- This article is about the first game in the Grand Theft Auto series. Visit that link for all the others.
Grand Theft Auto, now known primarily as GTA 1, was the first game in the Grand Theft Auto series, released on PlayStation 1, PC and later on Game Boy Color.
Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 was made as an expansion pack for GTA, and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 was in turn an expansion pack for London 1969. Both of these games require the original GTA disc to work.
The project was originally named Race'n'Chase.
Plot
Liberty City
- Gangsta Bang
The player starts off in Liberty City, and begins to work for Robert "Bubby" Seragliano's gang. They have the player complete several jobs, ranging from stealing taxis to killing the LCPD police chief via car bomb, as well as assassinating the lawyer of the rival Sonetti Gang. 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 (a reference to the action film Speed). Once the player has enough points, Don Sonetti's right-hand man Cabot contacts the player, wishing to speak to him/her. Upon meeting him, he claims the player double-crossed Bald Man Sonetti, and is a dead man if it happens again.
- Heist Almighty
Once again, the player must do several jobs to complete 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; if the player fails the mission, the cops find and bring her in, for someone heard her scream in a trunk. Once the player does some jobs (including killing Sonetti) and has 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 look up his ass with flashlights. Bubby, in an effort to get rid of the unneeded police attention, booked the player a flight to San Andreas.
San Andreas[1]
- Mandarin Mayhem
Upon arrival to San Andreas, the player is contacted by Uncle Fu's gang, and begins to work for them. 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.
- Tequila Slammer
Now, the player works for El Burro. Once the player does enough jobs, pleases him, and gets enough points, he'll ask them to come over to his place. The player did good work for him, and he is grateful. Now he's going to return the favor. He's going to reward the player "personal" this time.
Vice City[
- Bent Cop Blues
A cop named Samuel Deever calls the player because apparently they screwed up somewhere. The player works for him now. Following the same routine, once the player gets enough points, they can go see a now very angry Deever. If the player crosses him again, they're screwed for life... if they even have a life after.
- Rasta Blasta
Now the player works for 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.
Weapons
- Fist - People cannot be killed with this weapon. However, it can immobilize enemies for a few seconds.
- Pistol - Slow firing rate, but kills with one shot. Lots of ammo can be found around the cities. It is always near hospitals and police stations, and is the standard weapon of cops and criminals.
- Machine Gun - Rapid rate of fire, but it is only in specified places and it doesn't have much ammo. It is used by police when player has wanted level of four.
- Rocket Launcher - Only used for destroying vehicles, but buildings will also catch fire when shot. It is found only in rare places.
- Flamethrower - Can easily blow up a car or catch people on fire. It is most useful for killing groups of enemies, but it is a rare weapon.
There's a Burp and Fart too, as specials, but have no effect on any enemy.
Gameplay
The original Grand Theft Auto is made up of a series of levels each set in one of the three cities in the game. In each level, the player has a target number of points to achieve, and five lives to attain the score.
The score counter doubles as a money meter; the player can spend this money on paint jobs and various other things. However, any money spent is of course taken away from the score, making the goal that little bit further away. On obtaining the target number of points, the player must then drive to a certain location to complete Gta24 000A collision at an intersection. LinoshAdded by Linosh the level, which allows progress to the next one.
Apart from that, the player is free to do whatever they want. The player can just explore the city, cause death and destruction, or steal and sell cars for profit, although completing a level will almost certainly require the completion of missions. Even in missions there is still some freedom, as usually the player is free to choose the route to take, although the destination is usually fixed. This level of freedom was not found in most action-based computer games at the time. However, the player is given limited lives so free roaming is, somewhat limited, if the player isn't caref
Earning points[3]
There are various ways in which to earn the points needed to complete each level.
Some points can be earned by committing various crimes, such as ramming cars (10 points each), and killing police (1000 each). The more serious the crime, the more points, but also the more the police will pay attention to the player. Another way to make money is to steal cars, and sell them at the many docks around each cities, usually earning several thousand points.
These activities can give the player quite a number of points but they are not sufficient to earn the millions of points needed to complete each level (unless the player has a lot of patience), so it is necessary to take on missions to complete a level. On successful completion of a mission, the player gets 'paid', a large amount of points. A typical payment is in the region of 50,000 points.
Also after completing a mission, the score multiplier is increased by one. The score multiplier is multiplied by the normal score for something, to get the points actually awarded. For example a multiplier of three will mean that the player gets three time the regular amount of points, so 30 points for ramming a car, rather than the normal 10 points. This applies for anything points are awarded for, including the payment for completing a mission.
In the Game Boy port, score multipliers are handled differently. The player can collect floating "X"'s hidden in each city, that automatically add a multiplier to the score counter. The first time one is picked up it says "×2", the second time it says "×3", and so on. This only affects points gained after acquiring the multiplier, not the points the player already has, so it is in the player's best interests to seek the "X"'s as soon as possible.