On the 20th anniversary of GTA III: how Rockstar created a masterpiece that has forever changed the industry

Today, there are not many old-episodes left by ear that they originated decades ago and managed to proudly carry their banner after a few generations of consoles. The trends and preferences of the audience sometimes change faster than to replace one PlayStation Another comes, and even like a recently rattled franchise may soon be out of work. For example, EA I could not find a place under the sun for Need for Speed, And short -term success Hot Pursuit sample of the 2010s, alas, did not make the weather.

And here Grand Theft Auto, It seems that nothing is afraid at all: not the attacks of fighters for morality, not a change of generations of both players and platforms. Rockstar As if it is ahead of time by a few big steps, knowing exactly what the audience wants and how to make the next part not only come to the courtyard, but also shot even louder than the previous one. But, of course, it was not always-fate could easily send one of the most profitable gaming brands to the ditch: in the 90s there were enough innovative and even provocative games that fired loudly, but did not last long for long.

Hard -born

GTA was invented by Dave Jones and Mike Dally – the founders DMA Design , which by the mid-90s are tired of riveting endless continuations of successful Lemmings and decided to radically change the profile. True, the creation of the future hit was preceded by a not very pleasant story associated with Nintendo. Jones and Dally were crazy about joy when they had the opportunity to work for the legendary Japanese company and create the first three -dimensional game in their career. She should have become Body Harvest, dedicated to the battle with alien invaders. It was already attended by elements that would later become the hallmark of GTA: open world and vehicles. But the cooperation has come to naught full enthusiasm when the top of Nintendo, led by Sieger Miyamoto, began to intervene in the development. He asked to reduce the action and violence and add more puzzles, and then completely redo the game in the role. Jones refused, and as a result, Body Harvest remained lying on a shelf for several years, until it was cleaned up Gremlin Interactive And Midway.

These people once worked together on the first GTA. Mike Dolli (second on the left) and Dave Jones (Far right)

The creation of the GTA itself began a little later than the discord with Nintendo. The future game dedicated to the confrontation of criminals and cops in three cities decided to name Race ‘N’ Chase. Judging by the documents published on the Web, the open world in the game existed only nominally: the path from point B through the streets was laid by the Gamer itself, but instead of missions with an arbitrary order of passage, three modes were present: a race, a race for survival and robbery of the bank. In the case of the latter, one could get used to the role of both the criminal and the cop: the first was to hide from the persecution, and the second, respectively, to catch up with the suspect. The possibility of leaving the car was apparently absent, and the view from above, as Jones later recalled, was inspired by the style PAC-Man.

The idea was shown BMG Interactive , where the notorious Hausers brothers worked, and she happily agreed to become a publisher. But the planned 15-month production cycle subsequently doubled. As Gary Penn later said, who at that time held the post of creative leader DMA Design, part of the team was fascinated Elite And Syndicate And the idea of ​​creating a semblance of a living city and the open world in addition to the addition of. But the bold plans of the developers rested on the ceiling of iron capabilities – this, among other things, explains the prolonged production. In addition, at some point, all the creators of the future GTA (not without pressure on the part of the chauzers) agreed that they want to do something fundamentally new, rather than another automobile action.

Sam and Dan Hausers (in the center)

Since violence in GTA was in the spotlight, and here it was also necessary to kill innocent passers -by, the team quickly realized that black PR in this situation would be the best advertising. That’s why the studio did not wait for the attacks of the fighters for morality, but she turned to the publicist famous at that time Max Clifford , forced the public to pay attention to the provocative game. It is interesting that Clifford himself, later convicted of violence and died in prison, did not remember special merits in PR GTA.

The first successes

However, of course, the game became in demand among the players (but, curious Lottomart sister sites, not particularly revered by critics), not only thanks to the opportunity to give free reinstalls. The freedom of action was also impressive, which at that time met at such a level except in role -playing games and rare projects like Turbo Esprit 1986 of the release, in which the city, driving and the action elements were comparable with what DMA Design realized. However, only adherents remember this cult project ZX Spectrum and other retro computers.

Those who are not familiar with the first GTA, we recall that the gameplay in it only remotely resembled what the series turned into a few years later. Despite the presence of a nominal plot and not indulging in the variety of missions, it was first of all the game of the format “have fun" yourself ", since to go to the next levels it was only necessary to gain a certain number of points. And in what way – Gamer himself decided here. It was possible, for example, to steal expensive cars and deliver them to buyers in docks or kill cops. True, this process could easily drag on for five hours for five, since they did not pamper. Therefore, the passage of at least a dozen missions with the factor of the cache greatly accelerated the process. But at the same time, I had to risk it more: after death, the multiplier was lost, so the restart of the mission was sometimes a more reasonable choice than an attempt to catch up from scratch.

Grand Theft Auto

So the spirit of hardcore games of the times of 8- and 16-bit in a sense did not bypass GTA, which was published during the general "three-dimensionality". In addition, by the standards of those years, the sizes of cities forced to literally memorize levels by the standards of those years. The arrow, which helped to build a route to the target, was present, but without an in -game map it was difficult. And that the licensed version of the game contained a paper card, on the migrated in the piracy of the post -Soviet space, of course, no one realized.

