Grand Theft Auto II

In 1999, DMA released its first sequel to the original Grand Theft Auto. Switching to a Twenty Minutes Into the Future setting in an unnamed city controlled by numerous gangs and the powerful "Zaibatsu" Corporation, the player controls the hoodlum "Claude Speed" as he plays all sides to get the money to leave the city.

Grand Theft Auto II took the top-down free roaming gameplay of its predecessor and made several improvements, introducing the ability to save, the law enforcement hierarchy present in all future installments, and a "respect" system regarding interaction with other gangs and the missions they make available.

Rockstar has made the game available for free download here.


 * Alliance Meter: One for each of the gangs in the district.
 * Bavarian Fire Drill / Trojan Prisoner: The "Alma Mater Return" mission revolves around intentionally going to prison, stealing a guard uniform, and sparking a riot.
 * Bedlam House: The asylum in Sunnyside has literally been taken over by the inmates.
 * Bowdlerise: The Playstation version chopped out about half 2/3rds of the opening movie, removing most of the violence and the plot where the Zaibatsu assassin kills the main character.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: You. In order to complete all missions, you will have to eventually start killing members of a previously friendly gang to get their rival to offer you jobs. Once all missions from all gangs in an area are completed,
 * City with No Name: Or rather, the generic name "Anywhere City".
 * Cyberpunk
 * Dystopia
 * Early-Bird Cameo: The game introduced the ability to change the radio station in your car, as well as having different ones for each district. This could be considered in a way foreshadowing to GTA Radio.
 * Enemy of My Enemy: The structure of respect from gangs. You could kill several members of their gang and still be respected by them, so long as you killed a significantly higher number of people from a gang they hate.
 * Fission Mailed: Getting arrested is an integral part of the jailbreak mission.
 * Guns Akimbo: An equippable variation on the standard pistol.
 * Hearts Are Health
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: What's DS Phill Hunter (Scott Maslen, also known as Jack from Eastenders) doing nicking cars?
 * I'm a Humanitarian: The Russian mob gathers a busload of people and use their meat for hotdogs.
 * It Got Worse: By the time the player reaches the Industrial District, it's hinted at through the radio that the city is on the verge of complete chaos.
 * Kill It with Fire: The flamethrower kills stuff with fire, obviously. Catching fire is certain death for Mooks and nearly always for the player as well - the only way to survive is to find a health pickup in time.
 * Lightning Gun
 * The Mafiya
 * Medium Blending: The live-action introduction movie.
 * Mega Corp: Zaibatsu.
 * Relationship Values: The respect meter. It impacts the missions available to the player as well as the gangs' behavior towards the player. Gangs with high respect towards the player will be friendly and protect the player if necessary - and gangs with low respect will use their biggest guns whenever they spot the player.
 * Retro Universe: For a futuristic setting, the game seems to feature an awful lot of vehicles with retro designs rooted in the 1920s through to the 1960s; a few cars are even based on real-life models from that period.
 * Score Multiplier: You often receive a fixed amount of points (which equal money), but it is then multiplied by a number you can increase by completing missions, and picking up some power-ups.
 * Scoring Points: Extremely important - saving the player's progress costs 50,000 points.
 * Points are also basically cash.
 * Spell My Name with an "S"/ Sempai-Kohai: The Yakuza boss likes to address you as "kosai", when possibly the correct Japanese spelling is "Kohai".
 * Sex for Product: Oragasmo chocolate bars. I'll have what she's having, indeed.
 * Lampshaded in a radio ad disclaimer: "A Land Rover purchase does not guarantee a satisfied sex life".
 * Shout-Out: The art deco style and SWAT teams in the game are ripped right out of Batman: The Animated Series.
 * Sinister Silhouettes: The Zaibatsu executive in the cinematic.
 * Stepford Suburbia: "The Village", a Zaibatsu-owned gated community.
 * Time Bomb: You in the demo.
 * Too Dumb to Live: This game features fellow carjackers who drive into cars already on the verge of exploding, civilians who run around in circles when a tank is driving through an alley they are in, and gang members who trust the player character after he killed several members of their gang, so long as they killed a larger number of members of a gang they hate. However, given the nature of the GTA series, how much of this is due to deliberate portrayal, and how much is due to the programming, is left unclear.
 * Updated Rerelease: The PC port has various differences, including "Dawn" and "Dusk" settings -- the latter of which places the game entirely at night, with enhanced lighting effects -- elevated trains you can ride around the city (or blow up), and a modified Industrial District map featuring an offshore island.
 * The Sega Dreamcast port has the same bells and whistles, with the notable difference that "Dawn" lighting has been removed completely.
 * Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Grand Theft Auto II introduced the six-star/level law enforcement hierarchy of three levels of police pursuit, then SWAT teams, then an FBI stand-in, and then the military. The wanted levels are capped, so the player won't encounter FBI in the first level and the military until the final level outside missions where they've been scripted to appear.
 * Villain Protagonist: The player character, though to some extent it depends on how you play the game.