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Grand Theft Auto 2
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| Developer(s) | DMA Design Tarantula Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Rockstar Games |
| Series | Grand Theft Auto |
| Platform(s) | Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Windows |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation NA EU October 22, 1999 Windows NA EU October 27, 1999 Dreamcast NA EU May 2, 2000 Game Boy Color NA EU December 25, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | PEGI: 18+
ESRB: M (DC/PC) |
| Media | CD-ROM, GD-ROM, cartridge, download |
Grand Theft Auto 2 (abbreviated as GTA2) is a video game that was released worldwide on October 22, 1999, by developer DMA Design (now Rockstar North); initially for the Windows operating system and the PlayStation. The game was later ported to the Dreamcast console and the Game Boy Color. It is the sequel to the controversial 1997 hit Grand Theft Auto. The PC and Dreamcast versions of GTA2 are both rated M by the ESRB. The language and violence was toned down for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color versions which received a T rating.[1] Rockstar now offers the PC version as registerware for free download at their website.[2]. GTA2 was preceded by the original Grand Theft Auto and succeeded by Grand Theft Auto III.
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Unlike other games in the series, GTA2 is set in an unspecified time in a metropolis referred to only as "Anywhere City". The year is not specified, but the game's manual uses the phrase "three weeks into the future"; fictional journal entries on the GTA2 website suggest the year to be 2013.[3] However, radio host Johnny Riccaro mentions in the game that "the millennium's coming," which would set the game shortly before 2000. The player is a man named Claude Speed, who is freed from prison, having awakened from a cryonic sleep but experiences amnesia. The storyline shifts to his goal of becoming the "King of the City" by any means necessary.[4]
The City is split into three levels, or "districts." The first level, Downtown, is a hub of business activity as well as the site of a large mental institution and university. The second area, the Residential District, contains the city's prison, a trailer park with an Elvis-themed bar dubbed "Disgracelands", a shopping mall, and a giant hydroelectric power plant. The third and final area is the Industrial District; it holds a large seaport, a meat packing plant, a Nuclear Power Plant and a Krishna temple.
There are a total of seven criminal gangs in the game: the Zaibatsu, a corrupt corporation, is present in all three areas. The Downtown area is also home to the Loonies, a gang of mentally ill people who have taken over the city asylum, and the Yakuza. In the Residential area, the gangs include SRS (Sex and Reproductive Sciences) Scientists and the Rednecks, who live in a trailer park and drive around in pickups with large Confederate flags. The Industrial area contains the Russian Mafia and the Hare Krishna.
The game can be played in two modes (only in the PC version), noon or dusk. On the noon setting the lighting is bright making the game clear to see (also lowering the graphics overhead on weaker hardware because of the fewer lighting effects). On the dusk setting the game is darker, with multiple dynamic lights from explosions and car headlights. This feature was also expanded further in Grand Theft Auto III where the daylight is changing with the time of day in the game.
GTA2 retained the top-down viewpoint of GTA, as well as the car-stealing/telephone-answering formula of the original. The player has the ability to explore cities on foot or in various vehicles. The aim is to achieve a certain score. On achieving this goal the player then can proceed to the next level. Doing missions awards the player more points than any other method but are not essential for completion of the game.
A new feature introduced in GTA2 was doing missions for separate gangs, of which there are two new gangs for each of the three levels of the game, and one faction which is present in all levels. Being employed by one gang can cause distrust from others (working for gang #1 will incur the wrath of gang #2, working for gang #2 will cause enmity with gang #3, etcetera). In the original GTA, only the local police pursued the player. In GTA2, SWAT teams are introduced in the Downtown District, Special Agents are introduced in the Residential District, and the army is introduced in the Industrial District. These additional types of law enforcement begin chasing the player as his or her wanted level increases. The wanted level is represented by images of a cop's head, and differ between the Windows and Playstation version.
GTA2 also included a saving technique that improved upon that of the original GTA, which saved only when finishing a city. If the player entered a church with $50,000, a voice announced "Hallelujah! Another soul saved!". This notified the player that the game had been saved. If the player did not have enough money, the voice would say "Damnation! No donation, no salvation!" The "safe house" feature would become standard and expanded upon in later GTA games, although saving would become free of financial cost.
