( Reuploaded with separated chapters for readability due to Reddit image compression )
I finally completed all 6 chapters of GTA 1 after finishing both London mission packs ( 1969 and 1961 ). This game ended up being far more difficult, brutal, and interesting than what i expected. I actually didn't grow up with GTA 1 or like play it because of nostalgia, I started playing it because i was curious about the origins of the series and the 2D era, so i give it a shot and accepted the game for what it is despite being chaotic as you progress, and i spent so much time learning the mechanics, routes, mission structure, and secrets, watching available guides on YouTube and using Map Genie for navigation, multiplier locations, and extra lives.
For this, I went for all missions and all secrets or ( kill frenzies ) across every chapter. You might notice that some screenshots include very high scores because i spent a lot of time learning how the multiplier system works across the game. ( collecting the first unlocked multipliers in the chapter and then after completing specific missions where they unlock more or all kill frenzies in San Andreas or Vice City and etc. ).
One of the first things I quickly realized is that GTA 1 becomes much harder the further you progress through the chapters:
- Early chapters like the ones in Liberty City mostly teach you the basics while introducing some difficult missions.
- Later chapters become endurance runs where one mistake, death, arrest, failed objective, or even random glitch can ruin hours of progress if you are trying to complete everything in a single run.
The San Andreas and Vice City chapters especially were on another level compared to the earlier parts of the game. Some missions include enemies using flamethrowers, rockets and enemies with machine guns, or extremely aggressive AI, while kill frenzies in the Vice City chapters become very stressful because of strict timers and extra life requirements. Anyways while doing these runs, i also noticed several strange behaviors and bugs like:
- In the San Andreas chapters ( Mandarin Mayhem and Tequila Slammer ), You will notice that I got in these chapters 10/18 and 10/16, this is a mission counter bug that happens on San Andreas chapters, I already finished all missions and collected all multipliers and all extra lives in these chapters.
- Also another bug in the UI where it can display incorrect life values after collecting many extra lives. So, in San Andreas chapters they are actually ( 25, 26 ), and in Vice City they are ( 30, 32 ).
- In the first chapter in San Andreas ( Mandarin Mayhem ), there's one multiplier inside 2 locked gates, it can't open with any vehicles or after finishing all missions and I didn't find anything on YouTube or websites, so i discovered and used very specific trick to get in but it cost me 1 life, i might record a video of how to get in using that trick in the future.
I followed available mission guides for routes and locations, but a lot of the smaller tricks and discoveries came from personal testing after many failed runs and experiments overall. Another thing I learned is that high scores in GTA 1 depend heavily on understanding the multiplier system and chapter progression. The exact score can vary between runs depending on mission rewards, routes, kill frenzy performance, and how efficiently multipliers are collected during progression.
However the London mission packs were already difficult, especially London 1961 at 30 fps before replaying it again at 80 after practicing and learning the short routes, but GTA 1 on the other hand felt like the true endurance test of the classic era. Some chapters took multiple failed runs and attempts because of mission bugs, random events, crashes, deaths, or small mistakes that forced complete restarts because you can't save in GTA 1.
Even after all these stressful and failed runs, I still think the experience was worth it. After finishing the final chapter, I feel like I understand much more clearly how the foundation of the GTA series was built long before GTA3 changed everything. The screenshots are arranged in chapter order, including the final result screens and chapter cutscenes after completion.