november-rain's Full Review: Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 3 for PlayStation 2
Liberty City is vast and bustling, a perfect environment to blend into while you're running from the law. You begin as a small-time crook who gets screwed over by your girlfriend during a bank heist. She leaves you to be picked up by the cops, but you make your escape with the help of a buddy. While the warrant is out for your arrest, you'll need some cash to live by. Having "connections" always helps and before long, you're running errands for the local mobsters. As you gain reputation among the city's crime lords, you're assigned to bigger jobs and receiving a higher income. Your employers will seek you to do their dirty chores, even if it means cleaning out a rival. Watch your back though; they might even put out a hit on you. Yes, it truly is a vicious cycle.
Whatcan'tI do?
What's described above is the basic plot for Grand Theft Auto III. There is very little story here, but it serves as backdrop for the missions you embark on. The missions themselves can range from breezy stuff, like playing chauffer, to some very difficult ones such as doing a hit or making a getaway within a specified amount of time. Doesn't sound so hard - until you have to find an alternative route because the feds have secured the bridges! The further you get in the game, the more difficult they are, and the more complex it gets as you're climbing the ranks of the criminal underworld. Now, as exciting as it is, there's much more to the game than blindly doing what you're told and completing the missions. In between jobs, you can take on various tasks by hopping into special vehicles such as taxis, ambulances or police cars. Depending on what you're in, you can make a little cash playing cabbie, running down criminals or rushing the profusely bleeding pedestrians (it's probably your fault) to the hospital. If you're truly diabolical, you can simply whack some innocent bystanders dead with your trusty baseball bat and collect the cash they "dropped." When you've accomplished a certain number of missions, you earn extra bonuses. Complete a hundred Taxi missions and you'll get a Bourgnine taxi made especially for you. Annihilate enough criminals and you'll receive police bribes. The list goes on. If you've got more free time, why not snipe some cops from a rooftop, get into fistfights with just about anyone, or execute impressive stunts in your car? If you're feeling amorous, then cavort with streetwalkers instead - it's everything Mom won't approve of.
You'll also be able to find mini missions scattered though out the city, such as "Rampages" where you can race for a cash prize or run over a bunch of gangsters within a time limit. This makes roaming around not nearly as pointless. There are also side quests you can set out to do, such as obtaining bulletproof cars, import/export vehicles for a huge amount of cash, and collecting all the special packages hidden in various spots of the city landscape. Collecting packages enables you to get weapons delivered to your hideout; the more packages, the better the weapons. Since the setting is enormous, the quest proves to be rather difficult - for me, at least.
All that is more fun than a barrel of monkeys, but crime doesn't always pay. In GTA3, your worth as a criminal is measured by the number of stars on the upper right corner of your screen. This indicates your Wanted level - the more crimes you commit, the more stars you receive. One star means cops will pursue you if you're in their sight and two stars will have them actively seeking you out. Hit the max of 6 stars and the military will be hot on your posterior. It's really fun to try and escape the law enforcers, but unless you're super smooth, you're bound to get caught sooner or later.
Like any ordinary old street bum, you're immune to injury. You can get hurt, and this can seriously deter the completion of any mission you're currently on. If you're especially unlucky, you can get caught in the crossfire of a gang war (or simply get shot because someone doesn't like you.) When your health points decline to 0, you end up in the hospital. So, how should you prevent this? You can be cheap like me and put in a cheat or two for instant health [R2, R2, L1, R1, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up] or find a little heart icon for an Insta-cure (medicine?) Alternatively, you can sex up a hooker and maximize your life juice. (Haha!)
To complete most of the missions, you'll need a car and/or a good weapon. Getting one or the other isn't effortless. Once in a while, an enraged driver will come out of his/her car to beat the crap out of you for trying anything funny. Some cars are worth getting punched out for - like, the five or so diaphanously beautiful sports car models. Also included are trucks, buses, SUVs, convertibles (rare) and yes, even tanks - given the right circumstances. The others are, shall we say, less desirable... like the barely breathing Esperanto. In addition, GTA3 provides a delicious arsenal of weapons you can salivate over, such as flame throwers, grenades, Uzi's, submachine guns and assorted firearms. They're not available for purchase right off the bat - as it is with vehicles, they get better with further progress into the game.
