As the foundational Main Game in the crime sandbox genre, this 1997 title tasks you with accumulating points by performing various criminal acts across three cities to satisfy mob assignments. Gameplay blends Shooter, Racing, and Adventure elements; progress requires hitting a target score, which doubles as your money meter, allowing purchases like paint jobs that deduct from your total score. Upon reaching the goal, you must drive to an exit point to complete the level, managing your score carefully against necessary spending.
The primary objective in each stage revolves around accumulating points, which simultaneously function as the player's money meter. This currency is not merely a score tracker; it can be actively spent on in-game items such as vehicle paint jobs, which adds a layer of resource management to the action. Successfully reaching the target score unlocks the requirement to drive to a designated location to finalize the level and advance to the next challenge.
As an aspiring figure in the criminal underworld, the player undertakes various assignments for organized crime figures. The path to success involves executing a range of illicit activities. These range from the titular act of auto theft to more severe offenses like hit-and-runs and outright murder, all contributing to the necessary point accumulation.
This main game title was initially launched for DOS and PC (Microsoft Windows), and later saw releases on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 consoles. The genres encompassed within the gameplay include Shooter, Racing, and Adventure elements, reflecting its early, multi-faceted approach to open-world crime simulation.
Regarding post-launch content, this specific main game release features one official expansion pack. There are currently no recorded remakes or remasters of this original 1997 version available.
A unique mechanic ties directly into progression: any money spent on vehicle customization or other purchases is deducted directly from the current score total. This means that while spending provides immediate utility, it simultaneously pushes the player further away from achieving the required level completion threshold, demanding strategic decision-making regarding resource allocation versus score targets.
Advice for consumers Contains glamorisation of crime and occasional strong bad language. Brief outline of the game 2D top down view free roam action game. Gameplay is based around being a criminal and includes stealing cars, shooting other gangsters, shooting pedestrians, driving over people and fighting off the police. Content specific issues Characters are indistinct, undetailed and all gameplay is top down 2D. Although there is blood, characters' reactions to being hurt or injured are non-realistic. The game features frequent mild bad language in on-screen speech bubbles including 'asswipe', 'shit' and 'bastard'. Also the game contains an introductory song that includes use of the word 'fuck'.
Medium level animated violence, Adult themes

Grand Theft Auto 64 is an unreleased port of Grand Theft Auto for the Nintendo 64 which was cancelled before being revealed to the public.

The Game Boy Color version of Grand Theft Auto was unabridged, which was quite a technical achievement due to the sheer size of the cities, converted tile-for-tile from the PC original, making them many times larger than most Game Boy Color game worlds were because of the handheld's limited hardware. This Game Boy Color version also had an exclusive character named Kelly, who could be renamed Sumner, and activate a cheat code which unlocks 15 characters, based on the games' creator. Wanted Levels were represented by a trouble bar in the Game Boy Color. The game also features a radically different soundtrack from the PC and PS1 versions, replacing all the songs that play on the radio and menus in those versions with 8-bit instrumental tracks composed by Anthony Paton.

Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 is a mission pack for Grand Theft Auto. The game uses the same game engine as Grand Theft Auto, thus having similar graphics and gameplay. Like Grand Theft Auto, the mission pack is divided into sub-sections with short cut scenes between.