• This is the very first game in the series, and was first released in 1997 for the PC. The game has a top down view, lacking the good graphics of today's games, but the gameplay was much similar, incorporating that level of freedom which set Grand Theft Auto apart from other action based computer games at the time. The game was also released for the PlayStation and then later for the Game Boy Color.
  
  Grand Theft Auto is made up of a series of levels, each set in one of the three main cities. In each level, the player's ultimate objective is to reach a target number of points, which is typically achieved by performing tasks for the city's local crime syndicate. Each level has its own unique set of tasks. Successful completion of a mission rewards the player with points and opens the opportunity to attempt harder missions for higher rewards, while failure awards few points and may permanently seal off opportunities for more tasks.
  
  Grand Theft Auto takes place in three large cities, all of which are modelled after real cities: Liberty City (New York City), Vice City (Miami), and San Andreas (San Francisco). All three cities suffer from rampant crime and corruption, with constant feuding between the local crime syndicates, random acts of violence from street gangs, organized thievery and murder, and corrupt city officials and police officers.
  
  These three cities would later become the settings of many Grand Theft Auto games to follow
  

The Grand Theft Auto London Mission packs are expansion packs for the original Grand Theft Auto. The two mission packs were released separately in March of June of 1999 respectively; both require the original Grand Theft Auto game to run, and are set in London during the 1960s. The games also include a soundtrack that was a big part of the fun for the title. It features groovy 1960s music and British DJ's.

The first expansion pack introduces 30 new vehicles, 32 new missions, and instead of fictional locations based on real-life cities,, the game takes place in London in 1969. The player again plays the role of a criminal involved in organized crime.

The second expansion pack takes place in 1961, eight years before the events that took place in London, 1969. The expansion adds new missions, 22 new vehicles, a new cutscene, and a new multiplayer deathmatch map based on Manchester. The 1961 setting makes this mission pack the earliest Grand Theft Auto game chronologically.

Grand Theft Auto 2 is the sequel to the successful first game, which was released on October of 1999.

GTA2 is set in an unspecified time in a metropolis referred to only as "Anywhere, USA". The main character is a man named Claude Speed, who is freed from prison, having awakened from a cryonic sleep but experiences amnesia. The storyline shifts to his goal of becoming the "King of the City" by any means necessary.

The City is split into three levels, or "districts." The first level, Downtown, is a hub of business activity as well as the site of a large mental institution and university. The second area, the Residential District, contains the city's prison, a trailer park, a shopping mall, and a giant hydroelectric power plant. The third and final area is the Industrial District; it holds a large seaport, a meat packing plant, a Nuclear Power Plant and a Krishna temple.

GTA2 retained the top-down viewpoint of GTA, as well as the car-stealing/telephone-answering formula of the original. The player has the ability to explore cities on foot or in various vehicles. The aim is to achieve a certain score. On achieving this goal the player then can proceed to the next level. Doing missions awards the player more points than any other method but are not essential for completion of the game

Comming out in 2004, GTA Advance is not one of the older games, but i decided to include it in here since it doesnt fit in with the rest of the games. The gameplay is also similar to that of the top down view of GTA 1 and GTA 2 due to the hardware limitations on the gameboy advance.

Grand Theft Auto Advance is a handheld console game released on October 25, 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. The game is set in Liberty City, in 2000 and was released as a prequel to GTA III.The city's three islands have been noticeably changed in its conversion and elements impossible to interpret to a top-view perspective, so there are no longer any sloped surfaces, and the tunnels and train system have been removed.

The story centers around Mike, who is a small-time criminal, working for the more connected Vinnie. He was saved by Vinnie when he was homeless. They decide to leave Liberty City together and retire from their life of crime elsewhere, but Vinnie decides that they should look for a few more jobs from the Mafia, prior to leaving, for more money and reputation. During one of these missions Vinnie is suggestively killed in a car bomb, taking the duo's money with him. Mike, who Vinnie was like a second father to, swears revenge, and death to the person that set up the car-bomb.