Same with tons of old games. Can't appreciate them if you play them for the first time today but back then they were genuinely groundbreaking, giving gamers something they've never had before. PS1 era was a real golden age for gaming.
The DS Gta was pretty cool, Chinatown wars, going back to a similar style. Oh, and Gta 2 was amazing back then, I always worked for the smiley face cars 🙂 which caused the Y group to be my enemies. Z's were ok. Lol
It doesn’t look like much today, but I can tell you my experience when I rented this for the first time in the late nineties. Had the weekend off from work so decided to rent a game for the evening. Looked through the games at the video store for about 5 mins and saw this. The artwork was pretty plain, but I picked it up cause it had a crime for a name. Looked at the back and I almost passed it up, it being top down perspective, and the characters looked tiny; I had no idea what you had to do or what it was even about. I put it down and looked some others, but I played pretty much everything I wanted to there ( PS1 title library at the time was kinda small), so I grabbed GTA and checked out. Played for a few minutes before I lost my starter car, and walked around for a bit, not knowing how to get my destroyed car back lol. I walked across the street and by chance accidentally jacked someone’s car. That’s when it hit me, you could take any car you wanted, my mind was blown. You could kill anyone, take any car, do whatever you wanted. Nothing like this had been done before, I stayed up for like 7 hours straight playing it. I ended up buying it a couple weeks later, I still have my original copy, and the London expansion that came with it. I would probably be bored after a half hour if I played it again, but I don’t think any game will ever floor me the same way as GTA 1 did when I realized the world was mine in that first game. EDIT - fixed spelling/grammar mistakes, added London expansion part.
Great comment, I love this game as well. In 8th grade someone mentioned it at school so I bought it and I had the same experience as far as being blown away by the games lack of limitations. As an only child I spent a lot of time on my own and would explore every inch of those cities even walking around the entire border of them. After school it was like a 2nd world I would come home to. Then GTA2 came out and it took a few weeks to actually find it in a store. The first thing I noticed was the Teen rating instead of Mature and thought maybe it was less of a game than the first one but it was even better. Then came GTA3 which was even more impressive. My first disappointment was Vice City, the game is good but I hoped for 3 cities instead of 2 with some islands in the middle. It felt small was my first impression and THE LACK OF ORIGINAL MUSIC. The original music made the first 3 feel like unique worlds to be in. Whenever I hear the phrase "GTA" these memories are what come to mind and I will always stand by the franchise for how much impact it had on my teenagehood. The original is my favorite, then 2, then 3, then San Andreas ect. #1 is always my #1 🏆🏆🏆 -RTR 🏆🏆🏆
This was me playing GTA 2 for the first time since I never played the original. I was in 4th grade. Now I’m 33. I remember when GTA 3 was announced I literally told everyone “no way they can make a game like GTA 2 in 3D on ground level. I just thought that technology didn’t exist and that could never happen. Now look at what we have
I remember seeing the first previews in Game Informer magazine and thinking "If they can pull this off... It'll be an absolute game changer..." and sure enough...
I remember being about 11 or 12 when the third one came out. I was at my mates house, where his brother was playing it and I couldn't believe that it had went 3rd person, jaw dropped to the floor!
You should review GTA 2 as well. The gang respect system was really unique for its time and really cool IMO. Game had a lot of replay value for me back in the day.
The 2nd game also introduced radio stations having DJs instead of just constant music and one was a country and western station that kept playing tracks by the fictional "Chapped Lips Calhoun". "That song was so good I think I'll play it again!"
I never played GTA 2. I did get the GTA London expansion disc though. You had to start it with the London disc, then it prompted you to insert the original disc, then I think you had to put the London disc back in? The lengths we would go to. Sometimes I don’t feel like I could be in my 40s, but when I think about video games, yes. A LOT of time has passed.
Played this game to death on PC, it was probably the most moddable game available at the time, or at least one of the easiest games to mod, you could change the sprites, the sounds even make custom maps and missions with the bare minimum of tools, I remember making a full "real car pack" in Paint Shop Pro in the matter of a couple of days then editing the code in notepad to change speed and handling characteristics. We need games like that again
Trivia fact: Rockstar (or rather DMA) used fan-made programs to create and add the cars in GTA London (the add-on to GTA1), as they were actually easier to use than their own original development tools.
I remember the tool that allowed you to build maps block by block, my cousin and I built a huge chunk of our hometown in it but never imported it into the game, we didn't know how at the time.
I think one of the craziest moments in this game is where you have to blow up a moving car with the RC car. Then when you've done it, it says "bye mom that'll teach you to bug me for rent" I think it's quite interesting how it was just mindless psycho killer shit whereas in the later games it is just gang warfare and stuff like that and ambiguous characters
I remember when GTA came out and I had a mate at school who was one the first people to play it, I asked him what can you do on the game, he responded with “mate, what can’t you do” that was it I had to play it, I remember it felt like a massive open world game with endless possibilities plus the soundtrack was amazing, I used to park up on the game and just listen to the radio
I grew up with this original GTA version on PC and I loved the first half of it, but the second half really suffers from all those issues you mentioned. But later when GTA III came to PS2, sweet lord... It was unbelievable! And then Vice City after that, which is my all-time favorite GTA game.
@@brianharley6452 Unfortunately I could never lay my hands on it back in the day, but I have been thinking about doing it now as an adult. Could be fun driving like a Maniac in a Mini! (Goddamn, that sounds like an awesome movie title...)
@@MrGul I got it day one lol honestly it’s funny and brilliant. Well worth it just for the cops radio saying there’s been a murder and flying around roundabouts😂😂
Jak the fact that you aren't a million subs is a crime against humanity. You are one of the best game oriented content creators i've ever had the pleasure of discovering.
I remember playing Body Harvest on N64 and GTA on the PS1. I had no idea it was the same people but remember thinking at the age of 10-11, "Man if they combined these two games, it would be the best game ever." GTA3 came out a few years later and blew everyone away.
