Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is the first game in the Grand Theft Auto series and a sandbox-crime game published by Rockstar Games. The original Grand Theft Auto is made up of a series of levels each set in one of the…

80 21 October 1997

Adventure Racing Shooter Action Open world Sandbox

Grand Theft Auto is an adventure developed by DMA Design, released 21 October 1997 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. The main story takes about 8 hrs to finish.

Verified 15 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Steam , Wikipedia

What Grand Theft Auto is

Grand Theft Auto is an adventure game developed by DMA Design and released in 1997. It was published by ASC Games. It is available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, DOS and PC (Microsoft Windows). It runs on RenderWare.

The premise, in the publisher's words

As an aspiring young thug, your mission in this video game is to perform odd jobs for the mob, picking up points along the way by committing random crimes ranging from auto theft to hit-and-runs to murder.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are action, open world and sandbox. It supports multiplayer for up to 4 players online. Available modes: Multiplayer and Single player.

Where it sits in the Grand Theft Auto series

Grand Theft Auto is the first of 59 entries we hold in the Grand Theft Auto series. The next entry was Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 in 1999. Its critic score of 80 is almost exactly the series average of 81. The highest-rated entry is Grand Theft Auto III at 95.

See all 59 Grand Theft Auto games in release order →

How it was received

Grand Theft Auto holds a critic score of 80 out of 100. That places it above 64% of the 7,525 rated adventure games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 1997 averaged 65, so it scored 15 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 77, across 508 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 8 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 15 hrs, roughly 1.9 times the length of the critical path.

What it launched against

Grand Theft Auto launched on 21 October 1997, within three weeks of Frogger, NFL Blitz and Bust-a-Move '99. It reviewed better than 1 of the 3.

Released around the same time: Frogger, NFL Blitz, Bust-a-Move '99.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Grand Theft Auto yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →