Grand Theft Auto: The Phenomenon

Angus takes a look at the history of GTA

It has become a name synonymous with mainstream entertainment and a brand that the media are always quick to mention in a headline regarding a violent act by a teenager. The Grand Theft Auto franchise is undoubtedly one of the most successful and controversial creations in video game history. But other than the so-called negative influence on the youth of today, the GTA series has sculptured and changed the culture of the industry as well.

Free-Running

The first Grand Theft Auto game had very humble beginnings. In fact, when it was released back in 1997 few people could have predicted what it would evolve to become. Originally appearing on the original Playstation and the PC (on an old-school DOS platform), it had many of the same features as the later installments would have nearly 10 years later. In it you controlled a nameless criminal in a living, breathing world where you could arm yourself with a multitude of weapons and hi-jack any vehicle you saw.

The main difference resided in the graphics, which were presented in a top-down / bird’s-eye view fashion. Sometimes the screen became extremely cluttered, and with you only being able to see the top of your character’s head, it became difficult to tell what the hell was going on. But you didn’t care, so long as you managed to kill seven hippies in a row whilst driving a school bus. The original game even contained the radio station-based soundtrack (although it was fairly limited) where players heard certain tracks whilst driving.

But the most important aspect to its success was the non-linear structure to the game’s storyline. It was this level of freedom which set GTA apart from other action-based computer games at the time. The 2D era of GTA continued for four years, seeing a sequel and several add-on packs, including a 1970’s London expansion. However in 2001, the third title became a blockbuster hit, appearing with a brand new 3D engine and backed by a massive production budget.

The idea of using a 3D game engine in such a genre was not completely original. The first game to combine elements of action, shooting, and multiple-vehicle driving in this way was the lesser known Body Harvest (1998). This game deserves a mention based on the name alone. But Grand Theft Auto III once again took place in an open-ended fictional city (based on New York City) and allowed players an infinite amount of interaction with the environment. Even though the storyline and subsequent missions were entertaining, if the player decided he would rather just cruise around the streets for hours on end, they could. The city was filled with characters walking on footpaths and traffic on roads, all behaving like normal citizens.

Well, perhaps not exactly life-like. In real life objects don’t disappear after you walk 100 metres from them. But the illusion was such that GTA offered a virtual playground that from many angles seemed realistic. Furthermore, GTA III was also set in the present time for release, which was October 22, 2001, indicated by the fictional Liberty Tree newspaper that appeared in the story.

All this combined gave players a new sense of realism in video games. Throughout the cut-scenes and gameplay, the protagonist is never named, but is often referred to as "Kid" and sometimes "Fido". The player character is also silent and never utters a line of dialogue, which could be regarded to further help the gamers to immerse themselves into the story. However, with this new sense of realism came the after-shock of media attention.


Cause and Effect

With the graphics seeming more life-like and the virtual cities more populated, parents and grown-ups with nothing better to do started to take notice. Although the core gameplay elements hadn’t changed, the earlier versions of the game had slipped under the radar due to their arcade-like visuals and cartoonish nature. GTAIII shipped with an “M” for Mature rating and before long 16 year old kids were wrenching people from their cars and driving down the main streets with an uzi blasting out the windows.

This was, of course, all in the game. But it didn’t take long for the controversy to begin. Even though the game tracked any criminal offences committed, such as carjacking, murder and theft and resulted in increasing levels of resistance from the authorities (the police, FBI, and army will respond accordingly and with increasing force), critics were concerned that when the player collapses from his injuries (“Wasted!”) or is arrested (“Busted!”), he will re-spawn almost immediately at a local hospital or police station respectively. The penalty for this generally took the form of losing a bit of moola or some weapons - or the shear horror of knowing that you have to replay an insanely difficult mission all over again!

But to many - mainly the grown-ups with nothing better to do - this lack of retribution was teaching kids all the wrong lessons. It essentially allowed the player character to commit as much destruction as possible and to "die" as many times as they want with little consequence.

Enter the media monkeys. In the months following GTA’s success, it was mentioned in just about any act of violence that could be even remotely related to it. Marilyn Manson must have been saddened that the attention was suddenly pulled away from him and the negative publicity simply made the game more successful. Critics argued that the game was a release for wanton anarchy, parents were up in arms, and while they bickered and complained their kids were in their bedrooms playing GTA anyway.