I actually played through the original GTA a couple of years back and it was still a lot of fun. I remember when it originally came out in '97, I became a fan immediately. Soundtrack was fantastic too, I especially liked FunkFM.
It was mindblowing for 1997 and the amount of hours I'd sunk into are uncountable. American Fugitive is a great love letter to GTA 1 & 2, check it out.
Absolute gem of a game. I had a pirated copy in my youth, so I had to memorise a lot of the map. Standout memories: The artwork, character voiceovers, the freedom, the hari krishnas, modifying car stats. "Hey, you wanna know why they call me El Burro" :)
First GTA was great, because you only needed the demo version from a magazine and could easily add the full version content through simply editing a txt file. Starting with a panzer right from the beginning was just fun as hell.
This game will always be one of my favorites. When it came out I think my buddies and I were 16. We'd hang out on the weekends at one dude's house, get super stoned, order pizza, and play this. We laughed so hard playing this. What a fun game. EDIT: 98 here, so we were all 17/18. I just remembered, my one buddy always wrote a Christmas list for what he wanted every year even though he didn't have to, and it was always full of stupid shit just to entertain his mom. That year he put "the power to decide who lives and dies." Without knowing what it was about, she got him GTA, and he hadn't even asked for it. She unwittingly gifted him the power to decide who lives and dies. It was even funnier considering his dad was a police officer.
I remember playing this with my brother back when it had first came out and to this day this game holds up. You have to appreciate it for the time it was released. This was so next level back then and as someone who is a GTA veteran and going strong today I still love it because this started the whole series we know and love today!
I remember renting this game from Blockbusters when I had just turned 18. Absolutely LOVED it!! Had simply never played anything like it before, it was groundbreaking. Also, putting the game CD into your CD player and listening to the tracks blew my mind. Great times!
I loved this game, mates would come over and we would just play "life by life" changing each time we got killed or arrested. The camera took a bit to get used to, but quickly became second nature.
When GTA London 1969 came out in 1999, expansion packs were very much a known and normal thing for PC games. Doom and Duke Nukem had a ton of official and unofficial expansion packs. the C&C series had expansion packs. Half Life had expansions and total conversions (Counter-strike existed and was popular already by this time).
My brother had this game on PC back in the day, and I remember the soundtrack was one of the best things about it. That isn't to say the gameplay was bad, but that soundtrack was packed with bangers. I remember it was fun to cause a pile up and then blow up one of the cars, causing a chain reaction
Grand Theft Auto is tight, I like when you start driving fast, I like when the camera zooms out. That's cool. The top-down view makes me think of a drone view.
This definitely sounds like one of those games I'd never been able to complete back in the day If I'd had it. I appreciate you talking about the first GTA as I'd always been curious of it but not enough to watch a let's play or play it.
It does seem hard. I never had the chance to play it either. Reminds me a little bit of Twisted metal 1 where it was real groundbreaking as well. With the maps you would want to chart out the fastest route. The concept was so unique and different not hard to see why people love the series.
my first solo holiday was a long train trip to Edinburgh. I enjoyed the castles, landmarks, the museums but what got me most excited was seeing Rockstar North studio. It looked like any normal building but I was mostly excited to see that this was the exact building where they made GTA games, red dead, manhunt, and apparently Lemmings
Lemmings was Dundee in Scotland (at least that's where it started) and we have these wee Lemmings statues in town as a dedication, they're pretty cool looking
@@ianp2924 AHahaHAHa ... Wikipedia is very biased. Not even the 'news' is real half the time :P But yeh, the Lemming statues are in Dundee, theres also a little segment for the company in the Museum that got built a few years ago.
@@krashd DMA moved to Edinburgh in 1999 after being acquired by Take-Two. GTA3 was the first game to come from Edinburgh in 2001. Then rebranded Rockstar North by the time Vice City came out in 2002.
Best thing about this game was that you couldnt save during a map, only between maps. So you could be playing for 3 hours, be on your last life and be REALLY careful not to die because that would erase 3 hrs of hard work.
I played the shit out of my PC with this game lol. Not to mention how many hours I spent listening to the soundtrack when I wasnt playin.. awesome game back then.
I was lucky enough to play this when it released and it was mind blowing, but I think it'd be hard to get into nowadays for people used to modern games. For your criticism about the mission objectives only showing up the start, you could actually press one of the F keys to repeat the mission objectives. Also thanks for reminding me about body harvest, that game also blew my mind back in the day and I'd forgotten it existed
I was there for the beginning. It was CRAZY how much you could explore and do. The chasing specific cars to drive, the unlimited chaos. Between GTA and Carmageddon, I would never view the relationship between cars and cities the same way again.
I loved this game as a kid. I could never complete it as it was bat shit hard arcade style but loved the open world, the atmosphere, the music. I remember being excited about the free roam concept when my old friend introduced me to it in the 90's. It's funny 'cause now we all just take games like GTA V for granted.
Excellent review, the PC version with Glide support was the best way to play but it was insanely hard. I did make it to the other cities but it was just fun exploring Liberty City for short bursts at a time.
So the first time I saw grand theft auto being played was in the 90s. I went to the skating rink in Germany and the guy at the front desk was playing grand theft auto on a laptop and it looked so cool. I will never forget how revolutionary it looked.
On the San Fierro map, there is an island right next to the bridge with a tank on it. The only way to access it is by driving on an invisible path over the water. Dunno why I remember that, must be 20 years since I played it!
It's kinda sad to look back and see how actually "open" the earlier open world GTA titles were, when you compare them to how restrictive and linear GTA V is. Even when they reached GTA 3, a lot of the missions were open ended with really just a goal to achieve; heck some missions even had alternate paths scripted in too, should you have the idea! Seems to be while things like graphics and storytelling have evolved, it's been at the cost of the core idea... I hope that returns some day, even if it;s in a different franchise altogether!
