Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories

Let me say again – this is a MATURE game. There is sex, there is swearing, there is a LOT of violence. Anybody who buys this game for their 8 year old is making a grave mistake. It really bothers me a lot when people buy adult games for kids and say “Oh I didn’t know”. It clearly says right on the box. There are a TON of adult gamers out there, and we like mature games, just like we like R rated movies. These games aren’t meant for kids. They are made exactly the way us adults like them – full of adult situations.

That being taken care of, this is an *incredible* game. Let’s start with the gameplay. It’s hard to even imagine, looking at say a DS or GameBoy game, that any handheld could produce gameplay like this. You have a fully detailed, fully laid out cityscape. You can drive down any road, walk around amongst the people, watch the rain and sun and fog roll in. The storyline is great. The missions are great. Heck, even the sidegames are great. There are hidden packages to find, rankings to achieve, races to run, you name it. You could play this for months.

The graphics are spellbindingly beautiful. It’s hard to believe this is a handheld game. You get rain falling down around your car as it careens past easily identifiable stores on a road, while pedestrians stroll down the sidewalks. From shooting tasks, to driving races, to handling a number of other situations, the graphics draw you into this world.

Let’s talk about audio. There is a great selection of “radio stations” to listen to as you drive around. The voice acting really draws you into the story, to relate to the various characters involved. I’ve always loved the audio on the GTA games, and this is no exception.

Yes, this game requires a 2.0 update to run. The update is INCLUDED ON THE DISK. Anybody who has trouble finding it must be missing some basic computer skills. It’s right on the main disk menu when you put the disk into the system. It’s free, it’s included, it’s easy.

I can’t say enough good things about this game. Let me try to figure out some down sides. Hmmm, well it’s on a small screen. Heck, that’s the whole point, that it’s on a portable system. When I go on trips, I can bring it along with me. I think that’s fantastic, to have a GTA system to bring on the plane or bus. I *did* find the storyline in general to be on the annoying side, truth be told. I really liked the original GTA3 storyline where you were a valued employee moving up in the ranks due to your skill. I found it frustrating in this one to play in essence an “uppity jerk” who is constantly put down either by his own mob buddies or his mom or other people. It didn’t make the game nearly as enjoyable for me. This is my leisure time after all, to endulge in fun dreams. My fun dream isn’t of being berated and harassed. That being said, the mom in the Sopranos always drove me completely insane too. You have to give a writer the leeway to write his own story, and if that’s what he wants to write, you go with it.

This is a must-own game. It’s a game for ADULTS. But it’s a game with epic scope, great graphics, and great gameplay. Highly, highly recommended.

The game is a mixture of GTA 3, with a sprinkle of Vice City and San Andreas. In fact, if you have played GTA 3, you already know the map! The VC and Sa part of the game is that you now have Sanchez bikes all over the city and see vague sightings of some places from SA as well as the characters that you might’ve heard in Las Venturas.

Controls: A bit slugish, since you don’t have as many buttons to choose from. To aim, you need to hold down the L-key and press the “O” However, just like with anything, you will eventually get used to them.

Radio Stations: GTA 3 Stations with NEW content: LCFR(Chatterbox) where you will hear from Lazlow; Head Radio, Lips 106, Double Cleff FM, Rise FM, K-Jah, MSX 98, Flashback FM; NEW STATIONS: Radio Del Mundo and Liberty Jam featuring DJ Clue as himself!!!

Packaging: Map/Poster and the instuctional manual, which resembles a mini-newspaper.

Bottom Line: If you loved the previous GTA games and you currently own a PSP, you HAVE TO get this—You won’t be sorry!

– Liberty City is back from GTA III. Its the exact city.

– New story though. Completely new missions,mini missions, races, etc that will last you a while

– Over 70 vehciles, including classics like the Inferno, Cheetah, and more. Big rigs, motorcyles, boats, helicopters, and planes are included as well.

-Graphics rival PS2 versions of GTA, and with the PSP’s high res LCD screen, it will probably look better.

***A new element: Multiplayer. On the PS2/Xbox, you really couldnt have a multiplayer feature, because the game was played on one TV screen. On the PSP, up to 4 players can be thrown into the city all at once. Instead of buying weapons, you find and run over them, much like an FPS. You can grab cars, ram your friends, snipe/camp one area, etc. The possibilities are endless, and this type of multiplayer has never been seen before on ANY GTA game. This alone is worth purchasing the game.