It might not have aged well but it was groundbreaking back in the day. You had to be there to fully appreciate how revolutionary the original GTA was.

It doesn’t look like much today, but I can tell you my experience when I rented this for the first time in the late nineties. Had the weekend off from work so decided to rent a game for the evening. Looked through the games at the video store for about 5 mins and saw this. The artwork was pretty plain, but I picked it up cause it had a crime for a name. Looked at the back and I almost passed it up, it being top down perspective, and the characters looked tiny; I had no idea what you had to do or what it was even about. I put it down and looked some others, but I played pretty much everything I wanted to there ( PS1 title library at the time was kinda small), so I grabbed GTA and checked out. Played for a few minutes before I lost my starter car, and walked around for a bit, not knowing how to get my destroyed car back lol. I walked across the street and by chance accidentally jacked someone’s car. That’s when it hit me, you could take any car you wanted, my mind was blown. You could kill anyone, take any car, do whatever you wanted. Nothing like this had been done before, I stayed up for like 7 hours straight playing it. I ended up buying it a couple weeks later, I still have my original copy, and the London expansion that came with it. I would probably be bored after a half hour if I played it again, but I don’t think any game will ever floor me the same way as GTA 1 did when I realized the world was mine in that first game. EDIT - fixed spelling/grammar mistakes, added London expansion part.

I will never forget being a teen when this came out, I had a demo of it that I played to death, it was unlike anything else I'd ever played, it was crude but the first proper 'open world' I'd played in. The music, the freedom, the variety of vehicles etc, aaah memories

Going from 1 to 3 was crazy to see. Remember coming home after the midnight release and was just blown away.

My dad wouldn't let me play this franchise until I was 13 but my mom would let me play when my dad was at work lmao.

You should review GTA 2 as well. The gang respect system was really unique for its time and really cool IMO. Game had a lot of replay value for me back in the day.

Played this game to death on PC, it was probably the most moddable game available at the time, or at least one of the easiest games to mod, you could change the sprites, the sounds even make custom maps and missions with the bare minimum of tools, I remember making a full "real car pack" in Paint Shop Pro in the matter of a couple of days then editing the code in notepad to change speed and handling characteristics. We need games like that again

I remember when GTA came out and I had a mate at school who was one the first people to play it, I asked him what can you do on the game, he responded with “mate, what can’t you do” that was it I had to play it, I remember it felt like a massive open world game with endless possibilities plus the soundtrack was amazing, I used to park up on the game and just listen to the radio

Absolute gem of a game. I had a pirated copy in my youth, so I had to memorise a lot of the map. Standout memories: The artwork, character voiceovers, the freedom, the hari krishnas, modifying car stats. "Hey, you wanna know why they call me El Burro" :)

I think one of the craziest moments in this game is where you have to blow up a moving car with the RC car. Then when you've done it, it says "bye mom that'll teach you to bug me for rent" I think it's quite interesting how it was just mindless psycho killer shit whereas in the later games it is just gang warfare and stuff like that and ambiguous characters

I grew up with this original GTA version on PC and I loved the first half of it, but the second half really suffers from all those issues you mentioned. But later when GTA III came to PS2, sweet lord... It was unbelievable! And then Vice City after that, which is my all-time favorite GTA game.

I actually played through the original GTA a couple of years back and it was still a lot of fun. I remember when it originally came out in '97, I became a fan immediately. Soundtrack was fantastic too, I especially liked FunkFM.

GTA 1 blew my mind when it came out. I played it so much. When GTA 2 came out I played it multiplayer with friends at each LAN party we held.

Also a great little feature is you can put the game disk into a CD player and listen to all the songs/tracks off the radio stations.

I remember playing Body Harvest on N64 and GTA on the PS1. I had no idea it was the same people but remember thinking at the age of 10-11, "Man if they combined these two games, it would be the best game ever." GTA3 came out a few years later and blew everyone away.

Jak the fact that you aren't a million subs is a crime against humanity. You are one of the best game oriented content creators i've ever had the pleasure of discovering.

This game will always be one of my favorites. When it came out I think my buddies and I were 16. We'd hang out on the weekends at one dude's house, get super stoned, order pizza, and play this. We laughed so hard playing this. What a fun game. EDIT: 98 here, so we were all 17/18. I just remembered, my one buddy always wrote a Christmas list for what he wanted every year even though he didn't have to, and it was always full of stupid shit just to entertain his mom. That year he put "the power to decide who lives and dies." Without knowing what it was about, she got him GTA, and he hadn't even asked for it. She unwittingly gifted him the power to decide who lives and dies. It was even funnier considering his dad was a police officer.

It was mindblowing for 1997 and the amount of hours I'd sunk into are uncountable. American Fugitive is a great love letter to GTA 1 & 2, check it out.