Yeah. GTA 5 is graphically amazing, but when i was playing it, i couldn't help but miss the various missions older games had like pizza delivering, ambulance job, vigilante and other side stuff. I also miss how you had multiple islands to explore in older games like San Andreas and Vice City. Now most side type content is locked behind online.
GTA 2's system has still never been topped. 3 different gangs with a reputation system for each. Low reputation with a gang who will attack you on sight? Take out their enemies to increase your rep and thus able to do their missions. Was disappointed in gta 3 how some gangs were always your enemy and couldn't do missions for them
I had the first two games on ps1 as a kid. I don't remember playing the first one so much, but me and my Dad would spend hours playing the second one together. We did for years until my Mum found out it was about killing people and took the GTA (and Tekken for some reason) games off me for like 4 years. Unfortunately my GTA 1 disc broke at some point, but I still have the radio disc and the map.
I played this is 97 on DOS...and it was insane to me at the time and the best gaming experienced I had to that date... we used to play it multiplayer over modem back then too. I remember my friend back then trying to describe the game to someone and he said "imagine a game where you can do anything you want" that's GTA lol. ooh and part 2 was one of the best sequels ever. Then is 98 we got starcraft... man those were the days.
I remember playing this (and gta2) as a kid. Never finished the game, did use cheats, but I had an absolute blast playing it. It had quite a few flaws, as mentioned, but it was a lot of fun and is an important part of gaming history.
Great video thanks! I was 11 when this came out and I can't even explain what it felt like - it was such a time of change. We used to binge this all night long at sleepovers.
I spent many hours playing it as a kid. My grandma bought it one birthday. I think I lied and told her it was a racing game. I'll never forget one day my mom walking by the TV and reading the captions at the bottom. It was something derogatory and she took the game away. Well mom ends up giving the game to the neighbor, who gives it to her son, who happened to be my friend, and well you can see where this goes 🤣Friends mom was cool af, she got me out of a few jams.
For anyone who hasn't played it.. This first game was always best if you just went around and did your own thing.. Sure try out some missons and stuff but don't try to play it as a game you have to "beat" it's just supposed to be rampaging fun
It most certainly was when it came out when i was 13. Was on the official playstation magazine demo disc and i played the shizzle out of it until the game came out. Oh the memories. I still have it now.
I play this for the first time on PC in the year in 99 or 2000, I can't recall. I never imagine the game would grow this big. If was a different game, even some gamers of the original GTA were thinking when GTA 3 was announce if was gonna flop or not because the game was 2D and third person seeing from above like a strategy game. That was before the GTA 3 game came out, this one I bought when was release. I got really surprise and play a lot on the PS2 at the time. What I mean to say is that nobody could expect the success they got before the release of GTA 3 that basically define the series. But you could also play the game like the old ports with areal third person view in GTA 3. I don't think they continue doing that player camera view in later games. And today you have even RP on GTA 5. So, as someone that play GTA during the period of release I can tell this game was lit, without this game the franchise wouldn't exist.
I like the gta saga a lot, i played almost every single game, the only ones left are the classic ps1 games, so i am gonna follow this reviews, good to see you back again, jak.
I think I am one of the few who can say I have Played Grand Theft Auto since the beginning. My friend and I even got a demo from PC magazine before the game released and figured out how to remove the demo's time limit so that we could play the entire first level of the game! Love GTA. Not to happy with how Rockstar is turning out tho.
Owned every game in the series. Grand Theft Auto Grand Thef Auto London 1969 Grand Thef Auto London 1961 Grand Theft Auto 2 Grand Theft Auto 3 Grand Theft Auto Vice City Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Grand Theft Auto IV Grand Theft Auto IV The Lost & The Damned Grand Theft Auto IV The Ballad of Gay Tony Grand Theft Auto V Grand Theft Auto Advance Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition (Switch)
I dunno how I ended up here, I wasn't even paying much attention but as soon as I noticed the posters in the case, I remembered childhood memories, these feelings will never go away
No way! I was literally just thinking about when you did a playthrough video of this game and thought, i wish he'd have carried on with that series, then this video popped up no more than 20 minutes later. I can't wait to watch this one.
I had the second one for Playstation growing up and played it quite a bit. The idea of it was better than the execution, but it was enough to carry me through a lot of play time. When 3 came out, I never went back.
I’m about to show my age here, but I remember OG GTA releasing, I was maybe 13/14 at the time. My friend was deep in the PC gaming scene and often set up LANs at his home with his dad. When GTA came out we had a two PC LAN setup and it was three of us doing winner stays on. I was immediately hooked. This game and more so the second are hooked deep in nostalgia for me. I remember the second coming out and being absolutely blown away by the updated graphics and gameplay. It’s a game I usually take with me on my laptop if I’m travelling to another country. There’s nothing like getting up to some vintage carnage sat next to a stranger on a plane! Best games ever!
Started at 1… if you can get 2 london 1969 there is a mission with a mini that goes so fast it almost blows up immediately…. Such great games and when 3 came out it changed a lot.
Played this so much on my PC back in the day. The presentation and gameplay was unlike anything I had ever seen. Good times looking over my shoulder when running over the Elvises. uhuhuh...thank you very much
I remember getting the original GTA on PlayStation and it came with a soundtrack CD of all the songs in the game… one of my friends decided to use it as a coaster one day and it never worked again.
Lots my friends had these on ps1. But no one ever mentioned they had 3 maps. Think as kids ppl would drive and screw around a little bit, get bored and move on quickly. Similarly when gta3 was out everyone played it nonstop and talked bout it, but no one I knew as kids ever beat these or did story missions, all my friends just liked screwing round hours on end and wld roll eyes or something if I pulled up to a story mission. Wasn’t til San Andreas I started hearing others talk bout story events and such beating it lol. So nice see a video being more in depth on these.
You’re not a gta og if you didn’t play the original beta release on pc….I remember being a young teen when it dropped, never seen anything like it before, crazy to think back and how it’s evolved to what it is today
That thing with the mission text going by too fast actually has a solution: you can press one of the F keys, F1, I believe, on PC to show the last message again, and on PS1 it's select.
