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Reviews GTAIII never looked so good., October 23, 2005 Rating: 8.0/10 By Mitch Rockstar Games originally produced the GTA3 gem under a very short and small budget, and hit the Playstation 2 in its early years as a fairly underground game with little advertisement. Gamers were treated to a new game with unlimited replay ability, amazing original game play and an interesting story driven plot to keep people playing. With great sound, graphics and models, people will continue playing Grand Theft Auto 3 for quite a long time. When Rockstar Games realized this, years later, they created a clever marketing ploy and released GTA3 along with GTA: Vice City in a two box set (known as the Double Pack) to the Sony Playstation 2 as well as the Microsoft XBOX. The XBOX version, which completely overpowered the PS2, featured much better graphics and sound and faster loading times. This is why Grand Theft Auto 3 for the XBOX is much, much better than the PS2 version.
Grand Theft Auto 3 begins with a semi-long intro movie. The camera swoops down from a large establishment, the Liberty City bank, and trails around a speeding sports car. The sports car stops outside of the banks alleyway, revealing its two robbers emerging from a back door. One is female, the other male, who you will take control of. The man fires several rounds from his shotgun into the open door, and just as he turns the corner, his girlfriend informs him that he is "small time," and guns him down. We fade out, and soon come back in. The camera is now following a transport truck, belonging to the Liberty City State Penitentiary, where the character is being held in the back with several other convicts. In the background, a newscaster gives a report that is meant to be broadcasted sometime in the future of what we're saying. As she explains, she gives details that the police convoy that you were within had been hijacked, and all prisoners escaped. In the aftermath of this happening, the hijackers had destroyed the Callahan Bridge, in which the convoy was stopped. As the broadcast finished, we watch it all, now viewing what she was giving details on. A heavy duty truck stops in font of the transport truck, and men begin to pile out of a panel van, holding the police at gun point, and taking an old oriental prisoner with them. Their main goal was to retrieve that man, but they don't hesitate to hold the other prisoners back. As the hijackers escape to the other side of the bridge, a bomb goes off, completely taking out the center, now making it harder for the cops to track them. This leaves you, along with another black prisoner time to escape before police arrive.
This is the initiation for your first mission. As we begin, we're standing on the bridge among burning debris in our orange Liberty City Penitentiary uniform. Luckily for us, an undamaged sedan is off to the side, and our new accomplice jumps in the back and tells you to drive. You don't have to right away, though. You have an opportunity to explore what your character can do. With the left thumb stick, we can move him in any direction we please. X causes him to jump, and holding A while moving makes him sprint. The right trigger makes him punch, but for right now, we don't have any targets. When we jump into the car, right away, the game comes alive. What many gamers weren't expecting when they first put GTA3 into the PS2 or XBOX was that it has a wide selection of radio stations, filled with music and commercials, as well as a radio station dedicated strictly to talk radio. We can shuffle through them at our own will, and stop on whichever we please. It ranges all the way from rock, to pop, to rap, to classical, to reggae, and even a techno/house music station. If you're an XBOX owner, you can play your own music directly off your hard drive and listen to it while driving.
The car you first jack is known as a Kuruma, and slightly resembles a Dodge or Plymouth Neon. It has decent acceleration, and is a front wheel drive. All cars in GTA3 are like this. There is only a decent amount of them within the city, and they go from heavy duty semi trucks to taxi cabs. To accelerate, press down the right trigger, and to break or reverse hold down the left. For the hand brake, for tighter turns, we use the B button. Right when you start driving the Kuruma, you'll probably have a hard time learning how it controls. Without a doubt, you'll probably begin like me, accelerate, lose control, and eventually lose control and flip over, leading to an explosion burning you and your accomplice alive. It may be hard at first, but it doesn't take long to get used to. After a quick drive through Portland Island, you hit your destination, an old auto body shop where you and your accomplice (who's known as 8-Ball) get a change of clothes and head to your next destination. 8-Ball explains that just around the corner, in the Red Light District, a friend of his by the name of Luigi might have some work in line for you. You take the Kuruma over to the Sex Club 7, get out, and walk into the blue marker. This is your first real mission in Grand Theft Auto 3.
