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Grand Theft Auto: A retrospective – The GTA 3 spin-offs

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Vice City

A month after GTA 3 was released to record sales, Rockstar knew that they had a franchise on their hands that would steer the company towards even bigger successes. Buying developer DMA Design and rebranding them as Rockstar North, the future clearly had more wanton destruction, violence and high speed pursuits in store for it. And it wouldn’t be long before the next GTA game arrived, taking players on a trip down south and back in time.

Vice City

GTA-VC2

Built upon the Grand Theft Auto 3 engine, Vice City was released as a PlayStation 2 exclusive in October 2002. Much of the same gameplay had been retained, but with further improvements this time. The sandbox environment was still in play, combat now had a quicker responsiveness to it and property could be purchased, allowing players to have a constant flow of income for their illicit income.

GTA-VC5

And unlike GTA 3’s mute protagonist, Vice City’s Tommy Vercetti had plenty to say.

GTA-VC3

Voiced by none other than Ray “Goodfella” Liotta, Vercetti found himself, leading a cast that also included the vocals of Tom Sizemore, Burt Reynolds, Danny Trejo, Lee Majors, Jenna Jameson and the infamous Gary Busey himself. Even classic TV show Miami Vice got some love from the game, as Phillip Michael Thomas  popped up as a Rico Tubbs-inspired character within the game.

GTA-VC6

Set in 1986, Vice City was fully dipped in the pastel suits and neon lights of that era, with Vercetti working from the bottom of the gangland hierarchy to once again reclaim a kingdom of drugs, sex and violence in a game that paid homage to classic films such as Carlito’s Way and Scarface. Once players had established themselves as a drug kingpin at the halfway mark of the game, Vice City changed considerably and opened up a more financial side of gameplay.

GTA-VC4

Players could purchase property which doubled as safe houses, acquire failing businesses and help turn them around or generally use new assets as a front to pursue more illicit activities. Completing the various side missions would then properly unlock the new assets, giving Tommy access to more funds with which to continue other missions.

GTA-VC7

New cars, boats and a rocking soundtrack of the best of the 1980s were all present, as were new aerial vehicles. Players could hop into a helicopter, cruise through Vice City on motorcycles and access an arsenal of weapons that was easily triple the size of the guns available in GTA 3.

Impact

GTA-VC-1

Vice City was yet another massive hit for Rockstar. Scoring positive numbers across a wide range of publications, Vice City is still ranked as the sixth-highest-rated PlayStation 2 game on Metacritic, with sales to match. As of September 26 in 2007, Vice City had sold over 15 million units, before that number was increased to 17.5 million sold in March 2008 and over 20 million in 2011. Vice City is also the fourth-highest selling PlayStation 2 game of all time. But for the next GTA game, players would be leaving the sunny shores of Vice City behind and head to Grove street…

GTA: San Andreas

GTA-SA1

Hard streets. a harder life. After focusing on gangland activities in cities inspired by New York and Miami, GTA would hit the thug life of Los Angeles for the next game in the series. San Andreas was easily the biggest GTA game to date, with a location that spanned three distinct environments: The inner city Los Santos, the high-class San Fierro and the Vegas-inspired outback of Las Venturas. In total, players now had almost 14 miles of real estate to explore.

GTA-SA3

Stepping into the shoes of Chris Johnson, who was voiced by rapper Young Maylay, players once again worked their way up from the bottom, gathering resources, weapons, vehicles and allies as they went along. The key difference in San Andreas however, was that players had far more features to indulge in, many of which were experimental and never seen again.

The biggest such change came in the form of various physical statistics that Carl could improve upon as the game continued. Working out would result in Carl transforming into a gigantic bodybuilder, while spending too much time down hamburgers would see a gut form on the lead character. Respect, sex appeal, stamina and lung capacity all had a part to play, from recruiting gang members to determine how long players could stay underwater for. Carl could go out on dates if his sex appeal was high enough and stamina regulated how far he could run without getting winded, a useful attribute when the cops were hot on your tail.

GTA-SA4

Various other schools would also increase player proficiency in using cars, bikes, boats, planes and firearms. By the time certain skills were maxed out, Carl was a dual gun-wielding, lean and mean sex machine, making the mode an essential part of the San Andreas experience. Cars could also be customised with nitrous and other cosmetic upgrades, while several new aerial vehicles were unlocked once Carl had obtained a pilot’s license.

GTA-SA6

Hoods could also be conquered, as Carl took on several waves of enemies, which had to b defended from time to time as rival gangs made a push for your new territory. On top of all the usual vigilante, ambulance and taxi missions, players could also break into houses, pimping, courier jobs and even worked in a local quarry.

GTA-SA5

All of this, in a game that featured a hipper 1990s rap soundtrack and voiceover work from the likes of Ice T, Samuel L Jackson, Peter Fonda, Clifton Powell and James Woods. GTA San Andreas wasn’t just a game with a bigger ambtion, but an quality to match those lofty goals as well. Just don’t mention the Hot Coffee mod.