Loved the video! My introduction to GTA was the PS1 entry and while it certainly hasnt aged gracefully, it was so important and I only have fond memories. Also, sidenote, I love the channel name. I certainly got square eyes back in the day :) Subbed!
It's difficult to explain how much fun this game was when it came out. I remember just playing the demo alot which seemed like it had more content than some full games. Gta 2 was good fun as well with the added gang rivalry element.
GTA 1, London & 2 are not the same thing as GTA III and later, gameplay wise and culturally. Modern gamers might assume since it's just a bunch of numbers that they all go together. GTA was literally inspired by Pac-man. The biggest clue is that the 1, London & 2 were budget games, on $30 instead of $50. They didn't think they were selling you the whole game. These games sold and caused a little controversy, but they were larks, something to play while not playing Half-Life or Quake. These games were throwbacks, late era shareware games. GTA III was a massive game and a huge change in gaming.
Being 41 I was the intended target when gta was released and I remember feeling so free and feeling like this open world was amazing. Looking back I'm surprised we were as amazed as we were. I hope in the future we look back at today's games and think wow how simplistic.
I remember back in 1997 playing the original GTA timed demo thousands of times. I was never allowed to buy it for my PS1 being 9, but my parents never realised what the playstation demo disks contained. It was amazing to 9 year old me
I hope you get me right. No, its not necessarily to play this one BUT to understand where the series came from, Its a game to start with! True icon of a game!
I played this for the first time like 6 months after it came out and I was hooked. Pop the game out and throw in my own music CD and just cause chaos. The theme is on my driving playlist.
I finished the game like a year ago to fulfill my childhood promise to myself. Everything the guy says is true - fast text, confusing objectives, necessary multipliers, stupid Liberty City, great San Andreas, ... everything. My advice - if you want to finish this without cheats then the map is a must and also take some notes. Write down what you need to do in missions and especially where the multipliers are. This was crucial in Vice City Pt2
I don't think I've ever played the original GTA games, I started out with san andreas myself, me and my girlfriend used to play that game religiously as lasses lol. My personal fav GTA is the most underrated Imo, GTA IV, I love the ballad of gay Tony story the most
I feel this game is single handedly responsible for my video game addiction, which lives on today. I played it in 1998 for the first time. I later got the “GTA London” expansion disc. Back then, we didn’t care about completing missions or completing anything really. The whole concept of a truly open world game was enough for hours of fun. You have to understand how completely revolutionary this was in 1998. My buddy and I in college used to take turns and just do crazy shit for hours with no real direction in mind. Maybe a mission here and there. I haven’t seen footage of it since then, so this was a real blast from the past for me.
It might not have aged well but it was groundbreaking back in the day.
You had to be there to fully appreciate how revolutionary the original GTA was.
Same with tons of old games. Can't appreciate them if you play them for the first time today but back then they were genuinely groundbreaking, giving gamers something they've never had before. PS1 era was a real golden age for gaming.
The DS Gta was pretty cool, Chinatown wars, going back to a similar style. Oh, and Gta 2 was amazing back then, I always worked for the smiley face cars 🙂 which caused the Y group to be my enemies. Z's were ok. Lol
Yep.
"...What..? I can just steal and drive _any_ car I want any time?"
Never happened before.
Then they made the ground breaking Body Harvest on N64 which were their first 3D open world game.
They made that one before GTA 3.
I can't play GTA even back then.
The top down perspective just threw me off.
It doesn’t look like much today, but I can tell you my experience when I rented this for the first time
in the late nineties. Had the weekend off from work so decided to rent a game for the evening.
Looked through the games at the video store for about 5 mins and saw this. The artwork was pretty plain, but I picked it up cause it had a crime for a name. Looked at the back and I almost passed it up, it being top down perspective,
and the characters looked tiny; I had no idea what you had to do or what it was even about. I put it down and looked some
others, but I played pretty much everything I wanted to there ( PS1 title library at the time was kinda small), so I grabbed GTA and checked out. Played for a few minutes before I lost my starter car, and walked around for a bit, not knowing how to get my destroyed car back lol. I walked across the street and by chance accidentally jacked someone’s car. That’s when it hit me, you could take any
car you wanted, my mind was blown. You could kill anyone, take any car, do whatever you wanted. Nothing like this
had been done before, I stayed up for like 7 hours straight playing it. I ended up buying it a couple weeks later, I still have my original copy, and the London expansion that came with it. I would probably be bored after a half hour if I played it again, but I don’t think any game will ever floor me the same way as GTA 1 did when I realized the world was mine in that first game.
EDIT - fixed spelling/grammar mistakes, added London expansion part.
Theres nothing like using the flamethrower on the prisoner chain gang. 😂🤣
Great comment, I love this game as well. In 8th grade someone mentioned it at school so I bought it and I had the same experience as far as being blown away by the games lack of limitations.
As an only child I spent a lot of time on my own and would explore every inch of those cities even walking around the entire border of them. After school it was like a 2nd world I would come home to.
Then GTA2 came out and it took a few weeks to actually find it in a store. The first thing I noticed was the Teen rating instead of Mature and thought maybe it was less of a game than the first one but it was even better.
Then came GTA3 which was even more impressive. My first disappointment was Vice City, the game is good but I hoped for 3 cities instead of 2 with some islands in the middle. It felt small was my first impression and THE LACK OF ORIGINAL MUSIC. The original music made the first 3 feel like unique worlds to be in.
Whenever I hear the phrase "GTA" these memories are what come to mind and I will always stand by the franchise for how much impact it had on my teenagehood. The original is my favorite, then 2, then 3, then San Andreas ect.
