What gta games are there. GTA game series. Another scandal with GTA: SA

Let's start from the beginning there was no Rockstar Games, and no GTA even smelled. Under the leadership of David Jones, a native of Scotland, the DMA studio was created, in 1988, signing a contract with the British publisher Psygnosis, DMA released its first games, Menace and Blood Money, no one could have thought that space shooters could interest not only players but also critics. DMA later ported its games to the Commodore 64, DOS, and Atari ST.

DMA's true breakthrough gaming industry occurred in 1990 after the release of Lemmings (a logic game). Lemmings has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and has been ported to 20 different systems.

While the DMAs were known around the world for their games, the Nintendo team took an interest in them and offered to help them develop the Nintendo 64 along with other well-known developers Rare, Paradigm, Midway Games and LucasArts.

And finally, in 1997, the first part of the Grand Theft Auto game was released, which opens our article on gta history. It was similar in mechanics to the game Body Harvest, which was released earlier by the developers. The game was only released on two platforms, PC and PlayStation. In the game, the user was given the role of a bandit who worked for various gangs. Naturally, there was a lot of controversy and disagreement after the release, “too much violence”, but thanks to these disputes and indignations, DMA was provided with PR and advertising for the so lacking young company. DMA has released the most successful game since Leming. The freedom of action! That's what struck the public in this game, because there was nothing like it in the gaming industry, of course, DMA became famous for this particular game.

After a successful release Grand Theft Auto, DMA became interested in the British edition of Gremlin Interactive, GI successfully negotiated with DMA, and bought the company, after which Jones became the creative director of both companies. IN 1999 Gremlin Interactive folded and was sold for $40 million and renamed Infogrames Sheffield House to French international holding company Infogrames. After the company was renamed Rockstar Games. And then, Infogrames sold DMA to publisher Take-Two. In the same year, Rockstar Games releases GTA 2 for PC, PlayStation and Dreemcast, and after the release of the game, the founder of the former DNA, David Jones, leaves the company and creates a new studio in Dundee (Scotland), one of the branches of Rage Software.

In 2001, a new part of the game is released Grand Theft Auto III, it was not like its predecessors, in the third part about the car thief was made on the new RenderWare engine that was developed by everyone known in our time like Criterion Games. GTA III was a Playstation 2 exclusive, making the PS 2 the best-selling console in the US and Europe. In 2002, GTA was ported to PEKA, at the time Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released on PS2, which used the same engine and gameplay details as Grand Theft Auto III added only a few innovations. And also in voice acting of Vice City characters world stars participated:

Ray Liotta and Tommy Vercetti

Tom Sizemore and Sonny Forelli.

William Fitchner and Ken Rosenberg.

Philip Michael Thomas and Lance Vance.

Robert Davi and Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez.

Danny Dyer and Kent Paul.

Danny Trejo and Humberto Robina.

Dennis Hopper and Steve Scott.

Lee Myers and Mitch Baker.

Gary Basey and Phil Cassady.

Faruza Balk and Mercedes Cortez.

Jenna Jameson and Candy Sachs.

GTA Vice City was ported to PEKA in 2002, and a Collector's Edition was released that contained the Grand Theft Auto III Grand and Theft editions. Auto Vice City for Xbox. The Xbox port was handled by Rockstar Vienna (a division of Rockstar Games based in Vienna, Austria).

A year later, in October 2004, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on PS2, the third 3D game in the series, and the fifth in the line of other projects. In 2005 the game was ported to PC and Xbox. Innovations were added to the game that the public liked very much, a new means of transportation was added, now it was possible to ride a bicycle around the city, and it would be possible to fight with enemies not only in the doorways and on the streets, now the battle can be fought in auto transport, in the car it was possible plant three more of his people from the group who also opened fire on the enemy.

After a long break from the company, on April 29, 2008, Rockstar North releases Grand Theft Auto IV, which was released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Six months after the release on the console, the company pleased PC gamers and released computer version GTA IV, December 2 in America, December 3 in Europe. The new part of GTA was made on the new Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE for short), the game has completely updated its look, the mechanics have changed, Liberty City, externally copied from New York. Also added different variants endings. New means of communication have been added to the game: telephone, Internet, police computer, television. Just like Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories (exclusive to PSP and PS2), there is a multiplayer option. After the release of the original game, followed by two DLCs, Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned was released on February 17, 2009. The main character was a biker called Johnny Klebitz, a member of The Lost gang. The second expansion, The Ballad of Gay Tony, was released on October 29, 2009. In this part, we have the fate of playing for Luis Lopez. In the first, as in the second addition, a change was made in the form of vehicles and ammunition, which were not in original GTA IV.

AT DMA history there have been several projects announced but never released: Nintendo 64 ports of Wild Metal Country and the original GTA; Clan Wars (3D strategy about medieval Scotland); attack! (platformer about cavemen for N64); and a port of the hit Epic Games shooter Unreal for Nintendo.

The GTA franchise has had a huge impact on culture and in many ways defined an entire era in the gaming industry. GTA is not just a series of video games that have been talked about incessantly for more than two decades. It's a real cultural phenomenon, thanks to which Rockstar and Take Two earn about five million dollars. in a day.

Only GTA V, five years after its release, is still on the lists of the best-selling games. In addition to the unique atmosphere inherent in the entire series, there is something especially attractive, addictive and memorable in its various plot twists, police chases, races and missions, thanks to which it remains the favorite game of millions of its fans.

Which GTA franchise is the best?

Interestingly, over the course of its existence, GTA games have come a long way in development and have undergone dramatic changes. And this is especially noticeable if you look at her incarnations, which were not included in our top 2-D.

Crucial to the franchise was one accidental glitch discovered during the development of Racen' Chase, which was conceived as a "family" arcade racing game in the vein of Micro Machines. Because of him, police cars began to ram other players. Thanks to this, the developers had an insight, which later became, probably, the most profitable in gaming history. It marked the beginning of GTA's signature anarchic gameplay.

Despite the fact that it is already, in fact, impossible to start playing from scratch GTA Online without endless tedious attempts to earn money over and over again through the same missions (or without microtransactions) and just have fun, this game is still a separate phenomenon in the gaming world.

GTA Online is a massive sandbox filled with communities, competitions, characters with different abilities and achievements. A huge number of people literally live in this world of a modernized San Andreas.

Online version of the game GRand Theft Auto V

Rockstar is constantly fueling interest in this brainchild with an insane amount of add-ons. Thanks to the efforts of the developers, GTA Online has evolved into something much more than you might expect from a game in this series, with many innovations such as land, water and air racing, race builders, story-driven heists and new buildings. There is more to this game than ever before, and thanks to the San Andreas we saw at the very beginning, it has become something that completely rethinks the concept of an role-playing game.

GTA Online is Rockstar's challenge to its previous single-player successes, and can rightly be considered one of the company's greatest achievements. This game is more than an experiment in open world and multiplayer mode, and it combines the best features of the entire franchise.

9 Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City

Undeservedly left unnoticed by the efforts of GTA IV, which was the first significant failure of the franchise, this game is a joint edition of massive additions "The Lost & Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony", including all the characters and atmosphere of the series, which were so lacking in base game.

Both of these episodes, released both separately and in this set, are more than worth your attention - especially if you did not pay attention to them because of the attitude towards GTA IV itself that developed at the time of their appearance.

Great additions to the game GTA IV, which will show you the game from a different angle

GTA IV is built around Niko Bellic's revenge story and speculations about how artificial the American Dream can be, and Lost & Damned is essentially Rockstar's Sons of Anarchy. The main character of the episode is Johnny Klebitz, a straightforward brutal biker with a heart of gold. He is the perfect GTA protagonist with his own deep history and unique character.

"The Ballad of Gay Tony" is essentially Rockstar's attempt to modernize Vice City. This episode doesn't have it all, from the new radio stations to the story, the lead player from the neon lights of the nightclubs to the top of the skyscrapers, and the character from the bottom to the top and back to the bottom again.

In general, these two episodes have everything that players loved in Vice City and San Andreas, but was missing from GTA IV, in particular, the lack of restrictions and caricature anarchy.

One of the most ingenious decisions Rockstar has ever made is bringing the legendary Liberty City to the PSP. And this is ingenious not only because the developers masterfully managed to fit a full-fledged game from the GTA series into the framework of a portable device, but also because in it they fixed many of their own mistakes and for the first time experimented with what was later used in the following games of the company .

The game has added motorcycles to the streets, improved controls and shooting, not to mention a whole more varied set of vehicles compared to Vice City and San Andreas.

One of the most ingenious decisions to release a game on the PSP

And most importantly, in this spin-off, Rockstar developers were able to experiment with the concepts of a possible future multiplayer mode in GTA. Players got the opportunity to fight five opponents to the death in Liberty City Survivor matches using any means available, smash opponents in street races, call bases and drive tanks - it was cool.

All this could only be done with PSP-owning friends, but be that as it may, this game was the first step towards the online modes of GTA IV and V, so it is worth paying tribute to it.

This game came out a year after the LCS, and for Vice City it did the same thing that the last one for GTA III: Vice City Stories is also familiar with Lance Vance's older brutal brother, Vic.

VCS received many fixes and improvements compared to its predecessors. In particular, Rockstar has definitely taken notice of the "why can't you swim?!" complaints coming from Liberty City Stories users. Control upgrades and new cars are certainly good, but the real gift was the ability to go into the water deeper than knee-deep and survive.

Updated version of the game with many fixes

Vice City Stories had a great original soundtrack, but it was the Empire Building mechanic that made it truly special. As in Turf Wars San Andreas, Vic will have to keep an eye on several buildings at once, which can be upgraded and filled with subordinate bandits, interacting with his gang, completing various missions and receiving bonuses such as clothing sets and improved weapons to manage everything even more efficiently. This game is the only example of how Rockstar has implemented such a mechanic in their game in such a thoughtful way.

After the add-ons for the game, which was built around mini-games and new mechanics, Chinatown Wars was Rockstar's second attempt to "make" GTA work on handheld devices. The first was GTA Advance, which was a pretty good reminder of how much time had passed since the 1997 original.

Chinatown Wars takes us back to Liberty City, but this time the player looks down on the world. It's full of The Warriors-inspired mini-games that bring gameplay to life in a whole new way.

The game that came out on handheld devices

Rockstar realized that "traditional GTA" in handheld format after Vice City, San Andreas and GTA IV just wouldn't work. And in the process of playing Chinatown Wars, the thought involuntarily arises that all of it is the result of the developers' attempt to answer the question of what GTA would be like if it were created by Nintendo.

Seriously, playing with many of its features, like creating Molotov cocktails, kicking down doors, collecting rifles, and cracking security codes, brings back Warioware.

Chinatown Wars is strikingly different from other games in the series, which has put off many would-be players. However, this game is an example of how the developers managed to more than successfully deviate from their standard formula.

As mentioned above, GTA IV represents Rockstar's attempt to spur the growth of its franchise by completely losing sight of what many of its fans are due to how over the top fun and out-of-the-box the 3-D trilogy was.

In GTA IV, much of that fun has been merged into the new tonality of brown and gray Liberty City. Niko Bellic was quite witty and quick-witted, but his comments and attitude towards a life of crime did not fit in with how the players wanted to play him.

The first game to feature gun shooting in detail

This is how the term “people-narrative dissonance” arose (this is when a certain type of approach to the game conflicts with the intended essence of the character). And for the most part, it was because of this that GTA IV did not become successful.

However, Rockstar's debut on the RAGE engine can not be called a complete failure, because there was still a lot of fun in it, and it was mainly related to physics (for example, driving with drifts). And in this game, perhaps the best shooting in the history of the franchise is embodied. Therefore, it is delightful in its own way, although it did not hit the target.

From the point of view of not hitting the target, GTA V is something completely opposite to GTA IV. As if in revenge of the previous part, this game came out with a much more crazy, playful tone, accompanied by chases and violence. Later, a first-person view was added to the game so that we could look at all this through the eyes of the characters.

In terms of gameplay, this part of the series has become the best. The ability to switch between the trinity of protagonists allowed players to take part in a huge variety of cases and crimes. The plot of this game is an attempt by Rockstar to bring their idea of ​​what GTA is as much as possible in line with the expectations of fans.

