[Playstation 2] Grand Theft Auto III

Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series since 1999’s Grand Theft Auto 2

Story

The story follows a man named Claude. He and his girlfriend have just robbed a bank when as they’re escaping, Claude’s girlfriend betrays him and leaves him to be arrested by the cops. After being set free from the prison vehicle carrying him to jail, Claude works with various gang leaders and other characters doing jobs and eventually getting revenge on his girlfriend. The story itself is decent, it could have been better, and this mainly has to do with the fact that even though Claude has a name, he doesn’t have any sort of personality whatsoever. As a result, he does not have any real influence on a mission’s outcome because he never actually interacts and speaks with the other characters.

Gameplay

Fortunately, the gameplay fares much better. As stated before, the gameplay established a template that has since become commonplace, doing what you want besides the main missions. This game’s real enjoyment came from exploring Liberty City and going on good old-fashioned rampages across the city. Most of the tasks are fine, though some missions can be rather frustrating to complete due to some control problems. Aiming your weapons is done via a lock-on system.

The problem is that the system isn’t that good; it’s slow, and frequently you may end up locking on to the wrong person to shoot. Also, scoped weapons like the sniper rifle and rocket launcher use inverted aiming controls that can’t be changed, and for someone like me who is used to using the standard camera, this was a little offputting at first, but I got used to it. Besides the main missions, there is some side content in the form of vehicle-based activities like driving a taxi or ambulance around, picking up people, and dropping them off at certain spots. Many hidden collectibles are scattered around the city, which can access new weapons after collecting a certain amount.