#1 is always my #1 🏆🏆🏆 -RTR 🏆🏆🏆
i live for stories like this
@@btnhstillfirePrisoner charm gang? You mean the Hare Krishna? I was told when I was little they’re were demonstrators though
This was me playing GTA 2 for the first time since I never played the original. I was in 4th grade. Now I’m 33. I remember when GTA 3 was announced I literally told everyone “no way they can make a game like GTA 2 in 3D on ground level. I just thought that technology didn’t exist and that could never happen. Now look at what we have
Going from 1 to 3 was crazy to see. Remember coming home after the midnight release and was just blown away.
I remember seeing the first previews in Game Informer magazine and thinking "If they can pull this off... It'll be an absolute game changer..." and sure enough...
Funfact:trump tower is on the cover.
I remember being about 11 or 12 when the third one came out. I was at my mates house, where his brother was playing it and I couldn't believe that it had went 3rd person, jaw dropped to the floor!
I still think it's an interesting game worth playing, it's GTA but feels different in a good way.
Yeah exactly! Having played 1 & 2 and enjoyed them, but ofc both games had faults. Then 3 came out and holy wow!
You should review GTA 2 as well. The gang respect system was really unique for its time and really cool IMO. Game had a lot of replay value for me back in the day.
No donation, no salvation ... damnation
GTA2 was a great game
No it wasn't.
The 2nd game also introduced radio stations having DJs instead of just constant music and one was a country and western station that kept playing tracks by the fictional "Chapped Lips Calhoun". "That song was so good I think I'll play it again!"
I never played GTA 2. I did get the GTA London expansion disc though. You had to start it with the London disc, then it prompted you to insert the original disc, then I think you had to put the London disc back in? The lengths we would go to. Sometimes I don’t feel like I could be in my 40s, but when I think about video games, yes. A LOT of time has passed.
Gta 2 is the most authentic, also the only one with a city not inpired by a real city in us.
My dad wouldn't let me play this franchise until I was 13 but my mom would let me play when my dad was at work lmao.
Your mom's a bad person
My parents were kind of the opposite. My mum didn't let me play these games, but at my dad's place, he didn't care at all.
Same here, but my dad said till I was 16. My mom still let me play it back when I was 8 lol
no one really cares
W mom
Played this game to death on PC, it was probably the most moddable game available at the time, or at least one of the easiest games to mod, you could change the sprites, the sounds even make custom maps and missions with the bare minimum of tools, I remember making a full "real car pack" in Paint Shop Pro in the matter of a couple of days then editing the code in notepad to change speed and handling characteristics.
We need games like that again
Trivia fact: Rockstar (or rather DMA) used fan-made programs to create and add the cars in GTA London (the add-on to GTA1), as they were actually easier to use than their own original development tools.
@@ArCgon that is genuinely interesting, I didn't know that! 👍
I remember the tool that allowed you to build maps block by block, my cousin and I built a huge chunk of our hometown in it but never imported it into the game, we didn't know how at the time.
I think one of the craziest moments in this game is where you have to blow up a moving car with the RC car. Then when you've done it, it says "bye mom that'll teach you to bug me for rent" I think it's quite interesting how it was just mindless psycho killer shit whereas in the later games it is just gang warfare and stuff like that and ambiguous characters
I remember when GTA came out and I had a mate at school who was one the first people to play it, I asked him what can you do on the game, he responded with “mate, what can’t you do” that was it I had to play it, I remember it felt like a massive open world game with endless possibilities plus the soundtrack was amazing, I used to park up on the game and just listen to the radio
I grew up with this original GTA version on PC and I loved the first half of it, but the second half really suffers from all those issues you mentioned. But later when GTA III came to PS2, sweet lord... It was unbelievable! And then Vice City after that, which is my all-time favorite GTA game.
Did u play the London add on? Was great
@@brianharley6452 Unfortunately I could never lay my hands on it back in the day, but I have been thinking about doing it now as an adult. Could be fun driving like a Maniac in a Mini! (Goddamn, that sounds like an awesome movie title...)
@@MrGul I got it day one lol honestly it’s funny and brilliant. Well worth it just for the cops radio saying there’s been a murder and flying around roundabouts😂😂
@@brianharley6452 Hahaha! I really gotta get around playing that, then!
@@MrGul yeh it’s worth it. If u enjoyed the first one then Ul like that as well.
Jak the fact that you aren't a million subs is a crime against humanity. You are one of the best game oriented content creators i've ever had the pleasure of discovering.
He suck thats why
it took a couple days for him to become one of my favourite UA-camrs. amazing content
Also a great little feature is you can put the game disk into a CD player and listen to all the songs/tracks off the radio stations.
This is when games were much simpler. It was a blast and you basically played it to wreck shop and run from the cops.
I remember playing Body Harvest on N64 and GTA on the PS1. I had no idea it was the same people but remember thinking at the age of 10-11, "Man if they combined these two games, it would be the best game ever." GTA3 came out a few years later and blew everyone away.
GTA 1 blew my mind when it came out. I played it so much. When GTA 2 came out I played it multiplayer with friends at each LAN party we held.
I actually played through the original GTA a couple of years back and it was still a lot of fun. I remember when it originally came out in '97, I became a fan immediately. Soundtrack was fantastic too, I especially liked FunkFM.
You should try and get a hold of the two London expansions.
@@krashd I did own the 1969 expansion pack, the one I did not play was Manchester 1961, which I believe was online-only at the time.
It was mindblowing for 1997 and the amount of hours I'd sunk into are uncountable. American Fugitive is a great love letter to GTA 1 & 2, check it out.
Absolute gem of a game. I had a pirated copy in my youth, so I had to memorise a lot of the map. Standout memories: The artwork, character voiceovers, the freedom, the hari krishnas, modifying car stats. "Hey, you wanna know why they call me El Burro" :)
NoChin
majority of us had the pirated game lmao
First GTA was great, because you only needed the demo version from a magazine and could easily add the full version content through simply editing a txt file. Starting with a panzer right from the beginning was just fun as hell.
