Grand Theft Auto 2

Grand Theft Auto 2 invites players into a hectic and violent urban life, unleashing them on the streets to commit crimes and appease the various gangs that inhabit the city. The original Grand Theft Auto was a controversial yet slightly clunky action game, but one that has quickly become a legendary title in video game history. Grand Theft Auto 2 attempts to amp up the insanity and action by adding in more missions, new game features, and a more vibrant setting. If you've only ever played the more modern Grand Theft Auto titles, Grand Theft Auto 2 might seem a bit underwhelming, but beneath the older graphics and controversy there are tons of opportunities for excitement. Like every other game in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Grand Theft Auto 2 provides players with an unrestricted and addictive look into the life of organized crime.

Main Game Features

• Open-world city to explore
• Dozens of missions from unique factions
• Total freedom over the game experience

Story

Unlike most of the recent Grand Theft Auto games, Grand Theft Auto 2 is relatively light on storytelling. There's a short video that plays before the game, introducing the main character Claude. Living in the unassuming city of Anywhere, Claude takes on missions from the variety of gangs that live in the area. There are seven gangs in total, with each one holding down a bit of turf in one of the three Anywhere City sectors. As Claude gains favor with one gang, he might lose respect with another, as the gangs are in a never-ending war to dominate the city. Apart from becoming a respected member of the criminal elite, the extent of Grand Theft Auto 2's story is to stay alive in this dangerous urban landscape.

Gameplay

After a brief tutorial mission, Grand Theft Auto 2 lets the player loose to freely explore Anywhere City at their own pace. You'll view the world from a top-down perspective, with players traveling on foot or by car. You can pick up missions from different gangs by visiting telephone booths, which you can easily locate thanks to helpful on-screen arrows. Missions will have you killing rival gang members, stealing cars, delivering narcotics, and a wide range of other criminal activities. As you successfully complete jobs, you'll earn a cash multiplier as well as respect, which allows you to take on harder missions. Once you've completed enough missions, you can move onto a new sector of Anywhere City, unlocking new gangs, weapons, and vehicles.

Conclusion

The best part of Grand Theft Auto 2 (and the entire series overall) is the level of freedom it allows to the player. Although you won't be able to access the entirety of Anywhere City right away, you're generally free to explore content as you please or ignore it altogether. In fact, you can choose to forego missions entirely, attempting to cause as much chaos as possible by running over civilians and blowing up cars. Your actions will inevitably cause the police to show up, which often ensues in an entertaining game of cat and mouse. Whether you're looking to become the world's next big crime kingpin or simply blow off some steam, there's plenty of fun to be had in Grand Theft Auto 2.

Pros

• Great for stress relief
• New save system

Cons

• Controls are clunky at first
• Mediocre visuals

Grand Theft Auto 2 is the sequel to the original Grand Theft Auto, a PC and PlayStation title that received wide critical acclaim upon its release. Developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games, these early top-down action titles paved the way for one of the most controversial franchises of all time. The Grand Theft Auto franchise puts you in the center of the mayhem; you're an up and coming criminal in the seedy underworld of organized crime. It's your job to take on various missions in this top-down world, ranging from car-jackings to gang wars. Grand Theft Auto 2 ups the ante on blood and violence, delivering an experience that is more wild and crazy than the original.

The game plays from a top-down perspective, with you controlling the main character Claude. You can equip a wide variety of weaponry to use, as well as car-jack vehicles to travel around the city quickly. The camera perspective might take a bit of getting used to, but retro gamers will have no problems picking up the controls. Moving Claude around is quite simple, and attacking enemies is as simple as the press of a button. Grand Theft Auto 2 doesn't bog the player down with tons of mechanics, but instead creates a fun sandbox for players to cause chaos. Grand Theft Auto 2 also uses an updated save system. Previously, Grand Theft Auto would only save your progress upon completing a certain district. Now, players can enter churches with a certain amount of cash, and save on command.

Grand Theft Auto 2 takes place in the seedy streets in Anywhere City, a metropolitan map filled to the brim with gang members to and organized crime. You play as Claude Speed, a lowly grunt in the land of crime. Claude can navigate by foot, or more commonly, steal cars and putz around on four wheels. There are three district to explore, including the Downtown, the Industrial District, and the Residential District. As you work your way up the criminal ladder, you'll have to complete missions for a variety of gangs. Grand Theft Auto 2 introduces the concept of accepting missions from rivaling gangs, allowing you become closer with your choice. Be careful though, siding with one gang might anger another. Besides the scoring progression and missions, there are additional side missions and collectibles to pursue. If the rampaging and murderous lifestyle doesn't suit you, you can take up being a bus, truck, or taxi driver. Instead of plowing through pedestrians, you'll pick them up and deliver them to their destinations, earning cash along the way. Its in these fun ways that Grand Theft Auto 2 expands upon the original game, making it a more quirky experience.

