GTA virgin looking for guidance

[Yeargdribble]

So I've managed to miss out on the Grand Theft Auto franchise almost entirely. Problem is, the kids at the school where I work haven't. Keep in mind it bothers me to hear constantly that a 7 year-old is playing an M rated game because their parents are pathetic. That said, I'm a gamer. Unlike most adults and other teachers, I really don't have a good excuse to be completely unaware of the contents of the the game. My wife (a teacher at the school) and I (the pianist for the school) have decided to play some GTA sometime in the near future to be a little more informed and culturally aware.

So here I am, a GTA virgin, and I have questions. Much like the MGS (and seemingly more so) the GTA series is fairly complicated to me from the outside. It's on many platforms and apparently has various exclusive expansions and whatnot.


So for those in the know, let me know all I need to know about GTA. I'm specifically interested in the more recent stuff and may work my way back at least to San Andreas since it's been mentioned specifically by many kids at my (mostly black) school.

All platforms are available to me. PC, 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS (and Wii, though I don't recall any GTA games for that one). I want to know specifically about exclusive expansions/DLC, how it works, how the portable versions differ or where they are exclusive (as I understand CTW is portable exclusive).

Thanks in advance.

[I Took the Red Pill]

They are all a great deal of fun. I'd say I like Vice City more than San Andreas, but I didn't really have any real problems with SA, I just though VC was more polished. IV is easily my favorite GTA, and ranks up there with my favorite 360 games. The graphics are beautiful, the city feels sprawling alive, and the missions are fun. Once you finish the game you can just smurf around or check out the expansions.

The one thing that bothered me about IV (I'm not sure if this happened with others in the series, I just noticed it in IV) is that whatever car/motorcycle you happen to be driving at any given time will have a ridiculous rate of occurrence on any given street. It kinda sucks to be driving a limousine and turn a corner to find at least 3 other limos on the same road as me.

I've never played Chinatown Wars but may check it out if I find myself with some extra dough.

[Depression Moon]

There isn't a GTA for the Wii. Yeah those games aren't definitely for children. I think I started playing it when III came out was that 01? Anyway what makes it inappropriate for children besides the violence, are the cursing, sexual references, sexual humor, drug references, and nudity in some cases.

GTA is a sandbox game. A game that you're free to do anything from the jump, if you have cheat codes that is, but even without them you can still mess around a lot.
there's a lot of driving of course and the gunplay can be fun if frustrating in the pS2 era games. If you're looking to start playing I can suggest starting with III maybe or IV. If you start anywhere else, you might not appreciate III or IV especially IV. I was mad at how much stuff was removed from San Andreas than added from that installment. Seemed like a step backwards somewhat. Controls also seemed funny. I don't understand why you have to hold down x to jog in this game.This one seems more repetitive. Even if the older ones were just as repetitive, IV could've fixed that control scheme. I fell off a couple of roofs in the beginning because of that. One good thing it did was take out those frustrating as hell RC missions.

Probably the most fun you'll have out of it is just having numerous mindless wars with the police.

[Psychotic]

The one thing that bothered me about IV (I'm not sure if this happened with others in the series, I just noticed it in IV) is that whatever car/motorcycle you happen to be driving at any given time will have a ridiculous rate of occurrence on any given street. It kinda sucks to be driving a limousine and turn a corner to find at least 3 other limos on the same road as me.

Yup it's been doing that since III.

[Madame Adequate]

Man, I don't even know where to start. You could sustain the argument that GTA 3 is the most important game of modern times. I'm not sure how it holds up without nostalgia, but it's freaking vital. Vice City is either utterly sublime or merely brilliant, depending on to what extent you consider the 80s the greatest decade.

GTA IV was actually a bit of a step back. It did a lot that was impressive but in the end, it abandoned quite a few things that made the series genius. It's still brilliant, and only more so with The Lost and Damned and Gay Tony DLC, but it's no San Andreas.

Because holy smurf. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. We are talking about an all-time classic of the medium here. We are talking about something which shows why videogames are special and can do things movies and books and can't do. It isn't genre-defining. It's medium-defining. Beg, steal, borrow, get San Andreas and enjoy one of the truly brilliant experiences of the 2000s.

[Shoeberto]

Because holy smurf. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. We are talking about an all-time classic of the medium here. We are talking about something which shows why videogames are special and can do things movies and books and can't do. It isn't genre-defining. It's medium-defining. Beg, steal, borrow, get San Andreas and enjoy one of the truly brilliant experiences of the 2000s.

Yep!

[Iceglow]

The long and short of the many many GTA games over the years is that there are 4 cities it takes place in, during GTA 2 at the very least you visited all 3 american cities as part of the story, London was it's own seperate game and sucked, don't go there:

Liberty City (which is more than heavily based on NYC)
San Andreas (This is more of a mix of San Francisco and Los Angeles than any one in particular)
Vice City (Miami definitely here)
London (literally they done GTA 2 I believe but with London place names and some different car sprites, other than that the game was pretty much the same)

Now what you need to know is that:

the games all take place in different points in time, GTA London for example I believe was actually based on the 60s or was it just that Rockstar North back then believed England to be full of 1960's cars and references everywhere? San Andreas on the ps2 takes place in the late 90's/2000s Vice City however was very much so the 80s

If you were looking for a place to start then start with IV. To be honest, yes the ps2 ones were amazingly good games at the time and even now with some nostalgia attached they're still amazing. I love GTA III still and lets not get me started on my love affair with GTA Vice City. I never quite fell in love with San Andreas even though I saw how beautifully made it was. I just didn't bite that time I've never been able to say why, probably my love for 80s thrash metal and power ballads keeping me going back to VC.

