Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969

Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969

Developer - Rockstar Canada

Publisher - Rockstar Canada

Release date - 30 April 1999

Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 is a mission pack for Grand Theft Auto. London, 1969 was released on 31 March 1999 for Microsoft Windows and on 30 April 1999 for PlayStation. The game uses the same game engine as Grand Theft Auto, thus having similar graphics and gameplay. Like Grand Theft Auto, the mission pack is divided into sub-sections with short cut scenes between. London, 1969 was the first expansion pack released for PlayStation.


Gameplay

The player names their character (the default is Sid Vacant, a parody of Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols song "Pretty Vacant") and chooses a picture to represent them. The picture is only seen upon completion/failure of a mission and doesn't affect the appearance or personality in any way. The player must work for The Crisp Twins, a parody of The Kray Twins.

The expansion introduces 30 new vehicles, 39 new missions, and instead of fictional locations based on real-life cities, as in Grand Theft Auto (Liberty City, San Andreas, Vice City or any of the later entries to the game), the game takes place in London in 1969. The player again plays the role of a criminal involved in organised crime.

The temporal setting has been exploited through cultural and historical references, including the appearance of a James Bond-like character and use of stereotypical Cockney slang. In-game dialogue includes such lines as "Oi! Stop right there!", "You're nicked!" (under arrest, in place of the standard "Busted" message) and "You're brown bread!" (i.e. "You're dead", replacing "Wasted").

Similar to the bonuses in Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, the player receives a large cash reward for running over a group of English "Mods" with a car without braking. Successfully performing the trick displays the message "KEEP LONDON TIDY!" or "QUADROPHENIA" and awards a cash bonus. This is a reference to the film Quadrophenia.


Soundtrack

The game disc was also an audio CD with the first track containing the game's data, requiring the user to skip to track 2 for the music. This isn't possible on the later 2004 "Classics Collection" re-release, as the data was rearranged to use a different audio format.