Very informative and educational review. Chinatown Wars was my first game, so it's interesting to see how similar it is to this first game. 😀
I really don't remember it being as hard as you have pointed out in this review, but then again I lived and breathed this game when it came out
This game will always be one of my favorites. When it came out I think my buddies and I were 16. We'd hang out on the weekends at one dude's house, get super stoned, order pizza, and play this. We laughed so hard playing this. What a fun game. EDIT: 98 here, so we were all 17/18. I just remembered, my one buddy always wrote a Christmas list for what he wanted every year even though he didn't have to, and it was always full of stupid shit just to entertain his mom. That year he put "the power to decide who lives and dies." Without knowing what it was about, she got him GTA, and he hadn't even asked for it. She unwittingly gifted him the power to decide who lives and dies. It was even funnier considering his dad was a police officer.
I remember playing this with my brother back when it had first came out and to this day this game holds up. You have to appreciate it for the time it was released. This was so next level back then and as someone who is a GTA veteran and going strong today I still love it because this started the whole series we know and love today!
I remember renting this game from Blockbusters when I had just turned 18. Absolutely LOVED it!! Had simply never played anything like it before, it was groundbreaking. Also, putting the game CD into your CD player and listening to the tracks blew my mind. Great times!
I loved this game, mates would come over and we would just play "life by life" changing each time we got killed or arrested.
The camera took a bit to get used to, but quickly became second nature.
When GTA London 1969 came out in 1999, expansion packs were very much a known and normal thing for PC games.
Doom and Duke Nukem had a ton of official and unofficial expansion packs.
the C&C series had expansion packs.
Half Life had expansions and total conversions (Counter-strike existed and was popular already by this time).
There was also the slightly less well known GTA London 1961.
@@krashd '61? I have to try that. I didn't know it existed.
Civ2 fantastic worlds
Any good? The game changed the gaming industry forever and shaped a generation of gamers.
Iconic doesn't do it justice
My brother had this game on PC back in the day, and I remember the soundtrack was one of the best things about it. That isn't to say the gameplay was bad, but that soundtrack was packed with bangers. I remember it was fun to cause a pile up and then blow up one of the cars, causing a chain reaction
Grand Theft Auto is tight, I like when you start driving fast, I like when the camera zooms out. That's cool. The top-down view makes me think of a drone view.
This definitely sounds like one of those games I'd never been able to complete back in the day If I'd had it. I appreciate you talking about the first GTA as I'd always been curious of it but not enough to watch a let's play or play it.
It does seem hard. I never had the chance to play it either. Reminds me a little bit of Twisted metal 1 where it was real groundbreaking as well. With the maps you would want to chart out the fastest route. The concept was so unique and different not hard to see why people love the series.
my first solo holiday was a long train trip to Edinburgh. I enjoyed the castles, landmarks, the museums but what got me most excited was seeing Rockstar North studio. It looked like any normal building but I was mostly excited to see that this was the exact building where they made GTA games, red dead, manhunt, and apparently Lemmings
Lemmings was Dundee in Scotland (at least that's where it started) and we have these wee Lemmings statues in town as a dedication, they're pretty cool looking
@@liamwynne566 oh my bad. this must be the first time wikipedia has lied to me. haha
@@ianp2924 AHahaHAHa ... Wikipedia is very biased. Not even the 'news' is real half the time :P But yeh, the Lemming statues are in Dundee, theres also a little segment for the company in the Museum that got built a few years ago.
Vice City was the first game made in Edinburgh after the rename and the move.
@@krashd DMA moved to Edinburgh in 1999 after being acquired by Take-Two. GTA3 was the first game to come from Edinburgh in 2001. Then rebranded Rockstar North by the time Vice City came out in 2002.
Best thing about this game was that you couldnt save during a map, only between maps.
So you could be playing for 3 hours, be on your last life and be REALLY careful not to die because that would erase 3 hrs of hard work.
I played the shit out of my PC with this game lol. Not to mention how many hours I spent listening to the soundtrack when I wasnt playin.. awesome game back then.
I was lucky enough to play this when it released and it was mind blowing, but I think it'd be hard to get into nowadays for people used to modern games. For your criticism about the mission objectives only showing up the start, you could actually press one of the F keys to repeat the mission objectives. Also thanks for reminding me about body harvest, that game also blew my mind back in the day and I'd forgotten it existed
Even in the early 2000s it felt really dated imo
@@dragomilosevic4823 Not really as it GTA 2 was also top down.
This game had more replay ability then most games.
@@grlmgor graphics wise... Dated
@@dragomilosevic4823 By that time it was 10 years old.
@@grlmgor 10 years? It came out 97' I would of played it about 99/2000 so no
I was there for the beginning. It was CRAZY how much you could explore and do. The chasing specific cars to drive, the unlimited chaos. Between GTA and Carmageddon, I would never view the relationship between cars and cities the same way again.
I loved this game as a kid. I could never complete it as it was bat shit hard arcade style but loved the open world, the atmosphere, the music. I remember being excited about the free roam concept when my old friend introduced me to it in the 90's. It's funny 'cause now we all just take games like GTA V for granted.
🎵 *_Take it to the edge there's nowhere to hide And call up the boy, let's go for a joyride_* 🎵
Excellent review, the PC version with Glide support was the best way to play but it was insanely hard. I did make it to the other cities but it was just fun exploring Liberty City for short bursts at a time.
Been watching since you had less than 10k subs, really glad this video is blowing up Jak, amazing content as usual
So the first time I saw grand theft auto being played was in the 90s. I went to the skating rink in Germany and the guy at the front desk was playing grand theft auto on a laptop and it looked so cool. I will never forget how revolutionary it looked.
Soundtrack to this game was also amazing, I remember ripping the OST from the game itself back when you could plop PS1 games into CD players.
As a kid each car had such a distinct look, feel and sound. The radio music also added to this. It was the defintiion of cool.
On the San Fierro map, there is an island right next to the bridge with a tank on it. The only way to access it is by driving on an invisible path over the water.
Dunno why I remember that, must be 20 years since I played it!