Atomic bomb among all GTA game series

At the time of the release of GTA V, the franchise has become a legend, surrounded by numerous laudatory reviews and an enthusiastic audience (many critics, by the way, even consider GTA IV a masterpiece, not a failure). And this meant that the next part of the series had to, so to speak, "please everyone."

Luckily, Rockstar got the job done, creating a real hit, devoid of the shortcomings of its predecessors, in particular GTA IV.

GTA III has become something of a long-awaited opportunity for some garage punk rock band to buy amplifiers powerful enough to make the trees in all the neighboring streets sway with their music. This game embodies the satirical spirit of GTA 1, 2 and London, but on a larger scale and at its best.

Of course, from a modern gamer's point of view, GTA III has serious flaws, including the lack of checkpoints in some of the strange missions. Nevertheless, even now it is interesting and enjoyable to play thanks to the beautifully crafted open world and many hidden details.

The first 3-D game from Rockstar

Many of us can draw a map of Liberty City from memory: every inch of this island is filled with emotions and a unique atmosphere created by midnight haze, long rains and flickering lanterns that illuminate the darkest moments of the game. All this is complemented by great characters and memorable episodes with their participation, hilarious jokes on the radio and perfectly thought out plot development, where each mission adds something to the overall picture.

Rockstar's success since GTA III was like splitting the atom and deciding which part of it is the best (or something like that, I'm not a scientist) - unbelievable. The company's games were breakthroughs in the right direction. At the same time, the development team was growing, retaining a youthful rebellious spirit, and was ready to bring a whole new twist to the GTA series.

In the case of San Andreas, Rockstar, compared to their previous creations, paid more attention to customization, allowing the player to choose the appearance and clothing options for the protagonist Carl Johnson. There were more weapons, vehicles and items than ever before, and the open game world grew to a size never seen before.

In addition, San Andreas has gone beyond urban landscapes: some missions take the player into the wild and forests, where, as an added bonus, you can find secret cars and truly enjoy the American Midwest.

The first game where attention was paid to customization

But all this diversity has a significant drawback: an absolutely ridiculous plot. Yes, it is interesting and memorable, but implausible. As the game progresses, Carl Johnson finds himself in the outskirts of the bandits, then on the mountain peaks, then in scientific laboratories, then in the casino.

From San Andreas it seems that when creating this game, the developers of Rockstar decided to somehow embody literally all the ideas that they had. And many, including the author of this article, liked the resultant completely insane plot. However, this game is still not the best in the Grand Theft Auto series...

You can break into a garage in Portland and drive away in a Banshee, jump off Mount Chiliad, take part in one of the most spectacular bank robberies, or fly a tiny airplane. It is possible, but all this was not even close to the heights that GTA: Vice City managed to achieve in every aspect.

This game knows exactly how and how much to taunt 1980s America. It consists of many brilliant characters, many of whom have become the faces of the entire franchise. It gives the player the ability to chase traitors with a chainsaw in their hands. Its soundtrack is one of the best in the history of video games, and the plot twists, like the sunny beach and the protagonist's shirt, literally eat into memory.

Fun, bright and enjoyable game from the creators of Rockstar

Rockstar, taking GTA to the brim with the riot-filled 1980s (one can hardly imagine a weirder time when bright colors, perms and leather pants were considered cool), made new game more extravagant and more popular than its predecessors.

Vice City is fun, bright, enjoyable in terms of gameplay and perfectly balanced in terms of missions and content. In general, it can rightfully be considered the best in the Grand Theft Auto series, at least so far.

Today it is difficult to imagine a player who has never played any game from the Grand Theft Auto series. She has a multi-million army of fans of different ages around the world. Total sales have already surpassed 125 million copies. This series is being criticized by politicians, lawsuits are being filed against its authors, but it continues to come out. GTA has come a long way from a 2D top-down action game to one of the most famous franchises of all time. Therefore, today, when the release of Grand Theft Auto V is just around the corner, and there seems to be no strength to wait, I suggest you plunge into nostalgia, or maybe learn something new about this wonderful series.

I draw your attention to the fact that, starting from the third part, there will also be fan modifications among the screenshots. On the PC, the series has formed a powerful community of modmakers, which is impossible to pass by. Screenshots with modifications tend to look better than the rest, or contain elements and brands of the real world.

Above you see art by Australian artist Patrick Brown, known for his work based on computer games. Grand Theft Auto is one of his favorite creative themes. Specifically, this art depicts the main characters from the games in the series.

Grand Theft Auto

• Developer: DMA Design
• Publisher: BMG Interactive

Platforms and release dates:

• MS-DOS and Windows: November 8, 1997
• PlayStation: December 14, 1997
• Game Boy Color: November 22, 1999

Could anyone at that time predict that in the future GTA become one of the most famous, popular and scandalous brands in the entire gaming industry? That its budgets and "box office" will compete with the loudest blockbusters in the world of cinema? Hardly. In fact, the first part bears little resemblance to its eminent descendants, and for its time it did not shine at all.

Grand Theft Auto is a 2D top-down arcade game. Many games at that time were already in 3D, so GTA was a dying genre. However, the game still managed to stand out and attract the attention of players. To understand why this happened, you need to understand one thing: the vast majority of games of that time were not ... violent. They were created with an eye on the fact that most potential players will be children. They certainly didn't feature teddy bears or pink ponies, but they didn't show any brutality against law-abiding taxpayers either. What can not be said about Grand Theft Auto.

GTA had a rare, for its time, age rating of 18+ and, to tell the truth, was a gangster simulator. That's right: under the guidance of the player turned out to be a deliberately bad character who was engaged in various criminal activities. First of all, this is theft of vehicles, for which the game got its name. As well as shootouts with other gangsters, police, and even attacks on ordinary passers-by on the street.

The second key feature of GTA is the freedom of movement around the city, which was even more unusual for games of that time. Here you could simply score on all tasks, steal a car and go wherever your eyes look. And during the missions, the city was also not locked: the player is free to choose the path to the goal. There were actually three cities: Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City, which are based on the real-life New York, San Francisco, and Miami, respectively. During the story, after collecting the required number of points, the player was transported to a new city.

The game begins with the choice of one of eight characters. Moreover, some of them are women, which is also not typical for subsequent games in the series. Despite all the scale, the levels in the game are still present. In order to move from one to another, you need to score a certain number of points. They are given for different actions - for the theft of wheelbarrows, for accidents, murders. But the main source is the obligatory story missions. In addition to them, you can also find a number of side missions, for example, rampage missions, during which you need to earn a certain number of points by killing people and blowing up cars using the issued weapons. Interestingly, the number of lives in GTA was limited: died several times - start again. It was impossible to save the game, just like in the old platformers.

The arsenal in GTA was not rich: a pistol, an assault rifle, a flamethrower and a grenade launcher. Yes, even a bulletproof vest that can withstand three hits. But with transport, things are much more fun: the game included cars, trucks, limousines, as well as motorcycles and the holy trinity - police cars, fire trucks and an ambulance.

Relations with the police in GTA have always been very interesting. As soon as you break the law, the cops immediately begin the pursuit. And the more you violate, the more aggressive they become. There are four levels of pursuit in total, the further you climb, the harder it is to survive and escape. To do this, you need to find a police badge, or repaint the car in a car repair shop. But if it was not possible to escape, the police will arrest you, take away all weapons and body armor, and the score multipliers you have earned.

The original game has been ported to Sony PlayStation and Game Boy Color. But the easiest way to get acquainted with it is by downloading it. free version from our site:

Or from the official site Rockstar:classic R* games. You will need to enter your age and email address, where you will receive a link to download the game.

Grand Theft Auto: London 1969

London 1969 is an add-on for the original Grand Theft Auto. In it, as you might guess, the action moves to London. What is surprising, without the usual antics, like changing the name of the city to a fictitious one (like New York and Liberty City, for example). The stylistics corresponded to the sixties of the XX century. In the game you can find a lot of references to the events of that time. For example, outwardly the main character looked like James Bond, the first film about which appeared just in the sixties. Traffic in London, by the way, as expected, was left-hand.

Grand Theft Auto: London 1961

There was also a third addition to the game - London 1961 of the year. It was free, but required the installation of London 1969, which in turn requires the original Grand Theft Auto.

Grand Theft Auto 2

• Developer: DMA Design
• Publisher: Rockstar Games

Platforms and release dates:

• Windows: September 30, 1999
• PlayStation: October 25, 1999
• Dreamcast: July 28, 2000
• Game Boy Color: November 10, 2000

The English version of the game can be downloaded for free from the site classic Rockstar games

Although the second part received a three-dimensional engine, it still had a top view, which delayed world recognition a little more. Nevertheless, progress in comparison with the first part inspires respect. DMA Design correctly understood what the players want from them: more violence and lawlessness! GTA 2 Came out brighter than the first one. It had a switch in the menu between day and night. She had more and more of everything. But first things first.

The main character of the game has already been determined in advance - his name is Claude Speed. It's hard to say, the same Claude, who later is the main character GTA III, and appears in GTA: San Andreas- His last name is not mentioned at all. But the events of GTA 2 take place many years after these games - in 2013. It's funny, because this is the year. Presumably, in 1999, for developers, it seemed like something far away, which may not be due to the predicted end of the world. Now Claude has to make his way to the top of the city's underworld." Everywhere» ( Anywhere City). Presumably, with this name, the developers tried to disown any connection with reality, or from the need to more accurately model the city.

"Anywhere" is traditionally divided into three parts: Downtown, Residential and Industrial areas. As before, the journey goes from one area to the next. To pass, you must first accumulate $1,000,000 in the first district, then $3,000,000 in the second, and $5,000,000 in the third, to end the game. There is a new way to spend money: going to church. You can find it by getting into the news service minivan with the antenna always pointing towards the church. The cost of the hike is $50,000, but it's worth it: there will be an exclamation of “Hallelujah! Another soul saved! - and the game will be saved! But if during a visit to the church Claude did not have the required amount, the curse followed “Damn! No offering, no salvation!

A key role in GTA 2 is played by gangs that have launched their tentacles into the metropolis: the Zaibatsu Corporation appears in all areas. In addition to her, the first area was inhabited by: Yakuza and Thugs. In the second district: Scientists SRS (Sex and Reproductive Systems) and Hillbillies. In the third area: Krishnaites and the Russian mafia.

Each of the gangs has its own characteristics: corporate colors, logo, cars and weapons. But most importantly, they have tasks for Claude, which can be obtained from a pay phone. As you can see, the developers did not even suspect that by 2013 this type of communication would practically die out. But in order to get a job from a gang, you need to be on good terms with it. In the corner of the screen is a reputation meter with three gangs in the current district of the city. If the counter went to the left, then the tasks of the gang became unavailable. When the player killed members of the gang, he worsened relations with her, but improved them with other gangs. At the same time, a gang with a bad attitude towards Claude had a more powerful weapon (friendly ones are always armed with pistols). Also, each gang had a boss, and at the end of the events in the city area, these bosses decided to remove Claude, but he did it first.

In addition to representatives of groups, two types of independent bandits also met on the streets: car thieves and thieves. They could act both against ordinary citizens and against representatives of gangs, and even against the player! You could simply be pulled out of the car and thrown on the pavement, or robbed at a rate of $ 10 per second.

Generally speaking, the AI ​​in the second part is seriously improved. Some drivers armed with pistols, and after the player steals the car, they may try to get it back. Skirmishes between gangs, police and civilians can occur in the city - without any participation from the player!

Vehicles have also been improved. Now their physical qualities differ: the game has learned to take into account their mass. Taxis and buses began to pick up passengers. Claude was also now able to earn extra money as a taxi driver and bus driver. But for some reason, motorcycles were removed from the second part.

Relations with the law became even more interesting. Firstly, there are now 6 levels of wanted. At each subsequent level, the authorities are taking increasingly harsh measures to capture or kill Claude. They chase him, set up barricades, SWAT arrives, government agents, and then the army joins in - jeeps, armored cars, and even tanks bring in! In order to get away from the police, as before - you need to find the star icon, or repaint the car in the workshop. But you can also get out of sight, then eventually the search will stop.

