Road to Perdition

By Pete Hutter

The Grand Theft Auto Double Pack brings a special brand of bad behavior to the Xbox. The groundbreaking title puts players in the shoes of a street-level hoodlum in a huge, interactive environment and leaves the rest of the plot up to you. There are a handful of games out there that have truly “open-ended” gameplay, but Grand Theft Auto does it better than anyone. As you prowl the streets of Liberty City and Vice City looking for work, will you be a savvy crook who keeps a low profile, or a loose-cannon who won’t stop until he’s caught.

Coming through!

Every decision you make in Grand Theft Auto potentially changes the game, from accepting or declining a particular mission to running a red light. The game is all about crime, and violent robbery is the main character’s MO, but each illegal or dangerous act you perform will count against you. The five-star “wanted” meter tracks just how badly the cops want to catch you. You can fill it up quickly by committing crimes in front of the police station in broad daylight, battling the cops themselves, and/or fleeing the scene of a crime, but the meter also fills when you jack a car or run over a pedestrian (those civilians will drop a dime on your butt as soon as the deed is done).

This sort of mayhem is presented as humorous (and it is, if your sense of humor is like mine), but it also illustrates one of the key themes in the debate about Grand Theft Auto. Heinous acts are part of the game, and they make perfect sense within the boundaries of Liberty and Vice City. If you can’t distinguish between real people and videogame characters, Grand Theft Auto is the least of your problems. Likewise, if Burnout 2: Point of Impact makes you want to crash your car into an intersection to see how many city busses you can destroy, you should probably look for a new hobby (I suggest needlepoint).

Man on a mission.

From the Godfather trilogy to Goodfellas to New Jack City, mob movies have taught us that the life of a crime boss is frequently spectacular and short. To prolong your own criminal career in Grand Theft Auto, you have to keep things on the down low and play it cool rather than storming into situations and shooting your way out. If you’ve accepted a mission, refrain from jacking new cars on a whim, and focus on the objectives. Change cars often to throw off pursuit, and only get into large-scale firefights as part of a larger scheme. There’s no way to avoid being wanted and chased by the cops, but if you play it smart, you can stay one step ahead of them for the entire game.

Movin’ on up.

The designers and developers at Rockstar Games understand what makes a game like this work: immersion, action, and humor. The sprawling cityscapes are populated by freaks, losers, and lowlifes, all voiced by top-notch voice actors like Ray Liotta, Dennis Hopper, and Jenna Jameson. There are even in-game radio stations with local news, weather, and talk shows that you can tune in after you’ve jacked the car of your choice. All of these details set the stage for whatever criminal enterprise you decide to pursue—how bad you are and how far you’ll go are both up to you.