Grand Theft Auto 2, also known as GTA 2, is a video game that was released worldwide on October 22, 1999, by developers DMA Designs (now Rockstar North); initially for Windows and the PlayStation. The game was later ported to the Dreamcast console and the Game Boy Color. It is the sequel to the controversial 1997 hit Grand Theft Auto. The PC and Dreamcast versions of GTA2 are both rated M by the ESRB. The language and violence was toned down for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color versions which received a T rating. The Windows version was later released as a free download through their Rockstar Classics website. GTA2 was preceded by the original Grand Theft Auto and succeeded by Grand Theft Auto III.
Setting
Unlike other games in the series, GTA2 is set in an unspecified time in a metropolis referred to only as Anywhere City. The year is not specified, but the game's manual uses the phrase "three weeks into the future", and phrases such as "X weeks into the future" or "X minutes into the future" are common phrases meaning "near future"; fictional journal entries on the GTA2 website suggest the year to be 2013. However, radio host Johnny Riccaro mentions in the game that "the millennium's coming," which would set the game somewhere in 1999. Anywhere City consists of three levels, or "districts." The first level is The Downtown Area and features casinos, hotels, a large mental institution and a university. The second area is The Residential District and contains the city's prison, a trailer park with an Elvis-themed club named "Disgracelands", a research center and a large hydroelectric power plant. The third and last area is The Industrial District. It holds a large seaport, a meat packing plant, and a Krishna temple.
The player 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 Kennel" by any means necessary.
The game can be played in two modes (only in the PC version), noon or dusk. On the noon setting the lighting is bright making the game clear to see. On the dusk setting the game is darker, but there are more lighting effects. This feature was also expanded further in Grand Theft Auto 3 where the daylight is changing with the time of day in the game.