The arsenal of the second part has become an order of magnitude richer: a pistol, dual pistols, an uzi submachine gun, an uzi with a silencer, a shotgun, a flamethrower, an electric shock, a grenade launcher, grenades, a Molotov cocktail! You can get a new gun by picking it up from the ground, or by killing the owner. Also, what is quite surprising, weapons can be installed on the car! Including: uzi, mines, engine oil and a bomb that explodes with the car. Weapons can already be installed on some cars: a heavy machine gun on an army jeep and a stationary flamethrower (alas, only in one of the missions). Yes, and you can still find a tank in the game!

Grand Theft Auto III

• Developer: DMA Design
• Publisher: Rockstar Games
• Localizers: Buka (2002) / 1C-SoftKlab (reissue 2010)

• PC: May 20, 2002
• PlayStation 2: October 22, 2001
• Xbox: October 30, 2003
• iPhone: December 15, 2011
• Android: December 15, 2011

It's no exaggeration to say that GTA III has left its mark on history. Thanks to its three-dimensionality (I say this because "3D" - today, more associated with movies and red-blue glasses), it drew the attention of many more players than the previous parts. Not to mention, the game looks and plays much better this way. As a result, Grand Theft Auto III sold many, many millions of copies and gained a lot of fans. But the point is not only that. The game turned out to be so popular that it even formed its own genre, the representatives of which began to be called simply: “GTA clone”. For example, these are games and series such as: , , , , , , , and many dozens of others.

But not only this game is famous. And not even numerous Game of the Year awards, and an average rating in 97% out of 100 possible on the site Metacritic.com although it certainly had its effect. But much more interesting are the numerous scandals and public crusades against the game. She was accused of being too realistic cruelty, that it negatively affects the minds of children and even adults. In it, you can kill policemen and civilians, and also, which greatly outraged the public, you could shoot a prostitute who got into a car and, in fact, did her job. Allegedly, after playing GTA III, someone might try to repeat what they saw in real life. Some horrific incidents in the US have been attributed to violent games, and Grand Theft Auto in particular. Politicians talked about this, although scientists have not been able to prove any effect of cruel games on the human mind. What about the trial Jack Thompson I haven’t heard against Rockstar, probably only lazy. Needless to say, that all this played the game in favor? It's so interesting to see for yourself, but why so much noise? And most of the players were probably satisfied.

The popularity of GTA III, as well as the ease of decompressing files, has led to the creation of one of the most powerful modding communities in history. Everything was changed: models, textures, scripts. The number of new machines, including well-known real models, is many hundreds. Buildings, trees, models of passers-by and other little things were also changed. There were many global modifications, for example, bringing winter to Liberty City, or turning the game into a movie " Matrix", or the game "". And, of course, one cannot forget about Multi Theft Auto- multiplayer, which appeared in the game only thanks to the fans!

The main character of GTA III is a silent guy who does not say a word throughout the game. Why, we didn’t even know his name - everyone just calls him “guy”. True, looking ahead, the guy also appeared in gta san andreas, where did you meet Catalina in illegal races. And there Catalina calls him Claude. Not Claude Speed what was the name of the hero GTA 2, simply Claude. There is no good reason to believe that this is one and the same person, although there are no facts denying such a possibility either.

Grand Theft Auto III takes place in a city Liberty City based in New York. Let me remind you that he was also the first city in the first part of the series. Traditionally, the "City of Freedom" is divided into three areas: the islands of Portland and Stanton, as well as part of the mainland Coastal Valley. Initially, only the first of them is available - Portland. Later, in the course of the story (and not after collecting the required number of points, as before), two more districts open one after the other. Moreover, the forced relocation to the next district of the city did not close access to the previous one, as it was before. You can move between them by autotunnels, suspension bridges and even by metro. In each of the districts there is one apartment, upon entering which you can save your progress for free and indefinitely. The nearest one is always shown on the radar. Unlike previous games in the series, GTA III has a dynamic change in the time of day, as well as weather conditions. Interestingly, one day here is equal to 24 minutes.

Portland is mostly poor class, and the main attractions are: a small park, a port (hence the name), Chinatown and a small mansion on a hilltop, and only in Portland there is a railroad over the city with several stations. Roughly in the middle of Stanton, there is a business center, many skyscrapers, a stadium, a large construction site for the Stanton Plaza building, and a small marina. The "Coastal Valley" is dominated by private mansions, there is a dam, and most importantly - "Francis International Airport", in which you can find the only aircraft in the game that can be used. By the way, so that the players do not try to repeat the incident " 11 September”, the wings of the Dodo were shortened, which made it very difficult to control. Well, who cares?..

In fact, due to a tragedy that happened just before the game's release, its release was delayed by three weeks, due to the need to change some game moments in order to reduce the similarity between Liberty City and New York. For example, the white and blue colors of police cars were replaced with black and white. Also, children, school buses, female taxi drivers have disappeared from the game. Gone was a character named Darkel, who issued insane tasks that looked like terrorist attacks. The last reminder of him are four bums in the Portland tunnel, "guarding" the Molotov Cocktail. However, it is impossible to say for sure whether all the changes have been made in the last three weeks, the fact is that some of the content of the beta version has been cut. And it's hard to blame the developers for that.

GTA III begins with the fact that the same Catalina, who was with Claude for about 9 years (the events of San Andreas - 1992, GTA III - 2001), unexpectedly betrays him during a bank robbery, shoots him, and leaves with a Colombian named Miguel. So our guy ends up behind bars. He shines for ten years, but while being transported to prison, unknown persons attack a police convoy in order to free one of their own. At the same time, they at the same time free Claude and his fellow traveler with bandaged hands, and then the Callahan Bridge, where all this action took place, suddenly explodes, taking the raiders with it. So only Claude and the guy named Bald(in original - 8 Ball- eighth, black, ball in the pool). Together they leave the bridge and stop at Eddie's garage to change their prison clothes and sit out. After that, Claude, on the recommendation of Bald, goes to work for the Italian mafia. And then - a long road in the footsteps of Catalina.

At first, Claude is not very trusted, and is forced to do the most dirty and petty work, such as delivering prostitutes and stealing cars. But then, when he catches the eye of people occupying a higher position, he gradually acquires authority and receives the attention of the don himself. Salvatore Leone. However, as you know, being too close to the authorities is not only beneficial, but also dangerous. Claude will have to experience this rule in his own skin. Later, he will have to work for many very strange characters, such as a torture lover and a man who hides from the FBI in a public toilet. The whole thing is demonstrated through small cutscenes at the beginning and end of the mission. They don't start in a phone booth, by the way. Instead, Claude needs to come to the point marked on the radar (by the way, he first appeared in the third part), marked with a large red circle.

Although the "telephone missions" also remained in the game. Through them, Claude is called by representatives of the gangs and offered a job that is not related to the plot. There are three such phones in total, and at the end of the tasks of each of them, Claude will quarrel with one of the gangs, whose representatives will now always be aggressive. Also in the presence of the task "Rage", in which it is proposed to exterminate the bandits, or cars, from the proposed weapons. And if you sit in a van with the inscription "Serious toys" - the task began with the use of small radio-controlled cars filled with explosives, with which you need to undermine gang cars. And in several cars it is proposed to overcome uneven terrain, collecting checkpoints. It's a risky business, because Claude can fall into the sea, and by the way, he can't swim. There are 20 trampolines around the city, on which it is proposed to make "unique jumps" - when time slows down, and the jump is shown from a cinematographic camera. In the last area of ​​the city, you can find a garage into which you want to drive certain types of cars. As a reward, money is given (the more intact the car, the more), as well as the opportunity to order any of the previously stolen cars here. Well, of course, it remains to remember the "professional" missions - they can be activated by getting into a taxi, ambulance (now it's clear how they recruit drivers without a license), fire and police. The last of them, "vigilante", can also be completed on some other vehicles, for example, on army ones, and even on a tank!

If you think that GTA is played for the sake of completing some tasks, then you are mistaken. home distinguishing feature of this game - in a living city. Here, passers-by walk the streets, cars drive along the roads, bandits shoot at each other, the police patrol the city. And they all follow the rules of the road: do not exceed the speed limit, stop at intersections. This idyll can last forever. Until someone, namely the player, decides to intervene. One shot is enough (if you just walk along the street with a Kalash at the ready - this does not bother anyone) to start a chain reaction: passers-by raise a shout and rush away, armed bandits may start shooting back, and the police are trying to arrest the violator. But after all, the player does not stop there: you can shoot at the fleeing civilians, killing them and shooting off the limbs, from which blood is gushing like a fountain. Grand Theft Auto III is called a brutal game for a reason. An ambulance immediately arrives at the scene, and doctors try to resurrect the victims. If successful, they can get back on their feet and immediately try to take revenge by attacking Claude! But if the doctors do not have time (they are also mortals), then the bodies on the ground disappear, and chalk markings appear in their place, as if the police had visited the crime scene and taken the body.

But such crimes do not go unpunished. The police are ready to decisively attack the criminal, calling for help as necessary. There are 6 wanted levels in total: at the beginning it is only the police itself, from the third level a helicopter is added to help them, then special forces, the FBI and the US Army with soldiers and tanks. To lower the wanted level, you can hide from view, find the star icon, or repaint the car. However, the battle with the forces of law and order in itself can be very interesting! Cops can be killed, cars can be blown up, helicopters can be shot down, and tanks can be destroyed with a grenade launcher. And how long will you stay alive at the sixth level of the wanted list? I must say that instead of death, Claude ended up in the hospital, where they took away all his weapons and some money for treatment. And when arrested - similarly, adjusted for the police station and a bribe. There was no mention of an end to the game. And then, after all, no one forbids just downloading the game so as not to look for all these weapons again.

There were 50 cars in the game, as well as 3 boats and 1 Dodo plane. The most famous GTA III Easter egg is connected with the latter: the fact is that you can fly to the Dodo on the “ghost island” - the area with the bank from the opening video. Unfortunately, there were no motorcycles at all. But the cars, to be honest, were enough. Among them are family clunkers, simple coupes, pickups, minibuses, buses, trucks, limousines, sports cars and so on. All of them are fictional. The physical model is far from perfect, even by the standards of that time. The damage is only visual and does not affect driving performance. When the hit points run out, the machine lights up and explodes. The same happens after the coup on the roof.

The weapons in the third part were the following: own fists, a baseball bat (you can always find it near the save house), a pistol, an uzi, a shotgun, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an M16, a sniper rifle, an RPG-7, a flamethrower, a lemon grenade, a Molotov cocktail and detonator for a car bomb. All these weapons can be carried around with you, and the ammo cap is set to 9999. You could also find armor that gave the character an additional 100 points of damage, which he sustained until he turned off. All this goodness can be found on the street, bought in stores or received for free - if you collect hidden packages. For every ten packages found, a new weapon appears near each of Claude's apartments. There are a hundred packages in total, and to collect them it is better to use a map that can be easily found on the Internet.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

• Developer: Rockstar North
• Publisher: Rockstar Games
• Localizer: 1C-SoftKlab (2009)

Platforms and release dates:

• PC: May 09, 2003
• PlayStation 2: October 28, 2002
• Xbox: October 31, 2003
• iPhone: December 06, 2012
• Android: December 06, 2012

If you remember vice city- also called the second city from the first part Grand Theft Auto. The game starts with a splash screen stylized as a computer command line Commodore 64. And soon after the launch, you realize that you are in the past - in Miami 1986. In the game, however, the city is called by a fictitious name - Vice City, but there can be no doubt about which city served as a model. vice city is strikingly different from Liberty City: it is slightly larger and divided into only two districts, and much more colorful. Half-naked girls walk the streets, palm trees sway in the wind, yachts stand on the pier, the rich play golf, and the main character, Tommy Vercetti, judging by the clothes, just went on vacation. Everything here is saturated with the "eighties": music and conversations on radio stations, cars on the streets, clothes on random passers-by.