When GTA London 1969 came out in 1999, expansion packs were very much a known and normal thing for PC games. Doom and Duke Nukem had a ton of official and unofficial expansion packs. the C&C series had expansion packs. Half Life had expansions and total conversions (Counter-strike existed and was popular already by this time).

My brother had this game on PC back in the day, and I remember the soundtrack was one of the best things about it. That isn't to say the gameplay was bad, but that soundtrack was packed with bangers. I remember it was fun to cause a pile up and then blow up one of the cars, causing a chain reaction

my first solo holiday was a long train trip to Edinburgh. I enjoyed the castles, landmarks, the museums but what got me most excited was seeing Rockstar North studio. It looked like any normal building but I was mostly excited to see that this was the exact building where they made GTA games, red dead, manhunt, and apparently Lemmings

I remember renting this game from Blockbusters when I had just turned 18. Absolutely LOVED it!! Had simply never played anything like it before, it was groundbreaking. Also, putting the game CD into your CD player and listening to the tracks blew my mind. Great times!

Soundtrack to this game was also amazing, I remember ripping the OST from the game itself back when you could plop PS1 games into CD players.

Very informative and educational review. Chinatown Wars was my first game, so it's interesting to see how similar it is to this first game. 😀

Best thing about this game was that you couldnt save during a map, only between maps. So you could be playing for 3 hours, be on your last life and be REALLY careful not to die because that would erase 3 hrs of hard work.

This definitely sounds like one of those games I'd never been able to complete back in the day If I'd had it. I appreciate you talking about the first GTA as I'd always been curious of it but not enough to watch a let's play or play it.

Great video thanks! I was 11 when this came out and I can't even explain what it felt like - it was such a time of change. We used to binge this all night long at sleepovers.

I was lucky enough to play this when it released and it was mind blowing, but I think it'd be hard to get into nowadays for people used to modern games. For your criticism about the mission objectives only showing up the start, you could actually press one of the F keys to repeat the mission objectives. Also thanks for reminding me about body harvest, that game also blew my mind back in the day and I'd forgotten it existed

So the first time I saw grand theft auto being played was in the 90s. I went to the skating rink in Germany and the guy at the front desk was playing grand theft auto on a laptop and it looked so cool. I will never forget how revolutionary it looked.

Been watching since you had less than 10k subs, really glad this video is blowing up Jak, amazing content as usual

Great video - good work on spotting Body Harvest, I played the hell out of that game when I was young

I loved this game as a kid. I could never complete it as it was bat shit hard arcade style but loved the open world, the atmosphere, the music. I remember being excited about the free roam concept when my old friend introduced me to it in the 90's. It's funny 'cause now we all just take games like GTA V for granted.

As a kid each car had such a distinct look, feel and sound. The radio music also added to this. It was the defintiion of cool.

I remember watching your let’s play of this years back. Never thought i’d see an actual review though very nice!

So glad to see you do this Jak how I’ve missed your content

Excellent review, the PC version with Glide support was the best way to play but it was insanely hard. I did make it to the other cities but it was just fun exploring Liberty City for short bursts at a time.

I had the first two games on ps1 as a kid. I don't remember playing the first one so much, but me and my Dad would spend hours playing the second one together. We did for years until my Mum found out it was about killing people and took the GTA (and Tekken for some reason) games off me for like 4 years. Unfortunately my GTA 1 disc broke at some point, but I still have the radio disc and the map.

I was there for the beginning. It was CRAZY how much you could explore and do. The chasing specific cars to drive, the unlimited chaos. Between GTA and Carmageddon, I would never view the relationship between cars and cities the same way again.

I remember playing this with my brother back when it had first came out and to this day this game holds up. You have to appreciate it for the time it was released. This was so next level back then and as someone who is a GTA veteran and going strong today I still love it because this started the whole series we know and love today!

A masterpiece to forever hold in my heart. Jak!!!😍

Yes, it’s the best one in the series. Pure joy and lots of humor

I really don't remember it being as hard as you have pointed out in this review, but then again I lived and breathed this game when it came out

I missed your reviews fort a long long time. Keep it up man

It's kinda sad to look back and see how actually "open" the earlier open world GTA titles were, when you compare them to how restrictive and linear GTA V is. Even when they reached GTA 3, a lot of the missions were open ended with really just a goal to achieve; heck some missions even had alternate paths scripted in too, should you have the idea! Seems to be while things like graphics and storytelling have evolved, it's been at the cost of the core idea... I hope that returns some day, even if it;s in a different franchise altogether!

I remember playing this (and gta2) as a kid. Never finished the game, did use cheats, but I had an absolute blast playing it. It had quite a few flaws, as mentioned, but it was a lot of fun and is an important part of gaming history.

Dude I’ve been a fan since 2016, your content is gold. Cheers Jako!

