The Car Thief’s Handbook Turns 20!
OPla G
26 Oct 23:50
11
0October 4, 2005 — the special issue of Shpil! magazine (published from 2001 to 2015), dedicated to the Grand Theft Auto series, was sent to print. A week or two later, readers across Ukraine — and far beyond — could already flip through its pages.
I was lucky enough to be among those who discovered it back in the 2000s, thanks to a friend who happened to have a copy. Unfortunately, it hasn’t survived to this day. Even the last page with San Andreas cheat codes, which somehow held on for many years, has long since faded into oblivion.
Let’s be honest — that issue, like many others, was full of inaccuracies and mistakes, not to mention typos (something no print publication is immune to). Screenshots and artworks from GTA: Advance oddly accompanied articles about GTA 1, while the game itself wasn’t mentioned at all — even though it had already been released a year earlier. GTA: London was mistakenly grouped with GTA 2 instead of the first game, and only one expansion (1969) was mentioned — the second one (1961) was likely unknown to the authors.
They also got quite a few things wrong about GTA 3: Maria isn’t Salvatore’s daughter (she’s his wife), and Asuka isn’t the head of the Yakuza (she’s the sister of the organization’s number two). The final mission requires not a million, but half a million dollars. Marty, owner of the Bitch ’n’ Dog Food factory, gives more than just one mission.
In the GTA: Vice City prologue, the deal involves cocaine, not heroin, and there are no Cubans in GTA: San Andreas. Still, it’s easy to forgive — twenty years ago, finding and verifying information online was nothing like it is today on GTA.com.ua. So we can overlook these little slip-ups.
I was lucky enough to be among those who discovered it back in the 2000s, thanks to a friend who happened to have a copy. Unfortunately, it hasn’t survived to this day. Even the last page with San Andreas cheat codes, which somehow held on for many years, has long since faded into oblivion.
Let’s be honest — that issue, like many others, was full of inaccuracies and mistakes, not to mention typos (something no print publication is immune to). Screenshots and artworks from GTA: Advance oddly accompanied articles about GTA 1, while the game itself wasn’t mentioned at all — even though it had already been released a year earlier. GTA: London was mistakenly grouped with GTA 2 instead of the first game, and only one expansion (1969) was mentioned — the second one (1961) was likely unknown to the authors.
They also got quite a few things wrong about GTA 3: Maria isn’t Salvatore’s daughter (she’s his wife), and Asuka isn’t the head of the Yakuza (she’s the sister of the organization’s number two). The final mission requires not a million, but half a million dollars. Marty, owner of the Bitch ’n’ Dog Food factory, gives more than just one mission.
In the GTA: Vice City prologue, the deal involves cocaine, not heroin, and there are no Cubans in GTA: San Andreas. Still, it’s easy to forgive — twenty years ago, finding and verifying information online was nothing like it is today on GTA.com.ua. So we can overlook these little slip-ups.
Download / Read: Shpil! special issue №4 (10), October 2005
Dear readers! We want to preserve this magazine in the best possible quality — just as we did with the Criminal Games special issue. If you happen to own this issue, please contact us at [email protected].