Grand Theft Auto III

As in real life, there are consequences for your criminality. As your random acts of mayhem mount up, the police start hounding you, eventually calling in SWAT trucks, the FBI, and even the army if you continue down the path of destruction. Shaking these pursuers is easily the most fun part of the game, especially when a bunch of friends are packed in the room to witness your narrow escapes.

Grand Theft Auto III is fine-tuned to near perfection in every category. All the vehicles, from slick sports cars to lumbering dump trucks, handle exactly as you'd expect and smash apart realistically when abused. The three islands in the game are rendered in terrific detail considering their size, and are packed with traffic, pedestrians, and hidden jumps. The audio is equally amazing. Pedestrians talk, cops scream at you, and you can tune in nine different radio stations whenever you are in a car. It all adds up to a monumental achievement: the rare console game for adults that manages to get everything right. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Offers an enormous world for players to exploit, rendered in staggering detail
• Equally fun whether you go on plot-based missions or run around as a freelance crook

• Ultraviolence, foul language, and adult situations mean you'll want to keep this far away from kids
• It takes too long to get from one island to another, making some missions tedious

Players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, in which anything can happen and probably will. With a cast of hundreds, 50-plus vehicles--including sports cars, ice-cream trucks, boats, and buses--three hours of music, (including opera, reggae, house, drum and bass, pop, and disco), a huge array of street-ready weapons, and some of the seediest characters in video game history, Grand Theft Auto III is a sprawling epic that will show you that sometimes crime can pay, and that sometimes it pays you back.

Some of its more brilliant touches:
(1) You can choose to pursue the "story mode" missions or simply explore the vast cityscape, stealing cars and committing random crimes.
(2) You can leave story mode at any time and start exploring, then return to story mode whenever you're ready (or when you've increased your driving and police-eluding skills).
(3) Liberty City is gorgeously designed, with incredible detail and realistic layout and architecture. True professionals were at work here, coming up with a city as real as any you've ever seen in real life. (How interesting it would have been to set this game in an actual city!)
(4) The vast array of vehicles available to the player is almost endless. Probably due to the violent nature of the game, actual car makes and models are not given but any auto fan will recognize the ones that are depicted here. You can drive many other things besides cars -- such as buses, firetrucks, boats, ambulances, taxis, and of course, police cars.
(5) If you capture a "public servant" vehicle such as a police car, ambulance, or fire truck then the game offers you the opportunity for mini side missions, such as doing away with other criminals (as a vigilante cop), taking wounded people to the hospital (as a parametic), or putting out fires.
(6) The weapons you get are hilarious and fun -- nothing feels quite as good as using a bazooka to shoot that police helicopter out of the sky after it has been following you around the city, shining its spotlight and shooting you. :-)
(7) The missions are varied and sometimes very involved -- everything from delivering girls to the policeman's ball to eliminating your boss's rival to busting somebody out of jail.
(8) Bonus details abound. One of my favorites is the chance to drive a little toy car around on a side mission to blow up the cars of mobsters.
(9) The game has an easy-to-use status display that lets you know how much money you're making through your criminal exploits as well as how badly the cops want to catch you and how much health you have left. (The more "wanted" you are, the more insanely the cops try to catch you.) There is also a much more detailed status screen that you can pause the game to view at any time. This lets you know your "criminal rating" and your other stats.

(10) You can't really die or be permanently jailed! If you get down to zero health you merely end up at the hospital, 100% yourself again and with just a little less money due to the doctor bill. Similarly, if you get busted you merely "bribe" the cops to get free again. (Which is weird when in many cases you've been arrested for killing the police who have chased you. I don't think real cops would be open to bribes after that.)
(11) The cut scenes are clear, concise, and well directed.

(12) There are some very adult "hidden features" that make you laugh and marvel at the same time.
(13) The game actually rewards you for wrecking your own car and other people's cars, as well as for completing wild stunts while driving. You aren't MEANT to be careful, which feels good.
(14) The learning curve is very quick -- within a few minutes the game has tutored you on how to get around, and it prompts you whenever you need its advice or reminders later.

The team that planned and completed GTA 3 should be congratulated for a superb achievement. This is the absolute best PS2 game I've ever bought. Be warned, it is definitely for mature audiences -- there is no moral code among thieves in Liberty City, that's for sure. :-) For replay value alone GTA 3 is also a bargain -- I'm sure every player will be discovering new details about Liberty City for weeks and weeks.


