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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: Grand Theft Auto Three
10 years ago
Another GTA game so soon after the last one. At least this one was quicker to get through than the last one, but, I do think the last was better.
Grand Theft Auto Three
Probably one of the more well known Grand Theft Auto games of the bunches due to all the things it started. It really isn't that bad of a game and it is definitely a giant leaf forward from what the original two games were like that's for sure. Making the leap to a 3D open world from a top down 2D style world was quite big for the series, but it also started the great controversial topics of how violent some games were beginning to become. Getting to pretty much have free roam of a large open world where you can kill people at will wasn't all that popular with some people back then and it still isn't with some even to this day, even though the series is still greatly successful. How does GTA3 hold up today? Let's see.
Gameplay
The open world gameplay of GTA that has been there from the beginning and is still there now is of course present here, so if you like open world gameplay, you are going to enjoy this world just the same as the others. Getting to road the world doing whatever you want is always fun and this game doesn't disappoint in that area, though it does lack in a few other areas. One area I feel the game sort of suffers from is the sometimes unforgiving difficulty that is put on the player. Some missions really are about trial and error and luck. You will sometimes just randomly get shot or run over by insane gang members or cops and have to then drive all the way back to the trigger point and try it over again. This can get old fast in the later missions, though it does still feel good when you do get to complete a hard mission. Another not so cool thing is the gang system, which is both a plus and minus. It's a plus in that you have many different factions you can work for depending on the story mission you are doing, but it is also a minus in that gangs get mad at you over time. This results in you coming under on and off again gunfire just from being in certain areas which can be very annoying for you health. I know this was in the last two games, but it was annoying there as well. The cars exploding when they take too much damage is quite annoying as well, since they sometimes explode too fast, especially when under gunfire, which can result in many very quick deaths when the cars explode and you can't immediately just bail out of the cars when they are on fire and about to explode. There is a map system in the game in the form of a mini map in the lower corner of the screen which does help you with your immediate area, but there is no full map in the game. You have to use the map that is in the video game case if you want to see the entire map, which is a nice inclusion if you have it as it gives you a nice look at the entire game. Though still, having to do this physically instead of having it in the game can be a little tricky at times unless you memorize the game's map. Still, there is a variety of mission types for you to play through and then different vehicles to drive around the city in as well. You can even drive a taxi, ambulance, or police car around to earn more money to buy more weapons and tools that you can use to make missions easier or just for random rampages. There are several jumps you can take if you want to show off in your cars, and then there are secret packages spread around the city you can collect to unlock more free weapons at your hideout. You will need some of these weapons later, but they aren't essential for the game at all, so it is up to the player if they want to collect them or not. So there are other things to do other than story mode in the game, there are just some frustrating parts with the random gunfire at times, and sometimes unforgiving difficulty at times.
Story
You are a gun for hire basically working for the various gangs of liberty city trying to get revenge on the female gang member that shot you during a robbery and got you arrested. You manage to break out of custody on the way to jail and then you go about doing odd jobs while trying to find the girl responsible for the betrayal. It's a simple story and that's about it. The gangs you work for at times are constantly betraying you or dying so you don't get to know many of the people that work for very long and your character is a quite mute. You're character never speaks throughout the entire game so you know nothing about him. You really don't even know you are trying to get revenge until later in the game, since nothing about it is even said that much until later. You are just a gun for hire working for these gang members while trying to earn money and not get wasted or busted. As far as a story goes, while it is still interesting, since it sort of follows a lot of gang stereo types, such as the mafia, triads, yakuza, and other such gangs like this, but the fact you are a simple gun for hire and that is about it, you really don't have much motivation at times for him. The fact that the characters you do see are interesting does help here, but it just feels like more effort could have been put into the story of this game.
Graphics
The graphics for the time are actually pretty good. Going from top down 2D to a 3D world is a big jump and for this game it works rather well. Being able to see everything around you in so much better detail and to see what is coming ahead of you instead of having the top down view is such a blessing for this series. You do still have the typical problems with early PS2 era games in that you can only see so far ahead of you before there is a simple fog to mask the distance, which can make things simply appear out of nowhere ahead of you. I can't blame the game much for this though, since it is a typical problem of the PS2 era, but it can be a little annoying if you might accidentally have a car come out of nowhere to hit you, which did happen several times in the game. The details are limited on items and the cars themselves look a bit simple and act a bit simple as well when they take damage. You have to expect this though, but the cars do at times act a tad unrealistic due to the graphical limitations of the time. Overall though, the graphics aren't that bad as long as you go into it with a PS2 era frame of mind.
Sound
As with other GTA games then and now, the radio music, and sounds of the game are top notch. The game's outdoor sounds of the city as you are driving around seem fine enough, the sounds of gunfire, the sounds of the cars and the people all around you seem to all sound and fit rather well. The music and talk station on the radio offer you a variety of music and things to listen to that can keep you pleasantly entertained as well. The only real drawback is there is sort of a lack of variety and the stations will loop rather quickly, especially if you only like certain stations and don't care for certain genre's of music. This would really be my only complaint with the sound is the fact that the variety is a little lacking, but I'm sure some of this has to do with storage space from a PS2 game compared to other systems that could store more music on them. I can't really punish it much for this, but it will get old after awhile hearing the same music, talk, and commercials towards the end of the game.
