Grand Theft Auto III is an Action & Adventure game published by Rockstar Games in 2001 for the Playstation 2.

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Overall 8.6    Graphics 7    Sound 8    Addictive 8    Story 9    Depth 8.5    Difficulty 8


A PS2 classic that tries its hardest to hold up today   OrdannonsX

Even now that the 10-year anniversary version of Grand Theft Auto III has been brought out for the Android, the original for the PlayStation 2 is still fun to play. It tries its hardest in order to still provide a fun and enjoyable time, and with good result. Even with GTA V now in stores, GTA III holds up surprisingly well.

The Graphics

Even though time has been rough on GTA III's animation, it manages to avoid being downright ugly. The rendering is showing its age, and is probably a reason why an anniversary version had to be made. What's more, I couldn't help but notice that the game had a really dark contrast at times. You could turn up the brightness, but it was till a little dark. Perhaps this was done intentionally, in order to complement the game's unprecented dark undertone, but I didn't like it, personally. The game's default visual setting has these graphic trails, which add to the atmosphere, and to make the current weather in the game look a little more authentic. But it also looks a little ugly, to my taste. Luckily, you can turn it off in the Option menu. Even though GTA III has aged quite a bit, the cutscenes are still very well animated, and made in really believable cinematic style, setting them apart from the rest of the series.

The Sound

The original soundtrack is really good. This, and the game's radio stations do a really good job of capturing the game's mood, and adds to the atmosphere. Especially Flashback FM does a good job of bringing out the game's dark and gritty story. Most of the songs on that radio station are from the Scarface movie soundtrack, which accompanies the story and setting really well. Although, that isn't to say that the radio stations are top-notch in GTA III. There's a big chance you don't recognize any of the songs played on the radio stations, if you haven't seen Scarface. There aren't any mainstream pop songs from 2001 (possibly due to licensing issues and such) and the songs played on the radio station aren't really that memorable either apart from the Scarface tracks. So if you're a casual music listener, you might find the music on the radio to be a bit lacking. However, the little details added when you're just taking a stroll are quite nice. You'll hear people having conversations with each other, and even though they're still obviously NPCs in an artificially created world, this adds to make for a believable world around you. The voice acting is believable, seeing as GTA III is a crime epic. It's not like you'd hear people talk in real life, but GTA never was an imitation on life. The voice acting makes every cutscene a cinematic experience, and that's how it should be.

The Addictiveness

It's pretty much a regular game now. Back in the day, when GTA III was new, it was revolutionary. You could do anything you pleased, there was nothing that held you back. I mean, Driver was the first game which featured full exploration in an open-world environment, but GTA III was the first game in which you could pretty much do anything you wanted, and that alone made it a very addictive (and controversial) game back in 2001. But, 13 years later, GTA III has obviously aged a bit. Everything is pretty much a standard now, from the main story missions to the side missions. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but with so many modern titles having built upon the 'GTA formula', GTA III has become nothing special.

The Story

The story is basically a small ode to the movie Scarface, but with a lot of original writing in between. The game starts out with a cutscene of a mute character (you) and a female accomplice robbing the Liberty City bank. After the duo make their escape after the successful robbery, the mute's accomplice points her gun at him, and shoots him down, mortally wounded, for the police to take into custody. He survives however, and escapes from a police van, together with another guy. From there, you take control. It's a tale of betrayal and vengeance. And believe me, the ending is to die for.

The Depth

There are over 70 missions to clear in the main story, and they're quite varied in gameplay. Granted, a lot of missions have you engaging in a firefight, but there are a lot of missions in which this is actually more of a non-option. Two missions require you to take a boat for a spin, others have you just driving from point A to point B, and there is even a mission in which staying inside your vehicle is a preferable option rather than to step out of it and mowing everyone down. When you're done with the main storyline, you're free to continue playing I order to beat various side missions. You're free to do these in the main storyline too, which might even be a better option, seeing as doing these missions give you bonuses which make this game a little easier. There are hidden packages scattered around Liberty City for you to find, finding so many of them each rewards you with bonus items and weapons at your safehouse. You can complete vigilante missions by finding a police car, completing these missions reward you with police bribes, useful for eascaping the police easily. You can complete taxi fares, in order to get a great car. Then there are the paramedic side missions, in which you drive wounded people to the hospital. Completing these missions will grant you the infinite sprint ability. There's a lot to GTA III, and doing everything there is to do is a good idea, to get the most out of the game.