It is tacitly believed that the main inspiration for the creators of the game was the movie " Face with a scar» ( scarface). So, on the radio that you can listen to in the car, you can hear the songs from this film. In it, too, the action took place in Miami. On the airship in the sky you can see the slogan of the film: The World is yours. After acquiring a strip club, Tommy can wear the costume of the main character of the film - Tony Montana. The Malibu club is a copy of the Babylon club, Diaz's estate is very similar to the estate of Tony Montana, and the office is a copy of it, and the drug lord himself Ricardo Diaz, in its impulsive nature, it resembles the protagonist of the film. Needless to say, the final mission is reminiscent of the Scarface ending?

The basic mechanics have not changed much over the year, but the authors have focused on expanding the player's capabilities. So, it is now possible to buy real estate. Part of it is designed to create additional save points, and the other makes a profit. In the second half of the game, the player is tasked with acquiring especially important businesses: a taxi company, an ice cream factory (a cover for drug dealers), a Malibu club, a car dealership, and even a porn studio. There are also given assignments related to production and distribution matters. So that the player does not get lost in this huge city, in addition to the radar, a full-fledged map has finally been built into the game.

Unlike Claude, Tommy is not averse to changing his wardrobe from time to time, although the standard "Hawaiian" with jeans suits him very well. Many costumes become available after certain missions. Dressing up also reduces the police wanted rate.

Perhaps not the most important, but still quite an interesting innovation can be considered a change in the hotel room where Tommy is staying. After some story missions, he brings a "trophy" into the room - for example, a mask after robbing a bank. And, of course, you can find "infinite" weapons here - which still appear as you find hidden things - this time figurines, inside which drugs were transported. And for completing the game by 100%, a T-shirt appears in the issue with the inscription "I completed GTA by 100%, and all I got was this idiotic T-shirt."

Weapons have also been seriously reworked. First, it has now become much larger. In this regard, not everything can be carried with you - weapons are divided into several types: brass knuckles (instead of fists), close combat (bat, knife, chainsaw, as well as an assortment of tool stores) pistols (9mm pistol and revolver), shotguns and guns (shotgun, shotgun, automatic shotgun), machine guns (M4, Ingram, Tes 9, Kruger, MP5), as well as heavy weapons (M60, Sniper rifle, PSG-1. Gatling, Flamethrower, Grenade launcher). Taking another weapon from the same cell - threw out the old weapon from it.

In addition to hundreds of car models, Weiss has six types of motorcycles, seven aircraft (mainly helicopters) and five boats. Tommy, like Claude, cannot swim, but he flies perfectly. I must say that the transport has become more similar to its real prototypes.

Most of the side quests migrated from the previous parts. First of all, these are “professional” missions in city service vehicles. To them was added the task of delivering pizza, an insane duration - more than an hour. You can also steal cars according to the list, now he is in a car dealership. Fury missions have not changed. There are only more races, as well as various tasks with overcoming obstacles. The game even has a stadium where stunt competitions take place. To earn extra money, it was possible to rob the cashiers of stores, after which it was necessary to hide from the police, since a siren worked in the store. Instead of exploding toy cars, helicopters and planes, as well as "neutralized" racing cars, are now in vogue. Racing them is still fun. Back in the day, many players struggled through a story-driven mission in which they had to plant explosives using small but deadly radio-controlled helicopters inside a building under construction.

There are more modifications to Vice City than to GTA III. It's also a myriad of new vehicles, clothing, weapons, buildings, and even locations. Perhaps the most famous is deluxe- it contains a replacement for all (!!!) vehicles in the game, with real highly detailed models. Among them: Mercedes SLR Cabrio, Aston Martin Vantage, BMW X5, Audi RS6, Ferrari 360 Modena, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII, Subaru WRX STI, Nissan Skyline and others! Also, the new transport was given new physical characteristics. In addition, Deluxe redraws many of the buildings in the city. And what's more: it adds several new areas, including moto-parks for stunts. And finally, it produces over a hundred small changes. Naturally, the game will not be very comfortable to play. But for free play (which, in my opinion, is the most important thing in the Grand Theft Auto series) - just what you need!

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

• Developer: Rockstar North
• Publisher: Rockstar Games
• Publisher in Russia: 1C-SoftKlab

Platforms and release dates:

• PC: June 07, 2005
• PlayStation 2: October 26, 2004
• PlayStation 3: December 11, 2012
• Xbox: June 07, 2005

Not so long ago, the founder of the studio Rockstar Dan Houser, said: "the best games of a generation come out at sunset, not at dawn" - commenting on the fact that Grand Theft Auto V will be released on consoles Xbox 360 and PS3, just before the release of a new generation of consoles. These words have a weighty argument, in the form - so far the largest and most scandalous game in the series, released at sunset PlayStation 2.

The Russian version appeared quite recently - only in February 2010, almost five years after the release of the game. Traditionally, only subtitles were translated. However, fans have already managed to translate the game very well on their own. True, this does not apply to the very first machine translation, which produced phrases like “spent”, “cackling rooster is not ready yet”, “signs thrown out”, etc.

The game attracted a big public scandal: among the resources of the game, an erotic mini-game cut from it was found. Cut out so badly that folk craftsmen instantly returned it to working capacity - just throw a few files into a folder and press the launch combination in the game, after which you can go on a date with one of the girls. After a successful date, the girl could invite CJ"for a cup of hot coffee" (for which this episode received the name hot coffee). Without modification - the girl's house will simply be shown, from which unambiguous sounds are heard, while the camera staggers in different directions. With the modification, everything is much cooler: we can watch an erotic scene inside the house. During it, the girl completely undresses (although Carl for some reason remains in clothes), after which a mini-game begins with quick and frequent keystrokes, the purpose of which is to satisfy the girl. The result, by the way, influenced the final result of the meeting.

After the discovery of content on discs with the game, a big scandal erupted, because the game was sold with an age rating Mature in the USA (17+), which does not provide for such explicit scenes. The rating of the game quickly changed to adults only(18+, that is, you just had to wait a year ...), under which many stores were forced to move the game to the pornography section, or even return all copies to the publisher. Later, a new edition was released with the same Mature rating, which no longer contained controversial content. For the PC version, along with patch 1.1, which contains some fixes for game bugs, the functionality of the Hot Coffee modification was also disabled, due to which the patch is also known as "No More Hot Coffee".

Rockstar explained this content only as an experiment of its employees, which it was decided to abandon in favor of a lower age rating. In fairness, it should be noted that without the intervention of hackers in the archives of the game, this content would never have become available to the player. To activate it, you need to download a modification called Hot Coffee from the Internet and drop the files into the game folder. But, is the process very different from installing numerous erotic modifications for many other games? In both cases, the user was aware of what exactly he was installing and what changes would occur in the game.

A new scandal was soon added to the Hot Coffee scandal: in 2006, a well-known prosecutor and lawyer Jack Thompson, who opposes violence in games, drew attention to the GTA. He accused the game of instigating violence in reality, encouraging people to take weapons and leave the house with them. Similar episodes really were, and are still happening in the United States, but Jack Thompson was seriously convinced that the games were to blame for everything. He repeatedly demanded to ban the sale of the Grand Theft Auto series. However, already in 2008, the Florida Supreme Court revoked Thompson's attorney's license for misrepresenting facts, insulting, including a judge, after yet another dismissal of his lawsuit. This ended Jack Thompson's public career.

How did all this affect GTA: San Andreas and Rockstar? Oh, they have earned a unique reputation. And although the legal costs clearly cost the publisher dearly, their game received incomparable PR. Many bought the game simply to see for themselves what is so cruel and terrible in it. If you believe Kotaku, then according to information as of September 2011, the game was sold in a total circulation of 27.5 million copies. Perhaps comments are unnecessary.

GTA: San Andreas takes place in 1992 in a fictional state San Andreas. Presumably, it is named after the eponymous fault in the earth's crust in the state of California. If you thought that San Andreas, like the third city in the very first part of Grand Theft Auto, is based on San Francisco, then you are somewhat mistaken. The fact is that the game no longer has one city, but three: Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas. Moreover, in addition to each of them, there is also a rural area (in the case of Las Vernturas - desert), which for the most part in the game are used as tracks for illegal races. Thus, the total area of ​​the game world of San Andreas is five times larger than in GTA III and at four than at GTA: Vice City. The cities and the surrounding area are separated from each other by a wide river, across which many bridges have been built. The railway runs between all three cities, where it has several stations. You can also quickly move between cities using airports.

Los Santos is based on Los Angeles. It has a lot of areas that are completely different from each other. It's full of references to the real Los Angeles. What are the walk of fame and the huge inscription " Vinewood» on a hill, behind which is also the district of the same name, consisting of rich celebrity villas. But there is also a dysfunctional ghetto, where dysfunctional families live, many of whom have been forced to steal since childhood in order to survive. Los Santos is torn apart by the confrontation of gangs consisting of blacks and Mexicans. In the business center of the city there are many skyscrapers, from the highest of which you can jump with a parachute. The stadium hosts miniature races in Nascar cars. The countryside around Los Santos is not very remarkable. Just farms, a factory, and a few small villages.

San Fierro is the name of the city based on San Francisco. Most of all, it is interesting for its hills - it’s very cool on them, you can jump from top to bottom in a fast car or on a motorcycle, but you can climb for quite a long time. It also has its own tram system. The tram cannot be destroyed or slowed down. There is a ship at the docks that buys stolen cars according to lists. San Fierro is the automotive capital of the state. There is an extreme driving school here, after which CJ is invited to take part in illegal races. As for the legal ones, a derby is held here at the stadium. The city is run by triad families, as well as pimps and thugs who have ties to the gangs of Los Santos. The countryside is interesting except for the presence of a real mountain - Chiliad, from the top of which the most difficult championship is held - the descent on mountain bikes.

Las Venturas, as you might guess from the name, is a local Las Vegas. The main and only attraction, like the famous prototype, is a very long main street, occupied by casinos and hotels. In the casino, by the way, you can play some games of chance, winning or losing up to a million dollars at a time. These same casinos are run by three families of the Italian mafia, Leone, Forelli and Sindacco, as well as triads familiar from San Fierro. There is also a stadium where two disciplines are held at once, depending on the day of the week: motocross and extreme motorcycle stunts. Not far from the city there is a huge mining quarry where you can earn some money on a dump truck (relevant if you just lost a couple of millions in a casino). But the most interesting begins further, in the hot desert. There is an abandoned airport turned into an airplane graveyard, a highly classified military base "Area 69" and a huge hydroelectric dam.

The main character in GTA: San Andreas is Carl Johnson, or just CJ ( CJ). He is black and grew up in a dysfunctional family in the Los Santos ghetto. The game starts with CJ flying in from Liberty City, where he lived for the last five years, for his mother's funeral. Upon arrival, he is immediately attacked by corrupt cops, accused of killing an officer (which they committed themselves) and thrown on the street by a hostile gang. Late for the funeral, Carl, however, finds his brother Sweet and sister Kendl in the cemetery, as well as acquaintances from childhood Ryder and Big Smoke. From them, he learns about the plight of the Grove Street gang, after which he decides to stay to help set things right. Further, several shocks await him, an escape from his hometown to the rural wilderness, and further through all three cities of San Andreas.

The plot may not have enough stars from the sky, but how else could it be possible to pull so many unique and dissimilar characters onto the stage! There is an old hippie here who sees government conspiracies everywhere, as well as a government agent who knows about so many things and has impressive connections. There is a strict boss of the Chinese triad, two black warring rappers, a 27-year-old genius who is afraid to leave the house, creates very dangerous toys, a casino croupier who changes his formal suit for latex at night ... you can go on and on.

Also in the game there are a lot of references to the previous parts of the series. In fact, GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas are often referred to as a trilogy as they take place in the same universe and their events often overlap. So, hot Mexican Catalina meets Carl for the sake of committing a couple of robberies, after which she leaves him for an illegal racer Claude who takes her to Liberty City. How this novel ended, we know from GTA III. One of the owners of the casino in Las Venturas will also go to the "City of Freedom" in the future, his name is Salvatore Leone, and in front of CJ at the Caligula casino, he meets a waitress Maria Latore, to whom he is married during GTA III. Salvatore also gives CJ a short visit to Liberty City at Marco's Bistro. And straight from vice city Lawyer arrives in Las Venturas Ken Rosenberg and record producer Kent Paul. And that's not all references.

