Grand Theft Auto - Yep, I've been drinkin' again...

[The Last Stand]

For anyone who cares for a bit of trivia, it seems that the "pointing gun at viewer" meme everyone likes to use nowadays originated from True Crime.

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Buy this game if you know what's good for you.

Streets of LA had better music and a better world than San Andreas, so it had something going for it.

Including the Game Boy Color title, which nobody remembers. Technically impressive, yet still not very good. There's a mission where you have to kidnap the Mayor's wife, and she just no-clips through buildings as she walks.

Damn near unrecognizable from its console counterpart. What did you think of GTA during that time period?

 

[JamesFargo]

Damn near unrecognizable from its console counterpart. What did you think of GTA during that time period?

It was a lot like Hitman: Made a splash in the UK, but most Americans played it on PC. No name recognition over here.

And like Hitman, I knew they were onto something good. The sense of interactivity was unheard of on consoles.

 

[CWCissey]

Streets of LA had better music

Nope.

San Andreas at least had some real variety. Streets Of LA was all hip hop and rap as far as I can remember.

 

[ProblematicUser420]

That basically describes me. But I played the unholy fuck out of the 2D era.

Including the Game Boy Color title, which nobody remembers. Technically impressive, yet still not very good. There's a mission where you have to kidnap the Mayor's wife, and she just no-clips through buildings as she walks.

I played the Game Boy Color versions once back in like...2002 I think. Well I emulated them lol

Nope.

San Andreas at least had some real variety. Streets Of LA was all hip hop and rap as far as I can remember.

They had a few rock songs. I remember Peace Sells was on it as well as a few others that I didn't know. It was definitely like 95% rap though.

 

[FriendlyPrimarina]

I played the shit out of True Crime: NYC at the time, It's clear the devs were really trying and sadly ambition outstripped ability. Also, the main character looks like the Lion King Musical logo. I could never unsee this.

15+ years after Streets of LA the only thing I can remember is the bonus movie with people dancing:

That and the mobster getting a chopstick in the ear.

 

[CWCissey]

I played the shit out of True Crime: NYC at the time, It's clear the devs were really trying and sadly ambition outstripped ability. Also, the main character looks like the Lion King Musical logo. I could never unsee this.

15+ years after Streets of LA the only thing I can remember is the bonus movie with people dancing:

That and the mobster getting a chopstick in the ear.

And the dragons.

 

[biophonic]

I'm surprised Rockstar never contracted an outside team. Let alone develop, a GTA game outside the USA. I know Gta London exists but that's a reskin of GTA 1 and not an actual release outside of cash grab. If rockstar would release a game outside of "MIAMI/LA/NEW YORK" it would be interesting, hell, GTA 2 Nowhere City with a Cyberpunk Aesthetic would make a nice comeback

 

[JamesFargo]

I remember Peace Sells was on it as well as a few others that I didn't know.

All due respect to Megadeth but that's a weird inclusion. It'd be perfect for Metal Gear, though.

Also, the main character looks like the Lion King Musical logo.

First of all, that's hilarious.

Second, I think there are clothing stores and hair stylists. But it's really obtuse. No markers on the map or arrows over the doors, nothing. It's a major feature and it is buried.

 

[FriendlyPrimarina]

Second, I think there are clothing stores and hair stylists. But it's really obtuse. No markers on the map or arrows over the doors, nothing. It's a major feature and it is buried.

Not to mention if crime increases enough (i.e. you ignore random crimes), the businesses close down, with no indication. AND they're only open during the day and each business selling specific things (you can only get a specific fighting style from a particular dojo, for instance). Bascially you could drive across Manhattan - at a 1:1 scale - only to find the business was shut with no way to skip time.

 

[JamesFargo]

Not to mention if crime increases enough (i.e. you ignore random crimes), the businesses close down, with no indication.

That was atmospheric. Pretty cool how the crime-ridden areas have boarded-up windows and newspapers blowing everywhere.