The Difficulty

GTA III is quite a difficult game, if you ask me, it's still the hardest game in the GTA franchise. This is mostly due to the clunky controls and movement restrictions at the time. There's no crouch button to take cover more easily behind object, and there isn't a grab function to climb ledges. On the ground, your character isn't really in his element. The shooting is takes a while to get used to. It's as simple as pressing one button to lock onto a person, and pressing another button to shoot. But it there's a slight delay in the time you press the button to aim, and your character actually points his weapon on the person, so that takes a while for you to adjust to it. There are no mid-mission checkpoints, so when you die (and you'll die a couple of times, guaranteed) you respawn at the nearest hospital, and you need to do the missions all over again. Luckily, the missions aren't overly long, so the frustration doesn't really come from screwing up. Also, there's no map layout in the pause menu, so you'll need to learn the entire map into your head as you drive around. But, like I said, earning bonuses by completing side missions help make the game a little easier, so I advice you to do at least a couple of those. The paramedic missions, though. It comes with a really useful bonus, but it's without a doubt the most frustrating thing about GTA III. Once you've picked up the wounded civilian, you need to drive him or her to the hospital as quick as possible, but without driving too recklessly, or else they will lose health. This will become hectic very quickly, and it's just not very fun to do. I recommend you sit through the punishment though, and complete the side missions.

GTA III is a classic PS2 title that tries its hardest to still hold up to day. And, by narrowest of margins, it works. It's story is gritty, lengthy but not too long, and has a good ending. Many games have imitated and built on the formula, and and such, GTA III might have become more or less obsolete because of it. But it still is worth it to see what this oldie has in store for you.

the pros:

• long, gritty story

• the main soundtrack and radio station captures the mood of the story

• rewarding side missions to complete

• wreaking havoc in true GTA fashion is still fun to do

• satisfying ending

the cons:

• the paramedic side missions are hard, and too frustrating

• no detailed map in the pause menu

• the controls are showing their age

  Graphics 6   Sound 7   Addictive 6   Story 8   Depth 7   Difficulty 7
      Review Rating: 5/5     Submitted: 04-03-14     Review Replies: 7


Review of GTA III   IgorBird122

Here is a review by The IB, the game is on Grand Theft Auto III, GTA III was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 22, 2001 (The game was a little delayed due to the September 11th attacks) (and was later released for the PC and Xbox a year and two later and on mobile devices 10 years later). This game has introduced a new 3D element into the GTA series, and it is also a fame that both brought a lot of good fame and bad fame (depending on whom you are). This is also the first game in the GTA series that really put Rockstar on the map in the whole gaming world despite all of the controversy they normally get after every Grand Theft Auto release, but hey, despite those stupid, pointless controversies they keep getting, I still think to my point of view, this is still a pretty darn good game, in fact, this makes it being my 3rd most favorite video game series so far to date. This game also introduce a whole lot more other interesting features that we haven’t seen before in not just the GTA series, but any game whatsoever. With that said, let’s start with this wonderful review.

 

Graphics..

This is the first in the series to feature a more 3D environment rather than just a bird’s eye view like we have seen in the past two games, although the bird’s eye view. But I do have to agree, this is really Rockstar’s first 3D game, and sure, this being an early game that was made in late 2001, you can bet they can be a few flaws with the graphics, but all and all, I don’t think the graphics bothered me one bit. I also think with on how Liberty City looks in the newer 3D format where you can explore a whole lot of interesting things (I’ll talk a lot more in the Depth about this). Sure, it might not be the most fantastic graphics for any games released in 2001, but note, they have been working on this game since the last GTA game (GTA 2 in late 1999), so, really, they were more using the technology available at that time and they really don’t want to restart from scratch and make the game delayed a whole lot longer, so they had to release on what they got and I still think to my personal point of view, I think this is still pretty alright game when it comes to the graphics though, Rockstar has tried their best and it has paid off. As for the environment such as the weather, this is introduce in video gaming because like in real life, weather can be a little unpredictable (well, in real life, we kind of know about what it’s going to do ahead of time, but still). I think with the different weather such as sunny, cloudy, foggy, and rainy. I think it doesn’t bring a lot more realism into gaming such as this (mostly the fog part because you can’t really much see than compared to the other weather in the mix. As for the sprites themselves, they do show on what you would normally expect in a normal early PlayStation 2 models (which were updated in later GTA releases). So, I think the graphics are still alright though.