Loved the video! My introduction to GTA was the PS1 entry and while it certainly hasnt aged gracefully, it was so important and I only have fond memories. Also, sidenote, I love the channel name. I certainly got square eyes back in the day :) Subbed!

Great video jak I’m currently watching your old crash bandicoot reviews

The music kicked ass in this game. I used to play the 10 minute demo where you'd blow up after the timer ends. Absolutely loved it.

For anyone who hasn't played it.. This first game was always best if you just went around and did your own thing.. Sure try out some missons and stuff but don't try to play it as a game you have to "beat" it's just supposed to be rampaging fun

Played GTA 1 as a 6 year old, I had no idea it was so innovated. Very nice video, cheers!

Such a professional and well made video. Also its nice to see people using Enter Electro's soundtrack:)

Another great video Jak. Can't wait for more.

This game was so trippy growing up. I'm glad you made this video!

Can't wait for the GTA 2 video. That was the most different GTA game in the franchise, taking an almost cyberpunk aesthetic. Lots of fond memories.

Watching a new episode of you feels like saturday morning when a new episode of my favorite cartoon series came out.

I dunno how I ended up here, I wasn't even paying much attention but as soon as I noticed the posters in the case, I remembered childhood memories, these feelings will never go away

I loved this game, mates would come over and we would just play "life by life" changing each time we got killed or arrested. The camera took a bit to get used to, but quickly became second nature.

I have very fond memories of playing GTA2 during its time, long before GTA3 ever came BURSTING into the scene.

This channel deserves far more attention, GL square eyed Jak

No way! I was literally just thinking about when you did a playthrough video of this game and thought, i wish he'd have carried on with that series, then this video popped up no more than 20 minutes later. I can't wait to watch this one.

Played this so much on my PC back in the day. The presentation and gameplay was unlike anything I had ever seen. Good times looking over my shoulder when running over the Elvises. uhuhuh...thank you very much

This is a fun topic for sure! I have it on ps1 along with gta 2. Didn't play much of them, but I just couldn't resist picking them up.

Other than a definitive review, this Is also game culture. Congratulations for the quality of this video. I am a new follower.

First GTA was great, because you only needed the demo version from a magazine and could easily add the full version content through simply editing a txt file. Starting with a panzer right from the beginning was just fun as hell.

I remember playing the demo at a friends house on their PS1, you definitely had to be there. This was a game changer!

This is one of the best GTA 1 reviews I have ever seen. Also, respect for using the improved PC port and respect for using footage of the improved PC versions of GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas in the intro..you clearly know what you are doing and saying and you have attention to detail. I'm saying that because a lot of people that show footage of GTA 3, SA and VC, normally use the unpatched pc versions that look like crap.

The maps you pulled from the case blew my mind. I never had that growing up haha. Only ever made it to the 2nd map a few times, frustrated the heck out of me haha

Just discovered your channel. Really Nice. Subscribed.

I love this video! Great job dude!

Started at 1… if you can get 2 london 1969 there is a mission with a mini that goes so fast it almost blows up immediately…. Such great games and when 3 came out it changed a lot.

I like the gta saga a lot, i played almost every single game, the only ones left are the classic ps1 games, so i am gonna follow this reviews, good to see you back again, jak.

I feel this game is single handedly responsible for my video game addiction, which lives on today. I played it in 1998 for the first time. I later got the “GTA London” expansion disc. Back then, we didn’t care about completing missions or completing anything really. The whole concept of a truly open world game was enough for hours of fun. You have to understand how completely revolutionary this was in 1998. My buddy and I in college used to take turns and just do crazy shit for hours with no real direction in mind. Maybe a mission here and there. I haven’t seen footage of it since then, so this was a real blast from the past for me.

Haven't tried it recently but I can surely say that the phenomenon started with the first title. As soon as the demo was out, people were hooked and couldn't wait for the final release. I remember playing the demo over and over and over again and my friends did the same. If I remember correctly you had the first city fully available just with a time limit. So there was a lot to already see and explore and the fact that the first GTA had points and multiplikators made for a fun challenge within the demo's time limit. GTA 1 wants you to name your character which was the first time I thought about a nickname for an avatar. It's still my nickname today :D

I had the second one for Playstation growing up and played it quite a bit. The idea of it was better than the execution, but it was enough to carry me through a lot of play time. When 3 came out, I never went back.

Being 41 I was the intended target when gta was released and I remember feeling so free and feeling like this open world was amazing. Looking back I'm surprised we were as amazed as we were. I hope in the future we look back at today's games and think wow how simplistic.

