- Reviewed on: PlayStation Portable
- The Good: Looks, sounds, and plays just like any console-based GTA game released in recent years; dozens of hours of play exist outside the 15-hour campaign; offers seven wireless multiplayer modes supporting up to six players.
- The Bad: Fails to advance the series in any significant way; the storyline doesn't quite live up to the standard set by other GTA games; missions aren't particularly inventive.
- The Verdict: It's everything we love about Grand Theft Auto on a four-inch screen.
REVIEW:
I never knew handheld gaming could be like this.
Like most gamers my handheld habit was nursed on a diet of Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong games — healthy and nutritious video game fare, to be sure, but I now see these games as the equivalent of Arrowroot biscuits.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories captures all of the wanton degeneracy made famous by its big brothers, and, as such, has forever changed my outlook on the possibilities of handheld gaming.
Unlike previous GTA offerings seen on the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, Liberty City Stories isn't forced to make large concessions in narrative, visuals, or game play.
Rockstar Games' attempt to capture the console experience is apparent from the second the game begins loading and displaying the opening titles, which feature the franchise's trademark stylized drawings of gangsters, guns, and beautiful women.
Once the titles eventually dissolve into the actual game your jaw will drop.
You'll find yourself in Liberty City, the virtual metropolis styled after New York that we originally saw in Grand Theft Auto III. No corners have been cut; it's every bit as vast and detailed as it was when last seen on PlayStation2 and Xbox. Countless hours can be spent investigating the city's alleys, docks, and rooftops to find bonus missions, hidden collectibles, and ideal locations from which to run amok.
But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me fill in a few important game details for those few readers who have yet to play a GTA game.
The GTA experience is remarkably open-ended, allowing players to explore an enormous world and advance the main narrative at their own pace.
Each game in the franchise starts players off in the shoes of a low level villain working his way up the underworld food chain by performing all sorts of bad deeds. The series' titular crime is actually one of the least offensive illegal activities you'll engage in, which include ferrying hookers at the behest of pimps, assassinating rival thugs for your boss, and beating innocents with bats and cleavers just for the fun of it. And that's saying nothing of the meaningless, non-story related maniacal rampages that all GTA players eventually indulge in.
All of these game elements have been preserved in GTA's PlayStation Portable debut, resulting in a game indistinguishable in virtually every meaningful way — save screen size — from its home console-based predecessors.
This time 'round players take control of Toni Cipriani, a Mafioso out to make a reputation for himself after years spent in hiding. A large cast of supporting characters that ranges from low level lieutenants to his ambitious mother to the Don himself provide Toni with a seemingly never ending stream of missions that will feel familiar to GTA fans, including deliveries, murders, street races, and more.
The greatest criticism that can be levelled at Liberty City Stories is that it fails to evolve the GTA experience in any meaningful way.
Few — if any — of the main missions differ significantly from missions we have undertaken in previous GTA games. That's not to say the missions are dull, but rather that Liberty City Stories holds few surprises.
And the story, though much deeper and more open than most anything else players are likely to find on a handheld platform, pales in comparison to the epic, emotional narratives experienced in GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas. Most of the expositive cut scenes are short, composed simply of a couple of stationary characters yammering at one another, making them much less interesting than the superbly directed and often action packed story sequences seen in other GTA games.
Sill, the writing is intelligent and witty and the voice cast is outstanding. I think it's safe to chalk up the scaled-back narrative as simply being a consequence of either budget or platform constraints.
These limitations also appear to have had an effect on the amount of licensed music in the game. A hallmark of the GTA franchise is its in-game radio dial, which typically floods our ears with licensed music, amusing commercials, and outrageous DJ monologues. These elements exist within Liberty City Stories, but they've been condensed.
Graphically, Liberty City Stories is a testament to the PSP's capabilities. I noticed a slight increase in pop-up compared to other GTA games, and video briefly pauses while performing certain activities (like getting into a car), but all in all the game looks great. Subtle reflections are noticeable on vehicles slick with rain, real-time lighting effects can be witnessed while standing in front of flashing signs, and load times are surprisingly short—perhaps even shorter than what we've experienced with GTA games for other platforms.
The main story will take most players about 15 hours to work through, which is significantly shorter than any of the recent console-based GTA games. However, the game's value extends beyond the primary story. I estimate players could spend upwards of 40 hours conducting a thorough exploration of Liberty City and completing all of the game's peripheral objectives.
If you happen to have a few friends with PSPs and copies of Liberty City Stories the game's lifespan could be stretched even further via seven multiplayer modes that support up to six players. Game types include standard deathmatches, capture the flag competitions, and checkpoint races, as well as more original contests such as The Hit List, which sees one player taking on the role of a Mark while the rest hunt him down. I wasn't able to test the multiplayer portion of the game, but by most accounts it is a feature worth exploring.
Put succinctly, if you've played and enjoyed any of the console-based GTA games of the last four years, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is virtually guaranteed to please. Rockstar Games has done a truly outstanding job of recreating the console experience on the PSP's 4.3-inch screen.
Now if you'll excuse me, I feel the urge to jack a car and go run over some Triads …
