h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Grand Theft Auto - The Computer game - A742312
Author: Silverfish (Scout) - help scientific research at A719615 - U172935

I've been tweaking this entry for quite a long time, and finally think it is ready, so I want to know what you all think of it.

sorry for the delay in responding, but I've had an 80 hors work week.

Anyway, love the additional stuff!

Hopefully more folks will pop by.

Friar

This is a great start, and a superb game!

Can I suggest:

Perhaps a paragraph explaining why it's fun - mindless violence, and the freedom of following a mission or just causing carnage. There's quite a bit of freedom in how to play the game, where to go next, and so on. Playing to complete the level, or playing to kill fifteen minutes and tear things up! Also the top-down view is an important part of the game.

A bit more about the controversy around playing as a criminal. Are there any juicy quotes that you could use - I think I remember a lot of moral outrage about it., and there should be something on a website somewhere....

Hope this helps...

Otto

Very good! What do you think about mentioning the variety of cars available in the game - and the level of detail about how they 'drive' and so on... there's a whole cottage industry out there creating new cars to be patched into the game. Also, when playing it, I sometimes adopted an individual style that determined the kind of car or even the specific model that I stole... sometimes I'd go only for yellow taxis, other times normal saloons, or more obviously sportscars.

It's definitely worth mentioning the different performance level of the cars, though, because there are some jobs where you need a fast enough car to be able to make good your escape, or jump a broken bridge.

Any thoughts, Silverfish?

Great start!

You never mention that it's on the game consoles? I didn't see a mention anyway.

>>Earning points

I thought that this was money that acted as points, at least in most situations. I could be wrong. You say "although this does cost money (i.e. points)." later. I've always heard it called money, not points...

Under the police section, could you mention the military? I like taking a tank

You should mention the different games. GTA 1, GTA 2 had relatively bad graphics. GTA 3 was a major improvement. Vice City looks neato. Frankly, you're calling this all one game, which is misleading.

And no mention of the various bans that are enforced on this game? If you want to stik to the game itself and not RL, that's fine

In my opinion this needs a lot of work, but it's a very good start

Thanks for the comments everyone. Sorry it took so long to get back to you all.

Friar

I'm glad you like the new stuff.

Otto

I've added a paragraph about the freedom the game gives you, in the 'Aim of the game' section. I might add something about the controversy, but I really want to concentrate on the game itself. I can't find any particularly juicy quotes unfortunately, it's hard to know where to look, considering the age of the game.

Number six

I'll probably right a bit about the different vehicles in the game, as I agree that they are rather important.

Jodan

I'm intending to write just about the original game, although I might put a bit in the intro about there being sequals. My reason is that I don't know much about the other games in the series (I haven't even played GTA3).

I'm not sure what consoles grand theft auto was on, although I'll see if I can find out.

In the original game, there was no dollar sign next to the number of points, although sometimes they are used as money, and there is no dollar sign in front of the number. They seem to me to be like the points you get in pinball, say, where you get multipliers, and other bonuses. Also the manual refers to them as points.

The tank, as far as I know wasn't a police vehicle in the original game, although in GTA 2 I think the army get called in (or is it the national guard), who do use tanks. I'll probably mention tanks if I do a bit on vehicles.

Finally, as for the bans on the game, I might mention them, but only briefly, and if I can find reputable sources indicating where it was banned. As I said before, I don't want to dwell too much on the controversy, rather than the game itself.

Thanks for all the comments everyone, I'll get back to you when I make more changes to the entry.

Good stuff - I've only played the original myself. Maybe worth including a bit about the London mission pack (which I *really* wanted to get but by that time the missus had made my throw the original game away as the amount of time I spent playing it did her head in) and the relatively unusual 'overhead' viewpoint that the game gives on the action.

Nice! How about a mention of the Kill Frenzy's - IMHO, the best bit! Good entry.

It's already in there, Elentari, under 'powerups'.

I've just added a section on the vehicles in the game, as suggested by number six. I've divided things into a few broad categories, cars (and vans), lorries and other big vehicles, emergency services, and tanks.

There are still things I might like to include as mentioned before. I haven't found any more on the controversy, any help in researching this would be very useful. Also I'll probably mention briefly the other games in the series, once I work out what formats they appeared on.

Also, I'll think about putting a bit on GTA:London in, but probably only a mention that it exists, as it isn't really that different to GTA itself, only it has a bit better graphics, and the setting is London rather than America. The way the game works is pretty much the same.

Anyway, tell me what you think.

My mistake - obviously didn't read it carefully enough! Sorry!

Good entry on a fun game

Perhaps you could include a footnote or something in the 'vehicles' section saying that the vehicle names play on the brand names of real vehicles ie. Jugular = Jaguar, Bug = Beetle, Mundano = Ford Mondeo etc.

Maybe you could give the trains a quick mention in the vehicles section too.

Hey there

Where do we stand on this?

Are we ready to be recommended (he says with one hand controlling Vice City)

Friar

There are still a few little things I want to change, such as the things mentioned by rocketman, as well as a brief mention of the various sequels. I'll try to get them done as soon as possible.

I've made about all the changes I wanted to make, mentioning the sequels, the top down view, as well as the train and the fact that various vehicles have names that are based on real car names. I'll probably want to have another read through, though, to see if I can see anything else that needs work, as I haven't done that for a while.

I've not gone into the controversy much, and I don't think I will, as I don't know very much about that, and want to concentrate on the game itself.

Looking good... one query - "In the game you control a criminal, who works for a series of gangsters, and other villians."

Sort of, yes, but I get the feeling you're more of a freelance who takes on 'jobs' from the gang leaders - between missions you're pretty much left to your own devices, and can just drive around in fancy cars, or rack up the points by taking as many cars as you can to the docks.

And if you fail a mission, you sometimes have to do that until something else turns up.

Looking very good indeed. Typo in the final line:
"The tank is very raw, and is usually hidden, on levels that have them."

This is a good entry, and has been improved substantially. If I do have a criticism, it's that it ends a little abruptly. I can't think of any obvious way to improve it, though...

Otto

Being a retro gamer myself, I won't play anything more recent than my SNES, I've never played Grand Theft Auto, but assuming the factual information is correct this is a good entry.

Number six

I've changed that bit to 'does various jobs for' as I think that is a better description.

Otto

I've corrected the typo, and I've moved the bit about the sequels to the end, in a final 'conclusion' section, to give the entry a more definite finish, as well as allowing the first section to concentrate on the original game that is the focus of the entry,

Thanks both of you for your comments, and thanks z for your comment.