It’s in their DMA

The beginning of the series: PS1, 1997-1999

GAMES RELEASED GRAND THEFT AUTO, GTA: LONDON 1969, GTA2

Back in 1997, when Rockstar North was still known as DMA Design, it released a PS1 game called Grand Theft Auto, and a gaming legend was born.

This top-down crime-’em-up was spread across three locations: Liberty City; Vice City; and San Andreas. Yup, all three have been GTA canon from the beginning. You may not be surprised to learn that the series, and its reliance on crime and violence, caused controversy from the very beginning. There was much red-faced bluster about the first game in the House Of Lords (see p9), and many people wanted the game banned from sale (which never happened).

1999 saw the release of two new games. Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 was an expansion pack developed by Rockstar Canada, and was set in – you guessed it – London. Over here, the expansion got a bigger, standalone release (bet you can’t guess why). You could tell that it was set in the UK, because when you were arrested, the screen would shout NICKED at you instead of BUSTED. Alas, the series never returned to London or any other real-world setting.

The fully fledged sequel was released in the same year as the cockney-flavoured expansion pack for the first game. GTA2 introduced many things that carried through to the rest of the series in one way or another, such as a health bar, manual saving, side-missions, vehicle modding, and – for better or for worse – a large number of things to collect hidden throughout the city. A solid foundation for future games to build on.