It’s so easy to make a game that’s controversial. Add guns, add violence and add as much criminal activity as possible. Slap on an 18 certificate and ‘Hey presto’ – instant loathing and worry from most parents and moral people everywhere.
The clever part here is when you add intelligence, thought and include graphics and sound to make other games look a bit pathetic. So what now? Is it just about violence? Is it just making an 18 rated game for the sake of it? The answer to these questions and many more shall be answered in what I shall call:
Grand Theft Auto 3 – Pathetic attempt to make violence cool or pure genius?
The observant ones among you will have already noticed that this game ends in ‘3’. Yes, it’s the third instalment in the Grand Theft Auto series and this one is bigger and better than ever. The previous games took an overhead view on proceedings as you carried out missions around the vast city.
GTA3 sees you roaming around the three Liberty City islands in glorious ground-level 3D.
For those of you who don’t want all that newfangled three-dimensional gubbins you’ll be glad to hear that you can opt for the traditional overhead view. You’ll be missing out on a whole load of fun though!
Your mission (should you actually remember to carry them out!) is to do whatever it takes. You’ll be given specific objectives from various sources which you’ll have to carry out. Some are against the clock, others just have an end goal that you have to achieve however you choose. Get ready to get missions from the Mafia, gangs and you’ll even get missions from phoneboxes dotted around the city.
As you progress across the three islands you’ll have to meet and greet all kinds of people – just try not to upset too many of them unless you have to, you may regret it later.
Your reward is money, weapons and access to the next island
as you complete the missions and there are plenty to get through so don’t hang around.
Take a look around the place, get familiar with your surroundings as it’ll help you in the long run. Luckily you have an on-screen map which highlights where you’re heading in missions, where you can buy weapons and help you find your way home. Incidentally, at your home you can store vehicles and save your progress.
Gritty looks:
A while ago when the screenshots started appearing I was concerned that the end result was going to be something rather disappointing. It all looked quite bland and empty – not too dissimilar to Driver.
But how things can change over a few months. GTA3 is actually quite superb in terms of looks. Liberty City feels alive with all kinds of things moving around in quite impressive levels of detail. Vehicles have a unique appearance, papers blow around the streets, weather effects are superb, day changes to night – I could go on but I’m sure you get the picture.
It’s gorgeous, no other way of putting it really. On top of that the game bumps along at a constant frame rate too regardless of how many police cars and helicopters are chasing you!
Nasty sounds:
Everything that’s strong about this game in visual qualities is made stronger in the sound department. Weapons sound quite awesome, all of the vehicles have their own distinctive engine noises and as if that wasn’t enough you get a set of radio stations to select just like in the superlative Metropolis Street Racer. As with that title you don’t get official tunes or proper DJ’s but it’s put together so professionally that it won’t take long for you to be picking a favourite station/song. The dry sense of humour comes across here too with fictitious companies advertising on air. Petsovernight.com anyone?
Bad*ss Gameplay:
If you were thinking that this offering is all ab
out killing, speeding and underground evildoing then you’re pretty much on the right tracks. The thing is that everything is executed so well that you really end up taking GTA3 very seriously. Every one of the vehicles handles differently and I’d go as far as to say that they handle more realistically than some games that are purely driving based!
Getting around on foot is equally pleasurable with no obvious clumsy movement and painfully realistic fighting movements.
The Dual Shock 2 controller is used fully and it even makes use of the R3 and L3 buttons. WOAH! L3 and R3?! That’s right my friends, the analogue sticks have buttons underneath them – press them down and you’ll hear a clicking sound, that’s a button. L3 being the left one, R3 the right. These are used to activate the horn/sirens and on the Fire Engine R3 activates the water cannon! See, they even had to show off with the controller – and you thought they were just out to be controversial.
The serious bit:
Grand Theft Auto 3 is violent. It’s seriously violent and graphic with it. It’s nothing that you haven’t seen before in dozens of films but in gaming terms it’s pretty bad at times. Nothing is untrue though – people do die if you run them over, they will kick the bucket if you shoot them and yes they’ll croak it if you beat them to the ground with a baseball bat.
You can pick up prostitutes, work for the Mafia and even be a hitman. GTA3 is NOT for children, that’s why it has an 18 certificate and you should respect this rating as much as possible. Saying that though, you may decide that a youth of 15 is perfectly old enough to play this.
I had the pleasure of helping someone (15) to convince his dad to let him buy the game. My point was this – Saving Private Ryan is a 15 rated film. The opening fifteen minutes are absolutely horrific and can leave you quite drained. GTA3 isn̵
7;t even close to being as real as that so just remember that before refusing your 15 year old (or thereabouts).
The verdict:
GTA3 is excellent in just about every way. It’s clever, it’s gorgeous and it sounds positively alive. Violence is a key factor, hence the 18 rating but I would honestly advise that 15 is far more realistic.