It is important to note that after all these years of scientists sitting in rooms playing hour upon hour of video games, there still isn’t any recognisable proof of negative behaviour being caused by the past-time. It’s also interesting that no-one seems to be worried about the negative effects The Sims might be having on kids of today. This also is a highly realistic game with many fantasy elements inside. Are there children out there who think that the Grim Reaper pays everyone a visit on their deathbed? Surely this is proof that young gamers can differentiate between fact and fiction?

Apparently not. In April 2006, Tyrone McMillan was taken into custody after leading police on a car chase when officers attempted to pull him over for a parole violation. After slamming into two cars, McMillan told police that he thought he could outrun them because he played games from the Grand Theft Auto franchise. McMillan, unbelievably in his 30s with a wife and kids (who were actually in the car for most of the chase), used his expertise navigating the fictional streets of GTA with a PlayStation 2 controller… and put them to good use leading the police on a 55-minute real-life car chase. Kudos for sure, but I think this just proves that McMillan is an absolute fruit-cake. It is highly probable that McMillan could have been set off by a TV advert for cornflakes. For the game to get condemned because of one individual would be like banning all tigers from a Zoo because a mentally unstable man managed to jump into a cage of them and get mauled.

Either way, the distributors of the franchise, Rockstar, were laughing all the way to the bank. Sales sky-rocketed and lawyers started to play the game in a desperate bid to research a defence case.


The Franchise Lives On

A year after the third game, the even more successful GTA: Vice City was launched. Once more it built on the foundations of the original but added a star-studded cast of voice-actors and a more engaging storyline. Vice City, echoing the time-travelling aspects of the second game, this time visited the 1980’s, complete with an appropriate soundtrack (again, via the radio-stations) and setting.

While the game drew on popular culture such as movies like Scarface, The Godfather, Miami Vice and the Sopranos, the GTA franchise itself was starting to influence the gaming industry. Game developers everywhere realised that people didn’t want to purchase games that went from point A to point B anymore. Why not get the whole alphabet in there as well and let the player do whatever they want? Truth be told, role-playing games had this formula in their repertoire already but the mainstream gaming audience were yet to experience it.

So the era of sand-box or open-ended games came out. The second and third Spiderman games, as well as Mercenaries, The Simpsons: Hit and Run, Just Cause, Gun, Destroy All Humans all tried to emulate a sprawling, ‘go anywhere’ style of gameplay. It was purely this feature that made the games as decent as they were. Even obvious clones of the game emerged like Saints Row and Crackdown, which were both brilliant titles for similar reasons. The formula then even dribbled onto the sports and simulation genres with Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and Test Drive Unlimited giving you free reign over your progress through levels. Basically, gamers want to feel in control. If there is an invisible wall that we can’t get past, what’s the first thing we do? We spend two hours trying to jump, smash, blow up or crawl under it. Gamers are constantly trying to destroy games, trying to find a bug or explore an area where we shouldn’t go. It’s part of our human nature to discover things.

So what better feature than to make the entire game just a giant sand-box for you to jump into and play around in? The developers are almost daring you to try and break it. It’s pure genius. It would be safe to say that more people have clocked up hours playing GTA randomly than they have actually trying to complete the pre-created missions.


The Future of GTA

Two years after the Vice City installment came one of the most popular games in the GTA series – San Andreas. However, this time the mass hysteria of the media attention was due to a sex mini-game secretly hidden within the game code. Perhaps the developers put it in there to distract from the heavy violence and gangsta-based themes littered throughout.

But in the end Rockstar got a slap on the wrists and the game was redistributed minus the naughty coding with a fairly safe “M” rating again. Some more years went by and there were a couple of other games after San Andreas, but they were pretty naff so we’re not going to mention them. However, the next up-coming game in the franchise will be the first appearance on a next-generation platform (it is coming to the PS3 and XBOX360). Who knows what the better technology might bring? It is safe to say that fans will be expecting plenty though. Already early trailers have been released showing a (previously unexplored in a GTA game) Russian mafia connection and an amazingly detailed New York-esque city.

Unfortunately, we will be waiting for some time yet as Grand Theft Auto IV isn’t scheduled for release until early 2008. But regardless of how this game turns out, it is important to appreciate all that GTA has given us already. Which is basically a heap of mindless violence. Rockstar Games – we salute you!