'GTA Clones' Rant

[Slingaa]

First of all, I'd like to make something clear. I love GTA. This post may sound like I'm slagging it off, but I'm not, in any way. What I'd like to say is that the phrase 'GTA Clone' is becoming heavily overused. Lots of games that have even very small similarities to Grand Theft Auto are automatically classed as 'GTA Clones'. Take Mafia II for example. I read a few reviews about it and alot of them said it was a 'GTA Clone'. So I thought I'd give it a rent, but I f*cking loved it. It was nothing like a 'GTA Clone', the setting, atmosphere, storyline, weapons and vehicles were all totally different to GTA IV. Mafia II follows a linear storyline with limited free roam and sandbox features.

 

When people think of crime games, people generally think of GTA. When people think of racing games, people generally think of Need for Speed or Gran Turismo. Many crime games are classed as 'GTA Clones' but no racing games are classed as 'Need for Speed clones' or 'Gran Turismo clones'.

 

/rant.

[Robinski]

These days it isn't necessarily a derisive term. Most people will either not know what you mean or be bored when they read "open world, mission based, third person shooter". The most identifiable of these types of games is GTA. Everybody who's played a small amount of games in the last decade instantly knows what type of game you mean, because they know GTA and what it's like.

 

It's a lot easier to nail down a racing game in three words. It's generally either a "track racing game" or a "street racing game" or a "rally racing game" and people instantly know what all those things mean, which they might not for "Open world, mission based, third person shooter".

[ptiko]

I get pissed off when people say that LA noire is basically GTAIV.

[JOSEPH X]

I get pissed off when people say that LA noire is basically GTAIV.

...but they don't.

[ptiko]

I get pissed off when people say that LA noire is basically GTAIV.

...but they don't.

Yes. They do. I've had atleast 6 people in the last week mention that it looks just like it. Then I rage.

[Toup]

I get pissed off when people say that LA noire is basically GTAIV.

...but they don't.

Yes. They do. I've had atleast 6 people in the last week mention that it looks just like it. Then I rage.

If those people make you rage you must have a problem.

[ptiko]

Oh noes

[SLRMC93]

I get pissed off when people say that LA noire is basically GTAIV.

...but they don't.

Lies, inglorious lies.

[The Killa]

Ironically GTA 3 at the time was considered a Driver-clone (or so I remember reading. May have been a different game, or both) because that game was one of the first 3D "urban-setting" sandbox game. Video games tend to borrow a lot of mechanics, technology, and features off eachother. Games that are successful will inevitably be "copied" in one form or another by developers who notice their success, and obviously try to turn in a game for their own.

 

 

[Dymez]

Any crime sandbox game will get the term 'GTA Clone' stamped to it because Grand Theft Auto are innovators of the sandbox genre, and that's just the way it is. There's nothing anybody can do about it except wait because over time there will be more and more crime sandbox games in the near future and the term GTA Clone will be dropped. Sandbox games aren't even consider an actual genre in itself yet but more of a style of play. Just give it time and don't let it enrage you.

[McReary7772]

I get pissed when people constantly go "La noire is not GTA"

 

Thats Fu*king obvious

[nicotin3]

The original Mafia was incredible . Mafia 2 was just a GTA IV clone.

[Adler]

Mafia 2 was just a GTA IV clone.

I didn't think so. They didn't even include a Free Ride mode and not to mention the storyline is still on another level than GTA...

[nicotin3]

This Mafia trailer is really well done.

In 2002 those graphics were cutting edge, Mafia made gta3 look like a cartoon textured in paint..

 

[nightwalker83]

Mafia II follows a linear storyline with limited free roam and sandbox features.

Maybe that is because the mafia a common theme in both games. Also, I think Mafia was in the works long before GTA3 but it took about 9 years to release Mafia 2 after they released Mafia 1.

[Rockworm]

Most times when I hear "GTA clone" its meant as an insult. Like being compared to GTA is a bad thing. I had an argument in another forum about LA Noire..... this idiot said its a GTA clone because the side cases had shooting that was similar....... Yeah ummm thats like saying Borderlands is a Fallout 3 clone because it ummmmm has first person guns and stuff.

lol.

[Bowserchomp]

Mafia II sucked. If I want to watch a movie, then by God, I'm gonna watch a damned movie! And not have to deal with the worst gameplay ever put into a GTA clone, period! I wish Mafia II was merely a GTA IV clone, then it would be a lot better. But no, it's a movie with bits of rubbish gameplay. Stop calling it a good game, it's not, it's a piece of trash that I got for free with an equally worthless graphics card that I later returned to Amazon for a full refund (but I still have the Mafia II game on Steam).

 

I hate Mafia II because it perpetuates the present and the future of gaming. A lot of boring cutscenes and just a little cruddy gameplay. Amazing what 60 dollars will get you, eh? On a 200-300 dollar console? 2 (bullets in the back of Mafia II's head) out of 10.