50 things u can do in GTA3   January 5, 2002
John Bell (Larchmont, NY USA)
57 out of 60 found this review helpful

1. steal over 60 different kinds of cars
2. run over people with your car
3. make time with prostitutes
4. do insane stunts for $
5. rob people on the street for their $
6. get the cops on your back
7. change your license plate & paint your car to fool the cops
8. earn money as a taxi driver
9. Put out fires in a firetruck.
10. Bust bad guys in a cop car.
11. get people to safety in an ambulence
12. buy guns or beat people up who have them
13. take a boat ride in the "reefer" or "speeder"
14. listen to 10 different radio stations with over 30 min of different music/commericals
15. take the subway around Liberty City
16. steal an airplane at the airport
17. take a train ride
18. enter a car race and get money
19. honk your horn at people so they get out of your way
20. kill people for large sums of money
21. find hidden packages
22. ram into cars for money
23. put a bomb in your car and make it blow up
24. snipe people off the roofs of buildings
25. receive beeper messages giving important info
26. smack people with a baseball bat in the park
27. make distractions for others to bomb things
28. improve your criminal rating.
29. pick up hoes in your car.
30. deliver drugs from place to place.
31. watch detailed cinema scenes with excellent voiceovers.
32. feel the vibration from crashing into things
33. do slaughter missions by killing large amounts of people in a certain amount of time.
34. help people rob banks
35. get negative comments from numerous types of people
36. save your data at your home and a certain car along with it
37. use a GPS map to help get your way around the large islands.
38. Get the LCPD(Liberty City Police Department), FBI, Swat team, and even the army on your case for your actions.
39. explore sound options and the brightness of screen.
40. run from the cops or just walk casually.
41. have lock-on aim or zoom in on your enemy.
42. get randomly placed heatlh, armor, and wanted level items scattered around the neighborhood.
43. loose $ by dying, failing a mission, or getting killed by the cops.
44. take a car to the crusher
45. blow up a boat with a bazooka.
46. complete several missions with no importance of order in which they are completed.
47. collect pornography magazines for El Borro.
48. Find secret passages and hidden alleys.
49. experience different weather climates, night and day, and base missions on the times.
50. Have endless hours of fun.


Everything I love in a game and more...   November 12, 2001
22 out of 23 found this review helpful

If you've read any of my other reviews, you know what a huge Driver fan I am. Grand Theft Auto 3 has supplanted Driver as my all-time favorite game. Exploration and freedom of action have always been things I hunger for in a game, and the more immersive the environment, the better. Without my even having really expected it to, GTA3 has surpassed my most fevered dreams of the ultimate interactive experience.

Liberty City is one of the worst places in America, according to the game's literature, and GTA3's designers pulled no punches in depicting this seedy sewer of a metropolis in decay. It may come as a surprise to a lot of gamers that the designers of the game are British, and after playing GTA3 for a few hours, it's easy to appreciate the twisted and sarcastic view of American crime culture that inspired this game.

In this fictional and fully realized world, the player can do almost anything his darker nature inspires, including random and pre-meditated murder, vehicular manslaughter, grand theft auto (of course), armed robbery, assault and battery, and red-light running. The only restrictions involve actually entering structures, although there are a few for which this is possible as required by the game's plot. There are subways, trains, cars (lots of these), boats, planes and of course the freedom to jog anywhere you would be able to in real life. The streets are jammed with other people and cars, some just bystanders and some real bad guys (and girls). There are bridges and bays, a couple of ammo shops, a men's room in a park, a tunnel, and lots of guns. This is the closest thing to a real living city I have ever seen in a video game.

The main part of the game itself is mission-based and plot-driven, similar to that in Driver, but so much better thought-out. The variety of missions is wonderful and keeps the player interested in the plot. The mission structure is mostly non-linear, so if one boss asks you to do something and you don't feel like doing it right away, you can get a different job from another boss and come back to the first one later. Of course, some missions must be completed to advance the plot, but many are simply there to add spice to the game.

What if you don't feel like playing a mission? No problem. Just hop in a car, boat, taxi, police car, truck, ambulance, firetruck and so on, and hit the road. Running around aimlessly is fun, too. You can busy yourself looking for all 100 hidden packages, hitting strategically placed ramps to get a stunt bonus, taking patients to the hospital in an ambulance, being a taxi driver, running down dangerous criminals in a cop car, putting out fires in a firetruck, beating people to death and stealing their cash, stealing specific types of cars and delivering them to a warehouse for money, blowing up gang-members' cars with a radio-controlled bomb, sniping innocent victims from the safety of a high rooftop, making yourself wanted and then running from the police, or just looking around.

There's a lot to see. Just walking down one of Liberty City's streets will expose you to all kinds of seedy elements. Gang toughs will threaten and chase you if provoked, prostitutes will proposition you, drunks will mumble at you, drivers will shout expletives at you, crimes and car accidents will occur as you witness them, and, if you've made the wrong people mad, people will shoot at you.

Or you could just marvel at the detail that went into the city's design. Buildings are lifelike and architecturally interesting, there are landmarks and parking lots, college campuses and warehouses. There is a construction site that I swear has actually progressed in completion as the game days increase. There are parking garages and shopping malls and an airport.

GTA3 is definitely for adults only. I'm sure that most people would not have to be told this given my description of the shenanigans going on, but some people just don't read. Pay attention to that big M on the cover-it's well-deserved in this case.

This game is an escapist's dream come true-it is an immersive interactive experience like none other. If you are like me and liked nothing more than just cruising around the cities in Driver, you will find Liberty City an interactive envirnment that will never bore you.


