The Car Crusher, also known for short as the Crusher, is a feature introduced in Grand Theft Auto 2, which the player may use to crush vehicles for rewards. The feature, however, enjoyed only limited use, appearing only in Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Advance and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories thereafter.
Description[]
The process of crushing cars in the games is simple. The player may bring a road vehicle to a designated location near or within the crusher and exit the vehicle, before a crane lifts it and drops it within the crusher, or the compactor moves in. The vehicle is then compacted, and a reward of a certain form is given to the player.
Grand Theft Auto 2[]
Main article: Car Crusher Bonuses
The crusher's function in GTA 2 is two-folds. On one hand, the crushing of any car is certain to award the player money as it explodes when crushed (its amount depends on the score multiplier, as well as the vehicle); on the other hand, having certain vehicles crushed may also award the player with weapons, powerups and benefits. By crushing the Schmidt, for example, the player may be provided with health in the Downtown District, and a S-Uzi Machine Gun in the Residential District.
While the act of delivering a car for crushing is relatively straightforward, acquisition of the reward is more complicated. After a car is crushed, the crushed remains of the car will be lifted onto a moving conveyor belt that leads into a building; in exchange, the reward will be dispensed out onto a second adjoining conveyor belt and will be made available for only a period of time before it enters another building and becomes unavailable. For this reason, the player must hurry onto the conveyor belt to obtain their prize. Because the conveyor belts are elevated, the player can only gain access to them by way of climbing up a ramp or jumping from a platform of a similar height or higher; such props are usually available for the player to access the second belt and acquire their reward. While on the conveyor belt, the player must also be wary not to end up too far into the second building, or they will be "Wasted" for unknown reasons.
Grand Theft Auto III[]
A Bobcat being lifted into the Harwood crusher by a magnetic crane.
The crusher was carried over from its predecessor to GTA III. Located in the Harwood Junkyard in Portland, Liberty City, the crusher still crushes vehicles the same way, but its usefulness is reduced to simply awarding the player with small quantities of money, and is only prominently used in two missions ("Dead Skunk in the Trunk" and "The Crook") to familiarize the player with the crusher. The crusher's crane can lift almost every drivable land vehicle in the game, except for the following: the Blista, Bus, Dodo, Fire Truck, Rhino, Securicar and the Trashmaster.
Grand Theft Auto Advance[]
As GTA Advance and GTA Liberty City Stories reuse the GTA III rendition of Liberty City, the crusher reappears with minor improvements.
For GTA Advance, the player is required to drive their vehicle under the crusher, exit the vehicle and walk away before the compacter moves in. The amount of money given to the player is also generally greater than the average in GTA III, topping at more than four thousand dollars, depending on the size of the vehicle.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
While the GTA Liberty City Stories crusher still functions similarly as the one in GTA III, the player may receive a multiplied amount of money from the crusher by completing specific levels of the Scrapyard Challenge. If the player completes the Scrapyard Challenge with 21 points, monetary rewards from the crusher will be increased four folds; a score of 31 points further doubles that amount (to achieve a total factor of 8).
The crusher is prominently used in one mission, "Hot Wheels", in which after Toni Cipriani discovers that Vincenzo Cilli had set up a police ambush for him when picking up his drug filled Banshee, Toni has a heated argument with him over the phone, which ends with Toni quitting in working for Vincenzo by abruptly hanging up on him. In a final act of vengeance, Toni drives Vincenzo's Banshee to the crusher and has it crushed.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
The idea of being rewarded with a destroyed car returns in GTA V with the scrapyard property, in which the owning protagonist is awarded with $150 per car destroyed.
Notes[]
- In both GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories, entering the crusher in any way renders the player Wasted. If the player is in a car, the carjack animation plays beforehand. If the player is in an RC car, it blows up.
- In GTA 2, when the player delivers a vehicle to the Rednecks crusher in Mobile RV Park, the crusher will not give any rewards in return.