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However, the game was considered dull, and the concept of playing as a criminal was adopted. Grand Theft Auto began development as a game titled Race 'n' Chase, in which the player controlled a police officer pursuing criminals. The gameplay is presented from a top-down perspective and takes place within an open-world environment in which the player is not required to perform missions, although they are necessary to progress through the levels. The game's narrative follows a criminal who climbs in status within the criminal underworld across three fictional cities, inspired by real-life locations.
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It is the first title of the Grand Theft Auto series and was released in November 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows, in December 1997 for the PlayStation and in October 1999 for the Game Boy Color. Grand Theft Auto is an action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive.
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