Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
January 3,2006 - The Grand Theft Auto series has come an extraordinarily long way in the first half of this decade. It started off as one of the most forgettable, less-than-stellar crime-spree games and became what is likely to be remembered as one of, if not the absolute greatest action-adventure franchises to ever grace the industry. Ridden with controversy, hype, and the utmost quality, Grand Theft Auto and its latest installments have always been a sure-fire success. Now that the PSP has been out for some time, it only makes sense that Rockstar would produce a Grand Theft Auto for the system. Would it be an entirely new game or would it be a direct port of an older one? None of the handheld GTA games have really had that sense of open-ended quality that the current-generation consoles had. With the advent of the PSP and its graphical capabilities, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories has changed all of that.

Liberty City Stories is more or less exactly what you would expect from a handheld GTA replicating the console GTA games. While it may not be as fleshed out or addictive as Vice City or San Andreas, it retains all of the classic gameplay from GTA3 and even puts you right back in Liberty City, the center-point of GTA3. Here’s where things get a little confusing; GTA: LCS is not a port of GTA3. This is actually an entirely new game. It just stars familiar character Tony Cipriani working with Salvatore Leonne in Liberty City. So instead of remaking everything flat-out, take the familiar setting, familiar characters, and more than familiar story and you’ve got Liberty City Stories for the PSP.

Though everything about the presentation in Liberty City Stories is done right, it can’t help but feel dated and watered down when in direct comparison to the latest and greatest, San Andreas. Comparisons surely aren’t completely warranted against LCS, especially with goliath gaming experiences like San Andreas, but it is Liberty City Stories’ fault for offering so much yet coming up with so little. The game is short, the controls are a little awkward, and the overall effect of the game is not exactly all it could have been. But once you get past all of the little annoyances, you will find you have a very close representation of 1998 Liberty City in the palm of your hand. To tell you the truth, that is the best part about this game.

Grand Theft Auto 3 changed the way games could be played. Though it was clearly influenced by games like The Legend of Zelda, Shenmue, and the Elder Scrolls games, none of those even remotely touched on the grandiose city-scapes that GTA3 beheld on the PS2 in 2001. There was nothing that came anywhere close to Grand Theft Auto 3, and Rockstar knew that. They didn’t just create a masterpiece in videogame history—they created a work of art that would be remembered in digital entertainment alongside games like Tetris and the original Super Mario Bros. But with more sequels came less surprises. And with higher standards came less of an impact. Liberty City Stories feels like too little, too late, and even though it is on inferior hardware compared to the PS2, Xbox, or PC, it’s easy to draw similarities from LCS to those others and see exactly what it is missing.

From a complete gameplay standpoint, Liberty City Stories is closer to being a mix between Vice City and GTA3. Its mission structure is nearly identical to GTA3 in that you are usually picking up guys, killing guys, getting a car, or running from the cops. None of them are really anything too spectacular. As the game progresses, so do the missions, but unlike the three current-generation GTA games, the game ends quickly and doesn’t exactly develop the character or the story all that well. Thankfully if you’ve played GTA3–which you should have–you will already know enough back story to understand, for the most part, what you just witnessed. As far as its similarities to Vice City, it is mostly in weapon types, vehicles, and minigames that the two converge. In GTA3 the minigames or extra missions you could do were more like Crazy Taxi or escort missions using ambulances. In LCS you can do something a little more interesting—you can become a car salesman. Yes, finally, your prayers have been answered. Instead of killing off crime syndicates and becoming the most badass gangster in your area, you can sell that funny looking Rumpo van. As dumb as it sounds, it’s actually pretty fun, and if you are looking for a time-killer and don’t have much time to devote to the story-mode, it’s a good route for you to take.

The control scheme isn’t bad, and it more or less faithfully suits the console versions, but at times it doesn’t feel right. One less shoulder button on each side, a much more isolated movement setup doesn’t always seem exact. For the most part, though, it’s bearable. One of the coolest additions to the gameplay in Liberty City Stories is the new multiplayer. Technically it was added in San Andreas but it did not seem like it was supposed to be there. The city was too big and it was thrown in with little care, but in LCS it is implemented more deliberately. There is deathmatch, capture the flag, free for all, among others. There is nothing too out of the ordinary but for the most part it is pretty enjoyable. If you have got a couple of people to play PSP with online, this is one of the better games.

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