For the first time since GTA 2, the ability to interact with the gang returned to the series. Los Santos is divided into four major cities: Groove Street"(this is a gang of CJ and his family)," Varrio Los Aztecas" (friendly), " Ballas" and " Los Santos Vagos". With the last two, the war is just ahead: Los Santos is divided into sectors, the colors of which are marked on the map depending on the gang that owns them. The ultimate goal is to completely "green" the entire map. You will have to start with a small piece, including the streets around CJ's home. To win at least one new piece, you need to unleash a war with the gang on it: kill several of its members, and then withstand three attacks from this gang, one more powerful than the other.

You can take a few comrades from the Grove Street gang to help you - the higher the authority (increased by capturing territories), the more fighters you can take. They can also climb into the car with Carl, or sit in the back seat of the motorcycle. After capturing the territory, members of the Grove Street gang begin to patrol it. It will also be possible to take the profits received from the held areas near the house of Karl. But not everything is so simple: enemy gangs often try to recapture their territories - you need to go and suppress the rebellion, otherwise the territory will be lost. But, when the whole map turns green, the riots will immediately end, and there will be no more Ballas and Vagos in Los Santos.

Interestingly, striptease clubs appeared in the game, which Carl can visit, and where he can even order a private erotic dance. Prostitutes, who can be "removed" while in the car, no one cancels either.

But what's even more interesting is that Carl can now have girlfriends. They are found both in cities and in rural areas. Two of them are found during the storyline, but the rest you need to look for on your own. Naturally, none of them suspects the existence of the others. The benefits of good relationships with girls can be obtained even without the modification of Hot Coffee. So, a girl from San Fierro has connections in a medical facility, thanks to which Karl will no longer be deprived of weapons if he goes to the hospital. The same goes for a girl from a desert village near Las Venturas who has similar connections with the police. In addition, each of the girls can allow Carl to take her car, and can also give a unique costume. CJ looks great in a police suit, next to the corrupt cops Tenpenny and Pulaski, and in a rustic suit only on a tractor and ride.

But in order to get these bonuses, you have to work hard. Each girl requires personal attention: you need to go on dates with her (for example, to a bar, restaurant, eatery, or a nightclub where you have to complete a mini-game with dancing), give gifts and drive expensive cars at a certain speed. All girls have different tastes and customs.

There are a lot more side quests than before, even though Fury missions have been lost. But the "professional" tasks have not gone away: ambulance, taxi, police, and firefighters are still waiting for their hero. They were also joined by pimps (delivering prostitutes to clients, as well as their protection) and even drivers of local trains (they can be stolen!). In addition, you can earn extra money as a burglar, truck driver, courier, valet parking attendant, mining truck driver, and motorbike racer at stadiums. There are also amazing activities such as triathlon (swimming, cycling and running), jumping on a powerful motorcycle at the docks and a BMX bike at a construction site, and mountain biking down Mount Chilliad. Plus to all this - several dozen racing tracks, including flights on various aircraft.

The game also added in the number of mini-games. So, going to the bar, you can play billiards for money. There are several ancient video games that can be played on the slot machine, or the home console in CJ's house. Entering the basketball court, you can take the ball in your hands and try to set a record of hits from different points on the court. You can dance in the clubs, and some cars can be equipped with hydraulic suspension, after which you can participate in low rider competitions.

Gambling can be mentioned in a separate line. Already in Los Santos, you can find machines that accept bets on horse races. But the most interesting thing awaits Carl at the Las Venturas casino. Here you can play roulette, blackjack, poker, wheel of fortune and numerous "one-armed bandits". In the beginning, Carl is not allowed to play at the big stakes tables. First, you need to win or lose a lot of money, thereby gaining a reputation, after which it will be possible to bet millions. Of course, the risk of losing is very high, but no one has canceled the ability to load saves until fortune smiles on you.

It is worth noting that CJ knows much more than the heroes of previous games. Much was borrowed from the previous Rockstar game - (in San Andreas, by the way, there is one location from this game). The crosshair no longer hangs permanently in the center of the screen - it only appears when holding right button mice. Karl knows how to covertly move crouching, and sneaking up behind with a knife, he can kill the enemy by cutting his throat. Can jump and climb over obstacles, such as numerous fences. Carl can learn one of three types of martial arts from the masters in the gyms. He is also not afraid to fly on a jetpack, skydive, and even ... knows how to swim and dive!

Carl can expand his wardrobe by shopping at San Andreas's many clothing stores. Purchased clothes are immediately duplicated in the closets of all (well, almost) houses that can be purchased in the game. What is even more interesting: not costumes are bought, but individual elements: tops, bottoms, shoes, hats, glasses, watches and chains. They can be worn in any order, making Carl look like a clown, a cowboy, or a gentleman, for example. Or completely ridiculous - in panties with hearts, cowboy boots, a hockey mask and a chainsaw in his hands ...

There are two other ways to make your CJ unique (or just mock) - a trip to the hairdresser, where for a modest fee you can choose one of the many hairstyles, and also - a tattoo parlor, where you can cover most of Carl's body with different tattoos.

Well, once the houses were mentioned. CJ prefers to buy residential buildings for himself, personally for himself. Both luxury and cheap village apartments. All of them can be saved. Yes, during the course of the story, you can still get housing. But it is also very desirable to buy a new one: it is convenient, because the game world has grown a lot, and dragging through the whole city to a single save point is long and often dangerous.

Perhaps one of the most surprising innovations in GTA: San Andreas was the parameters of the protagonist. CJ has the following stats: Fat, Stamina, Respect, Lung Capacity, Appearance, Muscle, Driving Skills, Pilot Skills, Motorcycling Skills, Cycling Skills, and Gambling Experience and Weapon Shooting Skills!

If suddenly you imagined scattering skill points when leveling up, as in some role play then forget it right now. To build muscle and become more enduring, you need to go to the gym and do exercises that consist of pressing one or more keys very often. At this time, Carl is on the screen lifting dumbbells, or riding an exercise bike, losing fat. So that the fat does not end (it will pull the health indicator along with it), you need to go to the eatery and gorge yourself on junk food. This is done for a long time and tediously, but the results are visible: Karl becomes muscular. And if you only get drunk, then he will become fat, like Big Smoke. With other parameters by analogy. Part of the side quests gave bonuses to performance: the ambulance mission increased health, the burglar - endless running, and to improve driving skills, you need to visit special schools.

CJ's arsenal is almost the same as in GTA: Vice City. However, explosives now include things like a gas grenade and a C4 with a remote detonator. Some useful things appeared: a fire extinguisher, a spray can of paint and a film camera. In connection with the appearance of girls, gifts can be found for them: a bouquet of flowers, a cane, a dildo and a vibrator. For fun, they can be used in combat. And the last thing: a night vision device with a thermal imager, as well as a parachute (disposable).

As mentioned earlier, there is a separate skill scale for each type of firearm. The higher the skill, the more accurate the weapon shoots, and at the maximum level of one-handed barrels (9mm pistols, sawn-off shotguns, micro-ultrasounds and TES-9) - they can be taken one in each hand! The fastest way to improve your skills is in the shooting range, in the network of traditional Ammu-Nation weapons stores.

Instead of the usual hundred hidden items, San Andreas had many unique collectibles. So, in Los Santos, it is proposed to paint over 100 graffiti of enemy gangs, for which four types of weapons appear in CJ's house. In San Fierro, there are 50 photo angles - icons that are only visible through the camera lens, and four weapons appear behind them near the garage workshop in Doherty. In Las Venturas, 50 lucky horseshoes were scattered, for which four types of weapons appear near the Four Dragons casino, and luck in gambling also increases. Also scattered throughout the state were 50 shells (you need to dive for them, and the reward is an increase in lung capacity and attractiveness) and 70 unique jumps that pay money.

If it suddenly seemed to you that in the previous games in the series there were too few vehicles, then this cannot be said for sure about San Andreas. And it's not even about the banal addition of new cars and motorcycles, although the game is fine with this. The main thing is that there are whole new categories: two bicycles, many planes (including a huge passenger liner, a smaller passenger plane, a corncob, an airplane and a military fighter armed with homing missiles), trailers with trailers that detach and attach, a tow truck with a controlled crane, harvester, ATV, kart and even a train, even if you can ride it only on rails. And there is a wonderful thing called jetpack. Wearing it, you can fly, and even shoot, aiming as if you were outside the transport. To give you an idea, there are a total of about two hundred vehicles in San Andreas!

All transport is conditionally divided into the following categories: cars, motorcycles, bicycles and aircraft. Each category has a separate skill. The more you ride, the better Carl gets at it. This is most noticeable on bicycles, and in the case of cars and motorcycles, high skill is the key to entering stadiums. True, there is another category - swimming facilities, but there is no skill for them.

Starting from San Fierro, it will be possible to find special schools for extreme control of cars, boats, motorcycles and aviation. Performing tasks in them, CJ improves his skills. In each school you can get medals: bronze, silver and gold. If there is at least one bronze among them, then there will always be one wreck near the school. If there is no bronze, but there is silver, then something better will be added to the wreck. And for gold - you can get really cool transport. So, for gold in the driving school, you can get the only game copy " Hotknife", based on Ford Model A(1920-30s), of which there are only a few units left in the real world. And in the flight school you can get at your disposal a military helicopter.

In addition to the usual painting station, you can visit the workshop, where most cars can be "pumped" to the fullest. Body parts, rims, spoilers can be replaced, convertibles can be fitted with a roof, hydraulic suspension is installed on some cars, nitro acceleration can be installed, a separate color for interior and exterior painting, and even a vinyl pattern can be selected!

Carl's relationship with the police differs little from his "colleagues" from previous games. Unless now, to get rid of the chase, it is not necessary to look for stars - you can hide from sight, and then they will quickly go out on their own. Also, cops no longer use spiked tapes. But, generally speaking, thanks to the scale and expanses of San Andreas, the war with the forces of law and order here is sharp and interesting like nowhere else!

If there were just a lot of modifications to the previous games in the series, then to San Andreas - there are simply insanely many of them! More than a few thousand. And they are still out! Among them there are not only numerous replacements for cars, textures of everything and everything, but even new locations with their own stories! Of course, the vast majority of them are of very low quality, but still. There are many mods for other games and universes, such as numerous lightsabers. And the most interesting and original, in the opinion of the author, are modifications containing Russian content - Soviet and Russian cars, clothes, and so on.

In a separate line, I would like to mention a well-known addition called ENBSeries. This is a graphical improvement that adds many new graphical effects to the game, such as shaders version 3.0 (only version 2.0 is used in the game) and many others.

Nevertheless, the main achievement of craftsmen can be safely called modifications that add multiplayer modes to the game. The most famous of them: Multi Theft Auto and San Andreas Multiplayer, which are also used in website (gta.ru) and support up to hundreds (!!!) players at the same time! Fortunately, the scale of San Andreas allows this.

In the desert near Las Venturas, near a row of huge satellite dishes, not far from Site 69, you can find the eatery "Lil Prob's". Next to her, a flying saucer is spinning on a pillar, hinting at the contents of the tavern. Inside, the walls are adorned with numerous photographs of UFOs, and in the back room is a UFO-detection apparatus, as well as a map of San Andreas with points marked on it.