It's kinda sad to look back and see how actually "open" the earlier open world GTA titles were, when you compare them to how restrictive and linear GTA V is. Even when they reached GTA 3, a lot of the missions were open ended with really just a goal to achieve; heck some missions even had alternate paths scripted in too, should you have the idea!
Seems to be while things like graphics and storytelling have evolved, it's been at the cost of the core idea... I hope that returns some day, even if it;s in a different franchise altogether!
Yeah. GTA 5 is graphically amazing, but when i was playing it, i couldn't help but miss the various missions older games had like pizza delivering, ambulance job, vigilante and other side stuff. I also miss how you had multiple islands to explore in older games like San Andreas and Vice City. Now most side type content is locked behind online.
Like gta v has a blown up tunnel for the jewellery store robbery thats only open for one mission alone
GTA 2's system has still never been topped. 3 different gangs with a reputation system for each. Low reputation with a gang who will attack you on sight? Take out their enemies to increase your rep and thus able to do their missions. Was disappointed in gta 3 how some gangs were always your enemy and couldn't do missions for them
I had the first two games on ps1 as a kid. I don't remember playing the first one so much, but me and my Dad would spend hours playing the second one together. We did for years until my Mum found out it was about killing people and took the GTA (and Tekken for some reason) games off me for like 4 years. Unfortunately my GTA 1 disc broke at some point, but I still have the radio disc and the map.
I played this is 97 on DOS...and it was insane to me at the time and the best gaming experienced I had to that date... we used to play it multiplayer over modem back then too. I remember my friend back then trying to describe the game to someone and he said "imagine a game where you can do anything you want" that's GTA lol. ooh and part 2 was one of the best sequels ever. Then is 98 we got starcraft... man those were the days.
Yes, it’s the best one in the series. Pure joy and lots of humor
I remember playing this (and gta2) as a kid. Never finished the game, did use cheats, but I had an absolute blast playing it.
It had quite a few flaws, as mentioned, but it was a lot of fun and is an important part of gaming history.
A masterpiece to forever hold in my heart. Jak!!!😍
Great video thanks! I was 11 when this came out and I can't even explain what it felt like - it was such a time of change. We used to binge this all night long at sleepovers.
The intro song is the best.
I spent many hours playing it as a kid. My grandma bought it one birthday. I think I lied and told her it was a racing game. I'll never forget one day my mom walking by the TV and reading the captions at the bottom. It was something derogatory and she took the game away. Well mom ends up giving the game to the neighbor, who gives it to her son, who happened to be my friend, and well you can see where this goes 🤣Friends mom was cool af, she got me out of a few jams.
For anyone who hasn't played it.. This first game was always best if you just went around and did your own thing.. Sure try out some missons and stuff but don't try to play it as a game you have to "beat" it's just supposed to be rampaging fun
It most certainly was when it came out when i was 13. Was on the official playstation magazine demo disc and i played the shizzle out of it until the game came out. Oh the memories. I still have it now.
It was awesome when it came out, and it's still awesome today.
As someone who’s 100%ed all of these, do not play the dos version of London, it’s got game breaking bugs. Play the Windows disc version
I play this for the first time on PC in the year in 99 or 2000, I can't recall. I never imagine the game would grow this big.
If was a different game, even some gamers of the original GTA were thinking when GTA 3 was announce if was gonna flop or not because the game was 2D and third person seeing from above
like a strategy game. That was before the GTA 3 game came out, this one I bought when was release. I got really surprise and play a lot on the PS2 at the time.
What I mean to say is that nobody could expect the success they got before the release of GTA 3 that basically define the series.
But you could also play the game like the old ports with areal third person view in GTA 3. I don't think they continue doing that player camera view in later games.
And today you have even RP on GTA 5.
So, as someone that play GTA during the period of release I can tell this game was lit, without this game the franchise wouldn't exist.
It was awesome I wish they'd remastered the first 2 games for Switch and phones maybe.
The soundtrack is freaking awesome
I like the gta saga a lot, i played almost every single game, the only ones left are the classic ps1 games, so i am gonna follow this reviews, good to see you back again, jak.
had the demo and that is all we needed back then ...anyone play past the first 30 minutes is bullshitting you
Most of the criticism in this game: "It isn't as baby-friendly as modern games. It actually requires me to get good, unlike modern games.
The music kicked ass in this game. I used to play the 10 minute demo where you'd blow up after the timer ends. Absolutely loved it.
I think I am one of the few who can say I have Played Grand Theft Auto since the beginning. My friend and I even got a demo from PC magazine before the game released and figured out how to remove the demo's time limit so that we could play the entire first level of the game! Love GTA. Not to happy with how Rockstar is turning out tho.
I wasn't allowed to play this game when I was a kid, but my uncle burned a disk for me and labeled it "NHL 99". True MVP
Owned every game in the series.
Grand Theft Auto
Grand Thef Auto London 1969
Grand Thef Auto London 1961
Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto Vice City
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV The Lost & The Damned
Grand Theft Auto IV The Ballad of Gay Tony
Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto Advance
Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories
Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition (Switch)
Can't wait for the GTA 2 video. That was the most different GTA game in the franchise, taking an almost cyberpunk aesthetic. Lots of fond memories.
GTA2 is a criminally underrated PC classic...no pun intended.
Loved this game on DOS, Played it so much. Didn't even do that many of the missions, just drove around and made trouble so many times.
Great video - good work on spotting Body Harvest, I played the hell out of that game when I was young
I dunno how I ended up here, I wasn't even paying much attention but as soon as I noticed the posters in the case, I remembered childhood memories, these feelings will never go away
I have very fond memories of playing GTA2 during its time, long before GTA3 ever came BURSTING into the scene.
No way! I was literally just thinking about when you did a playthrough video of this game and thought, i wish he'd have carried on with that series, then this video popped up no more than 20 minutes later. I can't wait to watch this one.
GOD that was long ago, let's keep it buried between you, me and the other 4 people who saw it ok! 😅
@@SquareEyedJak I was one of those 4 people. Also, how about a review on GTA 2 and GTA London in the summer. Please?
