Tech Olive

Undeniably the first of its kind, the original Grand Theft Auto title ushered in a whole new sub-genre of gaming: open world. Nowadays we take this type of gameplay for granted, even going to extremes by often labeling them as “GTA clones.” Today, we pay respect to the game that started a revolution and a series that continues to blow our minds with each new installment.

Many titles in the long-running GTA series have made massive leaps in gaming technology by bringing whole new levels of detail, exploration, and freedom. Unsurprisingly, the first game in the series was no exception. There are tons of cars, trucks, and motorcycles to steal, several rival gangs to piss off, countless police to evade, and tons more hidden goodies and details that will simply blow your mind. The fact that emergency services would actually respond to crimes, fires, and dead bodies alone was something I could never quite believe.

With this new open-world gameplay, the possibilities were endless. I would spend countless hours stealing cars, pushing other cars onto the subway tracks to be electrocuted and exploded, or driving a motorcycle at high speeds along the subway tracks to see how far I could get before exploding. Even just running around and evading the police provided hours of the best and most unique car chases that gaming had to offer. When you did finally dive into the game’s massive pool of missions, you were greeted by a massive range of murder, prostitution, bombings, robberies, and every other punishable crime imaginable.

The best part of all this is that Rockstar now offers GTA and GTA 2 as free downloads.