Grand Theft Auto III

"Immature, antisocial, obscene and fun as hell. Boy, what messed up world we live in."

Well well, thanks to a friend I have finally played this so much talked about bad boy, and well, I have to say that after an hour or so playing this was nothing but more ultra overrated trash that ended up being a huge success due to the hype and the relatively controversial themes it deals with (for teenagers this is, who, by the way, are not allowed to play, but that is another story).

So it took some time, but I have finally learned to appreciate this title, and a lot, Grand Theft Auto III leaves a lot to be desired in some areas, but it is one of the most entertaining games on the PlayStation 2, that is for sure.

Plot:
Your are this piece of %&$ whose girlfriend betrayed him during a honourable night of hard work. For this reason his well deserved next destination was going to be a beautiful room in an even more beautiful place (the jail). But as a video game that takes place entirely in a prison would be a bit dull, he escapes with another slime bag to start ``business`` again.

While there are a few events such as new betrayals and stuff like that, and while the missions are somehow connected, after the intro the plot basically ends.

Graphics:
Well, it depends, the city is nicely structured (where are the house though?, but I`ll go on that later) and the vehicles look really good, they explode in a very realistic and spectacular way. The characters are a bit blocky and crudely designed (see that mechanic guy, his eyelashes are out of this world), but overall decent. Technically speaking there is quite a lot of pop up, but even with that everything looks good. Overall if you stay in you car the everything is very nice, if not, it gets uglier, but still good. Very good.

Music:
I am not the right person to rate the music I know, but I`ll do it anyway because I don`t care, ha!. The music for me is intolerable, of course this is because I just can`t stand rap, hip hop, techno, and all that unnameable garbage nowadays people calls music, which is what this game features.

However, it is also possible to turn on the Chatterbox and hear debates about violence while your next destination is the place of a foreign drug dealer whose car (with our foreign pal inside) is about to explode because we are going to place a bomb under it.

Something good but also odd is the inclusion if a classical music channel, it is good because it is the only way to hear good music, but also odd and out of place because listening to classical music while taking a hooker to her top less club while running over innocent citizens more than a video game feels like being inside a Kubrick movie.

Anyway, most importantly, I applaud Rockstar for including the possibility to turn of the radio in all the vehicles, which is what I always do, and it is a relief, the only problem is that having to turn off the music every single time you find a vehicle is annoying, but as I am the only one with this problem (probably) I guess it is ok.

The voice acting in the other hand is top notch among the top notch, one of the best I have ever heard. All the slimebags we have to deal with talk and swear exactly the way their real counterparts do, and sometimes you will hear them swearing in Spanish or Italian, and it is great.

Gameplay:
As I said before, after the intro everything is about highjacking vehicles and completing missions, loads and loads of them (both vehicles and missions). At the beginning they are a bit boring, come here go there and crap like that, but don`t worry, keep playing and they will get a lot better.

Aside from these missions we can also go and highjack taxis, ambulances, police cars and fire trucks, each one with a bunch of exclusive missions. But don`t get exited, these missions are very dull and boring, not to mention useless, because we only get money, and I know there is nothing quite as wonderful as money, but well, not in GTA III, in fact it is basically useless.

If you don`t want to complete missions you are free to go and explore the city, the problem is that there is nothing really interesting to see aside from finding out secret packages to obtain new cars and stuff or mess with the police as much as you can to try to rise you felony meter. Pissing off as many cops as you can fun sometimes, but only for a while because, again, it is useless.

One of the big problems in the game is that we can`t visit most of the buildings, that is a bad move and hurts the missions a lot because this way all we can do is to wander around the city looking for hidden packages and that is all, bah!, like if there weren`t better things to do out there for someone without the slightest trace of moral compass, integrity or respect for the private property like our main character. Also, what about houses, mansions, shopping malls, gas stations? I can only see buildings in this city, oh you say that lone and incredibly so-so building over there is a shopping mall?, but, I can I can`t wreak havoc inside with the new 4X4 I`ve just highjacked!, dull!, or, imagine a dog messing with you when you approach a house to try to steal the newspaper, now that would be fun!

The controls are kind of a mixed bad, all the vehicles have perfect controls, but the ``pedestrian mode`` is mediocre at best, specially when it comes to fight, and specially when it comes to fight with weapons. We can aim, lock and switch targets, but it is not easy. Fortunately there are very few missions where we have to get out of our vehicles (which is not good by the way), but even with that the ``combats`` need improvements.

Something very annoying is that we loose all our weapons even if we save the game after quitting. One day, when I finally managed to find a cool bazooka to blow up one of those stupid police helicopters, so I saved the game and quit, but a few hours later, when I was about to perpetrate, I suddenly found that my bazooka was no longer with me, how come?, didn`t I saved the game when it was in my inventory?, damn!, even that crappy baseball bat is no longer with me. Bah!.

Another thing that should have been improved is the map system. Let`s see, that little map we have is probably the most useful thing in the game, but there should have been different maps to choose from, and specially a big map of the whole city with the location of all the areas and services. If you need weapons or the police is after you and you need to find a garage, if you can`t remember where in the world the garage was better start praying because no one is going to tell you where is it.

There are also a few items (aside from the weapons) out there in the city, I have found hearts (life), cop starts to reduce our ``felony meter`` but that are not exactly useful because there are life five in the whole game, hidden packages to unlock cars, and some strange pills that make everything go on sloooooowly (useless).

Something that maybe hurts the game is that from what I have seen this is just what Ocarina of Time was to the Zelda series when compared to the previous GTA games, what I mean is that this third installment is very similar to the previous ones and the only big difference is that here we play with a third person view instead of an overhead one all the time, which is a big difference and expands the concept widely, but the core of the game, the missions, are very similar.

Anyway, this is what I think after a while with the GTA II demo, so probably I am wrong (yet, given the lack of variety and the wasted potential for a third part I don`t know exactly what to think), but if I am not, that would be something to take into consideration.

As a result:
While in my opinion it is still an overrated game, and while it could easily have been better with a little more imagination, I have to admit that I`ve had loads of fun pissing off the police, blowing up cars, running over innocent pedestrians, and well, being an outlaw. I`m sorry.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/04