Grand Theft Auto III

Where do you start with a game like Grand Theft Auto 3? Do you start with the immense sense of freedom that the game provides you with? Or what about the sheer depth and astounding attention to detail present? How about the mature subject matter that was so scandalous for its time? Actually, does this game even need an introduction?

It’s been over ten years since Grand Theft Auto 3 exploded onto the PlayStation 2 and created a shock wave that was felt all around the industry, and arguably the whole country. Never before had we seen a game that allowed the player to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted in such a mature, contemporary setting. Sure, there were some Role-Playing games that allowed you to roam a far-away land with castles and dragons at your leisure; but did any of those games allow you to steal a car, pick up a prostitute, use her services, and then kill her to acquire your money back? I didn’t think so. In an industry that was just getting a hold of 3-D, and where many players had all-grown up, Grand Theft Auto 3 was a breath of the freshest of air.

That was 13 years ago. Countless copy-cats have been made, including many impressive sequels; the industry has been steadily heading in a darker, more realistic direction; and our open-worlds need to be the size of a small country just to please the fans. In this climate, it’s hard for players today to understand why Grand Theft Auto 3 was considered so revolutionary and original. Although the significance of Grand Theft Auto 3 has been lost on younger generations, that doesn’t mean that the game isn’t still incredibly fun.

Contrary to popular belief, the Grand Theft Auto games are not just about racking up the highest body count and then handing off the controller to the next player. While this is an immensely enjoyable way to pass the time, there are actual stories in the mix, and Grand Theft Auto 3 was really the first game in the series to employ a cohesive plot. You play as an unnamed, voiceless hit man who was betrayed by his girlfriend during a bank heist, and as such is promptly arrested. While being transported to prison, a mysterious party breaks you out, and you are now essentially on your own in Liberty City to do as you please. As you progress through the story, you will work for various criminal organizations and try to work your way up the ranks. While the characters in the game are not especially interesting (they are all rather one-dimensional), the dynamics between the different gangs is actually rather involving, and seeing how various gang members on the street react to you depending on where you are in the story is entertaining in its own right.

You progress through the story by completing missions that you acquire from various sources. Many of these missions are relatively simple, and usually involve “kill that guy” or “pick up this package and bring it back” missions. Some of the missions get a little more complex, and this is when the game can start to get quite frustrating. Failing a mission results in you having to drive through the city all the way back to your mission start point, and start the mission over from scratch. These sorts of missions usually just boil down to trial-and-error, a design philosophy that I personally am glad to be rid of in today’s games. Luckily though, you’ll usually have at least one other story mission that you can distract yourself with, which relieves a bit of the stress.

That’s not to say that this game is all story, though. Completing the story will only put you at about 40% on the completion tracker. There are plenty of other things to do around the city at your leisure. For instance, there are many well-placed ramps around the city that you can just decide to drive off of, called “Stunt-Jumps.” There are also certain special vehicles that will unlock unique missions on their own. Some of these are “Drive through the checkpoints in a set time” missions, while others involve giving cab rides to people in a pseudo-Crazy Taxi style mini-game. Then there are the 100 hidden packages around the city that you can collect. Collecting these packages and completing these missions can give you certain rewards that will help while you play, such as giving you free weapons.

And there are a lot of weapons. While not quite the volume that you will find in future Grand Theft Auto games, Grand Theft Auto 3 has everything that you’ll need. This includes a pistol, a sub-machine gun, a shotgun, an Assault Rifle, a Sniper Rifle, a Rocket Launcher, etc. If using those weapons sounds like too disconnected of an experience for you, you can engage in very rudimentary melee combat. It gets the job done, but it isn’t particularly fun unless you’re using a baseball bat.

Far more diverse than the number of weapons are the number of vehicles in the game. Even by today’s standards, the number can feel staggering. Although, unlike modern Grand Theft Auto games, the number is small enough that you will start recognizing cars as soon as you see them. Certain missions will require that you use a specific car, and you’ll soon start to learn where in different parts of the city different cars will be more likely to show up. The cars range from fast and fragile, to slow but sturdy, and getting around the city in them is a blast. There are also boats that you can use, however I didn’t find much of a need for them outside of missions, and there’s a worthless plane that you’ll be lucky to get airborne for longer than three seconds (literally.) Between the numerous weapons and vehicles, as well as the open nature of the city, the game offers a lot of latitude when completing missions and almost works out to be like a puzzle game in some respects, as you try to figure out how best to complete your objective.