In GTA3, it's all about taking missions to advance the story line and earn money. Each mission begins by stepping into a glowing blue marker which engages the intro movie to the mission. In this mission, you and 8-Ball walk around the back of the club, and are later by Luigi Goterelli, an Italian heavily connected to the Liberty City mafia, and conveniently voiced by Joe Pantoliano. You'll find a lot of big time actors in GTA3, from Michael Madsen to Frank Vincent. Your first mission is to simply pick up one of Luigi's prostitutes outside of a hospital. As you continue through the game, they start to get rougher. Just on the second mission, you're still working for Luigi, and you're sent out to kill someone who has been introducing a new drug, "Spank," to his girls. The first weapon we get is a baseball bat, which only takes a few swings to beat down an enemy to a puddle of blood. There aren't too many weapons in GTA3, but they do get the job done. There's a pistol, Uzi (which can also be used for drive bys), a shotgun, an AK-47, a heavy M-4, a flame thrower, sniper rifle and rocket launcher. The money you make off each mission usually goes towards your weapon budget. Of course, we're not able to buy a rocket launcher from out neighborhood gun store. Eventually, as we proceed in the game, we help out an ex-Soldier who later is available to sell us heavier black market weapons for around $40,000 a pop. So, if you want a rocket launcher with enough rockets to keep the enemies away, you're going to have to save big time. Our first weapons in the beginning, such as the pistol and Uzi, are easy to use. Hold down the left trigger, and you instantly lock on to the nearest target. We can shuffle through them with the d-pad, and unload as many rounds into them as we very well please with the right trigger. Other guns, like the M4 and sniper rifle, are manually aimed and fired. The M4 is a ferocious weapon, which can cut down 20 enemies in 4 seconds easily, and should be valued heavily. The sniper rifle is hardly used, but is better if you're running low on health or armor and want to hide so you can pick off the bad guys from a distance.
Liberty City is a very large world, taking up three large islands with industrial, business and suburban districts, and each one overlapping an entire island. When we begin, we're locked in the industrial district as the bridge is destroyed. As we progress, more islands unlock, and we're able to travel around detailed environments such as neighborhoods and even a large airport. Liberty City is roughly based on New York, and a lot of the subdivisions play off of the actual city (Harwood = Harlem, Staunton Island = Stanton Island.) Like the city itself, it's very dark, and often has gloomy skies and rain.
What people love most about Grand Theft Auto is the free roaming capabilities. No, we don't just have to take missions. Missions are engaged whenever you wish, by traveling to the boss's place of business and beginning the mission. LC is your playground, and you can steal any car on the road, and travel wherever you please, anytime you want. Along with stealing cars, Liberty City is a quiet, lonely city. Pedestrians freely roam the sidewalks, and if you've got a gun in hand, you can approach any person you wish and take them out. Hell, even if you're behind the wheel of a speeding car, you can use it as a murder weapon and plow through people like there's no tomorrow. However, like in real life, the police do not like people killing others. Your wanted level determines your level of felony, and each level has its consequences. They work in stars, and there are six of them near the top right of the screen. Here is an index key to their meaning:
1 Star: You've probably shot someone in front of a cop, and all he's going to do is try to take you down with his fists. Simply drive away to avoid him, and within moments your star with disappear.
2 Stars: Either you've killed too many people, or a couple cops. Now, police will begin to open fire on you, as well as pursue you within their police cars.
3 Stars: A police helicopter is dispatched, armed with a powerful machine gun. Watch your back.
4 Stars: The police are far more aggressive, and now SWAT teams are beginning to make their appearance. At this point, you need to keep your car moving, or it'll take too much damage and you'll blow up inside of it.
5 Stars: The FBI is here. Do yourself a favor and stay inside of your car. These guys roll up in numbers of around 20, armed with AK's and shotguns. Keep moving, for your life.
6 Stars: It all ends here: prepare to meet the military. Large transport trucks along with tanks come to the scene, and they are all armed with M4's, also carrying pistols and grenades. They're covered in body armor, too. Good luck taking one out.
You're either killed by a law enforcement officer or arrested. To become "busted," they'll either pull you out of your car, or knock you down and surround you. On foot, you're far more likely to get wasted than busted. When wasted, you awaken outside of a hospital with $100 of your money missing along with your guns. This can happen as much as possible, and the same thing happens when arrested; only you re-appear outside of a police department.
GTA3 may be aged and low quality compared to the two recent installments, but it will always be worth playing. Buy it now, or you'll probably be an outcast…
… FOREVER.
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