Presumably, from something like this, the idea was born that in GTA: San Andreas there really must be a UFO somewhere! Or something otherworldly, like Bigfoot and Nessie. Many players just started to make up stories about seeing this or that strange event in the game, forcing other players to spend time checking these ridiculous legends. But take my word for it: there are NO UFOs in San Andreas! It's all just fiction. Yes, and there is no “Zone 69” either, and there cannot be. This is true, otherwise the government would not hide such information from its taxpayers.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

• Developer: Digital Eclipse
• Publisher: Rockstar Games

• Platform and release date: Game Boy Advance: October 25, 2004

The action takes place in Liberty City from GTA III, with minor changes such as the absence of ramps, tunnels and subways. That's because the game was two-dimensional, with a top view, like GTA and GTA 2. Well, what did you expect from the Game Boy Advance? However, the game should be interesting for fans of the third part. The action in GTA Advance takes place a year before GTA III. Among the characters there are old acquaintances, "The Eighth Ball" and King Courtney, as well as the previously poorly disclosed Yardy gangs and the Colombian Cartel, and others. You will play as petty criminal Mike, who, with his friend Vinnie, was trying to earn money to get out of Liberty City. The last thing was to be working for the mafia Salvatore Lyon, but Vinnie was killed, and Mike decides to take revenge on the killers. The game still had "outbursts of rage", hidden packages and springboards that were moved. And there were professional missions - police, ambulances and the rest. As well as an expanded set of weapons.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

• Developers: Rockstar Leeds
• Publisher: Rockstar Games

Platforms and release dates:

• PSP: October 25, 2005
• PlayStation 2: June 06, 2006

The action takes place in Liberty City 1998, the game is a prequel to GTA III. The main character is Toni Cipriani, already familiar to GTA III players. There, in the future (relatively LCS), he held a high position under Don Lyon and gave Claude tasks against the triad. He was also a real sissy: an elderly mother scolded him even with subordinates. Interestingly, he seemed to be quite complete, although he had not yet been so in the LCS. Apparently, mom fed.

But back to Liberty City Stories. Here Tony just arrives in the city, where he enters the service of Don Salvatore Lyon and other mafia bosses. Generally speaking, the story campaign is quite long - 70 missions. In addition to Salvatore, there are other old acquaintances: Donald Love, Phil Cassidy, Maria Latore, « eighth ball" and Miguel(Colombian, future ally catalina).

Interestingly, Liberty City here is not the way we see it in GTA III. It's still three years apart. To the great horror, the districts of the city are still isolated from each other, but the tunnels and subways will not be completed during this game. As well as the Callahan Bridge, which can only be crossed on ski jumps. It turns out that the islands for quite a long time were strongly isolated from each other and from the mainland. In addition, many buildings and establishments that belonged to different owners at different times have undergone changes.

The LCS had the following side missions: garbage truck driver (delivering bodies to a landfill), "Karmageddon" (Karmageddon, probably a reference to the famous game - ) - you need to make a mess on a fire truck, delivering pizza, selling cars (namely, selling, not stealing ), sale of motorcycles, a guide to Liberty City, "angel of revenge" - a costumed mission to catch violators of the order, shooting from a motorcycle seat at specified vehicles. In addition, old acquaintances have been preserved: professional missions, outbursts of rage, races, telephone missions, hijacking, unique jumps, collecting secret packages.

Generally speaking, it's amazing, but there are motorcycles in the LCS! Later, their absence in GTA III is also explained - the public insisted on a ban on motorcycles. The arsenal was practically copied from GTA: San Andreas.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

• Developer: Rockstar Leeds
• Publisher: Rockstar Games

Platforms and release dates:

• PSP: October 31, 2006
• PS2: March 6, 2007

But it will be after, and in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories- Victor Vance - an honest guy entering the military service at Fort Baxter, under the command of a sergeant Martinez. Unlike Victor, Martinez is intimately familiar with Vice City's underworld. He even hires Victor to do some dirty work. At the end of the last task, Martinez sets up Victor, for which he is fired from the army. After that, he has no choice but to continue to merge into the criminal world of Vice City. At some point, he begins to build his own criminal empire with his brother Lance. They are involved in many activities together, including racketeering, loansharking, robbery, drug dealing, pimping, and smuggling.

In addition to the traditional missions of a policeman, ambulance, taxi and firefighter, new ones have been added: a medical helicopter, a firefighting helicopter, and the work of a beach patrol. You also had to deliver vehicles according to the lists, as well as collect 99 balloons to get free weapons, complete rage missions and unique jumps.

The city in the VCS is somewhat different from the original. Some of the buildings can be found unfinished or non-existent. There was an opportunity to ride on a Ferris wheel, visit the trailer park. A floating restaurant appeared in the port.

Grand Theft Auto IV

• Developer: Rockstar North
• Developer: Rockstar Games
• Localizer: 1C-SoftKlab

Platforms and release dates:

• Xbox 360: April 29, 2008
• PlayStation 3: April 29, 2008
• PC: December 19, 2008

The first thing that catches your eye when looking at is the graphics. At the time of release, the game was very technologically advanced and demanding on hardware. So, having recently bought a system unit for a thousand dollars, you had to put up with the fact that you could not see the maximum graphics settings. However, soon a lot of patches appeared for the game and the brakes, for the most part, disappeared, and dynamic shadows only became more beautiful.

What is surprising, because before the games of the series have always seriously lagged behind others in terms of technology, taking the scale and gameplay. This was due primarily to the weakness of the prefix PlayStation 2, and the scale was incomparable with other games. Now there were no such restrictions. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 made it possible to make a much more detailed and technologically advanced game world. The game used a new proprietary development engine: RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). He supported the technology DirectX 9 and used it to its fullest. Also, the game had an outstanding physics model of the behavior of vehicles, and even some destructible objects. For the first time in GTA the work of the suspension was felt, and the cars received very realistic external damage.

In addition, the game used innovative technology Euphoria on which the animation of the characters was made. For example, now in a head-on collision at high speed, you can fly out through the windshield, constantly hitting objects, gradually losing speed and health. What can we say about realistically knocked down pedestrians. Also, very high quality, a reaction to injuries from firearms was implemented.

The action of the game takes place again in Liberty City. Not in the one that was in GTA III. AT GTA IV a new "era" starts: the game no longer overlaps with the events of the previous parts. There are no old characters in it, not even mention of them. Although at the same time, the game retained many previously invented parodies of brands. Mostly these include the names of vehicles that are now unambiguously similar to some real models. Also preserved are fashion brands selling clothes, eatery names like Burger Shot or Cluckin Bell, beverages Sprunk and eCola, and much more.

New Liberty City is much more like the real one New York, than ever. It is traditionally divided into three parts: The Broker (based in Brooklyn), Algonquin (Manhattan) and Alderney (New Jersey). In addition to these, there are also "islands", such as Bohan (Bronx), the largest of them, as well as an island with " Statue of Happiness» (a parody of Statue of Liberty- she has a face in the game Hillary Clinton holding a glass of coffee in his hand). All together they are connected by numerous bridges, tunnels and a high railway. In addition, for the first time in the series, it was possible to take a taxi, which could take you to any object marked on the map (including player markers anywhere on the map). The main character got into the car, chose the route and speed (faster - more expensive), after which the taxi began to go, and the player could look at the streets around, throughout the trip. Also at the helicopter station you can book a tour of Liberty City from a bird's eye view. Well, or steal one, and inspect everything yourself.

The following problem became the subject of jokes and indignation of the players: only taxis could drive in the city. This happened with a lack of RAM, the diversity of traffic directly depended on the number of gigabytes. However, this way Liberty City became more like New York - there are also a lot of taxis there.

The main character in Grand Theft Auto IV was an immigrant from Eastern Europe - a Serb named Niko Bellic(Actually, the Serbian surname Bellic is spelled Belic, but Bellic is better for the English ear). He sails on a ship to the "Land of Great Opportunities" to start life from scratch. In the past, he happened to fight in a real war, where he had seen enough of everyone, after which he began to see the world very cynically. And when he returned to his homeland, Niko could not find an honest job - no one wanted to take a soldier. Then he had to deal with criminal cases - in particular, smuggling, transportation of illegal goods, and even ... slaves. But one of the enterprises failed, the ship sank along with all the goods. Niko miraculously managed to escape, but his boss, named Ray Bulgarin thought Niko owed him money. And then he had to go to Liberty City, where his cousin has been living in a luxurious mansion, surrounded by supermodels, and with many sports cars in the garage for ten years. Roman Bellic. At least that's how he described it in his letters.

After stepping off the ship onto solid ground in the port of Liberty City, Niko finds Roman, dirty, drunk and driving a taxi. Instead of a mansion, he lives in a dirty one-room apartment, and the only cars he has are taxis from his small taxi company. Yes, and he still only miraculously stays afloat: Roman owes money to a moneylender, and besides, he often plays cards. It is not difficult to guess that now Niko will have to take care not only of himself, but also of his unlucky cousin. The plan to start a new life quickly turns into the same blue dream as Roman's mansion. He would have to work for a loan shark, then for his boss, and then for drug dealers, the mafia...yes, anyone with money.

Rockstar loves to reveal topics that are often hushed up. This time they turned towards immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia. The south of Bokhan, the first of the regions of the game, is completely given over to the Russians. There are places such as the Perestroika cabaret and the Comrades bar. Here, passers-by on the street often speak Russian, with Niko or simply on the phone. And in the first clothing store you can buy different types sweatpants, and even a hat with earflaps with a hammer and sickle on the forehead. As Niko remarks, "these clothes look like they were brought from our homeland." A very nice feature of the game was the radio station Vladivostok FM, which plays only domestic songs! Ukrainian singer performed as a DJ Ruslana and a rapper Seryoga recorded an exclusive track for the game called "Invasion".

GTA IV took up quite a lot of gigabytes. To fit it, it took two double-layer DVD discs. In fact, the lion's share went to music for radio and ... television. In his apartment, Niko can simply sit in an armchair or sofa and start watching TV. It had several channels and TV shows, including historical chronicles, animated series, glamorous TV shows, and more. All this was performed on the game engine and voiced by the actors. Like everything else in the game, the TV programs were brimming with satire, parodies, and just plain fun humor.

Two more important innovations are the mobile phone and the Internet. If earlier it was only possible to receive calls on the phone (and Claude had only a pager at all), now there are more functions than an example. Firstly, now you can call all the familiar characters yourself. So you can invite a girl on a date, or a friend for a booze. The phone also has a camera, the pictures of which can be saved. With the help of a mobile phone, it was possible to enter the video editor and the multiplayer mode of the game. Oh, and enter cheat codes.

If GTA: San Andreas and previous games only brought new missions to the series, then GTA IV lost most of them. Of the professional ones, only the tasks of the police and taxis (for the Roman taxi depot) remained. There are still numerous (though not as unique as in San Andreas) races and car theft missions. The latter have now changed somewhat: Niko's phone receives a photo of the car and the name of the street where it stands. So the player had to first identify the place and the car, and then drive it to the garage. From the well-forgotten old, the missions received through the telephone box, which consisted in commission of contract killings, returned. That's all. Unless, there are unique jumps and hidden things, which this time are 200 pigeons (“flying rats” - flying rats - in the English version), cooing when approaching, and which need to be shot. To my great surprise, there is no bonus in the form of free weapons after the extermination of pigeons.

But not everything is so bad: there were many side tasks with a plot. There are many characters on the streets who need Niko Bellic's help. As a rule, tasks are monosyllabic - give a lift, or kill someone. What is more interesting: during the main storyline, it is possible to keep the “ordered” characters alive. In this case, you can find these characters somewhere in the city, and get a task from them.

To the dates from the last part, hangouts with friends were also added. Niko can meet friends during the course of the story. But the girls will have to look on the dating site. Both are practically the same, in fact, except for the beginning (each girl has different tastes in terms of clothes and Niko's car) and the final - Niko does not go home to friends for a cup of coffee. The purpose of these events is to win favor, in numerical terms. When it gets high, the characters begin to do favors for Niko: arrange a well-paid job, bring and sell weapons at a discount (because now there is practically no point in looking for them on the streets), load a car bomb, ward off the police, organize a discount in a fashion store and in in such a spirit.

To arrange a meeting, you need to call the character and indicate the place where you intend to take him (her). You need to meet different characters at different times, because everyone has a different life schedule, and if you wake them up, they are offended. They can also call and invite Niko to hang out. Dates and meetings can be held in the same places. In a diner, in a club, in a bar, in a cabaret where they show shows and even in a strip club where you need to order a lap dance. There were also mini-games: bowling, billiards and darts. In one meeting or date, you can visit several places, after which you need to take the character home.

The most beneficial, in terms of improving relationships, is going to a bar. There, Niko and a friend get drunk and begin to tell what they really think. Very interesting at times. And at the exit, both turn out to be so drunk that they begin to walk backwards and constantly fall. It is very difficult to drive a car in such a state - the camera shakes, the car itself turns where it wants, and the police also start chasing if they see it.

