| When I first applied to freelance at ESCmag, I was met with the task of reviewing a couple of game demos to show the big guys my writing skills, or lack thereof. It seems funny that I picked Grand Theft Auto 2 to write my mini-review on, because when I go back and look at it, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I quoted the graphics as "amazing," and using 10 other made-up buzz-words I was able to snag a job here at my "escape." So here I sit, nearly three years later and am faced with a similar task: review one of the best computer games ever released, Grand Theft Auto III.
Grand Theft Auto III is about as open-ended as a game can get. There is nearly no rhyme or reason why you couldn’t just live out a normal life in Liberty City, interacting with the neighborhood thugs, bustin’ a cap in the big pimp on the block or taking a sweet ride around the block. Gathering, exploring, jacking, capping and many other words that end in -ing — Grand Theft Auto III (GTA3) is just so full of objectives and fun that you may never tire of its criminal ways.
The story centers on a no-name bank robber (your character without a voice). After pulling a job with your girlfriend, the back-stabbing little tramp shoots you and leaves you for the cops. After being loaded up in a paddy wagon you are ushered across a bridge when conveniently someone plots a prison break of sorts and you are giving the chance to escape with a new friend…
Enter the fray.
You are now the lowest level of criminal, but through dealings with Liberty City’s seven different gangs you will eventually make your way up to kingpin where the city is yours to do as you please.
Even with the open-ended system of gameplay and the seemingly never ending side-quests and tasks, GTA3 does have a mission progressed storyline that will move along with you across Liberty’s three major islands (Portland, Staunton and Shoreside Vale).
Grand Theft Auto III was originally released for the Sony PlayStation2 late last year to amazing critical acclaim. Seven months later, at the end of May, GTA3 was released for the venerable PC platform with few enhancements but the same basic gameplay mechanics that made it worthy of all the Game of the Year awards it received.
Changes in the PC version are merely cosmetic. One problem with the PS2 version was overly blurry textures (not to mention the stupid blur sequence, which I will get to) because of the low maximum resolution of Sony’s hardware. With the PC version, Rockstar North (formerly Rockstar Games and DMA Design) added support for high 1600x1200 textures along with support for 32-bit rendering for graphics cards that support it. Minor bug tweaks here and there alleviated some of the minor problems, but the biggest addition is the MP3 based radio station that allows for the gamer to dictate the music. Simply drop in your favorite MP3s or shortcuts to them, and GTA3 will add a new radio station called "MP3 Player" that will play just that, MP3s!
Not to say the provided music and commercials aren’t some of the very best produced for a PC game, but it is always nice to have some variety. GTA3 features hilarious commercials for "Liberty City Survivor" where escaped convicts are given high-yield weapons in a tournament to eliminate each other, or Pogo the Monkey who escaped from the lab and is seeking revenge on the evil scientist that experimented on him. Rockstar North’s unique brand of humor, first experienced in Space Station: Silicon Valley for the Nintendo 64, is what keeps this game fresh and new even when you drive down the same street for the 100th time, or car-jack your 10,000th car.
Along the way you may get tired of car-jacking and causing organized crime to progress through the ranks of the city’s underbelly, so you have some exciting alternatives to the main mission path. Scattered throughout the city are 100 secret packages you must collect. The more you collect, the fewer weapons you have to buy because for every 10 you find, you are given the next level of weapon — from a pistol up to rocket launchers and flamethrowers — for free at your hideout. This ends up saving you money by not having to visit the ammunition store.
Also, if you can get your hands on some emergency vehicles, there are wealth of missions you can participate in. Get a fire truck and you can help city officials save burning buildings. In an ambulance you can save injured people by driving them to the hospital. Get a police car, and you can be the voice of the law and bring criminals, like yourself, to justice. If you manage to get into one of Liberty’s many taxi cabs, you can run a stripped down version of Crazy Taxi and earn some extra cash and a very secret car.
Of course, there are those of us who will just get a whole lot of firepower, a very powerful vehicle and just go on the biggest crime spree and see who can stop you. The beauty of this game is all of this can be done, and more, because the game doesn’t limit you to what you can really do.
When you are in this lush 3D world of beauty, things will be looking good. The added high resolution textures bring the industrialized, gritty looks of Liberty City to life. One thing, mentioned before, that Rockstar added the option to turn off was the annoying "motion blur" that seemed to follow your character around. With a simple click you can enjoy GTA3 the real way, the beautiful way.
There are only two main problems with Grand Theft Auto III that keep it from being the perfect game. One is the super high system requirements. In all fact, I actually got into high gear and upgraded my computer so I could actually play this game without is going to chop-hell. The minimum system requirements are so much lower than this game actually needs. At the speeds recommended on the box, the game is just barely playable with all effects turned off and all options on the lowest setting. It is fully understandable that this game is coming off of a PS2 port, but come on; it is a monster, especially on Windows XP.
The other problem isn’t really a problem at all, it is just simply the game ends, and I don’t want it to. While I haven’t finished every aspect of the game yet (I’m not quite to 100 percent) I just don’t want it to end; it is just so much fun to play. Luckily, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has already been announced for later this year for PS2 and PC, so we will have more car-jacking, pedestrian-running-down action before know it.
Grand Theft Auto III stands as a testament to game makers on how to do it right. The open-ended style of gameplay, the side-quests, the missions, the driving, the flying, the running, the shooting, the crime waves, the jumps, the cars, the people, the innuendo, the humor and the sheer fun all combine together to make a great, easily accessible, sweet-ass game. | 
