the unusual concept was captivating: three large cities without a predetermined passage structure. The player had to earn the required amount of money, and there were more than enough activities for this: stealing and trading cars, murdering and, of course, completing missions.
The first GTA did not include various tasks, but its approach was innovative. Of course, RPGs with side quests already existed at that time, but you couldn’t get very far without completing story quests. Everything is different here, although the mechanics proposed by the creators encouraged, first of all, to follow the orders of the big bosses.
GTA
Photo: Rockstar
First of all, it’s simply more interesting than doing roughly the same thing for an hour or two. Secondly, successfully completing missions adds a point multiplier, allowing you to significantly reduce the time needed to obtain the required amount. True, there was a problem here: death reset the counter. In fact, GTA was largely based on the philosophy of 8 and 16-bit projects, forcing you to memorize levels (paper maps that came with licensed versions, a kind of wizards) and perfect your actions to complete missions without dying. Also, it was impossible to save during the game.
GTA
Photo: Rockstar
The GTA press did not particularly favor it and the opinion of journalists at the time was an important reference point for players. On the other hand, the action influenced the developers: it was after GTA that open-world races began to appear one after another. These include Midtown Madness, Crazy Taxi and Driver.
By the way, not only the development of technology, but also the desire to compete with the successful Driver prompted Sam Houser (at that time only the producer and screenwriter of the second GTA) to translate Grand Theft Auto into three dimensions. Fortunately, the management agreed without hesitation.
GTA 2 cover
Photo: Rockstar
Creation of GTA 3
At first, the team created a prototype for the Dreamcast, but it quickly became clear that the platform’s technical limitations would not allow them to create a large game based on it.
Yes, Crazy Taxi was released on the console, but the lack of ability to get out of the car, full interaction with people, and other elements worked in its favor. The project was then offered to Microsoft as an exclusive for the new Xbox, but it rejected it, citing violent content and lackluster sales of its predecessors. An agreement could only be reached with Sony for PS2.
Although DMA Design had experience working with full 3D, for the third GTA the studio borrowed Criterion’s RenderWare engine (Burnout), which had proven itself in games of various genres. But reaching a new level meant not only advanced or at least modern images. Already during the time of the first PlayStation, numerous developers began to dilute the game with a large number of cinematic videos.
GTA 3
Photo: Rockstar
The Housers had no plans for anything serious or Oscar-winning; On the contrary, the cartoon style and deliberately ironic dialogue seemed to imply that fanaticism should be treated with a smile. Which, of course, did not stop the attacks of moral fighters either before or after the launch.
The sad events of September 11 forced the developers to slightly change the content and delay the release, since the events of the third part took place in Liberty City, and New York served as a prototype.
GTA 3 sales start
Grand Theft Auto III was released in October 2001 only on PS2 and created a sensation. In the first months, 2 million copies were purchased, which even now is a decent circulation and, for that time, a colossal success. In May 2002, the action game was released for PC, but the Xbox version was delayed until fall 2003.
Fighters for morality probably believed that the reason for their enormous popularity was the opportunity to give free rein to basic instincts. After all, in what other game at that time could a player throw the driver out of a taxi, run over the unfortunate one, and then press the accelerator pedal and knock down an entire column of pedestrians?
The video is available on the GamesPot YouTube channel. The rights to the video belong to Rockstar.
Perhaps in some cases this was true, but the main reason was still unlimited freedom of action. This, by the way, is confirmed by the memories of numerous industry figures, which they shared last year exactly on the 20th anniversary of GTA 3. Many of them claimed that they spent days causing chaos in a big city instead of continuing to follow suit . plot.
What surprised GTA 3.
The open world itself wasn’t a big deal, even in 2001.
Shortly before this, Omikron: The Nomad Soul and two parts of Shenmue were released, which also featured realistic cities with changing weather and time of day. But there the city essentially served only as a spectacular decoration and breeding ground for signs in the form of people.
GTA 3
Photo: Rockstar
In GTA 3, as in its predecessors, you could have fun even while completing a mission, although this mostly led to failure.
Buy weapons and sit on the docks, carefully shoot at the approaching policemen and then at the army? Or organize a spectacular chase? Or become a police officer yourself? In addition to the side activities, the game allowed you to entertain yourself.
It is true that in the third part the arcade concept with scoring was abandoned, so it was no longer possible to close the Gestalt by exchanging cars or killing police officers. Have you looked at all the available side effects, played the police enough, and are you stuck on the story mission? Unfortunately, nothing more.
GTA 3
Photo: Rockstar
I had to, gritting my teeth, analyze the mistakes and try to overcome them for the fifth… tenth… maybe even thirtieth time. The game was not at all merciful to the player and did not forgive even the slightest mistakes, such as falling behind a pursued car.
In addition, the hero died quickly, he was not pampered with first aid kits at every corner and ammunition, and he could only dream of checkpoints during missions. Additionally, the fully three-dimensional city was easily confusing, especially at the beginning.
However, high complexity also had positive aspects: at that time the gaming industry had not yet become ill with the predominance of scripts, so in some cases the player was offered various, so to speak, unusual ways of complete the mission. You just had to be smart and figure them out through an endless series of trials and errors, since the usual arrows and markers weren’t there either. Some sequels, as well as numerous imitators, inherited this feature.
Admit it, how many of you blew up cars before a race or boarded “that same train” in San Andreas, against the conditions specified in the game? The only pity is that Rockstar itself subsequently brought everything to nothing. Of course, GTA 5 is in many ways better than the third part, but it still lacked some forks during the missions themselves.
GTA 3
Photo: Rockstar
Even today, the third part acquires a special charm due to its setting bordering on film noir. Even with cartoonish character models and a lackluster script that was only meant to tie missions together, it was a powerful experience. The fourth part, released seven years later, the events of which also took place in Liberty City, no longer made such an impression.
The future of GTA after GTA 3
And the Housers finally solved the problem with flat characters and weak jokes. GTA: Vice City, which arrived the following year, was an obvious satire of the culture of the 80s and the police series of those years, but GTA: San Andreas, which dealt with the theme of the ghetto and black people, was a rival for it.
But the game became a cultural phenomenon mainly thanks not to satire, but to revolutionary gameplay that refined the ideas of its predecessors. So much so that no one wanted to take a piece of the huge pie.
It’s a pity that few others had enough creativity and skills. The only one that comes to mind is Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, which relied on realism and powerful production without a hint of irony, although “Mafia” can hardly be considered an open-world game.
Mafia
Photo: 2K Games
It’s hard to remember True Crime, which tried to combine the family game formula with the aesthetics of Hong Kong action movies. The Driver series, which largely pushed DMA Design to move into full 3D, was lost to time and when it was finally announced after almost four years, it immediately dishonored its legacy. It is not in vain that they say that it is easy to climb, but difficult to maintain.
Related materials
Classification
Top 10 Forgotten Cult Games That Deserve a Sequel
But Rockstar not only held on, but settled on top, scattering everyone and everything. Of all the competitors, only “Mafia” has survived to this day, but it can hardly be called a competitor or a clone.
The success of GTA 3 not only caused the emergence of a new genre. DMA’s work prompted many to move away from a linear narrative in favor of spacious locations and an abundance of side quests.
Even if we were not always talking about megacities, even large-scale levels with several paths to the goal began to be found in games much more often. Subsequently, the retired Rockstar series showed the industry an exemplary example of evolution. The concept, invented more than two decades ago, remains relevant thanks to the clever integration of new ideas. But at the same time, the new GTA clearly follows the commandments of its ancestors: they remain fun, accessible and the most talked about games in the entire industry.
