Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004). Play online

Summary

Grand Theft Auto Advance (often called GTA Advance) returns to the classic top‑down view that defined the first two games, but drops you into Liberty City, a prequel setting to Grand Theft Auto III. The street‑level missions you know from the 3D titles—vigilante chases, paramedic runs and the full roster of weapons—are all here, and vehicles can even flip over like real chaos.

Because the Game Boy Advance can’t handle full motion, every cutscene is rendered as text paired with hand‑drawn portrait panels, while familiar soundbites from GTA III punctuate crashes and crimes. A brief police radio announcer cites your location, but the game lacks the radio stations of its console cousins; instead each car plays a short, looping instrumental from the series’ soundtrack, with billboard nods to the original stations.

Notably, GTA Advance is the sole mainline GTA title produced outside a Rockstar studio and the first to earn a 16+ PEGI rating (M in Australia), debuting alongside the North American release of San Andreas.

Critics were split: Metacritic flags it as mixed, with scores like 7.5/10 from Game Informer, 6.5/10 from GameSpot and 8.5/10 from IGN. Reviewers praised its effort to give a "3D feel" on handheld hardware, though they noted the graphics could appear flat and the looping music repetitive.

Storyline

Grand Theft Auto Advance drops you into Liberty City in the year 2000, a year before the events of GTA III. You play as Mike, a low‑level thug working for his partner Vinnie, who promises a clean getaway if they pull a few jobs for the Mafia. When a car bomb seemingly kills Vinnie and wipes out their cash, Mike swears revenge and begins hunting the truth.

His investigation leads him to familiar faces from GTA III: explosives dealer 8‑Ball, Yardie boss King Courtney, and yakuza lieutenant Asuka Kasen. After a series of jobs for each faction, Mike discovers that Vinnie faked his death, killed bartender Jonnie and cartel leader Cisco to keep the money, and is now a target for every crime family. Enraged, Mike eliminates Vinnie and grabs the loot.

The Cartel retaliates, ambushing Mike while he meets 8‑Ball; the shootout leaves 8‑Ball wounded and arrested. Courtney then hunts Mike for the cash, but a police raid forces a chaotic showdown in the Yardie hideout. After surviving the assault, Mike escapes to the airport, boards Cisco’s private plane and flies to Colombia, reflecting on the friends he lost as he starts a new life.