At first I hated IV, there was a lot more realism to the game than I was used to. There was things like the relationship system where I'd be called constantly as I was trying to go do missions by people like Roman asking me to go drinking or see some strippers it got irritating. Then I left the game alone for a long time, when I went back to play it having finished Mass Effect 1 and a whole host of other games I needed to get done with before I could truly focus on the game and try to see if I could adapt to the new touches. I've since fallen in love with the game, it's flaws are in a sense obsolete because the things it does well, it does VERY well. I will also point out the infamous "no russian" level from MW2, if you do multiplayer free roaming with a friend like Psy is even worse than that..."AAAH YOU HAVE A GUN!!!!" *dies*

As for format to get it on? 360 IMHO because you'll get the added content of TBOGT and L&D either as a download or a second disc if you choose to purchase them (you most likely will do so if you end up enjoying the game) also I have heard from PS3 owners who had the game and also brought 360s and the game again that they felt the game ran smoother and had better lighting on the 360 over their ps3. I'm not so sure but I do know I played it over my sisters and I definitely found the 360 pad better laid out for it too.

Edit:

As for the portable games, CTW was ok, not fantastic but still good fun. Liberty City Stories ties in to GTA III so has the same engine if a little toned down (though the game got ported to PS2 as well as Vice City Stories) it featured some of the same characters as cameo roles ect. It was good fun though Vice City Stories did go one better. I felt it was a shame there was never a San Andreas Stories game. I feel imho that the expansions on the 360 kind of take the role of the Liberty City Stories game, in fact I believe Rockstar do too because they named the disc "Episodes From Liberty City" when they released both expansions on disc for the 360.

[Shoeberto]

San Andreas on the ps2 takes place in the late 90's/2000s Vice City however was very much so the 80s

Ngah. Early-mid '90s. Nowhere near the 2000s xD That's GTAIII's area.

... I don't know why that bothered me so much but I felt the urge to correct it.

edit: Also, TLAD and Ballad of Gay Tony are now available for PC and PS3. The PC version is not that great - the port requires some serious hardware and even then runs ridiculously slow at times (speaking from experience; I played the whole game on PC). If you're gonna do GTAIV, the order of best version is 360 > PS3 > PC. The PC has the best version of all of the previous games, though... IMO.

[Psychotic]

Yeah I think San Andreas is like 1992.

[Iceglow]

Yeah I think San Andreas is like 1992.

I quoted Psy through Lazyness but yes, my bad after a bit of thinking and a quick youtube check I am incorrect there, I had a gut feeling I was wrong but yeah early - mid 90's for San Andreas 2000+ for IV.

Wasn't 1 set way back in like the 70's?

[Madame Adequate]

Yeah I think San Andreas is like 1992.

Correct, game takes place in 1992.



With jetpacks.

[Levian]

If It's not your type of game, then I think playing through San Andreas will be enough, you'll learn everything you need to know about GTA. Don't forget to listen to the radio.

[Psychotic]

Wasn't 1 set way back in like the 70's?

Nah, the original was in modern times. Although London was set in 1969, maybe you are thinking of that.

[Madame Adequate]

If It's not your type of game, then I think playing through San Andreas will be enough, you'll learn everything you need to know about GTA. Don't forget to listen to the radio.

K-Rose 4 lief!

[Slothy]

Because holy smurf. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. We are talking about an all-time classic of the medium here. We are talking about something which shows why videogames are special and can do things movies and books and can't do. It isn't genre-defining. It's medium-defining. Beg, steal, borrow, get San Andreas and enjoy one of the truly brilliant experiences of the 2000s.

I actually didn't like San Andreas much once you leave the first city. Although it was certainly bigger than the others, I felt like the world it created wasn't as fully realized. There was some more stuff to do, but most of the world was pretty damn empty. They also added some stuff that just wasn't that fun or improved the game and the story just kind of meandered. The third city had so little going on that they probably should have dropped it altogether. It felt like you were moving on almost as soon as you got there.

Vice City felt much tighter and was a much bigger improvement in every single way over it's predecessor than San Andreas. GTA3 is still worth playing though. Great game with a great story, and still fun now, if slightly tainted by some clunky controls.

I won't get into GTAIV too much except to say that while it felt like a much more realized and polished city compared to the PS2 titles, it added in such wonderful things as maintaining relationships with characters by having them call you on your cell phone every five minutes and playing boring half assed mini-games with them. The story was also pretty meh. The core gameplay was still pretty good, but only because it didn't change that much aside from better controls. I can't say anything about the DLC for it though because it's one of a literal handful of games I've ever traded in. Ditched it for Killzone 2 and have never looked back.