Graphics Perception

Discussion of how GTA 1's graphics felt retro even at release compared to 3D games and Wipeout, yet the top-down view gave it distinctive charm

Even during its late-90s debut, the original *Grand Theft Auto*’s top-down visuals felt notably retro compared to contemporary 3D hits like *Wipeout* or *Carmageddon*. For some, this "janky" and dated presentation acted as a significant barrier that discouraged them from the franchise for years, while others found the bird’s-eye view to be a distinctive, charming hallmark of the era. This legacy is so ingrained that even *GTA III* preserved the old-school camera as an optional "trip" for nostalgic players, though the technical complexities of original 3dfx files now make revisiting those early aesthetics a difficult task for modern gamers.

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I always feel old when I read Reddit comments by people who say they feel old because they remember when GTA III came out. I played a lot of GTA I and II in the late 90s/early 00s. Admittedly GTA I felt a bit dated at the time but GTA II was great. The top-down view didn't age well I guess but made it feel quite distinctive. I feel like in a lot of people's minds the series only really began at III.

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I like how GTAⅢ is the only 3D GTA game (not 3D- era GTA game, because Chinatown Wars lol) where you can permanently select the oldschool top-down camera. It's kind of a trip to play it that way.

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I played GTA after I played Carmageddon and I thought the graphics on GTA were kind of retro at the time, but in reflection, it does have some charm, I think.

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Loved carmageddon, and yes graphics felt far more modern than GTA. Still loved gta eventually though as it was more fun.

Dropped out of gaming before GTA3 came out, but was given a PlayStation and gta V last year, very disappointed there was no “gouranga”

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I'm more than old enough to remember the original GTA and GTA II, and I have friends who played and loved both of them. For me, I thought the first GTA had graphics from the past (I'd got too used to playing 3D shooters on PC - along with Wipeout on the Playstation - so struggled to get past the top down presentation), and just felt janky to play. GTA II was more polished, but I still didn't love it. Yet people raved about them.

Anyway, the negative associations I had with GTA I and GTA II stopped me from playing any other GTA game until 4 came out in 2008, at which point I was like, OK, FFS, people won't stop banging on about this so I suppose I'll try it again. I ended up really liking it but, because I only played it on friends' consoles, and I started the game several times over, I never played it all the way through until 2018. I then played through both the expansions, along with GTA V in 2019. I've subsequently gone back to play III and Vice City, both of which I also like - as well as Vice City Stories on the PSP. I've barely touched San Andreas, but the few minutes I have played suggest that I'll also enjoy it.

I've even fired up GTA and GTA II again... but still don't really get on with either of them. I presume there must be others out there who were put off enough by them that it meant they've never touched the rest of the series, or only got into again several games later, but it doesn't seem to be a particularly common experience.

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Love GTA1, but IIRC my version at least is a 3dfx glide game which makes it quite hard to play on modern kit.

Will give this a try.

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It has an 8-bit color, a True Color and a 3dfx executable side-by-side in the installation folder.

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