 

For the graphics, I will give it an 8 out of 10, I still think the graphics still need a little work on, although yeah, like I said, it is an early PlayStation 2 game that was released in 2001, like a few flaws with some of those graphics, but I still think that as long it isn’t all game breaking, I don’t think it’s really too much of a big deal to worry about. But I do have to agree, the size of the location did take a whole lot of data, so, that more in likely drained the hardware for it’s time which is still understandable. Still, this does get an “8” for the graphics.

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Sound/Music..

The sound effects has got a whole lot more realistic than the previous games, such as the weapons, the explosions, the environment, the voices, and a bunch of other things as well, and figure, they might as well add these things with the new 3D graphics Rockstar has added into this game. As for the voices, this does introduce a new element into gaming by listening to on what the NPC has to say before you have to do before you do on what needs to be done, and everyone has an interesting voice, well, everyone but the famous silent protagonist known as Claude who doesn’t need a voice to be an interesting character and this brings up that you can make an impact without saying a word.

 

There is a whole lot of interesting things I got to like about the music part, like the past 2 Grand Theft Auto games, GTA 3 also have radio station that plays songs from real life bands that has contribute to the game, although they are more independent bands due to licensing issues trying to get big bands into the game which isn’t too much of a problem, although the radio stations in the game I’m not too interested into other than MSX FM, for some reason, this is really the only station I listen to on this game because it somehow, some way, got me addicted to this station. So, really, it depends on the player’s interest on what music they like, unless you don’t really want to deal with any music and just turn the music off. Moving on from the radio stations to the in-game music such as the intro and the game’s main theme, I think this theme is like the best in the series (all of them are still pretty good though), I think it does give it that mafia music what is really the theme we know very well in the GTA series. So, yeah, the music is really great and all.

 

For the Sound Effects and Music, I will give this a 9 out of 10, I think both the sound effects and the music both had a few flaws like some of the sound effects isn’t really 100% accurate (but still highly accurate), and there isn’t a whole lot of a music selection to choose from to fit the gamer’s interest (although there is still a few here and there). So, that’s mostly the reason this game gets a “9” for the sound effects and the music, it’s still a great score though.

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Addiction Level..

Sure, prior to Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was released, this was really the biggest Grand Theft Auto game out there and the most popular that a whole lot of gamers were glued on, and then it got less addicting after GTA SA was released and it has gain a tiny bit of popularity around GTA IV’s release and then lost popularity when GTA V was released. But still, even despite these games being released, I still see Grand Theft Auto III still being really popular and very addicting, and the same thing has happened on mobile devices, GTA II was popular at first until GTA SA came in and took the game’s popularity. With this game, this being the first 3D game you can fully explore with no limitations (although you only can explore 1/3 of the game at start and then unlock another 1/3 before the halfway point and then another 1/3 of the game before the game ends), so, after you unlock 3 areas, there is a whole lot you can explore in this game, I won’t say a whole lot, but I will say more about the exploring the game in the Depth.

As for the Addiction Level, I will give this game a perfect 10 out of 10, GTA is highly addicting because with all the things you can do, no matter if it’s a mission or just out killing random people, no matter what it is, this is a highly addictive game for the player to experience with. It’s a “10” for a reason

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The Storyline..

To avoid spoilers of the game, I’ll tell you on how the story takes place. After the events of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, both you (Claude) and Catalina both went and go onto numerous bank heists and until one time in 2001 (where the game took place, Catalina stabs you (Claude) in the back by what else, attempting to murder you along the way, after recovering from the attempted murder Claude realized he was arrested and he, 8-ball, and an unnamed Asian Gentleman were being transferred to prison where after help from the Cartel gang (which they were more focused on the Asian Gentleman), both Claude and 8-ball also escape until you realize the bridge blew up and you’re stuck on the island for a little while you still want to get revenge on Catalina for stabbing you in the back, so, in order to get to her, you need to do a few tasks from a few people around Liberty City before you can get back at Catalina. After all the missions you have done for these people, you realize that Catalina isn’t far from reach (after her toying with you) and you will finally get a chance to get revenge of her, and after you got your revenge, you can finally relax, or in GTA terms, just go drive around and kill random people.

 

For the Storyline of the game, I do have to give this game a perfect 10 out of 10, I think on how the storyline plays out, it gives it that revenger’s story that they want to get accomplish (although that is really the main theme for most GTA games, some starts at the beginning of the game, some happens in the middle of the game, and some happens near the end when you don’t realize it till the last mission). So, really, the game has its own unique storyline, that’s why it gets a “10”.

