Grand Theft Auto is back. Objectionably violent and morally bankrupt, it even encourages inter-gang warfare. But should that be enough to earn your respect? Yes, frankly.
Gideon Kibblewhite

When the original Grand Theft Auto came out, it became an immediate cult classic - and rightly so. It was uniquely amoral in the way it allowed us to hijack cars, run people over and get involved in gun battles with the cops. It gave us the freedom to be genuinely bad in a living, breathing, virtual city - something we'd been waiting for in a game for ages - and its smooth engine and clever overhead camera worked perfectly. It was controversial and we loved it.

But things have changed since then. We now live in a post-Driver era where we can play more and more cinematic-type games on the PlayStation. So DMA have had to come up with something different for GTA2 in an effort to keep our interest up in the game: inter-gang warfare.

And it works rather well, actually. As in the previous efforts, you start off as a no good hoodlum seeking to climb the crime ladder by earning money and respect, but things are a little more complicated for you in the dysfunctional metropolis of GTA2. Split into three areas, it's controlled by a mysterious crime syndicate called the Zaibatsu Corporation, and fighting them for control of the city are seven smaller gangs. You're free to take jobs for whatever organisation you want, but working for one gang means you make enemies of all the others, and that means it's not just the police you have to worry about. To make matters worse, the police - themselves in the Corporation's pocket - are now backed up by the army and the FBI, so things can get messy pretty quickly if you botch a bank job.