Grand Theft Auto - Advance

[Madbury]

A tipic in Q&A reminded me about this little beauty.

I've had this for a couple of weeks now and I've put plenty of hours into it. To start with it's much closer to the original GTA than the newer 3D efforts, which I actually kind of like. With the top down psuedo 3D of the original making a come back

Anyone worried about the control (which was a little wierd on the original PC version) don't be, it's been fixed, with the dpad performing movement as you would expect.

Graphically the game looks pretty good although it does jerk a little, but you quickly get used to it. One cool addition over the original is the ability to roll vehicles which is superb fun.

The city is large and varied, but the missions seem to be you're standard drive/collect/kill fare. Fortunately there are side quests and objectives to keep you entertained when you're off mission.

Sonically its good, with some good variation in music and some nice spot effects.

Now for the bad bits..
Control of vehicles can be a little annoying as perfectly horizontal and vertical movement don't seem to be possible.

The side quests and rampage events feel disjointed from the main game and spoil the illusion of a living world, by jumping you to a restart point on completion.

The system of storing weapons in the hideout is commendable, but also frustrating as you have to keep going in and out of the hideout to max out your ammo.

[mid]

Thanks Madbury - it sounds good enough for me to probably pick it up, then.

Does it do the zoom in and out like the original does, or is that beyond the GBA? All the official screens are taken on foot and zoomed in. I'm still a fan of the original GTA (I really must put some more time in on 2), so I'm rather liking the look of this so far.

Probably ought to get San Andreas first, though...

[Madbury]

It does do the zoom, but you can fix the height of the camera in the options if you like. Personally I'd play it on fixed high as it gives you a better view of the surrounding area.

A few more details....and niggles
Vehicles can be jumped in some places on the map.
There is a checkpoint street racing side quest.
Bodies and loot often dissapear before you get a chance to grab them, which is annoying.

[katamari]

Yeah, as you say the rapidly dissappearing loot and the fact that you never seem to be able to go perfectly horizontally or vertically are mildly grating, but overall this is a very good adaptation. Who would have thought we'd ever be driving hookers around town on a GBA? I'm looking forward to seeing Payback's take on the GTA GBA game when it comes out. No coincidence that one of the early missions in GTA Advance is called Payback I'm sure.
Allow me to niggle a little more. The limited viewing distance (even when fully zoomed out) makes it difficult to get a good fast run on the roads without ploughing into someone and the collision detection is sometimes a little dicey. Also, It's not as quick burst friendly as most GBA games. While it would have been a departure for the series, a more flexible save system would have done wonders for this game. Driving all the way back to the hideout to save isn't always practical when gaming on the go (like on public transport).

[df0notfound]

Its pretty good, I prefer the original GTA to the new ones. Its a shame this one inherits the inferior story driven gameplay of gta3 rather than the far superior score attack lives and no mid game save point game of the original which is a FAR FAR FAR superior type of game to the hold your hand crap that gta has become now.
Annoyances:
cops just basically appear out of nowhere on the pavement if your wanted, i mean you can like drive in to some parks and they'll be like 8 cops just appearing off screen. Its like metal gear solid all over again.
The fade to black bits after side quests or sometimes just seemingly random make the game seem like its trying to push you to play the next story mission.
Monster trucks have annoying gradient flipping over when you turn em, bugs the hell out of me.
other cars sometimes flip over way too easily (hitting them)

[Madbury]

I'd disagree about the monster truck flipping thing, a lot of the bigger vehicles can be flipped by pushing them too hard.

I totally agree about the story elements they're pretty average. I've basically taken to ignoring the stories and focused on some of the interesting distractions like rampage and trying to find the 100 hidden packages.

Although you are right that the cops do seem to appear out of nowhere and swarm all over you it does make for some great adrenalin fueled sequences as you make a dash for the spray shop.

I'm just impressed that they have managed to get the game functioning so well on the GBA.

Perhaps the most annoying thing is the need to return to the hideout to save. It really doesn't suit a handheld game, although with limited space the hardware may have prevented a more freeform saving structure.

[mid]

As much as I also love the original GTA, the saving thing was always an issue. The GBA isn't suited to the hour-plus sessions the original demands, and on GTA London I've played for a good two hours in one sitting towards the end of it between save-points.

I'm not complaining because I'm a quicksave-happy wuss, just that I can't usually get a gaming session that long. Something like a hibernate for one-time continue would suit me fine.

[JamesS]

I'm looking forward to seeing Payback's take on the GTA GBA game when it comes out.

If you're in Europe, then it came out last week. I got a copy at the weekend, though I've not had much of a chance to play it. Impressive graphics for a GBA game.

[df0notfound]

I'd disagree about the monster truck flipping thing, a lot of the bigger vehicles can be flipped by pushing them too hard.

Thats not what i mean, the graphic for the monster truck has a gradient left to right on the bonnet, when you turn the image flips over looks very amateurish. I'm not talking to the car flipping over in the game which is fine as far as player handling goes but theres just the odd time you tap another car and it does a full 360 flip which is a bit silly.

Pro-tip!
To go in a straight line hold forward and it will centre itself.

[Madbury]

Cool tip, thanks for that, although I still think it is stoopid.

sorry missunderstood what you meant by flipping. Makes sense now. And you are right, blating in to the other cars does seem to have variable results in terms of flipping them over.