Games - GTA clone

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	Games - GTA clone

GTA clone is a term used by videogame critics and players to refer to the slew of videogames released following the massive success of Grand Theft Auto III (GTA III) in 2001, which emulated, or at least attempted to, the gameplay functions of GTA III or other later games from the Grand Theft Auto series.

History

Many critics note the release of Grand Theft Auto III as a revolutionary event in the history of videogames, much like the release of Doom nearly a decade earlier. (Game Informer
Issue 138 p.73). Rather than inventing new forms of gameplay, the Grand Theft Auto series combined existing elements and fused them together into an entirely new experience. The free-roaming world, intense violence, criminal plotline, and freedom of choice found in GTA III was extremely popular. Such as the case with Doom, game developers quickly began to "clone" the game style of GTA.

Some of these "clones" offered original gameplay scenarios and attempted to create their own interpretation of the "free-roam" gameplay of GTA. However, others simply attempted to capitalize on the success of GTA, and "borrowed" wholesale from the gameplay, story, and themes found in GTA, without offering anything new.

Game critics are often quick to label a game "GTA clone", and as such, it is often used in a derogatory way (See review for an example). Nearly any game that employs a free-roaming game structure in the third-person style are bound to be compared to GTA, no matter how dissimilar they are to GTA. However, similar labeling occured to many first-person shooters that were released following Doom.

Games considered GTA clones

DRIV3R (2004) and Driver: Parallel Lines (2006): In a somewhat ironic twist, the last two games in the Driver series have been labelled "GTA clones", however, it was the Driver franchise that actually pioneered the 3-D free-roaming game structure before GTA III; two Driver titles under this design were released before GTA III
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (2005): Although using an open-world structure like GTA, Mercenaries changes setting from the inner-city criminal underworld of GTA to a war-torn North Korea and focuses on military themes
Destroy All Humans! (2005): Much like Mercenaries (the two games were developed by Pandemic Studios
), Destroy All Humans! uses the gameplay structure of GTA but changes setting; the main character is an alien invading Earth
True Crime: Streets of LA (2003) and True Crime: New York City (2005): Although Street of LA was well-received by critics as a strong rival of GTA, its sequel was received considerably poorer
25 To Life (2006) and 187 Ride or Die (2005): A subcategory of the "GTA clone", a group of games with gritty "urban", street gang themes were released following Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), most of which were poorly received

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