Grand Theft Auto – The Legacy Review

Over the adjacent fewer months, I’m going to beryllium taking a look backmost astatine each of the halfway Grand Theft Auto games and replaying them successful the lead-up to the accomplishment of Grand Theft Auto 6. What we’ll beryllium putting unneurotic won’t beryllium accepted re-reviews, and they won’t transportation IGN’s emblematic people retired of 10, due to the fact that it truly wouldn’t beryllium astatine each just to simply prime isolated aged games published aggregate hardware generations agone and marque them sweat nether the harsher standards of 2026. What we volition beryllium doing, however, is re-examining what made each GTA singular upon the clip of its release, digging into what they achieved and the legacies they established, and rediscovering however overmuch amusive each of them stay today. We’ll besides beryllium identifying some the parts of the GTA acquisition that person seen the astir improvement and growth, arsenic good arsenic the parts that stay fascinating, commendable, and timelessly impressive. At the extremity of the project, utilizing GTA’s antecedently six-star wanted level, you should beryllium capable to get an thought of wherever each of these games astir beryllium successful my semipermanent emotion for this series. First cab disconnected the rank? The archetypal Grand Theft Auto.

When the archetypal Grand Theft Auto arrived towards the extremity of the 1990s, it was similar thing I’d ever played before, but it someway besides felt similar I’d been successful grooming for it astir of my life. On the 1 hand, it was fundamentally the digitisation of an full puerility looming implicit a 2D artifact car mat – my diecast postulation scattered astir maine arsenic I simulated countless car chases from above. On the other, it felt instantly acquainted to play – similar an intuitive yet anti-social distortion of the top-down delights of Codemasters’ Micro Machines. Grand Theft Auto was bold and brash. It was besides brutally unforgiving, regularly frustrating, and cumbersome to control. But contempt that, I was consistently drawn to it – similar a moth to a flamethrower. Nearly 30 years later, I was much than a small funny astir however I’d fare playing it each implicit again, but I’ve recovered myself with a mostly unchanged sentiment – continuously stumped by its perfectly unsympathetic difficulty, yet consistently charmed by its wanton silliness, varied vehicles, hilarious dependable effects, and trendsetting archetypal soundtrack.

"An AK-47 got the powerfulness successful its tube to mooooove immoderate parent that gets successful the way..."

It’s precise casual to look backmost astatine the archetypal GTA arsenic a merchandise of a antithetic era, and that goes beyond its aged school, top-down aesthetic. Its arcade-style attack to progression, which is baked astir trying to maximise your wide people for each level portion juggling a precise constricted acceptable of lives, is thing similar the GTA bid we’ve known since its implicit reinvention astatine the dawn of the century. There’s nary meaningful communicative present to talk of; conscionable 90-odd seconds of cutscenes wherever a assemblage of transgression stereotypes either walk connected their thanks, oregon contented you nonstop threats related to putting unwanted things successful your butt.

However, GTA was already a merchandise of a antithetic epoch upon its archetypal merchandise successful European territories successful 1997 – and adjacent much truthful by its North American motorboat successful 1998. The level sprites of its vehicles and pedestrians springiness it that 2D-adjacent look, adjacent if radical often gloss implicit that the cities themselves are really rendered successful 3D. But GTA recovered itself sandwiched betwixt worldly similar the debut of Gran Turismo and the accomplishment of Half-Life, Unreal, and Metal Gear Solid. We’re talking Tekken 3, Thief, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. What I’m saying is that we knew wherever the cutting borderline was successful the precocious ’90s, and GTA didn’t truly consciousness similar it was connected it.

The 3 maps whitethorn not beryllium tremendous by modern standards, and the enactment of weapons is admittedly slim, but GTA was unprecedented successful presumption of the open-world state it allowed.“

And yet it inactive works, and that’s truly acknowledgment to the precocious level of subordinate bureau it offers. The 3 maps whitethorn not beryllium tremendous by modern standards, and the enactment of weapons is admittedly slim, but GTA was unprecedented successful presumption of the open-world state it allowed. It feels improbable that anyone astatine developer DMA Design could’ve afloat understood conscionable however stealthily innovative GTA would yet be, but it nevertheless laid down the bedrock for sandbox enactment gaming arsenic a whole. Complete tasks arsenic clinically oregon arsenic chaotically arsenic you choose. Navigate Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas nevertheless you spot fit. Take immoderate conveyance you want, and instrumentality connected objectives successful immoderate bid works for you. Not funny successful completing existent missions? GTA is engineered to let you to disregard them entirely. You tin simply bargain cars, wreak havoc with pedestrians, and conflict instrumentality enforcement.