Because of this feature, another small scandal erupted around GTA IV. Some people saw this as propaganda for drunk driving. Allegedly, the game teaches people how to drive a car while intoxicated. A video even appeared on the Internet: a man played GTA IV for two weeks, where he drove a car drunk Niko. After which he drank himself and tried to drive a car in the game. Result: The game does not provide any drunk driving skills at all.

In terms of customization of the protagonist, GTA IV is much inferior to San Andreas. There are no more hairdressers and tattoo parlors in Liberty City. And the assortment of clothing stores is not amazing. However, the hike in them is more interesting: you can go up to any product and try it on. All clothes are still available in the wardrobe in Niko's apartment.

In terms of arsenal, the fourth part is again inferior to San Andreas in quantity - there are only 15 weapons. Gifts and almost all types of edged and heavy weapons have completely disappeared from the arsenal. See for yourself what's left: a knife, a baseball bat, Glock 22 and Desert Eagle pistols, an uzi and an SMG, a pump-action and combat shotgun, an AK-47 and an M4, two sniper rifles, an RPG-7, a Molotov cocktail and a fragmentation grenade.

But the combat system has undergone significant changes. First of all, this concerns the introduction of the increasingly popular system of shelters from. Niko and his enemies can land on almost any obstacle, including cars. Shootouts have become much more realistic, more tactful, although they have lost in excitement and dynamics. However, in your free time from missions, no one will stop you from taking an RPG and going to blow up all the oncoming cars and helicopters, although Niko will not live long in this case. However, it is no longer necessary to get out of the car to open targeted fire. Niko can break glass and stick out light weapons (pistol or submachine gun), as well as throw grenades and incendiary mixtures. But as for shooting: when you hold the button, a crosshair now appears on the screen, allowing you to shoot in 360 degrees, although before you could only left and right.

There are also fewer vehicles in GTA IV. All controlled planes, bicycles, amphibian hovercraft, parachute, jetpack and even the holy of holies - Tank have disappeared from the game! However, we still have: cars, motorcycles, boats and helicopters. In GTA IV, they are more than ever similar to their real prototypes. It became quite obvious where the Mercedes, Lamborghini or Ferrari are. The physics model has also become much more realistic, the suspension work is good, and crashes have never looked so realistic. And yet, tuning has disappeared from the game. But a car wash has now been added to the paint shop. Well, will it replace tuning and customization? Interesting features of transport in GTA IV include the appearance of GPS in cars. During missions, the shortest path to the target is marked on the radar. You can also set your own marker on the map. In expensive cars, GPS is even voiced, it can warn of turns in advance.

Together with the tank from the fourth part, the military forces also disappeared. However, the police are still assisted by FIB agents (the game analogue of the FBI) ​​and special forces. And the search system itself has undergone major changes. On the radar during the chase, you can see a circle measuring the search area. The higher the wanted level, the larger the area. To get away from the police, you need to get out of sight, leave the marked area and do not catch the eye of the law enforcement forces for some time. If Niko is spotted, the search area moves and centers on him. There are no more police stars, but you can still repaint the car. Now this action will rewind time by six hours.

Rockstar finally took some common sense, and now they have developed a multiplayer mode for the game. It includes 15 interesting modes that support up to 32 players. These modes include deathmatches, racing, mafia missions, gangsters vs. cops, gangsters vs. SWAT, capture control points, hunting for "goods", industrial hijacking, planting a bomb on a ship, and, finally, the good old "Free Mode".

The system was used as a platform for multiplayer Microsoft Games for Windows Live. And there was also a mandatory registration in an incomprehensible service Rockstar Games Social Club. As a copy protection SecuROM. The game also had built-in additional protection against NoDVD, nicknamed by the players only as "a drunken camera and a brick on the gas pedal." It consisted of the following: if the game decided that you were using NoDVD, then getting into the car, you would soon find it smoking and with the brakes turned off, while the camera staggered just like after taking alcohol! In fairness, all owners of licensed copies avoided a similar fate, in addition, they could download an alternative startup file that allowed you to run the game without a disc, while maintaining multiplayer. Registration of the game, however, remained mandatory.

It's no secret that the most frequently released fan-made additions have always been new cars. Many of them you can see here in the screenshots. And if the ones already in the game were very similar to real ones, then what can we say about fan models of transport, whose creators were not bound by any legal restrictions. For example, now, at the behest of the player, the car "Benshi" could become not just like Dodge Viper, she literally became her, as if it were so.

You can also remember the real tuning created by the craftsmen, with blackjack, vinyl and neon lights! Well, the most important thing is a huge number of graphic modifications. Often, looking at their screenshots, you seriously doubt - is this not a photograph?

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

• Developer: Rockstar North
• Developer: Rockstar Games
• Localizer: 1C-SoftKlab

Platforms and release dates:

• Xbox 360: October 29, 2009
• PlayStation 3: April 13, 2010
• PC: April 13, 2010

Episodes take place in the same Liberty City, which is GTA IV. The city is almost identical, except for some important places. Additions contain their own main characters, new characters and story missions. The link is a line about diamonds owned by Ray Bulgarin. They slip out of his hands, after which each of the heroes tries to take possession of them - Niko Bellic from gta IV, Johnny Klebitz from TLAD and Luis Lopez from TBOGT, for their own reasons. In addition, all three heroes are also connected to a large shipment of drugs, which are closely monitored by the police. Together, the three plots form one, shedding light on many white spots in each other's plots. In terms of the length of the storylines, each addition is approximately equal to 1/3 of the plot of GTA IV.

In addition, they add some new features to the game, such as mini-games, Additional tasks, new weapons and vehicles. As well as new sites on the Internet, new programs on TV and new tracks on the radio, including several new radio stations. Interestingly, in Episodes all areas of the city are initially open and available for research, unlike GTA IV.

According to the author, Episodes from Liberty City is a great addition that eliminates most of the claims to the original. It greatly expanded its capabilities, diversified the arsenal and fleet of vehicles. In addition, GTA IV, together with the episodes, forms a common plot. Each of the characters has their own point of view on Liberty City. Niko Bellic is an immigrant who is trying to settle down in an unfamiliar world, having no friends and relatives here, with the exception of a cousin, and not owning a peaceful profession. Johnny Klebitz is a biker for whom the motorcycle and the well-being of his Lost gang are the raison d'être. The atmosphere in TLAD is so thick that you start to get used to the role - a tough biker who despises four-wheelers and Japanese fakes, and Liberty Rock Radio must be playing on the radio. Luis Lopez, in turn, sees Liberty City as one big glamorous hangout full of big boys, faggots and whores. Playing as him, you start to steal only sports cars and dress in expensive suits. The great thing about Ballad is that it brought the Tank back into the game!

It came as a surprise to many that Rockstar originally released the first episode, The Lost and Damned, exclusively for the Xbox 360. It wasn't until many months later that the announcement of a port to PC and PS3 surfaced. History repeated itself with the second expansion, The Ballad of Gay Tony. Two versions of Episodes editions were released in Russian: Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City - it contains two workable episodes, without the original GTA IV, and also as part of the "Full Edition", where there were both Episodes and the original GTA IV. However, 1C again translated only the text, and besides, not in the best way, you can find much better fan-made localizations on the net.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

The plot "" starts at a time when Niko Bellic starts working for Mikhail Faustin. This is evidenced by the story of one of the bikers that he is dating the daughter of some Russian, who is Mr. Faustin.

The protagonist of the game, Johnny Klebitz (yes, he is Jewish), is the Vice President of The Lost biker club. The Lost are a real gang of armed thugs who prefer chopper-type motorcycles. They are armed not with some clubs, but with real firearms. You need it to protect against other gangs, or to attack them, as it turns out. The gang has its own club The Lost Liberty - with booze, strippers, a pool table and other attributes of a biker club. Johnny sleeps right here on a mattress in the back room, which also has a computer and TV.

The president of the club and the gang is Billy, who is just getting out of prison after going through a rehabilitation course. Before his return, Johnny coped well with the duties of the manager: he negotiated peace with another powerful gang - the Angels of Death, and also kept the business afloat. But now, after the return of Bill, he again takes the reins of power, first of all declaring war on the Angels of Death. He also forces Johnny to do menial work for the Jewish mafia. Thus, the game focuses a lot on the confrontation between Johnny and Bill. Other members of the gang also have their own attitude towards both leaders.

The first and most important innovation in TLAD is the emergence of its own gang, ready to come to the rescue at the first call. These are not faceless clones, as in GTA: San Andreas. You will know the name of each of them, and even ... the level. Levels are accumulated for surviving raids on enemy gangs, which have also been added to TLAD. The deceased comrade is replaced by a newcomer, leaving behind a photograph on the wall, in the club of the Lost gang.

If the gang left, then Johnny's escorts will try to follow him in strict order of battle. Also, in some missions, Johnny himself needs to follow Billy, in which case he will restore health and armor, and will also be able to talk to other bikers riding nearby.

In addition to "comrades in battle", Johnny also has friends with whom he can spend time. They can also provide services from the very beginning - customize motorcycles and weapons.

Air hockey was added to entertainment and competitions. In addition, the club can play card game"more-less" and compete in arm wrestling. And in the city you can take part in biker races, in which you can also use a baton. Interestingly, Johnny does not shop. It is impossible to change his club leather jacket, and why? It would be ridiculous. The interface has also undergone changes, it has “grown old” and acquired in detail. In addition, the palette of the city has changed a lot: now it is completely yellowish-gray, and there is little that disturbs it. And instead of pigeons, now you need to kill 50 seagulls, the Innovation motorcycle will become available as a reward.

The TLAD add-on is primarily dedicated to motorcycles. Therefore, it is not surprising that they were added the most - as many as 17 pieces. Near the club, Johnny is always waiting for his faithful chopper - "The Witcher" (Hexer). In addition, 4 trucks and 2 cars were added.

Johnny's signature and first available weapon was a sawn-off double-barreled shotgun, which was not in the original GTA IV. Other additions include a pool cue, a new semi-automatic pistol, an assault shotgun that fires bursts, a real grenade launcher that fires 40mm parabolic projectiles, and homemade explosives.

The add-on also affected the multiplayer mode, adding five new types of competitions at once: an armed helicopter chase after a motorcycle (in the English version there is a play on words - Chopper vs. Chopper), a number of tasks for the club, "hunting for a wolf" - when all players try to kill one biker , a gang war for territories, and the last - the battle of the "Lost" against the police SWAT.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony

"" begins at the moment when Niko Bellic, along with the McReary family, robbed the bank of Liberty City.

"Ballad" is entirely devoted to everything glamorous and dirty. Gay Tony, aka Blue Tony, aka Anthony Prince, owner of two nightclubs in Liberty City, one gay and one straight. But we play, fortunately, not for him, but for his bodyguard and partner, Luis Lopez, a Latino of traditional orientation. Luis helps Tony by working as a bouncer in clubs and doing many illegal things at his behest. The fact is that Tony owes a lot of money here and there, and if he does not pay off, he may lose his business. In addition, Louis has to take care of his family and friends, who now and then get into trouble.

A distinctive feature of the "Ballad" is a bias away from realism. Unlike GTA IV and TLAD, she no longer tries to be serious. TBOGT in this regard is much more reminiscent of Vice City and San Andreas. It is bright, colorful and very funny. Finally, she brought back the Tank! Almost. An armored personnel carrier is an armored personnel carrier with a turret with a large-caliber gun mounted on it. It is much faster than any tank, and also has a high rate of fire, so it's just great for creating a rustle in Liberty City.

In The Ballad, Rockstar continued to actively make up for the lack of side missions in the original. So, "drug wars" were added - tasks for transporting drugs, for the completion of every ten pieces in which weapons were delivered to Louis' apartment. In Luis's home area, hand-to-hand fighting without rules is held, in which you can participate for money. There was an opportunity to play real golf. And the “triathlon” here is not the same as in San Andreas: first, Luis jumps with a parachute, then gets into a boat and sails on it to the car on which he finishes. Yes, the parachute is back. New tasks are also associated with it - you need to fly through the “crowns” marked in the air, and then land at the indicated place, or even on a moving truck. It is also worth mentioning the work in a nightclub. Louis can take over as bouncer. There is also a mini-game with drinking champagne, as well as dancing (again waving the San Andreas pen) where you can pick up a girl.