A crime game that finally NAILS IT!   November 7, 2001
Ash from NH (NH)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

This is just an excellent game. From gameplay to graphics, story and environment, all the pieces come together to create a great gaming experience.

One of my favorite games on the PS1 was Driver, but it was always missing something... There was a sugar coating to it, sure you were working for criminals, but underneath it all you were a good guy, pedestrians jump to safety and there was limited extra vehicular activity. GTA3 has taken all the "oh I wish I could's" from that game and made them work.

GTA3 is a violent, foul languaged, bloody mess that should be kept far from the kids. Make no mistakes in this game you are a THUG of the coldest blood. As you are walking down the street, if you have the urge to smack someone upside the head and take their money, you can. Wanna take a taxi cab up onto the sidewalk and mow down a crowd of civilians...it's your neck. Steal a cop car and see if you can jump it over the El tracks, these are all possibilites.

The game has a TON of vehicles, and characters. The city is ENORMOUS. Hidden extras and features, you bet. The mission based game is quite challenging, starting off with some fairly straight forward missions to get your feet wet, but the bottom drops out from there. The missions become much more challengin, and the law much more interested in your criminal wrongdoings. One of the most significant things about this game is the amount of time you can spend NOT doing missions. In other words, between missions (which you pick and choose when you do them, and who you do them for)you are free to roam the city, wreaking havok, exploring, pulling stunts in your car (which will earn you kudos, if you impress the judges) or picking up some extra cash. Several sub missions allow you to earn money by driving around taxi passengers, driving an ambulance or firetruck or acting as a vigilante in a stolen cop car.

Gameplay is overall quite good, with controls that take on different patterns if you are on foot, or in a car. The most difficult thing to get used to is the targeting and shooting when you are on foot. Aiming can be quite difficult, especially if you are gatting pounded by several guys at once

In closing this game will find it's way into the libraries of most hardcore gamers. It is truly a MATURE game, and it has the violence, adult themes, and foul language to support the rating. It is however wicked, wicked fun.


Attention to Every Detail   November 12, 2001
Jordan Reed (San Leandro, CA United States)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

Rockstar did a fantastic job paying attention to all the minute details of this game. Grand Theft Auto III goes a long way to show off what the PlayStation 2 is capable of. They have generated a giant city and paid close attention to all the little details involved including the way cars show signs of damage, leaving of bloody footprints while running away from recent victims, radio stations in the car with chatty DJs, the ability to steal boats, and you can even see your character shift gears when he steals a manual convertible. Rockstar obviously spent a lot of time adding many unnecessary and brilliant touches to the game. This game is quite mature. There's a lot of often bloody violence, plenty of adult language, and great amounts of sexual innuendo. Keep away from children!

The basic premise of the game is similar to earlier versions. You're a criminal mercenary who'll sell your services to the various gang bosses for money. Yet, unlike the previous Grand Theft Auto games, this one has a consistent and progressing story line. You start by helping out those that busted you from jail, but once they betray you it's time to start doing work for their enemies.

Your actions come with consequences. Hits against the gangs will make them start shooting at you the moment they see you. Often I'd be driving in the game and just start hearing random gunshots. A quick look at the map would show me that I was on turf controlled by a gang I'd upset one too many times. Far more entertaining, hits against the cops will get the man on your back. There's a police response indicator that goes from cops just trying to pull you over to the military calling martial law on the city to hunt you down.

If you need to round up some extra cash in the game, there are four sub-games to help you do it. Steal a cop car and go on a vigilante run. Steal a taxi and you're playing Crazy Taxi. Steal an ambulance and get people to the ER. Steal a fire truck and put out fires.

The handling in the game is amazing. Every car handles differently and just how you would expect. There are fast sports cars, top heavy mini-vans, dump trucks, buses and even boats. They all have a different feel for handling, fish tailing, and breaking with either the normal breaks or parking break. Different types of cars have horns, sirens, even the ice cream truck can play its wonderful music for you. This game easily could have just been a racing game and done well for itself.

One of the PS2's biggest problems is load times, but GTA3 does a superb job of avoiding them. You'll here the game loading almost continuously in the background for cars, terrain, people and all the amazing features, but very rarely will the game actually pause to do a load. Based on the incredibly detail of the game, it's great that they avoided almost any pauses for loading.

There are a few places I could see some improvement, but they are mostly just minor polishing issues. The game cheats from time to time. I once pushed a villain's car over a cliff into the ocean, only to find it re-appeared slightly down the streets. Your car can become quite flammable on certain missions they want you to do on foot. The cop's AI takes no account for personal safety when they're hunting you down as the blindly crash into each other and innocents while trying to get you. Cars tend to crash into each other a lot, and I especially like turning on a siren on a bridge and watching them drive off the sides in an attempt to pull over.

Replay value is amazingly high for a story based game! Even when you finish the story line, you'll want to improve your "insane stunt" high scores and continue to play with the various sub games in the emergency vehicles. Trying to take down as many cops before they get you is also incredibly fun, even if it doesn't advance you at all.

My final recommendation is if you're a mature audience, this game is a must.