But not very well implemented. If you bust enough criminals, Olivia Benson declares it a safe zone and ALL CRIME IS VANQUISHED FOREVER.

 

[FriendlyPrimarina]

I was playing Scarface: TWIY for the first time recently and it occurred to me that it had a shooting mechanic where you lock on to an enemy and fine-tune your aim two years before GTA IV. This got me thinking about other mechanics that are considered "invented" by GTA that were done earlier:

Scarface: Lock on with fine-tune, fleeing the police by escaping a radius
True Crime: NYC: Working public transportation, drivers ejected from their car on frontal impacts
Driv3r/Parallel Lines: Police officers have individual vision cones

Are there any other mechanics done first by other series?

 

[JamesFargo]

I was playing Scarface: TWIY

How was it? I tried watching a few LPs and it was deathly boring.

It lets you re-decorate the mansion. Which is nice, I guess. Gina counts as furniture. You can put her pickled body on display. Nothing weird about that.

 

[CWCissey]

Gina's corpse counts as furniture. You can put her pickled body on display.

Eh? I don't remember that! It was just an urn with her ashes when I played it!

As for the game itself, yeah it isn't bad, some of the missions were pretty fun, but it does become 'get stuff here and blast everything in sight' when you want to upgrade the mansion.

 

[FriendlyPrimarina]

How was it? I tried watching a few LPs and it was deathly boring.

It lets you re-decorate the mansion. Which is nice, I guess. Gina's corpse counts as furniture. You can put her pickled body on display. Nothing weird about that.

I'm not very far into it. I've been stopped cold by a mission set in a drive-in theater. You have to drive around shooting gang members in a destruction derby style shootout. Easy enough but then the leader, driving a monster truck with a gunner on the back, destroys your car in seconds. This is super early in the game too. Goddammit I feel like DSP (who, incidentally, also struggled with this mission).

Anyway, apart from that I'm enjoying it so far. The shooting mechanics I mentioned makes you feel like headshots are earned and is very satisfying. André Sogliuzzo does a pretty good Tony Montana and the game is very visually pleasing for 2006. Apart from the shooting, the gameplay is basically an expanded version of GTA's asset mechanic; you have to buy fronts and earn drug money to improve them. One thing that YouTube LPs may not get across is that the soundtrack is really, really good. Easily on par with Vice City's.

If you can pick it up cheap I would recommend it.

 

[JamesFargo]

Eh? I don't remember that! It was just an urn with her ashes when I played it!

Mandela Effect, I guess. I thought it was a collectible.

Speaking of Pacino, The Godfather is a fun gangster game.

 

[albert chan]

I played GTA III by the time the PS2 was getting ready to be released. It was around the first time where I thought that WASTED didn’t just mean get drunk on the sidewalk and collapse.

 

[CWCissey]

Mandela Effect, I guess. I thought it was a collectible.

Speaking of Pacino, The Godfather is a fun gangster game.

Were you thinking of the Incan mummy?

The Godfather was great. The combat system was truly innovative and I'm saddened it wasn't implemented in other games.

Shame the second one was a bit crap.

 

[JamesFargo]

Were you thinking of the Incan mummy?

Yep.

Shame the second one was a bit crap.

I was barely aware of it. No buzz whatsoever. Something must have gone off the rails.

The Godfather was great.

I had loads of fun with the character creation and outfits. And the gangland executions you can perform with guns.

 

[The Last Stand]

Not to mention if crime increases enough (i.e. you ignore random crimes), the businesses close down, with no indication. AND they're only open during the day and each business selling specific things (you can only get a specific fighting style from a particular dojo, for instance). Bascially you could drive across Manhattan - at a 1:1 scale - only to find the business was shut with no way to skip time.

Not to bring politics into this, but True Crime: NYC accurately depicted the consequences of "defund the police."

 

[JamesFargo]

accurately depicted the consequences of "defund the police."

Re-arm the police was the leading issue this election. A sad day for Yang Gang.

I totally forgot Walken was in this game, too. Re-watching cutscenes with him is hilarious. His character is always cool, like Fonzie.