Impact

GTA-SA2

Raking in critical acclaim, GTA San Andreas is easily one of the best PlayStation 2 games ever made, and a defining benchmark of quality for the franchise. Bigger, better and bolder, the game sold over 12 million units by March 2005 on the PlayStation 2, making it the highest-sold game on that platform of all time. As of March 2008, San Andreas went on to have sold a total of 21.5 million units and increased that number to over 27.5 million units by 2011. The Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer’s Edition listed San Andreas as the most successful PlayStation 2 game, with 17.33 million copies sold for that console alone in the end.

It’s also the final core game to be released in the PlayStation 2, going out with a bang. But the PlayStation 3 would soon see a new breed of GTA released, that was even bigger than the mammoth San Andreas.

Last Updated: April 13, 2015

29 Comments

  1. GROVE STREET FO’ LIVE YO!

    Reply

  2. Admiral Chief asked for this

    April 13, 2015 at 14:43

    Lagz staff like to eat? Hmmmm. TASTY!

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief asked for this

    April 13, 2015 at 14:55

    Reminder: Please remember to click the recommend button should you, the reader, enjoy the article

    Reply

    • Aries

      April 13, 2015 at 15:10

      Never did that before, going to do it now

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief asked for this

        April 13, 2015 at 15:24

        Good man

        Reply

    • Captain JJ the flash noob

      April 13, 2015 at 15:11

      Who said we enjoy Darryn’s articles? ;P

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief asked for this

        April 13, 2015 at 15:24

        Support Lazygamer, if they don’t eat, we have no where to troll

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the flash noob

          April 13, 2015 at 15:29

          Good point.
          So does this mean likes also counts as feeding people, on FB posts? O_o

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief asked for this

            April 13, 2015 at 15:32

            Not sure, but feed em, for the love of gaming FEED THEM!

        • Hammersteyn

          April 13, 2015 at 15:35

          Without no rolls they’d have no trolls?

          Reply

  4. Scorpion V SubZero

    April 13, 2015 at 14:56

  5. Rock789

    April 13, 2015 at 15:06

    I added to those Vice City sales figures a week ago – got it for R29 on my PS3! And yes – it’s still as fun as it was back then!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the flash noob

      April 13, 2015 at 15:11

      It’s weird, but I think I enjoy older games on consoles more than I do on pc sometimes. It think the nostalgia goes along with using the old console itself as well.

      Reply

      • Rock789

        April 13, 2015 at 15:17

        Well I’m just enjoying my “Nostalgia Tour”, as I’ve dubbed it, at the moment… Playing games I haven’t played in years and going back to the old-gen consoles (Bioshock, Arkham Asylum, Vice City, Max Payne, Red Dead Redemption, Dead Space (original), Loom, Morrowind, Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein, Myst, Riven).

        Yeah I’m still loving my PS4 and XB1, but lately modern games are lacking the 1 thing that keeps me hooked no matter what – story! Sometimes, you just want a really epic story… 1 of the BIG reasons I’m so looking forward to Witcher 3 – that and the sheer freedom of choice.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the flash noob

          April 13, 2015 at 15:19

          Oh Morrowind. You beautiful creature.

          And yes. The Witcher 3 will become my new obsession, I’m pretty sure.

          Reply

          • Rock789

            April 13, 2015 at 15:20

            Morrowind is still as epic as you remember… Got it on Steam and, within 5 minutes of starting it up, I knew I was hooked all over again! The music, that land, the characters… Yes – it’s awesome!

          • Captain JJ the flash noob

            April 13, 2015 at 15:23

            Damn it. Now I need to get that again.

          • Rock789

            April 13, 2015 at 15:25

            Moenie dink nie – doen net! 😉

          • Captain JJ the flash noob

            April 13, 2015 at 15:27

            That’s usually how 90% of my problems start ;P
            But it’s Elder Scrolls. The only problem there is that TESO exists 🙂

          • Rock789

            April 13, 2015 at 15:28

            TESO is a different series… At least that’s what I tell myself – it doesn’t soil the Elder Scroll’s good name! 😉

  6. Greylingad

    April 13, 2015 at 15:17

    I enjoyed every single one of these titles, having spent many hours, no days playing them, I still can’t believe that rockstar can amaze me… But they do…

    Reply

  7. Sky Dragan

    April 13, 2015 at 15:19

    Hey guys i am new in this names Sky Dragan well i enjoyed playing gta vice city and San Andreas they are the best in play station 2.

    Reply

    • Rock789

      April 13, 2015 at 15:22

      Welcome young Padawan, Sky Dragan. Pleasure to have you on board. 🙂

      Reply

  8. Hammersteyn

    April 13, 2015 at 15:34

    Vice City and San Andres are the two best Gta games. It would seem that the spin-offs learns from the original titles. The two GTA IV titles that were released as addons were even better for me than “hey cousin lets go bowling”. Hopefully they have something similar planned for GTAV.

    Reply

  9. Hammersteyn

    April 13, 2015 at 15:35

    GTAV retrospect next? It’s been almost two years 😛

    Reply

  10. Codefridge

    April 14, 2015 at 07:47

    Played them all. My favourites are still the newer ones, because of the improved physics and sunsets. Spend my days driving to the top of a mountain and watching the sunset. And then a mountain lion kills me.

    Reply

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