Grand Theft Auto Advance

Developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Rockstar Games for Gameboy Advance in 2004, Grand Theft Auto Advance is an action-adventure game that explores the story of Mike, a small-time criminal in Liberty City.

Graphics 4/5

GTA on Gameboy Advance is played from a top-down 2D perspective. However, there are other aspects more prevalent with 3D-play, such as vehicle (vigilante) side-missions and the heads-up display. Bearing in mind the limitations of the GBA, Liberty City still has some depth and perspective to it. Experienced GTA players may feel let down with the flat visuals offered by GBA. The camera also doesn’t zoom out far enough when driving.

Gameplay 5/5

The storyline brings together Mike and Vinnie, with other characters such as Johnnie, 8Ball, Asuka, King Courtney and Cisco. The old Liberty City still retains its prominence in this release. Locations which hold secret rampages, packages and jump ramps have changed. Adapting the game to the hardware limitations of the GBA has seen some of the most liked features of the game far removed or altered. The cut-scenes which previously added a flair of reality to the game have been replaced with animated, in-line text with titular pictures of the characters’ faces. GTA on GBA also lacks radio channels, instead replaced by fixed, repetitive tunes. In some instances, sound bites from GTA3 will play if the player hits someone’s car and short police voice-overs to announce the player’s location and vehicle type.

Controls 4/5

1. Fire weapon
2. Run

a+b= jump over walls

Arrow buttons-move character

l- Enter vehicle

Select- Change Weapon

Start-Pause Game

Vehicle Prompts

a – accelerate

b = brake/reverse

a+b=Turn Turret

L-exit vehicle

Arrow-Steering

Up arrow + R- Horn

L+R-Start Special mission

Replay Value 4/5

The iconic Liberty city gives GTA Advance that good feel of the old GTA, with an aggregate score of 70% on GameRankings and 68% on Metacritic. The hardware limitations of the GBA made adapting it to the originality difficult, but there is a lot of texture and perspective to make it as realistic as possible. The repetitive soundtracks also make one prefer other background music as opposed to what is provided.  

In-Game Purchases

There are no in-game purchases for this instalment of GTA. However, there are shark codes that one can input to access certain benefits within the game.

Bottom Line

Users who are used to the 3D depth and feel of the GTA2 and 3 may feel a bit disappointed as if they are being taken back in time with the 2D ambience of GTA Advance.