Dear Readers,
I read a joke in Electronic Gaming Monthly the other day that amused me:
How many fanboys does it take to change a light bulb?
Ten.
One to screw it in, and nine to argue about how the old one was so much better.
Naturally, this got me to thinking about the Grand Theft Auto series — specifically, how there isn’t anybody saying that the first two games are better. Actually, I rarely — if ever — hear anyone talking about the first two games at all, which leads me to believe that the gaming community (or at least those punk casual gamers who only play GTA, Madden, and Halo) as a whole believes that the GTA series started at Grand Theft Auto 3.
I actually lost my GTA virginity with Grand Theft Auto 2 on the PC, and to be honest, the gameplay seems almost identical to that of the newer titles. Sure, it’s presented in a different matter — you have 2D graphics and a top-down view of the game — but you’re still scurrying around completing missions that have you stealing fire trucks so you can attach a flame thrower to them. This makes me wonder why GTA3 and Vice City are so much more well known than their predecessors. Is it the flashier graphics? The rockin’er soundtracks? The hookers? The Lance Vance Dance? Or were they just marketed better?
Obviously, I have no way of knowing for sure (though I’m leaning towards the Lance Vance Dance); I’m no seer who can peek into the brains of thousands of gamers across the globe. But it’s something you can post about in the forums! No, seriously, you can. You can go right ahead and post there about why you think Grand Theft Auto: Vice City gets talked about way more than Grand Theft Auto 2. I’ll even make a topic for you to post it in. There, done. Now go do it! C’mon guys. Please? You know, I’d stop plugging the forums every friggin’ month if you’d actually listen to me for once.
Paul Franzen
Editor-in-Chief
e-mail: pfranzen@gamecola.net
P.S. Please give a warm GameCola welcome to Eric Regan, our newest staff member! If you’ve been reading my P.S.’s over the last few months, you’ll have noticed that he’s been doing graphical work for us. Now he’s on our staff to both do that and write for us GameCola’s newest article, “Captain Eric’s Super Thumb Feature Presentation”. Check it out!