It’s one of the top PS2 games available and ranks up there with the likes of Gran Turismo 3, now how much more praise do you want? Buy it. Now. Or I’ll break your legs.
The clever part here is when you add intelligence, thought and include graphics and sound to make other games look a bit pathetic. So what now? Is it just about violence? Is it just making an 18 rated game for the sake of it? The answer to these questions and many more shall be answered in what I shall call:
Grand Theft Auto 3 – Pathetic attempt to make violence cool or pure genius?
The observant ones among you will have already noticed that this game ends in ‘3’. Yes, it’s the third instalment in the Grand Theft Auto series and this one is bigger and better than ever. The previous games took an overhead view on proceedings as you carried out missions around the vast city.
GTA3 sees you roaming around the three Liberty City islands in glorious ground-level 3D.
For those of you who don’t want all that newfangled three-dimensional gubbins you’ll be glad to hear that you can opt for the traditional overhead view. You’ll be missing out on a whole load of fun though!
Your mission (should you actually remember to carry them out!) is to do whatever it takes. You’ll be given specific objectives from various sources which you’ll have to carry out. Some are against the clock, others just have an end goal that you have to achieve however you choose. Get ready to get missions from the Mafia, gangs and you’ll even get missions from phoneboxes dotted around the city.
As you progress across the three islands you’ll have to meet and greet all kinds of people – just try not to upset too many of them unless you have to, you may regret it later.
Your reward is money, weapons and access to the next island
as you complete the missions and there are plenty to get through so don’t hang around.
Take a look around the place, get familiar with your surroundings as it’ll help you in the long run. Luckily you have an on-screen map which highlights where you’re heading in missions, where you can buy weapons and help you find your way home. Incidentally, at your home you can store vehicles and save your progress.
Gritty looks:
A while ago when the screenshots started appearing I was concerned that the end result was going to be something rather disappointing. It all looked quite bland and empty – not too dissimilar to Driver.
But how things can change over a few months. GTA3 is actually quite superb in terms of looks. Liberty City feels alive with all kinds of things moving around in quite impressive levels of detail. Vehicles have a unique appearance, papers blow around the streets, weather effects are superb, day changes to night – I could go on but I’m sure you get the picture.
It’s gorgeous, no other way of putting it really. On top of that the game bumps along at a constant frame rate too regardless of how many police cars and helicopters are chasing you!
Nasty sounds:
Everything that’s strong about this game in visual qualities is made stronger in the sound department. Weapons sound quite awesome, all of the vehicles have their own distinctive engine noises and as if that wasn’t enough you get a set of radio stations to select just like in the superlative Metropolis Street Racer. As with that title you don’t get official tunes or proper DJ’s but it’s put together so professionally that it won’t take long for you to be picking a favourite station/song. The dry sense of humour comes across here too with fictitious companies advertising on air. Petsovernight.com anyone?
Bad*ss Gameplay:
If you were thinking that this offering is all ab
out killing, speeding and underground evildoing then you’re pretty much on the right tracks. The thing is that everything is executed so well that you really end up taking GTA3 very seriously. Every one of the vehicles handles differently and I’d go as far as to say that they handle more realistically than some games that are purely driving based!
Getting around on foot is equally pleasurable with no obvious clumsy movement and painfully realistic fighting movements.
The Dual Shock 2 controller is used fully and it even makes use of the R3 and L3 buttons. WOAH! L3 and R3?! That’s right my friends, the analogue sticks have buttons underneath them – press them down and you’ll hear a clicking sound, that’s a button. L3 being the left one, R3 the right. These are used to activate the horn/sirens and on the Fire Engine R3 activates the water cannon! See, they even had to show off with the controller – and you thought they were just out to be controversial.
The serious bit:
Grand Theft Auto 3 is violent. It’s seriously violent and graphic with it. It’s nothing that you haven’t seen before in dozens of films but in gaming terms it’s pretty bad at times. Nothing is untrue though – people do die if you run them over, they will kick the bucket if you shoot them and yes they’ll croak it if you beat them to the ground with a baseball bat.
You can pick up prostitutes, work for the Mafia and even be a hitman. GTA3 is NOT for children, that’s why it has an 18 certificate and you should respect this rating as much as possible. Saying that though, you may decide that a youth of 15 is perfectly old enough to play this.
I had the pleasure of helping someone (15) to convince his dad to let him buy the game. My point was this – Saving Private Ryan is a 15 rated film. The opening fifteen minutes are absolutely horrific and can leave you quite drained. GTA3 isn̵
7;t even close to being as real as that so just remember that before refusing your 15 year old (or thereabouts).
The verdict:
GTA3 is excellent in just about every way. It’s clever, it’s gorgeous and it sounds positively alive. Violence is a key factor, hence the 18 rating but I would honestly advise that 15 is far more realistic.
It’s one of the top PS2 games available and ranks up there with the likes of Gran Turismo 3, now how much more praise do you want? Buy it. Now. Or I’ll break your legs.
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