[Algonquin Assassin]

 

Mafia II sucked. If I want to watch a movie, then by God, I'm gonna watch a damned movie! And not have to deal with the worst gameplay ever put into a GTA clone, period! I wish Mafia II was merely a GTA IV clone, then it would be a lot better. But no, it's a movie with bits of rubbish gameplay. Stop calling it a good game, it's not, it's a piece of trash that I got for free with an equally worthless graphics card that I later returned to Amazon for a full refund (but I still have the Mafia II game on Steam).

 

I hate Mafia II because it perpetuates the present and the future of gaming. A lot of boring cutscenes and just a little cruddy gameplay. Amazing what 60 dollars will get you, eh? On a 200-300 dollar console? 2 (bullets in the back of Mafia II's head) out of 10.

I know people have their own opinion, but jeez why let a game get to you so much?

 

Games like Mafia II aren't meant to please everyone. Some people like a game with a solid story to relate to, and it wasn't just a heap of cut scenes, and little game play. If anyone bothered to play the first game they would know it was heavily story driven. Obviously the sequel would follow suit.

 

Just like the tools that rag on LA Noire for its free roam. If they didn't want a story driven game then they shouldn't have bought one, or at least done some research before buying.

 

I don't feel sorry for people who act like they were robbed when infact they should've known what they were in for.

 

Anyway to me yes Mafia II is a good game. Actually it's a great game.

Edited May 26, 2011 by Miamivicecity

[LCollusions]

WHAT.

 

EDIT- Sorry, am tired and sleepy.

[GTAIndo]

A Grand Theft Auto clone, also known as a GTA clone, is a term used by gamers and video game critics for a game that emulates, or has gameplay elements similar to the Grand Theft Auto series, following the success of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001. Specifically, a GTA clone is typically an action sandbox video game that usually contains a large free-roaming map that can be explored on foot or in a vehicle, with mission and side-missions displayed on a mini-map for the player.

Notable examples include the Saints Row series (2006-); True Crime series, which includes True Crime: Streets of LA (2003), True Crime: New York City (2005) and True Crime: Hong Kong (2010); The Godfather: The Game (2006) and The Godfather II (2009); Scarface: The World is Yours (2006); The Simpsons Hit & Run (2003); and DRIV3R (2004), which was parodied and/or referenced several times in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The Getaway (2002) is also classified as a Grand Theft Auto clone, although set in England. Recent releases like Gangstar: West Coast Hustle (2009) and Gangstar: Miami Vindication (2010) can also be counted.

 

The term also applies to games that, although it does not involve violence or wielding weapons, it still has elements similar or otherwise lifted from the GTA III Era, such as Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Tony Hawk's Underground (2003), Bratz: Rock Angelz (2005) (which one of the reviews even called "GTA for girls", and, coincidentally, uses the same RenderWare engine as the GTA III era), Bratz: Forever Diamondz (2006) and Jaws Unleashed (2006).

 

Some critics have extended the GTA Clone label to the Driver series, despite that series starting in 1999, two years before the release of Grand Theft Auto III. While GTA 2 was produced as a top-down perspective, Driver started as a 3D series. But since technology advances, GTA III could have been released as a 3D game without the influence of the Driver series.

 

OriginsEdit

Open-world, 3D action-adventure games existed as a predominantly European genre for many years prior to the release of any similar game from DMA Design. Mercenary (1985) featured an open-world, non-linear quest in which the player could steal vehicles, shoot, and explore freely, including conflicts with the authorities. The Terminator, released in 1990, was a free-form, open-world game that set its action in a modern-day city that extended for miles, and included the ability to fire at civilians and steal cars. This game was also notable for being among the first American-developed games to feature these elements. Hunter continued the evolution into something more closely resembling the GTA series, with full 3D, third-person graphics and the ability to steal many different vehicle types.

DMA Design began pursuing open-world game design with the first Grand Theft Auto, which allowed players to commandeer various automobiles and shoot various weapons within a mission-based structure. Unlike later games in the series, and indeed many earlier influences, the first two GTA games were 2D. In 1998, DMA moved many of these design concepts into a 3D world, with Body Harvest. Grand Theft Auto III took the gameplay foundation of the first two Grand Theft Auto games and expanded it into a 3D world, and offered an unprecedented variety of minigames and side-missions. The title was a much greater commercial success than its direct precursors, and its influence was profound. As such, Grand Theft Auto III is credited with popularizing this genre, let alone inventing it. Its release is sometimes treated as a revolutionary event in the history of video games, much like the release of Doom nearly a decade earlier. GamePro called it the most important game of all time, and claimed that every genre was influenced to rethink their conventional level design.

 

DefinitionEdit

Calling a game a "Grand Theft Auto clone" is sometimes considered unfair or insulting. This is because reviewers sometimes use this term to suggest that the "clone" is a mere imitation, designed for the sole purpose of capitalizing on the success of the Grand Theft Auto series. However, this term can also be used as a neutral description of a game, which can range from good to bad. Reviewers have used "Grand Theft Auto clone" to describe games that rest on their own merits, and do not necessarily dismiss the entire class of games as mere imitators.