Not that you really need to have an objective. Just as useful as the weapons and vehicles are for accomplishing a goal, they are also just as effective at causing mayhem and destruction. The city is your playground, and you can do whatever the hell you want in it. Want to run over a bunch of pedestrians? Go ahead. Want to blow up a cop car? Totally fine. Want to beat an old lady to death with a baseball bat, and then just keep hitting her because it’s funny? Feel free. This behavior will attract various forms of police response, and getting into cop chases may be the most entertaining (and infamous) part of the game. Basically, as your crimes get worse, the police response will become more drastic, all the way to getting the army involved. It’s awesome.

All of this takes place in a city that is so well-designed that I’m a bit lost for words. Grand Theft Auto games continue to get bigger and bigger, and yet in many ways this game’s interpretation of Liberty City is arguably the best map in the series. It feels like it is just the perfect size to cause mayhem and to perform missions, and the layout is never confusing. The road layout and size allow for you to memorize the map so well that eventually you won’t need to look at your mini-map anymore. If driving isn’t your thing, then walking around the city has its own rewards. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore with their own secrets, and discovering these things feels very rewarding, and there were times where I would make up games for myself, like trying to get on top of a building that I didn’t know how to, and figuring out how to do it made me feel very smart.

The controls for handling this wide variety of gameplay work pretty well. On the Xbox, the game plays similarly to the PS2 version, meaning that it does not have the free-aim camera of the PC version. Players may still look around, however it can only be done when not moving. This can feel awkward at first, though you’ll get used to it pretty quickly. The shooting involves a lock-on system similar to Ocarina of Time’s, wherein you’ll hold down the left trigger to lock onto an enemy, and then pull the right trigger to shoot. This system works alright, however there are plenty of times where the game will simply lock on to the wrong character, such as a pedestrian instead of the gangster shooting you, causing your death. Future Grand Theft Auto games have refined this system so well that this is easily the hardest aspect of the game to get used to. And since you can’t adjust the camera very easily, shooting someone behind you becomes a nightmare. Despite all of this criticism, the system isn’t broken; it does still work well enough to usually get the job done, especially since the enemy A.I. is a terrible shot. However, I found myself wanting to avoid close-up gun combat as much as possible, instead opting for a sniper rifle. Driving works incredibly well, and it is a lot of fun to zip around the city and perform astonishing feats with the game’s physics engine.

Graphically, the game looks great on the Xbox. There is an excellent gloomy, dark look to the game’s lighting that really creates an oppressive sense of place. Weather effects look spot on, explosions look appropriately awesome, and the textures look sharp enough to pass. The Xbox version is easily the best-looking version of the game, due to many improvements made specifically to this version. Most noticeably, the lighting has received an overhaul that looks fantastic, especially the new reflections on cars. Polygon counts have also gone up, especially on characters, making them look much better than their PS2 and PC counterparts (Donald Love doesn’t look like a blocky mess anymore.) Textures seem to be a bit sharper, and there seems to be more detail, such as more newspapers flying around the streets. Fire and weather effects have also received an upgrade. The new rain looks simply fantastic to drive through. The frame rate is generally solid, however it will slow down in spots (try doing a crime-spree in a tank.)The Xbox version also comes with full 16:9 support, however I advise against playing this way because the cutscenes will crop very oddly, so you won’t see character's faces a lot of the time. Simply put, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a game with graphics that have stood up surprisingly well.

The audio has stood up even better though. The sound effects all sound appropriate and well-done, however it is the voice-over work that deserves the most praise. All of the characters in the game are full-voiced, and the acting is stellar even by today’s standards. Many celebrities add their voice talents to some key characters, including Frank Vincent, Michael Madsen, and Kyle MacLachlan, to name a few. Along with the main characters, there are a number of radio DJs that you can listen to when you get in a vehicle. There are a few radio stations that play different styles of music (all of the music is licensed tracks), and each station has its own DJ associated with it. The most memorable is Lazlow, the host of Chatterbox talk radio. The radio stations have some great music ranging from Rap to Classical to Techno, however the music tends to loop pretty often. Compared to Grand Theft Auto games since this one, the radio stations feel incredibly short, however they remain entertaining from start to finish. And, on the PC and Xbox, you can import your own music and create your own custom radio station. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to hear any of the hilariously satirical commercials on this station. The Xbox version also comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 support for true surround sound, and it sounds great, however the Xbox version does seem to be mixed oddly. The radio seems really quiet by default, so some adjustments in the options are recommended. I would recommend turning the music all the way up, and turn the sfx setting to five spots over from the left. That left me with a mix sounding almost exactly like the PC version.

In the end, Grand Theft Auto 3 has stood up surprisingly well in a lot of aspects. It may be difficult to go back to after experiencing the over the top scope of more recent games, however there is still definitely fun to be had, and it still easily recognizable as an excellent game. If you are curious as to the real origins of this incredible series of games, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a great place to start.