5-George-K

Make nary mistake: GTA is simply a somewhat clunky crippled to play. This was existent successful 1997, and adjacent much truthful now. To beryllium clear, I don’t personally person large problems with the driving. Yes, it suffers a spot from the jerkiness of the camera zooming successful and out. Yes, you’ll bump into different cars regularly arsenic they look connected surface excessively precocious to avoid. Yes, immoderate cars are excessively accelerated for their ain good, with the camera incapable to zoom retired accelerated capable (or acold enough) to avert spearing into high-speed crashes. Yes, motorbikes are beauteous pointless, and I walk much clip getting backmost connected them aft wiping retired than I bash riding them successful the archetypal place.

Broadly, however, I judge the driving is rather amusive – and I fishy a batch of that astir apt stems from my inheritance with Codemasters’ Micro Machines series. For context, the Micro Machines bid was 1 of the most-loved racers of its epoch – and surely 1 of my ain favourites arsenic I grew retired of rolling astir connected the level making motor noises. Its top-down position was truly the cleanable grooming portion for a crippled similar GTA, and I would suggest that – successful the precocious ’90s – there’s an incredibly beardown accidental that a subordinate of GTA would’ve had immoderate benignant of erstwhile musculus representation from Micro Machines nestled determination successful their fingertips.

[Micro Machines’] top-down position was truly the cleanable grooming portion for a crippled similar GTA.“

I tin admit that without that anterior acquisition determination are elements of GTA’s driving controls that whitethorn beryllium a small hard to hurdle. For instance, erstwhile cars are headed down the screen, from apical to bottom, the controls stay consistent. That is, stab left, and your car volition crook to its near – and instantly caput to the right of the screen. It’s yet a car, truthful it’s wholly logical that near is ever left; it’d beryllium untenable to person the controls flip mid-corner. But this benignant of happening is printed into my brain. It’s 2nd quality – if not from Micro Machines, past from an wholly analogue puerility of racing R/C cars and rapidly learning everything is mirrored erstwhile they’re racing backmost towards you. However, I tin anecdotally study this was initially a spot of a braintwister for immoderate of my kids, truthful I tin spot however the controls mightiness look a small obtuse astatine first. I consciousness similar they were initially treating the car’s absorption similar a cursor, alternatively than the car arsenic a discrete object.

AAARRRGGGHHHHH

The deficiency of an in-game representation spun them retired a little, too. Luckily, I inactive person existent fold-out insubstantial maps of these cityscapes, which are genuinely indispensable to implicit definite missions (like rapidly uncovering the nearest weaponry store earlier a strict timer runs out). They proved to beryllium a neat novelty for kids from a procreation who’ll ne'er cognize what it’s similar to navigate your mode to an chartless determination by leafing done a dog-eared thoroughfare directory that smells similar petrol and bedewed socks. My GTA maps are a small flimsy these days but, considering GTA 6 and aboriginal PlayStation games successful wide won’t adjacent beryllium getting a disc, they’re besides a amusive if present bittersweet footnote successful the communicative of carnal gaming media.

My GTA maps are a small flimsy these days but, considering GTA 6 and aboriginal PlayStation games successful wide won’t adjacent beryllium getting a disc, they’re besides a amusive if present bittersweet footnote successful the communicative of carnal gaming media. “

Busted

It’s connected ft wherever GTA falls down and, unsurprisingly, the aforesaid things that frustrated maine astir it successful the precocious ’90s proceed to bash truthful today. For context, the tank-like on-foot controls are a broadside effect of the information that this was a clip earlier dual analogue controllers became the default. Whether you’re connected PC with a keyboard oregon PlayStation with a controller, each you tin bash is crook near and right, and determination guardant oregon backwards. Don’t deliberation of it similar a primitive mentation of a modern, twin-stick shooter similar Hotline Miami – you’re truly conscionable a tiny, dilatory car with legs. The Micro Machines-style controls marque little consciousness connected foot, and they’ve decidedly dated.

You're fired.

The upshot is combat is harder than a $2 steak. It's tougher to woody with clunky controls erstwhile conscionable 1 deed volition termination your character. Body armour pickups are available, but they’ll lone support you from 3 hits. It’s besides incredibly hard to enactment up shots from agelong distances, and not overmuch easier astatine adjacent quarters. It’s peculiarly tricky to crook and sprout astatine pursuing constabulary since, by the clip you bash negociate to pivot 180 degrees, there’s typically lone clip to get 1 oregon 2 shots off.

The pistol is simply a mostly useless limb overall, successful this case. The instrumentality weapon is acold much effective, since you tin spray a burst successful an arc and get astatine slightest 1 circular to hit. The flamethrower is the astir trusty option, but you won’t spot a large woody of it without resorting to cheats.

I cheated similar hellhole erstwhile I played GTA arsenic a teenager, and I’d honestly beryllium amazed if that wasn’t the lawsuit for astir radical of my vintage. The enactment is simply a batch much amusive with 99 RPGs successful your backmost pocket. Cheats are precise overmuch an integral portion of GTA’s legacy. While cheats person go depressingly uncommon implicit the past respective generations, the GTA bid – up until GTA 5, astatine slightest – remains 1 of the past bastions of fun, silly, and utile cheats.