The weapon Luis initially carries with him is a very powerful .44 caliber pistol. Also added: a shotgun with explosive bullets, an assault submachine gun, a gold (!!!) uzi, a light machine gun, a new improved sniper rifle and sticky bombs. In addition to weapons, several dozen vehicles, music tracks have also been added to the game, and several changes have been made to the multiplayer mode.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

• Developer: Rockstar Leeds
• Publisher: Rockstar Games

• Nintendo DS: March 17, 2009
• PlayStation Portable: October 20, 2009
• iPhone and iPod Touch: January 18, 2010
• iPad: September 10, 2010

What gamer does not know the series GTA? Probably only someone who has recently joined the gaming or some completely dense fan of quests. But even those who are familiar with this combination of three letters are not necessarily familiar with all parts of the series. Still, after more than 12 years of existence of the series, 12 different games have been released - it’s no wonder you don’t get acquainted with all of them.

Grand Theft Auto

In 1997 the studio DMA Design(in future Rockstar North Limited) and Tarantula Studios(in future Rockstar Lincoln) jointly spawned a project Grand Theft Auto, who surprised the public with a non-standard approach to the gameplay, and also outraged her with her peremptory cruelty.

GTA. Sometimes you have to run on foot.

Well, still, from the very first part, the players were invited to play the role of a criminal who moved up the criminal career ladder, working as a six for the criminal bosses of three cities: Liberty City (New York), San Andreas (San Francisco) and Weiss City (Miami). The goal of each stage of the game was to collect enough money - the main part could be obtained by completing missions, as well as replenish the account by committing various criminal acts.

The two-dimensional format looked then quite organically on RS and PS One, where the game came out almost at the same time. Later, in 1999 year, a stripped-down version was dragged to Game Boy Color. And in the same year, by connecting to the work of the studio Rockstar Canada and runecraft, the developers have released an add-on with a new city, cars and missions - London 1969, also on RS and PS One. And in 2001 they created another one - London 1961. Exclusive to RS, by the way.

Grand Theft Auto 2

The second part, published on RS and PS One in 1999 (in 2000 on dreamcast and Game Boy Color) has taken a significant step forward. No, the 2D top view is still there, but there have been plenty of changes. It was necessary to go wild in the near future (2013 is still, by the way, “the near future”), in a city called Anywhere City, which did without real prototypes.

GTA 2. Riots at the crossroads.

Looked the best RS-version, in which the mentioned changes were present in full: the inhabitants of the city became more active, the same hijackers appeared among them, the offender began to be pursued not only by the police, but also by SWAT, it became possible to save. To do this, you had to go to church and pay an impressive amount.

Otherwise, everything was similar to the first part: several gangs that you can work for, earning influence, stealing cars, working part-time jobs in legal jobs that require driving skills, missions with mass genocide of the population, etc.

Grand Theft Auto 3

The key moment when Rockstar transferred the principle of working with an open world to three-dimensional space, happened in 2001. Then the game first showed itself as a priority console project. The advantage was then Sony with her PS2. The following year, the game was moved to RS and here is the version for Xbox delayed until 2003.

GTA 3. Get lost, my shift has begun.

The events unfolding in 2001 brought players back to Liberty City. The developers made the plot more solid, added prescribed characters to the game. True, the protagonist still remained mute and nameless. Due to the transition to three-dimensional, the game appeared signs of a car simulator, and not just an arcade race on flat cars. Yes, and the shooting began to slowly approach the standards TPS that time. A significant change was also that for the first time in the history of the series there was no multiplayer.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

DMA Design finally got used to the new name ( Rockstar North) and released the game in 2002 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.Again, first of all on PS2. Although, released in 2003 RS- the version was created as an independent project, unlike the port on Xbox 2003.

GTA: Vice City. What kind of cars do you have, gentlemen. I just don't know which one to steal...

This time the action takes place in Vice City, where Tommy Vercetti (yes, the hero has finally found a name) goes after imprisonment in Liberty City. It all starts with a grand set-up, in which, of course, Tommy becomes the last one. Ultimately, this situation turns out to be successful for him, because, trying to return the stolen money and drugs, he significantly increases his influence in the criminal world.

But the essence has remained the same - free movement, a set of mandatory and side missions of a predominantly criminal nature, a lot of driving in cars and other vehicles, as well as lawlessness, lawlessness and again lawlessness. It is worth noting a greater emphasis on gunfights, including the ability to fire while driving.

Grand Theft Auto: Advance

GTA: Advance. Good old genocide...

In 2004 console holders Game Boy Advance realized that the famous GTA somehow she pulled away from them after the transition to three-dimensional. That's why Rockstar contracted a studio to create a port Digital Eclipse. That is, it was only at first the port of the third part. But in the end it turned out that porting the game would not work in any way. So the developers decided to make a backstory, the events of which take place a year before the events GTA3. And, of course, there was no three-dimensional there - everything was in the style of the first two parts. But the plot was developed better and talked about a criminal named Mike, who avenges his comrade Vinnie throughout the game, disgracefully all in the same Liberty City.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Series GTA continued to adhere to the old policy: San Andreas came out in the first place PS2(2004), and then on RS and Xbox(2005). This time Xbox at least keep up with its competitors. But domestic localizers did it wrong - the game was translated into Russian only last year.

GTA: San Andreas. Cheating? Why not?!

This time there will be a small journey into the past, to be exact in 1992. The main character named Carl Johnson or simply CJ returns to San Andreas and decides to clean up the mess by fixing the badly going business of his old gang. The writers made a knight's move, as a result of which San Andreas turned from a city into a whole state, an analogue of California. During his criminal adventures, CJ will visit three cities: Los Santos, Las Venturas and San Fierro.

Without changing the basic principles of the game, the developers have added a lot of new things to it: they have significantly expanded the set of vehicles by adding exotic models, taught the hero to swim and introduced an element of hero pumping. Depending on the player's actions, the protagonist could develop or weaken his skills in hand-to-hand combat, driving, running, etc.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

GTA: Liberty City Stories. Invisible pillar!

After vice city the portable format period began for the series. Sony achieved the status of exclusivity, thanks to which the project Liberty City Stories went out first PSP(2005), and then ported to PS2(2006, no change in schedule). The story of Toni Cipriani, known from the third part, turned out to be very successful - it was one of the best-selling games for PSP.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

GTA: Vice City Stories. Oh no, not a flight mission...

In 2008 series GTA switched to HD-console along with the release of the project Grand Theft Auto 4. New gaming platforms were already fighting on an equal footing, displacing personal computers, on which the game was delayed with the release for a year.

GTA 4. I'm not evil, I'm adventurous.

Niko Bellic, the protagonist of the fourth part, became one of those gullible emigrants who fell for fairy tales about the “land of opportunity”. However, Niko's life was much worse at home (somewhere in Eastern Europe, but certainly not in Russia), so the layouts of the long-suffering Liberty City did not suit him, but seemed quite acceptable.

Continuing to twist the criminal lace in the plot, the creators of the project did not forget about other aspects of the game, which have also undergone significant changes. The combat system has been completely redesigned - during firefights, you can use cover and auto-aim, and the set of hand-to-hand combat techniques has been expanded. In addition to this, social elements were added - Niko had to keep in touch with friends, periodically participating in friendly drinking parties, bowling trips, etc.

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City

But when it came to add-ons for GTA4, Xbox 360 still prevailed over the other platforms. And The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony first came out on the "box", and only then, in 2010, they got to RS and PS3.

GTA: The Lost and Damned. Yes, I myself do not fly just because I like to ride.

Both additions, without chasing massive gameplay changes, told two rather impressive stories, developing in parallel and intertwined with the events of the fourth part. Not a bad move, revealing all the details of the crime drama about Niko through the actions of two other heroes - biker Johnny Klebitz and major Luis Lopez.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

And again GTA aiming for a more modest format - Chinatown Wars came out in 2009 on nintendo ds, PSP and PS2, as well as in 2010 on iOS. The game used an isometric view and cel-shading technology.

GTA: Chinatown Wars. The cops are out of luck these days.

The action again takes place in the three districts of Liberty City, where ex-daddy's son Huang Li is forced to build his own career from scratch. Of course, not without criminal overtones. There is also something new in the game. For example, various ways to steal cars - the cooler the car, the more difficult it is to start.

Here we come to the unknown. gta 5 so far they have only managed to announce and announce that the case will take place in the already well-known city of Los Santos and its environs. The rest is rumors, and even then some blurry ones.

GTA 5. Flight to a brighter future.

So far, nothing has been said about the consoles on which the game will appear. And over time, there is no clarity. The most likely guess is 2012, but publishers recently reported that they weren't sure whether to release the game next year.

An open world in computer games is often an unaffordable luxury that only rare developers can offer gamers. It would seem that the specificity of a shooter mixed with is unlikely to allow the creators to give the player access to the whole city - but this is exactly what happened with GTA, and from the very first episode, which was released almost twenty years ago. Most recently, the fifth part of the series saw the light, so it's worth remembering all the parts of GTA in order.

Two-dimensional world: "GTA 1" and "GTA 2"

Back in 1997, a game with a rather strange name was released. It is with it that you need to start listing all the parts of GTA in order. This game had a top view, you were asked to control a hero who can collect weapons on the street, kill passers-by, thereby attracting the attention of the police. You could also have gunfights with lawmen, but the most interesting thing was that you can steal any car that you see in front of you. You could get everything - a garbage truck, an ambulance, a fire van, even a train. And most importantly - you did not have to stick to the storyline - you could do whatever you want - arrange races, shootouts, blow up everything around and so on. Such a project caused a lot of excitement, which led to the release of two add-ons that added two new cities to explore, and with them - new cars, pedestrians, bandits and so on. Naturally, the developers did not stop at this stage - in 1999 the second part was released, which received an improved engine, best graphics, as well as a much greater variety of actions. Three gangs were added with unique storylines - each of them needed to earn respect in order to gain support and access to tasks, but this completely cut off your connection with the opposing gang. If we consider all parts of the "GTA" in order, then this ends the two-dimensional generation. All other games were released in 3D.

"GTA 3", "Vice City" and "San Andreas"

All parts of "GTA" in order can be divided into two generations - two-dimensional and three-dimensional, as well as blocks that will include the main game and additions to it. For example, in 2001, a real revolution was made - the GTA series moved to 3D, now you control your character with a third-person view. Naturally, the whole world has also been redesigned, but the concept remains the same - you can complete the tasks of the storyline, or you can have fun in free mode, using a huge arsenal of weapons and an even more expanded fleet of cars and other vehicles, among which aircraft and helicopters appeared. In 2002, the first addition to the third episode, Vice City, was released, and in 2004, San Andreas. Both additions received new cities, new characters and new storylines. Naturally, many other things were also changed, so that each of the add-ons managed to break the sales record of its predecessor. In principle, this is a property that all parts have in GTA. The list in order, however, is not too long. The path of quality, not quantity, was chosen.

"GTA 4", "The Lost and the Doomed" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony"

If you want to study all the parts in GTA, the list in order will help you with this - from it you will learn that quite a lot of time has passed since San Andreas, released in 2004 - the fourth episode went on sale only in 2008 but the wait was worth it. After all, the game began to look even more impressive, the engine became even more perfect - what can we say about the variety. The city has become much larger, weapons have become even more numerous, as well as vehicles. There are new features such as your own phone to communicate with other characters and a relationship system. In 2009, two expansion packs were released for the fourth episode, further expanding the storyline campaign that the original two games didn't really shine on. And this is almost the end of all parts of "GTA" in order. The photo from the fifth episode was not available for quite some time, many doubted that it would come out at all, but it did happen.

"GTA 5" and "GTA Online"

The developers spent another four years developing the next part of the game, and in 2013 users saw the long-awaited masterpiece "GTA 5", which offered them simply incredible opportunities - along with "GTA Online", the multiplayer version, which is now played by several hundred at the same time. thousand people. This is where all parts of "GTA" end - the list is not that very long, but incredibly rich.