Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

To call Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories the most highly anticipated PSP game yet is a complete understatement. Based in the same city as Grand Theft Auto III, Liberty City stories provides a sense of nostalgia for those of us who played GTA III to death, while keeping things fresh with innovative new challenges, vehicles, and characters.

Presentation
Presentation has always been a strength of the GTA series, and as expected, the presentation quality in Liberty City Stories is excellent. The voice-work, music, character design, and the overall look and feel of the menus and load screens come together in a cohesive whole that will no doubt go down as a masterpiece of handheld gaming. It is an entire, living, breathing entity, and it fits in your pocket.

Graphics
Wow. That’s pretty much what everyone says the first time they pick up GTA: LCS. The amount of detail, the particle effects, the textures — basically, if you notice any differences in GTA III and LCS, you’ll probably think that LCS is the better looking of the two. Vehicles look particularly shiny, and draw distances while driving are better than expected. Plus, it runs smoothly at 30 fps, which is very impressive for this large an environment being played on a portable device.

Gameplay
When Grand Theft Auto III was released, it featured gameplay that was downright revolutionary. Although the gameplay in LCS more or less mirrors that of previous GTAs, we consider it to be revolutionary in the respect that it has never been done on a handheld. All the free-roaming fun is here: stealing cars, insane stunts, rampages, street races, and hidden packages are present, allowing the player to do what they want when they want — which is the hallmark of the GTA series. Although some of the advancements shown in Vice City and San Andreas are absent, for a debut effort Rockstar Leeds has done an amazing job. Gameplay in this iteration is fairly consistent with previous GTA’s, especially III. The camera bug where the camera can get stuck behind buildings is back, but that is a small sacrifice to make when considering there is no right analog stick.

Controls
The controls for LCS were a big point of worry for a lot of folks, given that dual analog sticks have been utilized on the console versions, but they’ve actually translated to the PSP’s single analog setup quite well. There are some small targeting problems, but overall the system works pretty well — and certainly well enough to keep from being detrimental to the overall experience.

Vehicles
The rides in GTA III are kind of a mix-and-match bunch of vehicles found throughout III, Vice City, and San Andreas. The car physics model seems to be a bit quirky — the back end on some old favorites, the sentinel for example, slides out from behind you a little too often. It should also be mentioned that the analog nub takes a little getting used to, but it is quite comfortable once you get the hang of it. Apart from that, the controls are similar to the console versions, the unique stunts are still there, and the entire driving experience is still just as fun.

Music
Another familiar facet of the GTA universe is the soundtrack. Played while driving vehicles, GTA: LCS comes packed with an excellent soundtrack, though perhaps of more importance was the surprise addition of custom soundtracks. Utilizing the free Rockstar Custom Tracks program, gamers can convert their own music into tracks that can then be used in the game, in replacement of the radio stations. Although we were bummed that you can’t just access the music you already have on your Memory Stick, it is still a really cool feature.

Sound Effects and Vocals
All of the sounds that make Liberty City come alive are back again, as is some excellent voice-work. All of the different characters are just as alive and opinionated as expected, and really help to drive the player’s interest in the plot. All the shots, beatings, and wrecks sound great either through headphones or the PSP’s built-in speakers. Solid, all around.

Multiplayer
Although we wish it had been infrastructure instead of ad-hoc in nature, the wireless multiplayer is truly something to behold. This is the first GTA where the Multiplayer options are entire games unto themselves, and the fact that the entire world is open during these matches — complete with pedestrians and traffic — is absolutely great.

Overall
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories really is a “must have” game for any PSP owner, and we’re betting a lot of folks out there will buy PSPs just to play this game. The missions of the main story are fun, don’t fall into the trap of becoming mundane, and also offer players quite a challenge — there are still certain missions which are sure to drive players slightly crazy. You won’t find a PSP game out there with as much to do, as much possible playtime, and as much attitude as GTA: LCS. An instant classic.

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