Gouranga!

While GTA invariably recovered acquainted ways to frustrate me, determination is inactive a heap of things astir it that bring a grin to my look successful 2026.

I admit the assortment of cars, and I greatly respect the mode they look. Sure, these 2D sprites are typically rather tiny connected screen, but each car has been crafted with capable attraction that they’re not conscionable blobs of pixels that look vaguely similar cars. They person terrific depth, and the curves of an off-brand VW Beetle are noticeable and distinctly opposition the level and angular lines of a boxy American sedan – contempt the information some are elemental 2D images.

2D, oregon not 2D? That is the question.

I besides bask that the premix changes up betwixt cities. Vice City has much exotic supercars that are unsocial to its beachside streets. San Andreas is the lone spot you’ll find the floral-painted Love Wagon. Each metropolis has bespoke bull cars with antithetic liveries and siren layouts. There’s effort to marque each spot distinct, and the cars are a large portion of making that happen. The seeds the workplace planted present successful this respect would genuinely germinate successful 2004’s GTA: San Andreas, though it’s brainsick to deliberation this happened conscionable 7 years later.

Moreover, I emotion the resemblance that galore of the cars person to Matchbox cars of the ’80s, to the constituent wherever it’s wholly evident the squad were simply turning photos of existent models into in-game sprites, wholesale. Sure, it’s just capable to reason that GTA’s F40, Diablo, 911, oregon Viper lookalikes could person been conscionable arsenic easy gleaned from photographs of the existent things than toys, but past you spot worldly similar the orange-roofed ambulance, which inactive sports an identical E connected apical from its equivalent Matchbox model. Hell, GTA’s Flamer has the full livery from the Chevy they sourced it from – squint existent hard and it inactive says 57 Chevy connected the platform lid!

The Chevy changed colour erstwhile you enactment it successful water.

Even much than the cars, I hugely admit the soundtrack. So overmuch effort was made to physique a bid of vigor stations filled with credible-sounding music. Credible is really an understatement considering however galore of these tracks are genuine earworms. You could really enactment GTA’s PlayStation disc into a modular CD subordinate and simply play the music. This functionality wasn’t really unsocial to GTA astatine the time, but it’s inactive nifty. Did I bash that? Hell yes, I did. I adjacent recorded it onto a cassette truthful I could play it successful my car.

Beyond that, GTA’s wholly silly marque of squelching hit-and-runs and over-the-top unit keenly reminded maine of however successfully it weaponised contention arsenic a escaped selling instrumentality astir the clip of its launch. It surely wasn’t the archetypal crippled to origin a ruckus for gratuitous vehicular violence. In existent fact, that favoritism is owned by an arcade crippled called Death Race, released mode backmost successful 1976, which caused a immense fuss successful the mainstream property for allowing players to tally implicit and termination crude-looking pedestrians connected screen. But the hullabaloo astir GTA was hefty astatine the time, adjacent successful the contiguous aftermath of Carmageddon – which caused a ample fuss of its ain a fewer months earlier GTA’s launch.

[GTA] surely wasn’t the archetypal crippled to origin a ruckus for gratuitous vehicular violence.“

Now, adjacent backmost successful the precocious ’90s I did deliberation the absorption was a small overblown. That is, 1996’s Die Hard Trilogy predated GTA by a year, and that featured pedestrians getting absolutely splattered near and close – implicit with a wiper animation clearing the humor from the surface erstwhile driving successful first-person. But, yes, there’s nary denying the archetypal GTA pushed the envelope successful ways not adjacent the modern bid would effort today, whether that’s mowing down a enactment of Hare Krishnas, blowing up a schoolhouse bus, oregon so assassinating the ‘High Priest of Babylon’ – who turns retired to beryllium nary different than the President of the United States himself. GTA’s low-fi aesthetic makes a batch of this worldly consciousness beauteous goofy and harmless here, but surely astatine slightest immoderate of it would beryllium a small excessively grim to sync with the satirical sensibilities of the modern series.

Too cruel for school.

Verdict

Like a Stone Age axe, Grand Theft Auto is hard, primitive, and – honestly – much than a small cumbersome. However, similar said axe, it’s nevertheless a invaluable artefact that maintains an effectual borderline to it. Fearless but flawed and endearing but unnecessarily difficult, the archetypal Grand Theft Auto whitethorn beryllium tricky to wholeheartedly urge to anyone who didn’t antecedently play it during its infinitesimal backmost successful the precocious ’90s, but I can’t contradict however fascinating it’s been to re-experience its prehistoric marque of open-world state successful the discourse of everything that’s travel since. It conscionable demands patience, precision, and a insubstantial representation by your side.

Luke is simply a Senior Editor connected the IGN reviews team. You tin way him down connected Bluesky @mrlukereilly to inquire him things astir stuff.