Grand Theft Auto sends a silent criminal through three American cities, where every phone call, stolen car, and score decision feeds the next chapter. Use the mission route for progression, then fill in the Kill Frenzies and practical vehicle and weapon references that make the old-school city easier to read.
- Developer
- DMA Design
- Publisher
- BMG Interactive
- Release
- PC: 1997-11-28 · PlayStation: 1997-12-14 · Game Boy Color: 1999-11-22
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Game Boy Color
Game data
Cheats
Cheats in the original Grand Theft Auto split between PC name codes and console names plus PC debug keys. They change weapons, cash, police attention, and world logic for testing.
Radio Stations
The original Grand Theft Auto introduced in-car radio as part of driving, with fictional broadcasts spanning hip-hop, funk, rock, electronic music, and country. Music begins in compatible vehicles, while tuning behavior differs between the computer and PlayStation releases. The soundtrack's original songs, station branding, and DJ presentation established an idea that later GTA games greatly expanded.
Characters
The original Grand Theft Auto uses a lightly defined selectable protagonist so the player's actions remain central. Employers, gang associates, police, and targets are introduced mostly through telephone jobs, pager messages, and mission text as the campaign moves through Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City. Tracking each person's city and allegiance makes the terse story much easier to follow.
Vehicles
Compare the original GTA’s road models and city variants across its three 2D cities. Some names have different bodies in different cities, so the count includes those distinct variants. The unused helicopter and tram are excluded; mission-only references are labeled.
Respray & Bomb Shops
Garages in GTA are practical stops. Respray keeps a car useful, and bomb services where present tie directly into the chapter's mission logic.
Weapons
Weapons in Grand Theft Auto are a compact firearm system tied to slots and street pickups. You find them in crates or from other characters and use them to finish phone jobs and survive timed shooting challenges where the right slot choice matters.
Gangs & Factions
Gangs in the original Grand Theft Auto tie each city to a boss phone and a respect ladder. Turf presence and phone color explain which missions are available and which streets are hostile.
Story Missions
The original GTA's story is a ladder built from calls, cars, and score. Each city changes the people asking for help, but the underlying rhythm stays familiar: take a job, find the fastest route, and keep enough points to open the next chapter.
Power-Ups
Power-ups are scattered pickups that can turn a tight mission into a survivable run when used at the right moment.
Crane Bonuses
The crane turns driving into a small economy. It rewards the player who spots the right car, keeps it clean, and chooses the correct city drop.
Collectibles
Kill Frenzies
Kill Frenzies are the purest arcade pulse in GTA. A familiar street becomes a timer, a weapon, and a target score, rewarding players who know the map well enough to turn a few seconds into a clean getaway.
GTA gameplay tips
- Treat each chapter as a score-and-route problem, not a straight line from phone to phone.
- Keep a fast vehicle nearby before starting a mission with a long delivery or escape.
- Finish the chapter's Kill Frenzies while the map and weapon pickups are familiar.
- Remember that spending score on services makes the next chapter target harder to reach.









