@@SquareEyedJak Deal! though i think i'm going to have to revisit it now :D
I had the second one for Playstation growing up and played it quite a bit. The idea of it was better than the execution, but it was enough to carry me through a lot of play time. When 3 came out, I never went back.
I’m about to show my age here, but I remember OG GTA releasing, I was maybe 13/14 at the time. My friend was deep in the PC gaming scene and often set up LANs at his home with his dad. When GTA came out we had a two PC LAN setup and it was three of us doing winner stays on. I was immediately hooked. This game and more so the second are hooked deep in nostalgia for me. I remember the second coming out and being absolutely blown away by the updated graphics and gameplay. It’s a game I usually take with me on my laptop if I’m travelling to another country. There’s nothing like getting up to some vintage carnage sat next to a stranger on a plane! Best games ever!
Started at 1… if you can get 2 london 1969 there is a mission with a mini that goes so fast it almost blows up immediately…. Such great games and when 3 came out it changed a lot.
Really appreciated hearing the first level theme from Spider-Man 2: EE and “straight to top/back alley heist” from sly 1 in this review.
Hell yeah
Man this shit was so fun. I fought hella kids in the neighborhood over "my turn" lol kids never wanted to give up the controller
Played this so much on my PC back in the day. The presentation and gameplay was unlike anything I had ever seen. Good times looking over my shoulder when running over the Elvises.
uhuhuh...thank you very much
I remember getting the original GTA on PlayStation and it came with a soundtrack CD of all the songs in the game… one of my friends decided to use it as a coaster one day and it never worked again.
Lots my friends had these on ps1. But no one ever mentioned they had 3 maps. Think as kids ppl would drive and screw around a little bit, get bored and move on quickly. Similarly when gta3 was out everyone played it nonstop and talked bout it, but no one I knew as kids ever beat these or did story missions, all my friends just liked screwing round hours on end and wld roll eyes or something if I pulled up to a story mission. Wasn’t til San Andreas I started hearing others talk bout story events and such beating it lol. So nice see a video being more in depth on these.
You’re not a gta og if you didn’t play the original beta release on pc….I remember being a young teen when it dropped, never seen anything like it before, crazy to think back and how it’s evolved to what it is today
That thing with the mission text going by too fast actually has a solution: you can press one of the F keys, F1, I believe, on PC to show the last message again, and on PS1 it's select.
Loved the video! My introduction to GTA was the PS1 entry and while it certainly hasnt aged gracefully, it was so important and I only have fond memories. Also, sidenote, I love the channel name. I certainly got square eyes back in the day :) Subbed!
We played this game so much these days. It was awesome then. And we used the paper maps so much😂. And we hadn't UA-cam to look for walk through...
My childhood in a nut shell, this and gta london
It's difficult to explain how much fun this game was when it came out. I remember just playing the demo alot which seemed like it had more content than some full games.
Gta 2 was good fun as well with the added gang rivalry element.
GTA 1, London & 2 are not the same thing as GTA III and later, gameplay wise and culturally. Modern gamers might assume since it's just a bunch of numbers that they all go together. GTA was literally inspired by Pac-man.
The biggest clue is that the 1, London & 2 were budget games, on $30 instead of $50. They didn't think they were selling you the whole game. These games sold and caused a little controversy, but they were larks, something to play while not playing Half-Life or Quake. These games were throwbacks, late era shareware games.
GTA III was a massive game and a huge change in gaming.
Being 41 I was the intended target when gta was released and I remember feeling so free and feeling like this open world was amazing. Looking back I'm surprised we were as amazed as we were. I hope in the future we look back at today's games and think wow how simplistic.
I remember watching your let’s play of this years back. Never thought i’d see an actual review though very nice!
I think this game is still pretty enjoyable to play, especially the driving part. Graphics wise of course GTA 2 was a big jump.
I remember back in 1997 playing the original GTA timed demo thousands of times. I was never allowed to buy it for my PS1 being 9, but my parents never realised what the playstation demo disks contained. It was amazing to 9 year old me
Watching a new episode of you feels like saturday morning when a new episode of my favorite cartoon series came out.
This is a fun topic for sure! I have it on ps1 along with gta 2. Didn't play much of them, but I just couldn't resist picking them up.
If you weren’t there *YOU DON’T KNOW*
Same as when GTA 3 dropped on PS2 *#GROUNDBREAKING*
I hope you get me right.
No, its not necessarily to play this one BUT to understand where the series came from, Its a game to start with!
True icon of a game!
I played this for the first time like 6 months after it came out and I was hooked. Pop the game out and throw in my own music CD and just cause chaos. The theme is on my driving playlist.
I finished the game like a year ago to fulfill my childhood promise to myself. Everything the guy says is true - fast text, confusing objectives, necessary multipliers, stupid Liberty City, great San Andreas, ... everything.
My advice - if you want to finish this without cheats then the map is a must and also take some notes. Write down what you need to do in missions and especially where the multipliers are. This was crucial in Vice City Pt2
Played GTA 1 as a 6 year old, I had no idea it was so innovated. Very nice video, cheers!
I don't think I've ever played the original GTA games, I started out with san andreas myself, me and my girlfriend used to play that game religiously as lasses lol. My personal fav GTA is the most underrated Imo, GTA IV, I love the ballad of gay Tony story the most
I feel this game is single handedly responsible for my video game addiction, which lives on today. I played it in 1998 for the first time. I later got the “GTA London” expansion disc. Back then, we didn’t care about completing missions or completing anything really. The whole concept of a truly open world game was enough for hours of fun. You have to understand how completely revolutionary this was in 1998. My buddy and I in college used to take turns and just do crazy shit for hours with no real direction in mind. Maybe a mission here and there. I haven’t seen footage of it since then, so this was a real blast from the past for me.
It’s honestly really interesting seeing how different GTA is today compared to how it started.