Grand Theft Auto 2 was always the odd one in the franchise, as it was neither set in the current time (like all main line titles) nor in the past (like GTA London, Vice City or San Andreas), but in the future of 2013 (according to the website, while the manual often used phrases like "three weeks in the future").
Like the first game, it played more like an arcade title. Destroying vehicles and killing pedestrians gave you money, you had a limited amount of lives, a lot of pick-ups were hidden around the levels and even the missions were pretty arcadey, in that you have to run over a specified amount of pedestrians in a set amount of time or achieve a specified number of kills with a specified weapon, etc.
Story wise, there wasn't a lot to it. You're in Anywhere City, an extremely crime-ridden city, and try to earn enough money to get to the next part of the city. Despite the lack of story, I totally loved the game, because the gameplay itself was super fun. However, the game was also super hard due to the low amount of health and the tank control movements.
Graphic wise it was a huge improvement towards the first one and featured a configurable day or night mode, with the night mode looking extra cool, because of the cool lighting of the level. The vehicles all had this retro touch to them, the effects looked great, and it basically has the perfect 2.5D look, with 2D sprites being layered on an 3D environment.
The soundtrack was mostly done in house (including radio stations) with only a handful of tracks being licensed. Sadly, the radio stations you get in are fixed by the levels. You can switch between the stations, but some stations are just out of range (either because you're too far away from the station or they aren't featured in the level). So I only could listen to Funami FM in the first level, as it was the radio station of the yakuza.
All in all, I really loved this game, and it made up a large part of my childhood.
Like the first game, it played more like an arcade title. Destroying vehicles and killing pedestrians gave you money, you had a limited amount of lives, a lot of pick-ups were hidden around the levels and even the missions were pretty arcadey, in that you have to run over a specified amount of pedestrians in a set amount of time or achieve a specified number of kills with a specified weapon, etc.
Story wise, there wasn't a lot to it. You're in Anywhere City, an extremely crime-ridden city, and try to earn enough money to get to the next part of the city. Despite the lack of story, I totally loved the game, because the gameplay itself was super fun. However, the game was also super hard due to the low amount of health and the tank control movements.
Graphic wise it was a huge improvement towards the first one and featured a configurable day or night mode, with the night mode looking extra cool, because of the cool lighting of the level. The vehicles all had this retro touch to them, the effects looked great, and it basically has the perfect 2.5D look, with 2D sprites being layered on an 3D environment.
The soundtrack was mostly done in house (including radio stations) with only a handful of tracks being licensed. Sadly, the radio stations you get in are fixed by the levels. You can switch between the stations, but some stations are just out of range (either because you're too far away from the station or they aren't featured in the level). So I only could listen to Funami FM in the first level, as it was the radio station of the yakuza.
All in all, I really loved this game, and it made up a large part of my childhood.