Grand Theft Auto 1 (DMA Design, 1997)
Grand Theft Auto 3 - of which more later - grabbed all the headlines, but its
little-heralded, top-down arcade-style predecessor was just as much of a
groundbreaker. It was an early example of a "sandbox" game, in
which players were not railroaded into carrying out specific levels, but
rather let loose in an open world, to pick up missions or just wander around
in their own time. When we say "wander around", of course, we mean "steal
cars, beat people to death, shoot policemen and run over Hari Krishnans".
Running people over in a stolen police car doubled your points; running over
a whole queue of Krishnans in a single go gained you a bonus and the word "GOURANGA!"
across your screen in large yellow letters. Politically correct it most
certainly was not; hilarious, clever and innovative, it was.