Now that the game is enjoying its official 10-Year Anniversary and has recently been mobilised for mobile devices, Rockstar has been revealing some very cool behind-the-scenes secrets about Grand Theft Auto III over on its site.
It clears up – amongst other things – how much content was removed/changed following 9/11 (hardly any, around 1%), why the Dodo is really hard to fly (because Rockstar was focused on making a driving and shooting game) and why the Shoreside Vale tunnel was always closed (it was only there to give the impression that the world continued beyond the game’s borders). There are also some early concepts for the GTA III logo and box cover art, as well as an idea for ‘Wanted’ style GTA III posters that’s an uncanny precursor to GTA IV’s own mug-shot poster campaign.
Above: Some GTA III stuff that you’ve never seen until now (unless you work at Rockstar)
But by far the most mind-blowing revelation is the side-by-side GTA III and GTA IV script comparison. Just look at it:
Above: One is much bigger than the other
We’ve double-checked with Rockstar and there is no Photoshop magic at work here. This is genuinely what the two sets of scripts look like. Yes. Indeed. Holy crap. Irrefutable evidence, if any were actually needed, that games have got a lot more full of words and talking bits over the last decade.
There’s loads more GTA III stuff to discover that you were previously unaware of and will undoubtedly be amazed by at Rockstar’s site.