The lights are on
I didn’t know anything about Grand Theft Auto the first time I saw Grand Theft Auto III. I walked in on a friend playing the game. My first thought was it didn’t look very good compared to other PlayStation 2 titles and the jump animation was ridiculous. My friend seemed excited about the game though, so I hung around to see what it was all about.
“Are you early in the game?” I asked, “What level is this?” He explained there weren’t levels, but it was a big open city. “But, this is like a little section of the city, right? You can’t just drive around the whole thing at once? Can you?” I assumed there was some kind of overworld map like Super Mario World, and he was just exploring a section of the city. I didn’t believe him when he kept insisting it was entirely open.
“What are you doing?” I asked. He wasn’t doing anything. He wasn’t trying to get to the end of the level, or collect a certain number of things, or defeat a certain number of enemies. He was just walking around some docks by a river.
He started beating up some pedestrians and told me an ambulance would probably show up soon. I continued to be incredulous. I did not believe an ambulance would come on its own to help pedestrians without it having some meaningful impact on the course of the game. Why would an ambulance just show up to help injured pedestrians if it did not directly affect you? When the ambulance did show up, my friend stole it and started driving around the city.
For me, that was the moment when I understood what Grand Theft Auto III was all about. My friend had beaten up some pedestrians, an ambulance had shown up to the scene, and he stole the ambulance to go on a joyride. Grand Theft Auto III was a city that functioned entirely on its own and the player had the privilege of doing whatever they wanted inside of it. My mind was blown.
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Flying with a tank!
When I got my PS2 this is the first game I got. There is a reason it is still talked about and loved by fans to this day. An incredible game and one of my all time favorites.
changed gaming forever
I got into GTA with GTAII and later picked up GTAI. I got GTAIII the for Christmas the year it came out. I have been a fan of GTA for a very long time. I remember thinking (Aw, it's not top down camera?) Ah... I laugh at younger me.
loved gtaIII, was instantly hooked, though i bought it based on how much fun i had with gta I (gta I was a brutally hard game, how about that for a super replay?)
vice city amazing, SA is the king, and i'll forget about IV. i have hopes for V though, i think rockstar knows they messed up with IV.
Vice City was the last GTA I purchased and kept.
Mine was sitting next to my dad and having him explain "Son, im going to let you play this, but you have to promise me you wont ever, under any circumstances, repeat what you see or do in this Game. I agreed, and the joys of blowing up cars while driving a truck at full speed with guns blazing became a favorite childhood memory for the rest of my life.
The game that revolutionized the GTA franchise.
This is y I love gaming music to my ears good sir
YES! One of the countless reasons gaming is the greatest under appreciated medium to happiness.
This happened to me in Morrowind and Guild Wars where I hung out in pre-searing for weeks until someone mentioned to me that it was only a fraction of what the game had to offer ^^
First time I saw GTA III was before my freshman homecoming dance in high school. We went as a big group, met at one of the girls' houses to let them finish getting ready and her brother was playing GTA III. When he died all the guys took turns playing until we died. None of us wanted to even go to the dance once we started playing (but we did). My mind was also blown Mr. Hilliard. That following Christmas, all I asked for was a PS2 and GTA III. I knew nothing else could be anywhere near as awesome.
This is probably the "Moments" article I agree with the most. I have also experienced some of the other stories as well, but GTA III was an absolute mind-blower for me. I remember I didn't have a PS2 at the time it came out, but a friend of mine did. I used to go to his house and we'd play it forever.
I also remember at times going over to his house, finding out he wasn't home and still talking his mother into letting me hang out in the game room and play it!
Aw, man. This game changed my life. A whole new gaming world. Amazing.
The first time I saw GTA was at my aunt's house. My cousin was playing it and he explained everything about it. I was so impressed. We kept getting all stars so we can have fun by getting chased by cops and helicopters. GTA: San Andreas was my favorite. It deserves a sequel.
I was somewhat familiar with the first two games--though they never seemed much fun to me, at least in part because the overhead view felt so limiting, so I don't think I played more than a couple hours of either.
A friend let me borrow his PC copy of GTA3, having told me it was finally in 3D. Sounded great, but if it's in 3D it must be very limited, I thought. I was amazed at the size of the game, at how much was actually in it. At the time a 3D game was typically limited to small arena-like levels with little detail and limited interaction. Certainly not NPCs all over the place, with cars driving around, and random missions scattered about. And they didn't even resort to using 2D sprites for people or cars.
The only thing that noticeably seemed lacking to me (at the time) was that I couldn't go into buildings. That's a gamer for you, always wanting more. Even in GTA4 which had a lot of interiors I wish there was more ability to go cause trouble or explore inside ALL the buildings. But now I also find myself want more dynamic interactions with the city. So that it's more like a sim in as much as being able to damage property and then see construction crews in the area later rebuilding--or detectives collecting evidence of who did the crime!
great. awesome moment in gaming history