Grand Theft Auto caused a bit of stir when it was released on the PC last year, not just because in some people's eyes it glorified joyriding and general lawbreakery, but because it was a damn fine game. Guess what? DMA Design have created a sequel.
Andy Smith

GTA was well smart! I loved all that nicking cars lark.
And you're not alone. GTA was a refreshing breath of fresh air when it first arrived, combining great design with groovy gameplay. It spawned a sequel too - GTA: London, re-creating the feel of 'swinging' London in 1969.

I didn't like that though.
Nor did we.

So if this is a proper sequel, what have they done? Made it all 3D?
Sort of. It's still using the top-down view but it's far more three-dimensional. It looks realistic as your character wanders around the streets.

But what about when you go into buildings and stuff?
You go under awnings and balconies quite a lot, actually, but it's never a problem because a little purple arrow appears to show you where you are.

Oh. So am I still doing jobs for Mr Big?
There are now more than half a dozen Mr Bigs. In GTA, gangs were implied through some clever level design trickery and smoke and mirrors, but in GTA 2 there really are gangs. Not only that, but they all go about their gangery business even if you do nothing.

Oh wow! So do I, like, join one of them then?
You can if you like, or you can sort of 'freelance' for all of them. Each of the gangs has a heartland in a different part of the city and you can go to the phone box of any of them and get a mission, but before you get the juicy stuff you're going to have to earn their respect, and that's going to mean doing various dastardly deeds. You can switch allegiances at any time though, so that's all right.