These two games, along with DMAs own free-roaming title Body Harvest, were clear influences for the company to create what would become the benchmark title in its open-world crime series. Shenmues influence can still seen today, most recently in Rockstars LA Noire. While the game is often overshadowed by its reputation of disappointing sales, it undoubtedly paved the way for many games to feature more realistic and interactive worlds. Pioneering such features as real time weather effects and day and night cycles, the game allowed players to explore a virtual recreation of Yokosuka in Japan, complete with shops, homes and even arcades with working cabinets of games like Hang-on and Afterburner. Shenmue on the other hand, took huge leaps forward by offering players the most realistic open world ever seen in a videogame at the time. Players would frequently be on the run from police, much like in GTA, with the open city structure allowing for intense and exciting car chases involving back alley chases and swerving through city streets. Driver, with its 70s aesthetic and Bullet style car chases, featured four open cities including Miami and New York. 1998s Driver from fellow U.K based Reflections Interactive and Segas groundbreaking but ultimately doomed Shenmue in 1999. Two games in particular can be seen as instrumental towards the creation of Grand Theft Auto III. Several games were breaking new ground in terms of what was possible with current technology and an open world structure. Whilst the game was still incredibly addictive and fun, GTA 2s top-down view and basic graphics were already becoming dated. This included the ability to work for several different gang factions, with the players decisions and allegiance effecting how the gangs would behave towards the player. 1999s GTA 2 while not a significant jump ahead of GTA, continued the successful formula and introduced some new mechanics. While other games like Tomb Raider II and GoldenEye 007 from 1997 were also influential, GTAs controversial adult content and emphasis on freedom helped it grow into the critically acclaimed and award-winning series that it is today. By integrating such possibilities into a game which on first glance looked simplistic and somewhat retro (it could almost be mistaken for Frogger) it established its own unique and different formula to many other action games at the time. The player could explore at their own free will, drive any vehicle and take on multiple missions including assassinations and drug deals by answering payphones around the city. The conventions of the series were already being established in this first game, many of which would be evolved and expanded in later entries. Designed by Edinburgh based DMA Games (later becoming Rockstar North) the first Grand Theft Auto was a 2D action game, with an aerial perspective viewing the player as they roam an open city, as a criminal in search of jobs to boost your notoriety. The innovations of these games and many others all led to the genesis of the first Grand Theft Auto in 1997. Thier N64 console was the home of two titles which would become two of the most revolutionary games of the 1990's Super Mario 64 and the Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. Open-world gameplay continued to evolve into the 1990's, with Nintendo being one of the companies at the forefront. The latter developed by Durrell Software is itself seen as a huge influence on GTA, becoming the first free-roaming driving game, featuring wide open cities populated with pedestrians. Other games followed in its footsteps such as Nintendos Legend Of Zelda In 1986 and driving simulation Turbo Esprit for the Spectrum. 1984s Elite, a space trading simulation for BBC Micro computers, is still considered as one of the earliest examples of an open-world videogame. Grand Theft Auto III wasn't the first open-world game, not even by a long shot. In the years that followed, its influence could be felt in almost every genre and redefining simple gameplay mechanics that we now consider the norm. Grand Theft Auto III remains the moment the popular and controversial series introduced a particular style of open-world gameplay. Unprecedented in its scope and ambition, gamers who had become accustomed to linear mission structures and a lack of freedom now found themselves playing a game which encouraged exploration, giving its players the choice to do whatever they wanted. It was an immense thrill to explore the vast open-world of Liberty City a exaggerated and stylised recreation of New York. Playing it for the first time was a moment of significance for many gamers, with most still able to fondly remember their first few hours playing the game. In the last ten years, no game has been as influential or trendsetting as Grand Theft Auto III was in 2001. Many games have been considered as groundbreaking often defining an entire generation.
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