Games of this type are sometimes defined under the broader terminology "open world games" or "sandbox games". However, many games that predate Grand Theft Auto III, such as Metroidfrom 1986, are also called open world games, while games like SimCity have been called "sandbox games." Conflictingly games such as Grand Theft Auto III and Body Harvest are credited with inventing this genre more than a decade later. Furthermore, reviewers have stated that this genre does not include every game with a freely explorable world and that this genre is much more specific, thus excluding the free-roaming titles Spider-Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction from this class of games. The terminology is inconsistent, sometimes including any game with open level design, while other times focusing on a specific genre created at the turn of the century.

 

Without clear classifications to describe the genre popularized by Grand Theft Auto, reviewers have created a number of alternate names for this genre. Some reviewers have focused on the pervasive criminal themes and content in the genre, using terminology such as "crime games", "crime-based action games", and "gangsta genre". Other journalists have emphasized gameplay by describing the genre as "free roaming action adventure games", "driving-and-shooting games", and "driving action hybrids".

 

Rockstar's responseEdit

 

Billboard in GTA: San Andreas mocking True Crime: Streets of LA.

Added by Blakegripling ph

As a result of such similarities, Rockstar has placed several Easter eggs to mock the competition.

In Grand Theft Auto III, Claude is tasked with a mission called "Two-Faced Tanner", where they must kill an undercover cop (that Asuka describes as "strangely animated"). This "Tanner" character is described as being "totally useless outside of his car", a reference to the uselessness of on-foot action in Driver 2. Rockstar even went as far as to give Tanner a female walking animation.

 

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, during the mission "Autocide", the targets that Tommy Vercetti must kill are subtle references to the main characters of Driver 2 (Dick Tanner, after Tanner), The Getaway (Marcus Hammond and Franco Carter, after Mark Hammond and Frank Carter), and True Crime: Streets of LA (Nick Kong, after Nick Kang Wilson). DRIV3R responded by including ten hidden enemies named "Timmy Vermicelli" (after Vice City protagonist Tommy Vercetti), who wore waterwings, since no one in the GTA series could swim before GTA: San Andreas.

 

 

The man playing the game insults Refractions (Reflections Interactive).

Added by Chimpso

As a mockery of DRIV3R, GTA San Andreas included a mission where, while breaking into Madd Dogg's mansion, there is a man playing a video game and making fun of the way the main character walks (Tanner's walking animations were often criticized) and asking how "Refractions" (A spoof of Reflections Interactive, the designers of the Driver Series) could "mess up so bad".

Luxoflux, makers of True Crime: Streets of L.A., also responded by putting up billboards in their game mocking the Rockstar Games logo used to advertise jockstraps around Los Angeles, California. In response to the "Jockstrap" billboard, another San Andreas Easter egg mocks True Crime, which was depicted on several billboards in the city of Los Santos as "True Grime". This is also evident in the "TRUEGRIME" vehicle cheat code in San Andreas that spawns a garbage truck on input, mocking True Crime. One mission features Ryder, before entering and robbing a house, crying "Yeah, yeah, we gotta do it ninja style.", a coin phrase for the True Crime protagonist, Nick Kang. And in a cemetery in San Fierro, gravestones with "R.I.P. Opposition, 1997-2004" can be seen, as Rockstar implies that San Andreas has "killed" the competition. Luxoflux again referenced GTA and it's use of remote controlled vehicles in the GTA III era in True Crime NYC, by having the protagonist, Det. Marcus Reed, say at the start of a mission: "Now I gotta be a cab driver for this fool? Next thing you know I'll be flying remote controlled toys and sh*t."

 

When Saints Row 2 was released in 2008, Rockstar did not have time to respond as THQ ran a television commercial that mocked Grand Theft Auto IV of it's useless features. No controversy became of this, and no actual footage of GTA IV was shown, but the ad did feature the Pricedown font, which is the font used on all GTA logos since GTA III.

[Rhoda]

For a game to be called a GTA clone could either be a great compliment or an insult. It depends what kind of gamer you are, and how annoyed you get at other games just as well as any other. The trouble is, there won't be another game released for a long time that is set in a city you have some control in/over without people jumping all over it, claiming it's a rip-off of GTA or some self-righteous "clone". Mafia II and L.A Noire borrow very little from GTA when you consider the freedom aspect. It is the freedom of GTA that makes it what it is, else you may as well be playing Driv3r where you take the reins of a character who looks like he's caked his pants when he runs. Sure, Tommy Vercetti had a "John Wayne enema" strut about him, but that's besides the point. I'm happy developers are looking at what's successful and trying to imitate it. They may never get there, but it just makes me appreciate GTA for being the influential franchise it's become. I don't get annoyed at other games... I just don't play them.

[nlitement]

Mafia was the original GTA clone and it was better than GTA III. Too bad Mafia II was a bit of a failure, and Saints Row is even worse.

[DML]

Mafia was the original GTA clone and it was better than GTA III.

And remember that Mafia 1 was in development for years (even while GTA 2 was in development and pre-release). I remember seeing early screenshots of the street-level, fully 3D Mafia city from Illusion Softworks around 1999.

[kudoboi]

calling them clones just makes you a very sad person.. its a genre and any company can use it.. if activi$ion makes FPS games, does that mean EA cant make them?