GBA

Grand Theft Auto Advance

Grand Theft Auto Advance is the 7th part in the Grand Theft Auto saga series released by Rockstar Games on GBA. The context of this game takes place in Liberty City, revolves around the character Mike – a criminal who is working for Vinnie. Previously, Mike was a homeless child, Vinnie adopted and gave him a good life, although he often had to do illegal work. As growing up, Mike realized that the nature of these jobs is not good at all, so he decided to leave Liberty with Vinnie to start a better life. However, they did not have much money, so they decided to meet the Mafia boss to make a final mission before giving up all. However, a problem occurred during work. Vinnie was murdered and the culprit took away all of the money from them, which they had accumulated for years. Too painful after the loss of his second father, Mike decided to stay in Liberty to find and avenge the murderer, and he also separated from the gang of Mafia to work individually. In the crime city – Liberty, players will play the role of Mike and explore everything that is happening here. With free and open-world style, players can do anything, including quarrel with people, rob cars, the disorder in the area, or even racing right in the center of the city. Besides, players can also perform the tasks that the system provides such as playing according to the situations built beforehand to explore the unique evolution of the plot. Although I did introduce it above, it’s just a quick overview for you to realize where will you be and what you’re going to do there. Unique details and variations of the plot will be revealed through the quest system, as well as the information displayed on the screen. At Liberty, there are many gangsters and underground organizations run by tycoons: King Courtney and Yardie. Mike will have the opportunity to face them directly, he even will be hunted by assassins as well. Therefore, the players should equip guns to protect themselves or to fight against those criminals. Players could also find cars to flee. However, it is illegal to use guns and shoot each other in the city. In the upper right corner of the screen, you can see the black stars, they will turn into yellow every time Mike commits a crime and is also a crime measure. If the level is high, the police force and even the military will chase after you. Compared to previous versions, or with Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Advance has some changes. First of all, is the mission system, When the player is completed, it will unlock the next storyboard, and benefit the character ( with cash, new equipment or weapons). With bad actions such as crashing or killing people, players will not receive the bonus automatically anymore, but they can still pick up the left money from those people. The Ammu-Nation feature is also added. It provides an arsenal, from which players can use the money to buy. In addition, several characters that had introduced in previous versions are also taken here, allows Mike to meet and interact. They are King Courtney, Yardie tycoon, leaders of Cartel Colombia: Cisco and Vannie.

Release Date
January 1, 2004
Players
1
Region
US

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Story

Small-time criminal Mike works for the more connected criminal Vinnie in hopes of leaving Liberty City with him and retiring from their life of crime. Vinnie convinces Mike to do work for the Mafia to achieve this goal. However, after several jobs, Vinnie is seemingly killed in a car bomb explosion, which also destroys all their money. Mike vows revenge, and quickly falls out with the Mafia as he investigates Vinnie's murder.

After carrying out some jobs for 8-Ball, an explosives expert and old acquaintance of Vinnie's, he points Mike to a bartender named Jonnie, who maintains connections with the city's criminal underworld and might help him find the answers he seeks. Jonnie hires Mike for several jobs while they investigate Vinnie's murder together, until the former is suddenly killed midway through the investigation. While searching for the killer, Mike spots some Yardies leaving Jonnie's bar in a rush, and follows them to their leader, King Courtney. Courtney denies involvement in Jonnie's murder, claiming that his men were only sent to collect money Jonnie owed to him, and offers to help find the true culprit.

After carrying out some jobs for him, Courtney points Mike to Colombian Cartel leader Cisco. When Mike confronts Cisco, however, he quickly realises that the man is innocent, and that Courtney has been using him all along to eliminate his rivals. Mike then begins working separately for the Cartel and their main rivals, the yakuza , led by Asuka Kasen, in hopes either gang will aid his investigation. After Cisco is suddenly killed, Mike pursues the murderer, and is shocked to find a still-living Vinnie, who reveals that he faked his own death to flee Liberty City with their money, and killed both Jonnie and Cisco to ensure Mike never learned the truth.

Enraged at his former partner's betrayal, Mike kills Vinnie and steals his money, despite Vinnie's warnings that every criminal in the city will now target him for his wealth. While meeting with 8-Ball to tell him how his investigation ended, Mike is attacked by the Cartel, who mistakenly assumed that he had killed Cisco. Although Mike escapes the attack, 8-Ball is injured during the shootout and subsequently arrested by the police. After dealing with the Cartel's new leader, Mike learns that Courtney is after his money and meets with Asuka one final time to plan an ambush at Courtney's hideout.

However, the yakuza fail to show up for the attack, leaving Mike to face Courtney on his own (in one of the instances, the yakuza will provide cover for Mike once he confronts King Courtney provided he gets into the hideout within the stipulated time). Mike fends off the waves of Yardie attacks and then gravely injures Courtney but before he can finish him off, the police raid Courtney's hideout, forcing Mike to make his escape. After evading the police, Mike goes to the airport and leaves Liberty City in Cisco's private plane. He reminisces his fallen friends and heads to Colombia to start a new life with his wealth.

Gameplay Systems

Title screen Game cartridge Grand Theft Auto Advance is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a top-down perspective . The game had to be adapted to the Game Boy Advance's hardware limitations. As a result, it does not have animated cutscenes , nor does it have Grand Theft Auto III ' s much-lauded pedestrian dialogue. All cutscenes are text-only with hand-drawn pictures of the characters' faces, with a thematic backdrop behind.

The art style is consistent with that used for the cover and loading art of the three-dimensional releases in the series. Replacing the pedestrian dialogue, some soundbites taken from Grand Theft Auto III are played when the player hits someone's car. Short police radio voiceovers will announce the player's location and vehicle type when the player commits a crime. The game does not feature radio channels.

Like the Game Boy Color ports of Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2 , each car has one fixed tune that is constantly repeated and cannot be changed. These include parts of some familiar Grand Theft Auto , Grand Theft Auto 2 and Grand Theft Auto III tunes, in instrumental versions. Despite this, billboards for the radio stations featured in Grand Theft Auto III can be seen throughout Liberty City.

Media Reviews

IGN
8.5/10
GameSpot
6.5/10
Game Informer
7.5/10

About Grand Theft Auto Advance

Grand Theft Auto Advance is a classic video game released for the Game Boy Advance on January 1, 2004. This title has become a beloved entry in the retro gaming library.

This wiki entry provides comprehensive information about Grand Theft Auto Advance, including release details, gameplay information, and story synopsis. Whether you're looking to revisit a childhood favorite or discover classic games for the first time, Emulator Games Wiki has you covered.

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