Grand Theft Auto: Top 10 Easter Eggs

The Grand Theft Auto games are famous for being crammed with details, references, in-jokes and Easter Eggs. To celebrate the upcoming holiday we’ve picked 10 of the best of them from the series’ history. [divider]

Back in the days when the GTA games were notoriously glitchy, enough exploration in GTA III’s Liberty City revealed this knowing sign, which reads “You weren’t supposed to be able to get here you know”.

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Similarly, intrepid gamers who reached the top of the Gant Bridge in San Andreas were rewarded for their efforts by a sign telling them ‘There are no Easter Eggs up here. Go away.’ Further investigation revealed a billboard with facts about the bridge including that it took up a ‘staggering 1.27mb of disc space.’

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In all of the PS2 era GTA games, shooting the moon with a sniper rifle would cause it to change sizes. Why? No-one’s entirely sure, but it’s a nice touch all the same.

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Still something of an unsolved puzzle, the most recent GTA features several UFOs that hover at seemingly random points throughout the map. The hive-mind of the internet has still not managed to figure out what, if anything, their purpose is.

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GTA IV has a reputation for being the most serious game in the series but there are still light-hearted moments to be found, perhaps the most surreal of which was the giant, beating heart at the centre of the game’s version of the Statue of Liberty.

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From the sun-soaked setting to the gloriously chaotic final mission, Vice City at times felt like one big homage to Scarface. Finding a chainsaw in a blood-soaked bathroom in particular recalls one famous scene from Brian De Palma’s masterpiece.[divider]

Anyone familiar with GTA 3 will remember the Dodo. Any excitement at finding the game’s only aircraft soon wore off when it became apparent that the plane was nigh on impossible to control, adding insult to injury by telling you how long you’d flown for after you inevitably crashed. Anything over a minute should be considered impressive.

[divider]                                                    Already known for their in-jokes in 2002, Rockstar nodded to their reputation by including a literal, chocolate Easter Egg in Vice City. Disappointingly there was no way to eat it or interact with it beyond admiring its chocolatey goodness.

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Among the many treats to be found under the sea in GTA V was a hatch instantly recognisable to fans of Lost. A looping Morse code signal can be heard coming from the hatch that when deciphered says ‘Hey, you never call. How do you fancy going bowling?’, a callback to the divisive character of Roman in GTA IV. [divider]

Less an Easter Egg and more an urban legend, San Andreas’ map was so vast and detailed that it led to the creation of a number of myths within the game, most famously about the existence of Bigfoot. Sadly Rockstar later confirmed that there was no Sasquatch to be found in the game but some corners of the internet still claim he exists.

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Which GTA Easter Egg is your favourite? Tweet @BoarGames and let us know, and if you’d like to get involved with writing for Games email games@theboar.org

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