Grand Theft Auto 2 is an exciting, violent, and arcade-like action title that is sure to entertain. You can embark on a variety of action-packed missions, and fall in with one of the numerous gangs. Alternatively, you can cause as much mayhem as you please, becoming a havoc to society in freeroam play. Regardless of how you play Grand Theft Auto 2, the general gameplay always feels solid, and it's consistently fun to blast your way through Anywhere City. The added features and activities are icing on the proverbial blood-soaked cake, as Grand Theft Auto 2 is an awesome adventure worth playing.

An old adage maintains that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Although a number of Tory MPs might disagree, considerable weight is added to the argument by the case of 1997's Grand Theft Auto. A graphically primitive top-down driving game, little was known about it until the intervention of PR guru Max Clifford. Within weeks, his shrewd tactics had convinced a slew of gullible tabloid editors to effectively run free adverts for the game in the form of incensed editorial, citing its horrific content as a potential catalyst to disorder on a global scale. TV was also suckered, with the game's moral implications discussed on Newsnight, News At Ten, and even the execrable GMTV.

The outrage continued. "Beneath contempt," barked a Police Federation spokesman. "In real life, this behaviour causes untold misery and wrecks people's lives," added MP Nigel Griffiths. "We simply cannot allow children and young people to be given the idea that car crime or joyriding is in any way an acceptable or an enjoyable thing to do," offered Lord Campbell of Croy. The result? GTA sold by the shed load. No surprises there. However, let's not ignore the fact that it was an extremely playable game offering, above all, originality.

So, how to provide a sequel, which by definition can't be wholly original. Unsurprisingly, the basic premise is the same, although the setting is markedly different, the action taking place in a dark, sinister metropolis on the verge of a breakdown due to political corruption and gang warfare. DMA have attempted a darker and more atmospheric style than in GTA, giving the game a twilight feel with the aid of American retro-cars and industrial areas.

The biggest change in terms of gameplay is the advent of gang warfare, which though implied in the first game has now been fully realised. Gangs operate in different areas of the city, and each has its own characteristics, businesses, modes of operation, vehicles, and attitudes towards each other, as well as towards you the player. Some gangs will arbitrarily kill or kidnap pedestrians, drug deals will take place, and gang warfare will occasionally break out. In effect, the gangs now hand out the missions, and having earned their respect you're able to take missions from any of these gangs, at the risk of incurring the wrath of the others.

As for vehicles available, the number has almost doubled, and they can now carry multiple passengers, each vehicle having a defined capacity. The role of the pedestrians has also been overhauled, and they are no longer the passive bystanders of the first game, with many of them able to fight back. Naturally, the police are ever present, but are now aided by the FBI, SWAT teams and the military. Fortunately, an explosive array of new weaponry is provided with which to fend them off.

GTA 2 looks like being everything GTA was and more. And rest assured we will be bringing you the latest as soon as we can - or at least before the tabloids.

What we thought

"Rather than tone down the violent nastiness, GTA2 chances its arm by cranking it up to fever pitch."

What you think

The original GTA did quite well in worldwide sales considering it received such bad press because of its adult nature. If negative press is any indicator of sales though, GTA 2 should sell tons since it has even more violence than GTA.

But GTA 2 isn't strictly about violence--there is a game underneath that stuff, you know. So off you go, taking on job after job of various criminal natures, killing and maiming along the way in different types of cars with different types of guns. Overall, there are three levels, with around 25 jobs and mini-jobs per level--an even more robust package than the original. There are also mini-games for points. This time around there's only one city to cause havoc in--but there are multiple gangs within the city, so it balances out. Like any good criminal, you don't really work for any one gang. Instead, you align yourself with them by completing jobs or doing bad stuff to a gang's enemy. Of course, by helping one gang, you usually upset another. You can tell how you're faring with a particular gang by your Respect Meter. When it's low with a particular gang, they'll start blasting with no delay. Nice thing is, your gang chums will come defend you. Like the first, there are tons of vehicles to jack, each having its own feel. GTA 2 also has special vehicles. For example, if you're driving a taxi, you can actually make money from picking up fares. Same goes for the ice cream truck, except you pull up to the curb and sell some frozen delights for cash. You can then use this extra dough to trick out your vehicle with Spy Hunter-esque upgrades, or simply get it painted to confuse the 5-0.

But the cops won't stay away for too long--they're smarter in GTA 2 than in the original. If you cause too much damage or kill too many innocent folk, you'll be chased (there are some consequences to your actions after all). The more bad stuff you do, the worse it gets--so much so that eventually the feds will come to town, and then the army. But you need to kill and destroy for points and money...so the game is a 30- to 40-hour-long balancing act really.