Grand Theft Auto 2 - Gameplay

GTA 2's retained many of GTA 1's game play characteristics. The top-down viewpoint remained as did the answer-telephone/steal car missions of the previous iteration. The player could choose to explore the city on foot or in many vehicles. In order to unlock new levels the player must achieve a certain score. While completing missions give players the most points they are not essential for the completion of the game.

Gangs And Respect

One major new feature of GTA2 was doing missions for different factions of gangs. In GTA 2 there were two new gangs for each of the three levels of the game. Working for one gang can cause the other gangs to distrust the player and as a result, take action against the player.

Police

In addition the gang factions, the game also brought with it several new levels of law enforcement. While the law enforcement in the original GTA consisted of only local cops, GTA introduced three new law enforcement agencies that would spawn once the player achieved a certain wanted level in a certain location.

Local police where spawned when the player achieved 1-3 cop heads. SWAT teams were introduced in the Downtown district once the player achieved 4 stars. Special Agents were introduced in the Residential district once the player achieved 5 stars. Finally the Army is introduced in the Industrial district once the player has achieved 6 stars.

City Dynamics

Another new feature in GTA2 was improved city dynamics. Passing vehicles and pedestrians played an active part in game play. Pedestrians would occasionally enter and ride taxis and busses while gang members and the police engaged in fights.

While there were trains in three versions (PC, PS1, and DC) the player can only interact with them in the PC and Dream Cast versions.

Side Missions

In addition to the story missions found in the game, GTA2 introduced 'side missions' such as being a taxi driver or bus driver. In addition to the minigames, GTA2 introduced hidden packages and rampage missions.

Multiplayer Features

The game also featured multiplayer support, but its implementation was buggy and poorly received. The multiplayer modes were: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, tag, and race. In order to improve the multiplayer experience a third party client was created which can be found here.