I played some GTA this past weekend and I have to say it was the most fun I have had doing work for a class in a long time. The game was fun to play and it was interesting too. Once you turn the game on you are brought to a blue screen that looks like a blank computer or tv screen; then someone (not you) begins to type in GTA Vice City and it begins to load – it comes off as though someone were either loading an old computer game or loading up a DVD (I like to think the latter). From there the opening credits begin to role and we learn the back story of the main character, Tommy Vercetti, through a series of scenes from his perspective and the perspective of others. The scenes themselves are shot using different cuts, camera angles, ect… and they give the feeling that we are actually watching a movie. Through these scenes we get a sense of not only Tommy’s back story, but also a broad outline of what will happen over the course of the game. The fact that we get to see Tommy’s back story and that we are able to see scenes that he is not, in short the fact that we know more than he does, sets up an interesting relationship because we play the game as Tommy, therefore sometimes we have to do missions that we know are going to hurt us later or we still have to befriend someone who we know will double cross us later.
The game is also cool because there is a lot of freedom involved when playing it and to some extent whoever is playing, is also involved in creating his or her story world. The plot of the game progresses when Tommy completes missions for different people that he meets. However, for the most part there is not a lot of coltrol by the game over when you complete each mission. You can pick and choose when to do each mission or you can choose to do “side” missions as a taxi service, an ambulance, or a vigilante in a police car – these missions do not advance the plot, but they do allow you to imporve your character before continuing the game.
There is a lot to say about this game and I haven’t come close to covering it all, but i really would reccomend playing it, even for just a little bit, is very fun and it deals with a lot of the things that we have been talking about in class.