Since GTA brought its creators a good profit, the question of creating a sequel rose by itself. True, this was preceded by the release of two additions, the events of which, unlike the original, unfolded not in the present, but in the 60s. By current standards, they would rather be considered for fan modifications, so we will skip this stop and go out to the next. GTA 2, Despite the similar concept, it contained a number of small innovations that do not always benefit gameplay. For example, the hero now received tasks from the gangs competing with each other, so successful work on one of the parties certainly led to enmity on the other – group members were accepted to attack the hero. The affordable arsenal increased greatly, and the police in the case of particularly harsh offenses arranged raids of more abruptly.

Grand Theft Auto 2

It is important to note that Dan Hauser, by the time the second part was developing, decided to leave producing activities in the background and devote himself to a scenario business. His first experience in this field was the aforementioned GTA: London 1969. But neither in it nor in GTA 2 there was a full -fledged “cinema” presentation, so his works remained unnoticed, although the developers had already worked out this direction at that time and even removed the lilac short film, the fragments of which were used as intro to the second part. GTA 2 came out in 1999, two years after the original, and sold more modestly: against the background of top releases of that time, she looked very modest. However, at that time the developer team was already preparing the next part, the success of which was practically predetermined.

GTA III and her heritage

The third and most significant game in the series became the swan song DMA Design, which by that time had already left its founders. And the Hausers brothers, meanwhile, founded the company Rockstar (part of which DMA Design soon became) and went back to the development. It is Sam that is usually attributed to a key role in the difficult decision to translate the series into full 3D. Examples of realistic simulation of the city in the conditions of a three-dimensional space by the end of the 90s were already enough: starting from Shenmue, Omikron: The Nomad Soul And finishing Midtown Madness Together with Crazy Taxi. Screenwriter Dan drew inspiration in the series popular at that time "Clan Soprano" And he tried to combine a slightly gloomy, sometimes almost nuar style with irony, which was especially good thanks to the "dumb" protagonist and caricature mafiosi.

Since they selected as the main platform PS2 , not advanced PC, the team had to go to a number of technical concessions. As a result, the quality of study of cars lost any race of those years, and the models of the characters seemed to be the past century against the backdrop of the same Shenmue. But at the same time, DMA managed to achieve excellent optimization and make the loading screen annoy the gamer only after the game launch and with a rare change in locations. A completely three -dimensional city with complete freedom of action, a change of time and weather, as well as an impressive amount of activity made an incredible impression.

GTA III

It was the increased level of credibility of GTA that forced the highly spiritual stratum of the population to score anxiety more than the same – even before the release. First of all, the standard accusations of romanticizing crime, although the producer Leslie Basoli did not get tired of repeating that it was not worth perceiving the game seriously. Partly, art design worked in his favor, completely not striving for photorealism. Of course, this did not stop attacks, and the tragedy on September 11 only added oil to the fire. But even here Rockstar, which, from the time of the first part, was attributed to the propaganda of violence, acted according to conscience. The release of the game in North America was postponed for three weeks, and the image of skyscrapers disappeared from the cover, because Liberty City, as has long been known, was created with an eye on New York. For the same reason, the design of police cars was changed.

Dan Hauser, screenwriter GTA 3:

The roads were blocked, and we simply could not get to the office for five days. And, of course, we reacted to everything, because we watched the terrorist attack from our windows.

As for the changes in the content itself, then, contrary to rumors, there were nothing of them. According to Dan Hauser, the developers changed several lines in the dialogs sounding on the radio, and also threw overboard a mission in which the plane flew next to skyscrapers. But this did not save the game from attacks from both particularly sensitive and eager glory of citizens. The former reproached the developers in a negative attitude towards women – it is unfair, since the main character equally silently launched a bullet in the forehead at least to doctors, even to police, at least ordinary citizens, regardless of their gender and age. But when in 2003, two teenagers killed their peers, a sadly known lawyer crawled out onto the stage Jack Thompson , which we at one time even devoted a small article. Ultimately, all this storm in a glass only attracted additional attention of the already interested audience, and GTA 3 became one of the main hits of the Early PS2 era.

GTA: Vice City and San Andreas

Of course, imitators could not appear – but even after many years only units were able to repeat success after many years. Among the successful projects, only two parts can be distinguished Mafia, where the emphasis was shifted to the plot and shootings in closed locations, as well as a series Saints Row, uttering an absurd degree to the maximum. However, Dan Hauser was also not a mistake and gradually raised the degree of irony, as if trying to take the condemning views of those who accused GTA of propaganda of violence, sex, drugs and, in general, all vicious. Vice City was entirely saturated with the spirit of the 80s and was in every possible way over the gangster ribbons of those years, whether it was "Face with a scars" or "Department of Miami" , And about the dumped into memes San Andreas And you don't have to say. In Russia, this was largely contributed to a pirate machine translation, which gave the Russian language the new meaning of the word "spent".

By the middle of the zero GTA, it became a cultural phenomenon: gamers were ready to sit in the game for eternity even after passing the campaign, performing the remaining activity and having fun in their own generated situations like skips with cops. The longevity of the trilogy was largely provided by the love of the modders, which was actively used by the same pirates that stuck so many “continuations” that they could not count.

Over its long history, GTA turned the industry, prompting many developers to create nonlinear games in the open world, and actually formed a separate genre. And Rockstar, whose name once seemed only an empty shocking, fully acquitted it and has long stood on a par with giants such as Activision And Electronic Arts.

But what awaits the studio in the future, it remains only to guess. Last year, Dan Hauser decided to part with Rockstar, and she has not been in a hurry not only to let out, but to at least announce GTA 6. Well, what will the remasters of the classic trilogy with PS2 be, we will find out very soon: the release is expected this year. Write in the comments which of the parts of the series left you the most vivid memories.

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