I am pretty new to gaming and the only PC game I have so far is Max Payne.
I saw GTA 2 at the store today for $19.99 and GTA 3 for $49.99. I got confused and didn’t buy either. 
Which one should’ve I gotten?
Are they equally as good?
GTA 3, hands down, no question. Same type of game but completely different graphics engine and gameplay.
“Rush rush for the yay yo…”
GTA 2 is viewed completely from the top down. Think “blimp view”. Similar missions and car-jacking concept though.
This explains GTA 1-2:
http://www.gta3.com/?zone=gtahistory
This explains GTA 3:
http://www.gta3.com/?zone=whatisgta3
To sum it up:
GTA2 is a top down 2d game. GTA3 is a fully 3d game kinda like Max Payne. In my opinion GTA3 is WAY better. But before buying it,make sure you have a good pc. A 1 Ghz or higher processor and at least a 32 MB graphics card is recommended. Also,it wonth work with 3dfx cards. I hope this helps. 
GTA2 is a great game in its own right though. If you want a fun game and only want ot spend $20, pick it up. And echoing Mike-P, it isn’t as taxing on your system either.
Thanks for the info, all.
My PC is a Pentium 3 with about 190 MB SDRAM and a 30 Gig hard drive. I don’t know about my graphics card - I know I have Direct AGP 3D graphics, whatever the hell that is.
If you can run Max Payne and it looks good and is relatively smooth you should be able to run GTA 3 without much trouble.
Your setup sounds about the same as mine - P3 600, 384 MB RAM, Radeon video card - though I’m guessing your video card is even less robust.
IMHO, as I have the feeling GTA3 would look like somebody threw up on my monitor, were I to try it on my PC, I don’t think it would work so well on your system either. (FWIW, 3D PC games on older systems run one of two ways: pretty, but at two frames per second, or relatively smoothly, with 3D stick figures.)
GTA2 isn’t such a bad game, IMHO, and has a lot of stuff that I really miss in GTA3 (which I play on my PS2) and, most importantly, should run without a hitch on your computer. Furthermore, it has multiplayer which you should be able to play either on a LAN or via the Internet.
Can I use a gamepad?
Just poking my head in to say “What? I thought GTA3 wasn’t coming out for the PC until October…”
Also, the original GTA is a far superior game to number 2. It was just… better. Even on the Playstation GTA2 was excessively prone to random slowdowns and the cars don’t seem to have any definition. In GTA, you can make a correspondence between the cars in the game and the cars IRL, but with GTA2 they all look like something out of the old Spy Hunter. A definate disappointment. But better than nothing, I guess.
Tenebras
Tenebras: It may be because GTA 2 was set sometime in the early future.
Lola: Yeah, both game support gamepads. I’d recommend GTA 2, since you probably dont have a good enough video card to run GTA 3.
It’s definitely out. I had it in my hot lil’ paw today
Unless you normally use a gamepad to play FPS(First Person Shooters), I wouldnt recommend it. I dont know if you can or not.
GTA and GTA2 were great games. There was a site, freeloader, that had all the older games for a free download, if you went through page after page of ads. But it looks like its moving or something right now.
[sub]That is a legit site AFAIK, if its not, I appologize.[/sub]
I’m still waiting to get GTA3 for the PC. I asked for it (or Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3)for fathers day and I got THPS3. Good game, but quiet a bit more buggy than the last one. Ports are prone to that I guess.
dead0man
A depressing fact is that if you really want to play GTA 3 well, it’s probably cheaper just to buy a PS2, rather than upgrading your PC.
And I preferred the original GTA as well. I could never get into the second one. It was much darker and had this wacky system with multiple crimebosses. The original just had the mafia, which was complicated enough.
Lola, my reading comprehension skills have obviously abandoned me, and I failed to realize that you have Max Payne. How does this game (which, in addition to other “recommended” system settings, prefers a 700 MHz processor) run on your computer?
If it runs smoothly at whatever graphics settings at which you have it set, and you’re satisfied with the way it looks, GTA3 might be what you want. Word of caution, though, the game was pretty slow/jerky on the demo machine at Computer City, and that almost had to have been a better comp than what you or I are running. (Nothing personal.)
…and if they have preset control schemes similar to how it was laid out on the PS2, then you shouldn’t have a problem with a gamepad. Since there’s more driving than running and the first person stuff doesn’t rely heavily on precision shooting, the gameplay shouldn’t be hampered by not using the keyboard+mouse combo.
Had any of you GTA3 players seen this?