Grand Theft Auto III Review (PS2) By Richard S. Stites Published: 02/25/08 PrintEmail
Every couple of years a game comes around that changes everything. Grand Theft Auto III was one of those games. The original Grand Theft Auto was a popular PC game that had an overhead view of the action, and GTA 2 was a sub-standard third-person Dreamcast game. But when you combine the action and concept of GTA and the third person perspective of GTA 2, you get GTA III. And Rockstar, we thank you for GTA III.
GTA III isn't perfect, but it is innovative, and sometimes that is much better than perfect. Basically you have the free roaming that you would expect from an RPG, and you have the all out action that you would expect from a normal third-person action game. But guess what, you also have a pretty decent driving experience complete with stunts.
Lately free-roaming action games are everywhere, but the recent trend was started by GTA III. You can go anywhere, and can beat up, slash, shoot, or kill anyone in your way. That includes pedestrians who are just walking the street minding their own business. When you're short on cash those hundreds of pedestrians start to look a little appetizing, because when you kill them some of them leave a little cash next to their bloody corpse.
The meat of the game comes with the missions. You have two types of missions. You have the missions that progresses the story, and you have missions that are just there to do. So when you get tired of one type of mission you can just look around until you find a mission that sounds like more fun.
GTA III is a mature game. You will see drug usage, homicides, assaults, vehicle thefts and hookers. Yes, I did say hookers. Amongst the other pedestrians walking the streets of Liberty City you will notice some scantly-clad females. If you stop near them when you're driving a car, and there are no police officers in the area, then they will get in. You then drive to a dark alley, and your car will start to rock, your money will go down, and your life will fill back up. Needless to say, this game is not for younger gamers.
Now the name of the game is Grand Theft Auto, which implies that there may be some vehicle theft; which of course there is. If you see a car you like driving down the road simply walk up to it and press the correct button on your controller. Your character, Tommy, will walk up to the car and gently remove the driver. Now the car is yours to do whatever you want to do. Whether you need the car for a mission, or you just want to run over some pedestrians to get a little extra money, it's all up to you.
The driving experience in GTA III is very satisfying. The roads are full of other traffic, and when you want to get from one side of town to the other fast you must navigate the traffic. Also hidden throughout the game are special jumps. Just find them and hit them at full speed. The camera will switch to a different perspective and slow down just making you want to explore and find more of the hidden goodies.
Speaking of hidden goodies there are also "secret packages" hidden throughout Liberty City. When you find a predetermined number of packages you get special bonuses, such as better weapons. Also the more you run around the city, the longer your character can sustain a run without getting tired. What makes this game so good is the detail that was taken regarding everything. You even have dozens of cheat codes that can spawn special cars, make you impervious to damage, or lower your wanted level.
Yes I just mentioned your "wanted level". There are police in the game, and if they see you beat somebody up, steal a car, or commit just about any crime, they will chase you. The more crimes you commit, the harder they chase you. Eventually they will even call the SWAT team out to bring you into custody. It can be pretty difficult to complete a difficult mission when you get a wanted level and have an army of police chasing you down.
Unfortunately there were a couple of things in GTA III that were less than impressive. First off, you're this mobster making his way up through the ranks, but you don't know how to swim. I know it's a little thing, but it makes the game less realistic. Also no matter how many times you get arrested, and no matter what you get arrested for, the only penalty is that you loose a little money and all your weapons. So let me get this right, you run over eighteen people, get out of your car and pick up all their money, then get caught by the police and your out of jail a couple of hours later. The penalty for getting caught is far too slim.
All and all Grand Theft Auto III is an excellent game. It's fun, innovative and spawned a small army of imitations. Unfortunately none of the imitations have managed to capture the magic and attention to detail that made GTA III an instant classic. If you haven't played this one, and you're old enough to enjoy it, then you need to give this game a shot.