The sheer outrageous of the regular missions is enough to make it fun, but with so many other things to do, gameplay is endlessly entertaining. There are very little limitations here. Even when a place is sealed off, such as Staunton Island, you can find a way to get past the barriers - if you're determined. (Hint: hydraulics!) And gamers are likely to try and discover everything you can do in Liberty City, giving GTA3 high replay value.
Futures made of virtual insanity...
There is much to praise about Grand Theft Auto III's expansive, realistic environment. Liberty City is New York City rendered in 3-D with outstanding detail. (It only makes sense to emulate the world's greatest city :) I even saw the Steps Clothing store, immediately recognizable, as I've been to its real-life counterpart. (...) Anyways, Rockstar's metropolis consists of three boroughs, complete with highways, train stations, cluttered traffic, shops, residential areas and a busy nightlife. You can definitely get a feel for the different neighborhoods here, from upper class Shoreside Vale to the Portland projects. Morning will come until night sets in and the streetlights are on. The sun and moon will rise accordingly. Some days it'll rain while at other times, fog sets in just to irritate you and cause car accidents. The pedestrians are apparently cloned from prototypes of a jogger, a construction worker, a hoodlum, etc., who are then littered about the sidewalks and are programmed to say amusing things, as well as taking an occasional punch at each other.
The game graphics are excellent, though not perfect. Buildings and waters looked jagged and choppy at times, but it's nothing major because the entire setting is just breathtakingly awesome. The cars are fabulously designed and you easily determine how it'll run, given real-world experience, since all or most in-game models reflect the Toyotas and Jaguars that exists in our realm. Each model has a unique feel to it, with varying speeds and ease of turns and handling. Unlike the hordes of pedestrian clones, the crime bosses are created with a distinctive look and personality.
So, what's your flavor?
Grand Theft Auto III also features some grand audio: Hollywood-caliber voice acting, background noises characteristic to a large city, loud explosions and gunfire, not to mention the radio stations! While cruising in your Cheetah or whatever car you've managed to jack, you can tune into Flashback for tracks from the movie Scarface, Game Radio for hip hop or any other station of your choosing. Ranging from reggae to techno, there's a station for listeners of all tastes. The deejays all have some amusing quips and the commercials are quite funny, advertising overnight pet deliveries and cures for broken marriages (...prostitutes.) GTA3's cast even includes real-life radio personality Lazlow* on all-talk Chatterbox FM.
*(Check out: http://www.lazlow.com)
Citizens of Liberty City are as varied as those of New York City, which, as I mentioned, it happens to be based on. Because the place is a virtual melting pot, pedestrians have very exaggerated ethnic accents (or the stereotypical "gay lisp"), though not intended to be insulting. They also say the darndest things, but they're randomly generated so it's easy to get tired of hearing some of the same things over and over again.
The sound effects in the game are very detailed and match its busy environment. Sounds accompanying gunfire sounds realistic enough to me, although I have never fired a million bullets successively from a machine gun nor have I launched explosives from a rocket launcher. (Someone help me if I ever do.) The loud "bang" of a round fired from a shotgun is particularly thrilling. The engines of fast cars (like a Banshee) will growl loudly while a slow one (stupid Esperanto) will just purr along. Tires will squeal and you can actually hear passing traffic as you drive along the streets or highways. Very cool.
Anything else?
Well, I can go and on, but I won't. What are you still doing here? If you've read up 'til now, more copies of Grand Theft Auto III have already left the shelves! It's mindlessly fun, very humorous in its exaggerated display of high crime, and offers challenge (if you want to take it) - truly one of a kind. Given the nature of this game, I don't recommend you buy it for younger players because this brand of violence should not be impressed upon children early on. If you're mature and mostly sane with a reckless appetite for mayhem, GTA3 was made for you.
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