Does anyone remember the first ever game like GTA

[M-B]

Im a massive retro gamer as well as the fantastic new stuff but this title is very unknown amongst people supposedly in the know. Just wondering if anyone in here remembers it at all?

 

Although if obviously differed from the GTA series in some respects I'd point out it definetly set some early and long reaching milestones for games like GTA. A massive (for the time anyway) open world in which you drive around hunting after law breakers? for the time (mid 80's) it was a fantastic game.

[Lucky32]

Carmageddon.

[Krispen Whah]

Driver for the PS1

[Blossy101]

My first thought was G-Police for the PS One. Great old game. But you said mid 80's, so I don't have a clue. What platform was it on? Who released it?

[M-B]

Agreed both have elements as did turbo esprit but pretty sure turbo esprit came before both

[M-B]

My first thought was G-Police for the PS One. Great old game. But you said mid 80's, so I don't have a clue. What platform was it on? Who released it?

Was back in the spectrum/Commodore amiga days

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Esprit

[mogz_cf3]

There was a game called 'retro city' or something like that.

But grand theft auto on the PS1 is what started the love.

[Malndor]

Quarantine - Taxi driving carnage...nuff said.

 

 

[OldSwitcheroo]

All Points Bulletin (APB), supposed to be the biggest influence on the series' development. I thought it was rubbish :-)

[Blossy101]

Just YT'ed Turbo Esprit. Looks like a pretty frustrating game!

[SesameStPimp]

Die Hard Trilogy on the ps1 had a few similarities, especially driving around and running over peds.

[M-B]

Just YT'ed Turbo Esprit. Looks like a pretty frustrating game!

Hell yeah it was. Hard as hell but mainly due to terrible controll issues haha

[Realistic Steak Cult]

Driver was first

[mogz_cf3]

I'm pretty sure driver was after gta.

[StangOne50]

I don't think he was asking about a game like GTA . He was asking about the original GTA .

I never got to play GTA I or II .

[M-B]

I was actually on about games like it in some aspects. Obviously GTA is pretty much one of a kind. And no driver wasn't before turbo esprit as driver was ps1(?) and turbo esprit was before any console at all

[SuccessPastaTime]

Terminator(1990) and Hunter(1991).

 

Don't know if you like space games, but the Elite games, espicially Frontier: Elite II, are absolutely fantastic.

Edited September 10, 2013 by SuccessPastaTime

[S1LV3R_W0LF]

Urban Chaos, that introduced the 3D "Open World" with fighting, weapons and driving mechanics.

I used "Open world" because it wasn't huge, but you could go anywhere you wanted, it also had details like Baseball Stadiums, Police Stations, Stores, Gardens, Streets and Alleys, but you were a cop and not a criminal, but you also had melee weapons like Baseball Bats, Knifes, Machetes...

This game is from 1999, for PlayStation One, Sega Dreamcast and PC, two years before GTA 3 going 3D.

[GutsAndGlory]

First real open world game I ever played was Zelda oacarina of time

[Vanzant]

This was supposed to be moved to Gaming chat, I blame the forum not me.

[LiGzz]

Zelderrrrrrr

[TheTerminatorNY]

Motor City Patrol. It was so much fun when I first got it, but it became really repetitive and boring after just a couple of days. When GTA first came out, it reminded me of this game.

 

 

[Pantera2198]

Driver for the PS1

 

This...I loved that game...until GTA III blew my world

[lil weasel]

I think "Ultima 7a" was the first large scale game for Free Roaming with a large paper doll character..

[DarrinPA]

I'm pretty sure driver was after gta.

GTA didn't go 3D until after Driver 2 was released. 3d GTA was a console generation later.

 

I'm going to go see if there's any youtube vids for Turbo Espirit, looks interesting.

Edited September 11, 2013 by DarrinPA

[Fireman]

Urban Chaos was so far ahead of it's time, it's just crazy.

 

I still play it because the voice acting is hilarious and the gameplay is still good after all these years (where else do you find an open world cop-game where you can actually arrest people).

 

I started a Let's Play for it not so long ago, never finished it, cause my HD is full, this is one of the best levels though:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R7vUmxnahY'>

 

In retrospective, you also play as a woman, nowadays you would get 10/10 for that, list:

 

- 3D Open World

- Playing as the good guy rather than the bad guy in a game about crime.

- (Black) Female protagonist

- "Random" events (they weren't really random, you just had to find them)

- Exploration (including climbing on rooftops and jumping from roof to roof and using a zipwire to slide down)

 

And ofcourse that awesome voice acting.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Fireman

[Cyper]

The original and first MEDAL OF HONOR for PS1. Awesome game. The atmosphere is amazing. The music is f*cking scary.

 

Edited September 11, 2013 by Cyper

[The Milkman]

There was a game called Loose Cannon wich should come out before the 3D GTA games but was never heard of and is most likely cancelled.

 

 

The Story:
Way back in March 2000, we offered a preview of a promising title from Digital Anvil. Loose Cannon featured a futuristic story of police corruption, game play which varied from driving action to on-foot shoot-outs, and a huge, wide-open game world based on various US cities. Anyone reading about the game now will immediately think of Grand Theft Auto, as the games had a lot in common. The big difference, though, is that Grand Theft Auto actually appeared and went on to sell millions and spawn various sequels, whereas Loose Cannon hasn't been heard of since, oh, May 2001, when we learned that Ubisoft had picked up the rights to Loose Cannon and Conquest: Frontier Wars from Digital Anvil.

From IGN

 

 

Could have been a great game.

[El Dildo]

hey I know it wasn't the first, and I know it wasn't technically open-world, but did anyone ever play Felony 11-79?

it was also known as Runabout in Japan and parts of Europe.

 

that was one of the most fun driving games I've ever played.

it was GTA-like in the sense that you could drive a vehicle anywhere through one of several different cities with other traffic and such on the road. you could also go offroad or drive through pedestrian zones like shopping malls and hotel lobbies.

 

you couldn't run over people. the peds would always dive out of the way.

but you could cause all kinds of other destruction. the more sh*t you destroyed, the more points you earned.

 

 

 

 

there were tons of different rides to choose from.

sports cars, trucks, sedans, industrial vehicles, military vehicles, etc.

 

 

great game.

 

http://www.giantbomb.com/felony-11-79/3030-32645/images/

[sanpreet]

true crime streets of la