Grand Theft Auto

Overview

Satirical target of the series and structural innovation of the fifth main instalment.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Identify the action-led franchise Grand Theft Auto and name its developer and publisher.

   Model answer

   Grand Theft Auto is an open-world action series developed by Rockstar Games, whose lead studio is in Edinburgh, and published by Take-Two Interactive.

2. 2

   What defines the series' open-world design?

   Model answer

   The player is given a large continuous city to move through freely, with story missions available when they choose them and a mass of optional activity in between.

3. 3

   What is the satirical target of the series?

   Model answer

   The games parody American consumer culture, advertising, celebrity, the media and the promise of wealth, using invented brands, radio stations and news broadcasts to do it.

4. 4

   How do the in-game radio stations function as media language?

   Model answer

   They fill the world with parody advertising, talk radio and music, which delivers much of the satire while making the city feel inhabited rather than staged.

5. 5

   What was the structural innovation of the fifth main instalment?

   Model answer

   It gave the player three playable protagonists who can be switched between at almost any moment, so one story is told from three positions.

6. 6

   How does the series represent its cities?

   Model answer

   Real cities are rebuilt under invented names and exaggerated into recognisable caricature, so the player recognises Los Angeles or Miami while the developer stays free to satirise them.

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