London changed the city, era, slang, sound and vehicles, but retained the points and telephone systems from the first GTA.
GTA London is exceptional within the series in two respects. It is the only Grand Theft Auto set in a real city under its actual name: not Liberty City or Vice City, but London. It is also the only game in the series that cannot be started on its own.
Both packs arrived in 1999, when GTA 2 was already approaching. London was therefore not a step forward but a branch: the same engine and rules in another time and culture. Contemporary reviews regarded that similarity to the original as a weakness. In retrospect, it is what makes the pack interesting, because it shows how versatile the original design could be.
London 1961 was also offered free of charge. That was far from routine in 1999 and is an early example of a publisher supplementing a paid expansion with additional free content.
The Mission Pack was released for PC and PlayStation on 30 April 1999. It was not a standalone game and required the original GTA disc.
It is often described as the first expansion released for PlayStation. However that record is interpreted, the format was unusual on consoles in 1999.
The PC-only addition was released as a free download on 1 July 1999. It is considerably shorter and moves the story eight years back.
It uses the same map and characters as 1969. This is not a new London, but the same city at an earlier point.
Rockstar Canada, rather than the original Scottish studio DMA Design, was responsible for both expansions.
This helps explain why London feels like a careful variation on the familiar concept rather than the series' next major step.
Sources give slightly different figures: roughly thirty new missions and around thirty vehicles.
The difference partly depends on whether introductory and concluding jobs are counted. We therefore give an approximate scale rather than a seemingly exact figure.
British slang shapes not only the dialogue, but also system messages. An arrest displays ‘Nicked’ instead of ‘Busted’, for example.
Small changes like these make the new setting more than a simple replacement of the graphics.
Models and names reflect Britain in the 1960s. The driving model remains as arcade-oriented as in the original GTA.
The vehicles feel slower and heavier than those in the base game. This changes the pace of chases more than the familiar technology might suggest.
The period musical design was among the aspects most positively noted by reviews in 1999.
Scores were roughly 75 per cent for PC and 69 per cent for PlayStation. The main criticism was that the underlying gameplay offered little that was new.
Telephone jobs, score targets and the multiplier work exactly as they do in the first GTA.
Players who know the base game have nothing new to learn. Those unfamiliar with its rules will not find them explained in more detail in London.
Both packs require a compatible version of the original GTA. They will not start with the wrong data version even when the file sizes appear plausible.
The Mission Pack itself is often not the missing part; instead, the build of the base game is incompatible.
Open engines for the original GTA do not necessarily support both packs as reliably as the base game.
Because fewer people play London, support often receives lower priority. Check the specific project rather than general claims about the engine.
The PlayStation version can technically be emulated, but requires your own lawfully acquired data.
This website distributes neither game images nor a BIOS.
Answers to the main questions about this subject
Yes. London 1969 is not a standalone game and requires the original GTA. London 1961 additionally requires London 1969 to be installed.
Yes. The PC expansion was officially released as a free download on 1 July 1999. London 1969 was the paid release.
London 1961 is much shorter and takes place eight years earlier, but uses the same map and characters. It is closer to an additional chapter than a second full Mission Pack.
The setting, vehicles and terminology are British, but the driving remains as arcade-oriented as in the original GTA. The game does not require you to keep to one side of the road — nor do other games in the series.
London 1969 was released for PlayStation and is often described as the first expansion for that console. London 1961 remained exclusive to PC.