Really appreciated hearing the first level theme from Spider-Man 2: EE and “straight to top/back alley heist” from sly 1 in this review. Hell yeah

I’m about to show my age here, but I remember OG GTA releasing, I was maybe 13/14 at the time. My friend was deep in the PC gaming scene and often set up LANs at his home with his dad. When GTA came out we had a two PC LAN setup and it was three of us doing winner stays on. I was immediately hooked. This game and more so the second are hooked deep in nostalgia for me. I remember the second coming out and being absolutely blown away by the updated graphics and gameplay. It’s a game I usually take with me on my laptop if I’m travelling to another country. There’s nothing like getting up to some vintage carnage sat next to a stranger on a plane! Best games ever!

Loved this game on DOS, Played it so much. Didn't even do that many of the missions, just drove around and made trouble so many times.

Grand Theft Auto is tight, I like when you start driving fast, I like when the camera zooms out. That's cool. The top-down view makes me think of a drone view.

Lots my friends had these on ps1. But no one ever mentioned they had 3 maps. Think as kids ppl would drive and screw around a little bit, get bored and move on quickly. Similarly when gta3 was out everyone played it nonstop and talked bout it, but no one I knew as kids ever beat these or did story missions, all my friends just liked screwing round hours on end and wld roll eyes or something if I pulled up to a story mission. Wasn’t til San Andreas I started hearing others talk bout story events and such beating it lol. So nice see a video being more in depth on these.

I was in 7th grade when this came out and(with also Quake), the pirated PC-version version was installed in every computer in the computer classes. So much fun playing multiplayer via LAN.

I played the shit out of my PC with this game lol. Not to mention how many hours I spent listening to the soundtrack when I wasnt playin.. awesome game back then.

Once again an excellent review. GTA2 was my first GTA game. I did play this one but preferred its successor.

I remember back in 1997 playing the original GTA timed demo thousands of times. I was never allowed to buy it for my PS1 being 9, but my parents never realised what the playstation demo disks contained. It was amazing to 9 year old me

I think this game is still pretty enjoyable to play, especially the driving part. Graphics wise of course GTA 2 was a big jump.

Bought this back in the day from Kmart while my mom was shopping. When the electronics guy scanned it a loud alarm went off. I was like 13 and terrified but managed to hide the fear and the guy just shut off the alarm and took my money. I felt like I had 5 stars wanted level after that transaction. 😂

I played this for the first time like 6 months after it came out and I was hooked. Pop the game out and throw in my own music CD and just cause chaos. The theme is on my driving playlist.

It's difficult to explain how much fun this game was when it came out. I remember just playing the demo alot which seemed like it had more content than some full games. Gta 2 was good fun as well with the added gang rivalry element.

I finished the game like a year ago to fulfill my childhood promise to myself. Everything the guy says is true - fast text, confusing objectives, necessary multipliers, stupid Liberty City, great San Andreas, ... everything. My advice - if you want to finish this without cheats then the map is a must and also take some notes. Write down what you need to do in missions and especially where the multipliers are. This was crucial in Vice City Pt2

I played the top-down games a few years ago. Regarding the disappearing messages, you can replay them by pressing F7 for pager messages and F9 for messages at the bottom of the screen. Basically I ended up replaying them and pausing while they were onscreen. F9 shows your current area, which is very useful in conjunction with the map. Speaking of which, the pay n' sprays are marked on the map, albeit in the incorrect locations in San Andreas. I also got to play the multiplayer of these games a last year. The online multiplayer still works, as it's a direct connection between PCs. It has race and deathmatch modes and is pretty fun. GTA 2 has deathmatch only, but has more modes and more maps.

Man this brings back memories. Much like the ps2 games, i never finished the original GTA (Never played the second game either) because i spent so much time ignoring missions and causing chaos. My favorite thing was shooting my pisol and causing npcs to run on the rain tracks or into the water. I remember having the first city practically memorized with the bribes, bulletproof vest, machine gun, and car crusher location. Words cannot describe how amazing it felt to play something like it as a kid and driving around with that badass radio music that got better with each new game. Words could not describe how amazing GTA 3 was to witness after playing the first GTA for so many years. It was truely amazing when i was a kid.

It was awesome when it came out, and it's still awesome today.

It's always a satisfaction when squared eyed jak uploads. Makes depression vanish for the next 24:19 minute ....

That thing with the mission text going by too fast actually has a solution: you can press one of the F keys, F1, I believe, on PC to show the last message again, and on PS1 it's select.

Great review, Jak!

I remember watching my brother play GTA 2 Excited for that video

Playing GTA at the time was amazing! It was very rare for games of that era to give a sense of 'freedom' and sandbox options. The music is also fantastic.

I remember how happy I was when I accidentally discovered how to quickly open the other two maps. When a car blows up and causes other vehicles to blow up it creates a multiplier, if you park enough vehicles in close proximity (say 15-20 vehicles tightly parked together) and then shoot one 'til it blows you make about 10 million points from the multiplier and win the map.

Nice to see you back jak