A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed.
Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today, I examine the game that revolutionized open-world games forever, “Grand Theft Auto III”.
One Wrong Decision Can Kill You
For many, “Grand Theft Auto III” wasn’t just their first massive open-world experience, it was their first “GTA” experience. The franchise’s original iterations featured everything from a top-down perspective where the game’s camera literally looks down on the action like it’s being filmed from a helicopter. Considering the time when “GTA” and its sequels were released – in the middle and tail-end of the Playstation 1/PSX era – gamers also didn’t see the graphical appeal of something straight out of a generation gone by even if “Grand Theft Auto 2” had one of the better choice systems in any of the games in the series past, present & potentially future.
Instead of embracing what made the other games graphically, Rockstar Games & the second sequel’s developer DMA Design saw their chance to take advantage of Sony Playstation 2’s hardware jump compared to its predecessor that would allow them to present a three-dimensional world promoted as this elegant mix of Mafioso intrigue, action-oriented missions and maniacal mayhem spread across an entire city.
Though “GTA III’s” marketing was rooted in the unbridled freedom gifted to the player (especially if said player uses cheat codes to do things like give everyone in the city a weapon for the complementary “Riot Mode” cheat), the fact is a big part of “3’s” long-lasting appeal was the voice actors providing their talents for the variety of characters and their narrative decisions. “GTA 3’s” story starts off with a literal bang as a then-unnamed crook and his apparent girlfriend try to make out with some significant money when the latter decides to shoot him & leave who would become known as “Claude” for dead. Claude’s former beau, Catalina, allows her greed to get the better of her and, in an attempt to live a life she feels is worthy of her, unintentionally puts a target on her back that Claude plans on striking.
But Claude’s lifestyle following the betrayal also is rooted in choices that could result in his death. The most significant comes at the behest of Don Salvatore Leone (voiced by Frank Vincent of “Raging Bull” & “Goodfellas” fame) after Claude is able to work his way into the Liberty City mafia. During a random day, Claude gets the call from his latest boss to run a simple errand that turns into a mission for the gamer.
Traveling through this digital rendition of New York, Claude is suddenly called up by Leone’s wife who has become smitten with the two-bit criminal and actually lies about a sordid affair between the two to enrage her husband in some random marriage quarrel. The player is then given a choice to either follow the Don’s order, or sail away with Mrs. Maria Leone. If the player chooses to join Maria, Claude enters, what is essentially the game’s second act. But if the player follows his boss’ orders and enters the designated vehicle, Claude goes boom.
We all make dozens, if not hundreds decisions a day to make it the best day possible. But one choice, no matter how significant or measly it seems, may be the difference between seeing the sun rise over a hazy sky coated with pollution, or swimming with the fishes wearing a pair of cement boots.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Grand Theft Auto III” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.