Other minor improvements pertain to city activity. Passing vehicles and pedestrians are no longer cosmetic parts of the environment, but actually play a more significant role in gameplay. Sometimes pedestrians would occasionally enter and ride in taxis or busses. The game is also noted for the emergent behavior of its non-player characters. Pedestrians, gang members and the police would occasionally engage in fights, and there are even other carjackers (Green sweater) and muggers (Red sweater with white arms) in the city.[5]
Also in this Grand Theft Auto are some little debuts that would further be seen in later games, such as being a taxi driver (albeit inferior to the later GTA games, you jack a cab with its light on and pull over and a pedestrian would get in. There is no marker for destinations though, they pay you until go anywhere and stop), be a bus driver (get a bus and pull up in the bus stops), and hidden packages (in the form of tokens saying "GTA 2" on them).
Other small little neat features include: Getting a truckcab/lorrycab and a trailer (first hookable trailers in GTA) and driving it into a Pay'N'Spray and the truck and trailer become the same colour, Guns on cars, Oil Slicks, Mines, and the return of bomb shops, blowing up trains and a health bar as opposed to the one hit kill in the previous games. There is also the appearance of bonus games, after some levels with enough points you will be granted the opportunity to play a series of mini games which include destroying ice cream vans in a timed manner, the more you destroy, the more generate until you kill them all. Also there is an unusual pick-up that makes you invisible for a short time.
This is also the first GTA to feature a wide array of weapons to use, many of which would appear again in later games.
Some weapons in GTA2 feature a "Kill Frenzy" mission when picked up, where a player has a limited amount of time to kill a certain number of people with a particular weapon loaded. Bonuses are rewarded if the mission is successful. If a player finds a tank and gets in, a "Kill Frenzy" mission also starts.
The PlayStation version of Grand Theft Auto 2 is noticeably toned down from its PC counterpart, with lower quotas for the number of kills needed in rampage style missions, and containing no voice acting in the saving interface. The port also includes an unusual feature wherein the player's car will explode after the player runs over a large number of gang members. One level was also changed. Instead of the player tricking civilians into entering a bus to drive them to a meat processing plant to be cannibalized, the victims are Hare Krishna gang members.
As is the case with the original Grand Theft Auto and GTA London: 1969, the player receives bonuses for running his car over certain people without stopping or braking. A string of Elvis impersonators are sometimes spotted walking the streets. Their deaths are awarded with a large money bonus, followed by the bold words "ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING".
The PC version of GTA2 was released as a free download on December 22, 2004. This version also includes support for multiplayer games. To find other players you will need a client created by GTAMP. This makes it easier to use GTA 2 on multiplayer.
There are trains in both versions (PC and PSX), but you can only ride them in the PC version.
The opening video of the game was pieced together using live-action footage taken from an eight-minute short film created for the purpose of advertising the game. This film has since been made available to the public and is downloadable from Rockstar's website.[6] Claude Speed (the game's playable protagonist) is played by Scott Maslen in the film. Scott Maslen also plays DS Phil Hunter in the The Bill and also plays Jack Branning in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in the UK. The short film shows Claude being murdered (shot by a Zaibatsu hitman while trying to break into a sports car). It was shot in present-day New York City with the World Trade Center (pre-9/11) in clear view, instead of the game's anonymous city of the future (it should be noted, however, that two fictional locations were mentioned in the film: "Chernobyl Docks" and "Disgraceland", the latter being the name of a district featured in GTA2). The film depicts a blue-and-white NYPD 1991-1996 Chevrolet Caprice police car as a pursuit vehicle, as well as a black BMW E39 528i driven by Claude, which is later repainted white.
The soundtrack to the GTA2 movie was mixed by Timecode (DJ) who also hosted, produced and mixed the audio on the drum and bass radio station MSX/MSX 98 that was featured in the Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories videogame soundtracks.
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