Grand Theft Auto: London 1969

Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 is an expansion for the original top-down Grand Theft Auto, developed by DMA Design and released in 1999. Rather than the fictional American cities of the base game, it transplants the mayhem to a stylised swinging-sixties London, complete with a moody black-and-white intro, period slang, and a soundtrack and aesthetic soaked in British gangster-film cool. It is notable as one of the first standalone commercial expansion packs the industry produced.

The gameplay is the same anarchic sandbox that made GTA a phenomenon: you steal cars, run errands for crime bosses, rack up a multiplier by causing chaos, and try to hit a target score to advance while dodging an increasingly furious police response. Driving is on the left, the vehicles are boxy Minis and period saloons, and the whole thing is played from that distinctive overhead camera that scrolls and rotates with your car.

Because it is a mission pack rather than a full sequel, it requires the original GTA to run and offers no fundamentally new mechanics, so it is best understood as more of a good thing dressed in fabulous period clothing. The London setting is genuinely charming and the humour is sharp, but the top-down engine feels primitive next to the 3D games the series would soon become. For fans of the pre-3D GTA, though, it is a delightful curio.