"Take some cars, kill some peds. Another normal day in Liberty City."

Grand Theft Auto is a good game to add to your collection. What do you feel like doing today in Liberty City? Kill some gangs, take some cars, and blow them up if you want to. What is stopping you, no really, what is stopping you? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! It’s not unusual to see gang fights occasionally. “Liberty City, a place to start a family, of ruthless, murdering gang members.” Who the hell cares, as long as I have my M-16 on me, I feel safe anywhere. Oh yea, this game is some good wholesome fun.

Story

You are doing a robbery with a chick named Catalina. On your way out, she felt like pulling a gun on you, how nice. She shoots you and then, the police arrest you. You later end up in one of those armored police trucks. It gets hijacked and you and a friend named 8-ball get freed. He says that he knows a man named Luigi, and you do some jobs for him. Sounds simple enough.

Game Play

In my personal opinion, the controls are great. Some people don’t like them much. You move with the keyboard and guide with the mouse. I like it because you can react to things better. You can also aim more accurately. It really depends on what you prefer yourself. GTA has mixed difficulty. Some of your bosses and missions are pretty hard to work for, others are not too bad. You are not going to be able to just walk through this game without problems. The city is based on three islands: Portland, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale. As you advance, the bridges to each of the islands open up giving you more roads to get lost on. What is nice is that you don’t always have to do the missions. If you want, you can just go and kill some innocent people and laugh at them because their head fell off.

Graphics

The graphics are very nice to look at. They are consistent on how good they look. You won’t find some things being very stunning and others not looking so good. They are better than the PS2. The major problem I have is the frame rate. You have to have a damn good video card to have a decent experience. Without it, it’s going to be slow and almost unusable. If you do have a good card, you will enjoy your stay at Liberty City.

Sound

The radio stations are fun and interesting to hear. You have just about every category to choose from. There is a nice share of jokes worked in to most of the stations, quite funny. It is humor for the whole family (17 or older or course). The actual music is nice, and it will stick with you for a while. The stations do go on for good amount of time before they start over again. Therefore, you won’t end up hearing the same song every five minutes. The sound effects are good to. They are realistic when you do hear them. The screams, explosions, gunshots, what pleasant music to my ears.

Length and Replay Value

GTA gave me about 15 hours. That did not include the side missions. I did the missions that were required and that is about it. If you were to do everything that there is to do, you can probably do it in 30-50 hours. It really depends on how good at these games you are. You might be hung up on some missions for an extensive amount of time, which would obviously alter your hours of play. As far as replay value goes, there is not much. The replay for me when I beat the game is to just go and screw around.

Bottom Line

This game is a lot of fun. It is a strong recommendation. You will become greatly addicted to it in no time.

Story - 9
Game Play - 9
Graphics - 9
Sound - 9
Length and Replay - 10

For the overall, it is a very good game, but it’s not quite a 10, so my vote is a 9.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/03, Updated 04/17/03