The pager is an iconic piece of technology found in the early Grand Theft Auto games, and players are still able to witness the device in action in Grand Theft Auto 3 with the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition. Rockstar implemented the pager during the first Grand Theft Auto game, serving as one of the main forms of communication between the protagonist and characters in the world. The pager received text messages that helped players learn more about specific missions, and also doubled as a stopwatch for missions that needed to be completed in a specific amount of time.
Grand Theft Auto 3's playable character, Claude, was given a pager called the Sumo Wordman, which enabled players to network with their assortment of s about different criminal activities. The pager also updated Claude and the player about any new weapons that could be purchased at the Ammunation store in Liberty City, helping them fill out their arsenal. It was a useful and relevant tool in GTA 3, but as the years ed and pagers were made obsolete with the increasing availability of cell phones, Rockstar began phasing out the pager from subsequent GTA games.
Ultimately, the pager ceased to exist within the Grand Theft Auto universe with the release of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Vice City's Tommy Vercetti was the first playable voiced protagonist in the GTA series, meaning that Rockstar was able to focus more on scripted interactions with other characters that handled mission exposition rather than tying things to a piece of technology. Rockstar opted to replace the pager with a bulky cell phone that Tommy Vercetti could answer as well, making things easier for the character by having an actual conversation with others.
GTA 3 Released When Pagers Were Losing Popularity
Cell phones have been the main form of communication in the Grand Theft Auto series since it made the switch to 3D, despite the pager making small appearances in Grand Theft Auto Advance and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Along with the incorporation of protagonists with voice lines, the GTA games began to progressively move away from older time periods into a more modern landscape, which made pagers basically obsolete in relation to the growing popularity of cell phones. However, those looking to experience the simpler times of the pager can still find the device in the GTA Trilogy's remastered version of GTA 3.
Claude's use of a pager in Grand Theft Auto 3 feels dated today when considering how common cell phones have become in society. Pagers were only truly popular throughout the 1980s and '90s, with cell phones quickly overtaking them in the early 2000s due to their practicality and versatility. GTA 3 was released and takes place in 2001, though, so Rockstar's inclusion of the pager as a gameplay mechanic makes sense given the device was still commonplace at the beginning of the 2000s, as well as the fact it created a logical way for the voiceless Claude to communicate.
It was a fair assumption that the pager would feature in the Definitive Edition of GTA 3, with the remasters maintaining the core gameplay experience of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas while introducing graphical and visual improvements. The pager definitely feels dated today, but that’s understandable for a game that was released 20 years ago. The GTA series evolved away from the pager as it progressed, but getting to utilize it in the remastered GTA 3 in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition is a good thing.
