This is the perfect example of why I say on my profile that ratings given to games I haven't played in a long time are unreliable. I had originally rated this 3 stars based on my 20 year old memories.

To be fair to this game, it isn't just an outdated version of GTA as we know it, it has its own unique arcade-y style. The goal is to get a certain amount of points on any given level, you can get small amounts via causing damage and crimes, but the only real way to win is to do the missions. And for every mission you complete, your points multiplier goes up. You have a set number of lives, so death has more of a consequence than it does in later entries, and getting busted by cops will drop your multiplier.

One big issue I had with the game comes from the lack of an in-game map. The only guide you'll ever get for getting to and from locations is an arrow pointing you to the objective. Unfortunately this arrow is context-blind, so it constantly took me to the edge of water, only for me to have to spend 5 minutes finding the right bridge to cross so I could actually get on track. This combined with a timer for many missions made the game annoying. The birds-eye view camera doesn't help matters, as the speed the cars go leave you little to no time to react to the screen, causing multiple collisions to slow you down, and you'll occasionally get your view blocked by things hanging overhead. The amount of times I bumped into a pole I didn't even realise was there due to the camera angle.

The game feels unpolished as all heck. One of my favourite moments was when I got into a parked bus, and in this game getting into a parked vehicle starts a mission during the early stages, so I waited for the arrow to come up so I could know where to go, then the bus explodes and THEN I get the mission text at the bottom telling me to keep the bus above 50mph (it must have been a mission based off Speed).

The game takes the "Grand Theft Auto" title a lot more literally than later entries, as most of the game revolves around car missions. This is for the best as the shooting mechanics are pure shit. I swear I could just shoot directly at a guys head multiple times and none of them register. My best option was always just spray like a maniac with a machine gun and hope to kill. On the downside, the last stage has a ton of gun fight missions.

I suffered serious frame rate issues through the game, particularly in later stages.

On top of being unpolished, there's just a ton of glitches - or at least I hope they were glitches. Like one time at a x6 points multiplier, I completed a mission and my score went up by 3 million, easily putting me above the goal for that stage. Later on, with a x10 multiplier, I was barely getting a few hundred thousand per mission. Lots of other little bugs littered throughout too.

There's 3 maps in the game, but all feel more or less the same. The latter two do differ a bit more in terms of visual variety, and funnily enough they have less dead ends than the first map, making them easier to follow the arrows in, which seems like the opposite direction the difficulty should have been. But the first map has this really neat jump over a broken bridge, it's the only thing that really tries anything unique with the level design and it only happens in the very first map.

There are a few secrets in the maps, like a tank is hidden in each one, so it can be rewarding to find them (even though the amount of points they give isn't too great).

I feel like the game could have been more fun if it was just based on getting points by causing mayhem, evading police and the like. Instead all the flaws of the game just make trying to get through the missions a huge pain in the ass.