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7th November 2001:
Grand Theft Auto III
The third instalment arrives for the next generation --- Click here if you are over 18 ! ---
Posted by John Grothier - PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe

After one of our usual post-pub gaming sessions one of my friends brought a woman along to the proceedings, who was singularly unimpressed with my friends and I blowing one another up.
‘Why do you play these games?’ She exclaimed.
‘Because we can’t do this in real life!’ We chanted defiantly in unison.

And that’s what DMA’s new offering is all about; Grand Theft Auto III allows you to roam a vast city, truly living and breathing, and reek mayhem. You can’t do that in real life – unless, of course, you’re a psychopath.

Grand Theft Auto III, released by Rockstar Games, is nothing short of a masterpiece; for the first time a real city complete with working emergency services, pedestrians walking the busy streets, cars, buses, cabs, and boats and aircraft all have somewhere to be. Travel the city’s huge three islands by any means you see fit, a working railway system and subway all work in real time if you don’t fancy driving through the congested streets. The sun rises and sets, affecting the city’s inhabitants; in the daylight hours people go about their day to day business, but when night falls out come the gangs, drug dealers and prostitutes tout for trade. Liberty City becomes a truly dangerous place to be in.

Liberty City is divided into three islands or districts; Portland is the industrial zone, which comprises of the docks, the red light area, warehouses and markets. Staunton Island is the commercial district and features all the big businesses and is populated by the rich and powerful. There is also a large shopping mall, casino and a football stadium for the residents. Shoreside Vale is suburban bliss and tranquillity, and home to Liberty City’s more affluent gangster. Swimming pools and picket fences hide the violence and corruption that are at heart of every home, after all this is America.

You start Grand Theft Auto III as nothing more than a hired thug; who is asked to ferry around whores or occasionally asked to ‘sort someone out.’ After just a few successful missions word gets around and offers of work come flooding in. Missions usually require you to steal a car, drive it to a pre-determined point on the map and wipe someone out, but don’t let that fool you – there are over eighty missions to complete and each assignment feels fresh and new every time, and they have multiple ways of accomplishing them. There is a fantastic revenge story that flows throughout the game, employing some stunning gangster movie inspired cut-scenes.

Grand Theft Auto III relies heavily on vehicles, and the streets of Liberty City are literally jammed with over fifty different types of cars, buses, taxis, trucks, sports cars and even military vehicles – all are for the taking. Wait for your chosen victim to stop, or you can force them to stop by stepping out in front their car, and then one quick press of the triangle button will yank your chosen victim out of their car and allow you to drive away with it, but beware some motorists will fight back!

Handling of the vehicles in Grand Theft Auto III is superb; each car has its own physics, and distinct handling. The ‘go anywhere’ policy works extremely well and really pays off when you explore the city and uncover hidden secrets and power-ups. Your ‘hero’ can find health, armour, police bribes and, of course, weapons.

Grand Theft Auto III includes just about every conceivable weapon for the budding hoodlum. You start with just your fists, and then a baseball bat becomes available to beat up a few pimps. Next come the guns; as the missions progress the guns just get bigger and better! Work your way through handguns, Uzi’s, machine-guns, grenades, rocket launchers and even the flamethrower.

Liberty City has its own laws, rules, ethics and morals - and they are yours to shatter. If you do, don’t expect to get away with it! There are many ways to get the police on your back, from running away from an accident, to going on the rampage through the shopping mall with the flamethrower! Your ‘wanted’ level is depicted by ‘stars’, ranging from one star; a small amount of police interest, to six stars whereby police, SWAT teams, FBI, roadblocks, helicopters and even the army are gunning for you!

The graphics in Grand Theft Auto III are never short of stunning; it really is the closest yet to a living, breathing, working city. You really get a sense of scale, you can literally see for miles. A full weather eco-system, which includes rain, fog, thunder and lightning, affects the gameplay; rain makes roads more slippery for both yourself and the police, and fog can also work to your advantage if they send up the helicopters!

The sound in Grand Theft Auto III merits an award, the effects for the cars, guns and general city noises are spot on – you can even hear planes flying overhead. But where the sound really shines is in the many radio stations that you can pick up from each car. Every radio station sounds fantastic and has many licensed tracks and some brilliantly witty voice-acted adverts. There is even a talk radio station complete with nutty callers ringing in!

Overall Grand Theft Auto III is one of the best games I have ever played - it’s right up there with Zelda, Mario 64 and Elite. There is so much to see and do in Liberty City, you will find yourself exploring the city, or just finding out how much death and destruction you can get away with, and the police chases rival Driver for excitement.
On one occasion, just for review purposes you understand, I whacked an innocent pedestrian with the baseball bat, a crowd gathered and the ambulance showed up, paramedics raced out and attended to the poor casualty. So I jumped in the ambulance and ran over the victim, the paramedics and a few of the nosey crowd!

‘Why do you play these games?’ asked my girlfriend.

Comments from Michael Mullis on the US side
Considering Grand Theft Auto 3 released at the same time in both Europe and the US, John and I decided to try something new. We're going to give you a somewhat joint review. I'm not going to go into detail about what John has already wrote, but I would like to add in some things that really stood out for me in this game. First off, I don't know how well the voice actors are known in the UK, but there is some serious talent working this game. Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, Ready to Rumble, Congo, Bad Boys) and Michael Rappaport (Boston Public, Mighty Aphrodite, The 6th Day, Copland) just to name a few. That adds power and a movie-type realism to GTA3 that draws me into it. Something else that I really enjoy, are the mini-games you can play between your jobs. For example, if you jack a cab, you can turn on the "Taxi Missions" and play a little "Crazy Taxi". If you snag a cop car, you can play vigilante and bring down crime yourself (isn't that ironic). With a fire-truck, you can attempt to put out fires yourself. All in the name of fun and money.

I'm also very impressed with the diversity of your jobs, and the fact that GTA3 is completely non-linear. You can be working for multiple gangsters at once, and doing different jobs. And then again, you do it on your own time. Spend as much time as you like roaming the streets. Beat up some pedestrians, or go joyriding. I have had a lot of fun simply agitating the cops and getting 3-4 cars to chase me around the city. Just a lot of fun.

John pretty much covered everything else much better than I could have, so all I can say is that the game simply rocks, and is easily one of the better games I've played this year. Very deep, and lot of fun. Rockstar has brought it with GTA3!

John Grothier

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Review Summary:

Grand Theft Auto III is a must have title! If you own a PlayStation 2 you must add it to your collection, if you don't you must add a PlayStation 2 to your console collection.Over 80 missions, loads of secrets and extra 'jobs' to find - this game will keep you busy for months!For the first time a true living, breathing city has been created on a console - complete freedom of movement - you can even steal a taxi and work as a cabbie, or a fire engine and work as a firefighter!

Grand Theft Auto III
for PlayStation 2

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