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Depth..

This is what I do like about the Grand Theft Auto games, the freedom to explore around the land without any limit (well, you can only explore 1/3 of it and unlock 1/3 at a time though). This by far is really the only thing that really got me interested in the Grand Theft Auto series in the first place because I am a guy that flat out love exploring the world in video games. I want to mostly see on all of the interesting features that are added into the game such as all the different cars to steal, all the different weapons to use, all the different roads to race on (well, by myself). I just like goofing off in these kinds of games. It gives the player the option to do on what they really like to do, and we see a whole lot of these in later games. The only disadvantage I really have about the Depth part of the game is that you can’t really fly anything which is a little bit of a bummer, but mostly because the aftermath of September 11th, it is quite understandable on why Rockstar wanted to suspend any kind of flying until their next game (which is Vice City in 2002), so, despite flying, I still think the Depth is still really good in this game, as long the player has the freedom to explore the whole land and experience with a whole lot of interesting things that this one game has to offer. You have 3 islands to tour around in and despite being the smallest area in all of the Grand Theft Auto games, I still think by far, you still got a lot of land to explore in, and a lot of land is a good thing.

 

For the Depth, I will give this game a perfect 10 out of 10, even without the flying. I think this is the biggest straight that Rockstar puts into this game series, to make it have a whole lot of stuff for the gamer to experience with such as missions, cars to steal, weapons to use in and out of missions. There is no limit on what you can do in Grand Theft Auto, and this being the first game in the GTA series with a more 3D expectation, that makes things a whole lot better, so that’s why this gets a perfect “10”.

 

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Difficulty / Gameplay..

I think with the difficulty, as a long term Grand Theft Auto player, the missions are quite easy at some points in the game, mostly at the beginning when you figuring out on how to play the game (although in every GTA game, you start the game in some kind of a mission). But at other points of the game they can be missions that can also be quite challenging. They don’t really go in order of the gameplay, like one mission, it can be a piece of cake and the next mission can take like forever to complete. They have been a couple of times where I end up failing a mission because I just couldn’t beat the mission, even with the most powerful weapons at the time. So, just to beat a game, it’s mostly requiring luck to even beat the mission.

As for the controls, 13 years ago (as of this review), the controls for the PlayStation 2 was at its best, but as you know, with time goes on, so does the controls, because you got a lot newer games with new and better controls, so it really makes this game’s control seem a little obsolete, but I still think the controls to my point of view still functional. So, I really don’t see on why other said it’s an obsolete game when it comes to the controls. The tough things I have some time when I go from GTA IV and beyond and play GTA III, I still think the controls was still the same so I would be holding R2, thinking that I’m accelerating when I realize that I was doing nothing, so, it takes a little while to get adjusted to the GTA controls.

For the difficulty and the Gameplay, I do have to give it a 9 out of 10. The reason for the 9, it is a pretty hard game, I do got to say that, although some parts (especially the early part of the game), isn’t really that hard, but most of the time, I have failed a mission at least once because it is really challenging for the gamer. But all and all, it’s not too bad.

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Overall..

Overall, I think with this game right here, this game has introduce a lot of cool and interesting material into the gaming world like the ability of exploring a vast amount of Liberty City, trying out all the different cars and all the different weaponries the player can fire from. If you also count on all the other features of this game, this game has decent graphics, decent Sounds and Music, and a decent Addiction Level. I got to say that, as for the other things such as the Difficulty and the Gameplay, sure, the game can be quite tricky. When you first play the game, the controls, sure, it might seem a little confusing at first, but I think one you’re used to the controls, it’s not really that bad.

My final thoughts of this game, this is a really interesting open world game that the player will get an enjoyment from playing this game. It gives the player a more realistic view on what the real world looks like on the PlayStation 2 (which if you compare to today’s games, it has nothing related to the real world). I think you will like this game if you like weapons, doing different tasks, and/or just looking around.

For the final score, I will give this game a 9 out of 10, the reason I give it this number, it’s got a lot of pros and cons about this game, like I like the graphics, the sound effects, and the Storyline; for the cons, It’s a little difficult even for experienced GTA gamers like myself, the controls, and a few other things. But I still think a “9” is still a decent score.
  Graphics 8   Sound 9   Addictive 10   Story 10   Depth 10   Difficulty 9
      Review Rating: 3/5     Submitted: 01-22-15     Updated: 01-22-15     Review Replies: 2

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