The year, 1997, I bought Grand Theft Auto for £34.99 on the PC, not because I heard good things about it or I was 'wow'ed by the box or the graphics. I bought GTA because the BBC did a news piece on the outrage that was surrounding the game and its eighteen certificate from the British Board of Film Classification. So surely it's only natural that I bought it?
The best thing that DMA Design (now Rockstar North (still involved in the series)) could have hoped for was this amount of coverage as it created a media storm and an effective advertising campaign. When will people learn that less is more and that thanks to the magnitude of the uproar surely more copies of the game were sold?
Grand Theft Auto
As it turned out the original GTA was not a fantastic game, yes there were novel and innovative facets and yes, bad language, car jacking, serial shootings and general chaos are all fun but the graphics were of a top-down, two-dimensional nature and nothing too risqué so I remember struggling at the time to see what all the fuss was about. One saving grace of the first two was the strong multiplayer element, the fun factor was definitely there and I truly hope any GTA's in the future contain a co-op story mode or certainly improved multiplayer options than the later GTA releases.
The Grand Theft Auto series is an open-world, mission-based crime fest where 'acquiring' a mode of transport and racing, gunning and general misdeeds are the name of the game. I have to admit my favourite moments in the GTA series have been the car races through the streets of the various cities and environments. In the fourth GTA game, my most enjoyable (and rewarding) experience was controller mini toy helicopters and negotiating ceilings, pillars and bullets to plant explosives in a multi-storey building in order to cause major destruction.
Toy helicopter antics
The series really ramped up a level with the arrival of Grand Theft Auto 3, this introduced 3D graphics and a different gaming experience from the first two GTAs. I remember being amazed at how different the third instalment was and how the game had transformed itself from a niche, controversial game into a more widely accepted and playable affair. The series then continued with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City followed by its San Andreas successor. Grand Theft Auto IV (4) followed and the most recent mini release, Tales from Liberty City.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Yes don't get me wrong the newer games still contain harsh words, images of guns and shootings, vehicle theft and accidents and is still an eighteen age rating but I feel the world has moved on and is less shocked by games such as these, however GTA IV was banned in Thailand after the game supposedly inspired a killer with the content in the game. It was also banned, then un-banned in Australia only due to the developer releasing a cut-down, less violent effort. Indeed GTA: Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DS is the first DS game to be given the 18 rating certification which shows Rockstar Games are certainly not calming down.
I guess the question you have to ask is this: would the game have been as popular as it has been if it wasn't so violent? Personally I can not see how a car-stealing, gun-toting computer game could be toned down significantly enough to please a wide majority of people but I would still give Grand Theft Ice-Cream a go!
