Grand Theft Auto Advance
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| Grand Theft Auto Advance | |
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| Developer(s) | Digital Eclipse |
| Publisher(s) | Rockstar Games |
| Release date(s) |   October 26, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) OFLC: M PEGI: 16+ |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Media | GBA cartridge |
Grand Theft Auto Advance is a handheld video game developed by Digital Eclipse, published by Rockstar Games, and released on October 26, 2004 for the Game Boy Advance.
The game is played from a top-down perspective; this view angle was seen on the first two games in the series, GTA and GTA2, but vehicle-based side-missions (such as "Vigilante" and "Paramedic"), the head-up display and a large majority of the weapons, first introduced in the three-dimensional counterparts, have also been included.
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[edit] Setting
The game is set in Liberty City, the fictional GTA city that appeared, most prominently, in Grand Theft Auto III. Indeed the earliest announcement of this game was that it would be a port of GTA III, but at some point in development (it is unclear exactly when this occurred) this idea was rejected, probably due to technical limitations and the time needed to reconstruct the previous game's missions in the new two-dimensional environment.
The game that was actually released as a prequel to GTA III, taking place one year prior to the events in GTA III. As it takes place in GTA III's Liberty City, familiar landmarks re-appear and the overall street layout is the same. However the locations of familiar secrets such as Rampages, hidden packages and jump ramps have all been changed, so players familiar with the city's corners and alleyways in GTA III will have to explore them afresh in GTA Advance. The city's three islands have been noticeably changed in its conversion and elements impossible to interpret to a top-view perspective, so there are no longer any sloped surfaces, and the tunnels and train system have been removed.
[edit] Storyline
Mike is a small-time criminal, working for the more connected Vinnie. He was saved by Vinnie when he was on the streets, like a homeless person, though not too much information is revealed about this. They decide to leave Liberty City together and retire from their life of crime elsewhere, but Vinnie decides that they should look for a few more jobs from their employers, the Mafia, prior to leaving, for more money and reputation. During one of these missions Vinnie is suggestively killed in a car bomb, taking the duo's money with him. Mike, who Vinnie was like a second father to, swears revenge, and death to the person that set up the car-bomb.
His revenge leads to his falling out with the Mafia, and he ends up working for various gangs, mostly the Yardies, the Colombians and the Yakuza. Each gang or single employer, such as 8-Ball, a close friend of Vinnie's, persuades Mike to do jobs for them as they help him find out the truth about Vinnie's death.
In the later stages of the game, Mike finds out that Vinnie has actually staged his own death, and Mike sworn revenge on his old partner, eventually killing him. During the next mission 8-Ball is arrested (setting the stage for his escape in GTA III's intro sequence), but Mike manages to escape on the late Cisco's (the Colombian boss') plane, after seeming to kill Vinnie's real boss, King Courtney. There has been a bit of controversy over this, as the player may receive missions from him in the form of phone calls in GTA III. Judging from Courtney's dialogue after the fight, it is thought by many that he escapes, rather than dying.
[edit] Characters
The game has an all-new storyline. The protagonist is no longer Claude ("the GTA III guy") but a new character named Mike.
Some of the characters from GTA III appear in the game, including bomb-shop owner 8-Ball and the Yakuza crime boss Asuka, although none of the Mafia characters from GTA III appear, and entirely new characters such as Vinnie (Mike's friend and first employer), Cisco (the leader of the Columbian Cartel), and Yuka (Asuka's niece) have been added to the mix. Several characters which were only referenced in GTA III are now met face-to-face, such as King Courtney, the Yardie boss.
[edit] Technical details
The game had to be adapted to the GBA's hardware limitations. As a result it does not have voice acting or animated cutscenes, nor does it have GTA III's much-lauded pedestrian dialog. All cutscenes are text-only with line-art pictures of the characters' faces, with a thematic backdrop behind. The art style is consistent with that used for the cover and loading art of the three-dimensional releases in the series. Replacing the pedestrian dialog, some soundbites taken from GTA III are played when the player hits someone's car, but there is a limited variety, leading to some repetition.
The game does not feature radio channels. Like the Game Boy Color ports of GTA and GTA2, each car has one fixed tune that is constantly repeated and cannot be changed. These include parts of some familiar GTA2 and GTA III tunes, in instrumental versions.
Also missing was the immensely popular multiplayer deathmatch that had featured in the original two games. It is rumored that it will be added to later versions.
These limitations, coupled with the game being released on the same day as its much-lauded cousin Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, caused the game to be widely criticised by fans, and it is largely unpopular. Indeed some fans of the original top-down games say that they preferred the old games' mechanics better.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
- Grand Theft Auto series
- Grand Theft Auto III, the game it started as a port of
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Grand Theft Auto Advance at MobyGames
- Grand Theft Auto Advance at PlanetGrandTheftAuto.