Control
Alright, this is the element of the game that will frustrate you the most. Now the controls aren't unplayable by any means no, but they can be frustrating at times. The main things that are so frustrating are the camera being centered on you and shooting controls. So often I would find myself wanting to look in a certain direction but not being able to because I was moving or being chased and you can't really free control the camera. This flows directly into the shooting controls as the problem camera can make you a very easy target for enemies that are chasing you or are in certain angles as you can't aim properly at them and you will die from this. You can't see where people are at to aim properly while they can and you will suffer from it and be infuriated from trying to turn the camera around and aim before your health is completely drained. Controlling the cars, and roaming around and doing most other things are completely fine in the game, but the fact that the camera can cause all these control problems for you is quite the problem. While you may complain about things in the game like difficulty, bad controls from the camera are sometimes the most frustrating as a hard game is just hard. Tricky controls, can be quite frustrating.
Replay Value
This game does have replay value in the fact that you can continue to roam the city causing chaos like in all GTA games and earning more money to pay for more weapons to shoot around with in the game long after story mode is completed. There are the little hidden packages and jump tricks you can find. Then of course you can replay story mode over once again. Still, really unless you enjoyed story mode a lot, the replay value really does come from the fact that you have free roam of the city and can create chaos as you choose and explore it more and more. If you get bored with this though, there is little else to do unless you want to cause more chaos. The chaos is the thing that makes this fun for many people and that is a big plus. Still, it would have been nice to have a few other things to do other than just cause chaos once story mode is complete, other than shooting rampages and collecting hidden things.
Overall, GTA3 is a fun game, but it is easy to tell that it is a bit of an early trial of the series, but it was one that needed to be made and led to other great games down the line. Some of the things in this game are a bit limited at times, and there are definitely some frustrating things in the game. If you can ignore some of these things, as they aren't game breaking, then you will definitely have a good fun time causing chaos in liberty city for a time to come. You still don't want little kids playing this as there is quite a lot of gang violence, drug references and other sexual themes that you want to keep the little ones or ones that don't know what these thing are from seeing. Still, overall, it is a good time as long as you don't let some of the flaws frustrate you during story mode.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Grand Theft Auto Three a seven point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 7
Story: 7
Graphics: 8
Sound: 9
Control: 6
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 7.5
Grand Theft Auto Three
Probably one of the more well known Grand Theft Auto games of the bunches due to all the things it started. It really isn't that bad of a game and it is definitely a giant leaf forward from what the original two games were like that's for sure. Making the leap to a 3D open world from a top down 2D style world was quite big for the series, but it also started the great controversial topics of how violent some games were beginning to become. Getting to pretty much have free roam of a large open world where you can kill people at will wasn't all that popular with some people back then and it still isn't with some even to this day, even though the series is still greatly successful. How does GTA3 hold up today? Let's see.
Gameplay
The open world gameplay of GTA that has been there from the beginning and is still there now is of course present here, so if you like open world gameplay, you are going to enjoy this world just the same as the others. Getting to road the world doing whatever you want is always fun and this game doesn't disappoint in that area, though it does lack in a few other areas. One area I feel the game sort of suffers from is the sometimes unforgiving difficulty that is put on the player. Some missions really are about trial and error and luck. You will sometimes just randomly get shot or run over by insane gang members or cops and have to then drive all the way back to the trigger point and try it over again. This can get old fast in the later missions, though it does still feel good when you do get to complete a hard mission. Another not so cool thing is the gang system, which is both a plus and minus. It's a plus in that you have many different factions you can work for depending on the story mission you are doing, but it is also a minus in that gangs get mad at you over time. This results in you coming under on and off again gunfire just from being in certain areas which can be very annoying for you health. I know this was in the last two games, but it was annoying there as well. The cars exploding when they take too much damage is quite annoying as well, since they sometimes explode too fast, especially when under gunfire, which can result in many very quick deaths when the cars explode and you can't immediately just bail out of the cars when they are on fire and about to explode. There is a map system in the game in the form of a mini map in the lower corner of the screen which does help you with your immediate area, but there is no full map in the game. You have to use the map that is in the video game case if you want to see the entire map, which is a nice inclusion if you have it as it gives you a nice look at the entire game. Though still, having to do this physically instead of having it in the game can be a little tricky at times unless you memorize the game's map. Still, there is a variety of mission types for you to play through and then different vehicles to drive around the city in as well. You can even drive a taxi, ambulance, or police car around to earn more money to buy more weapons and tools that you can use to make missions easier or just for random rampages. There are several jumps you can take if you want to show off in your cars, and then there are secret packages spread around the city you can collect to unlock more free weapons at your hideout. You will need some of these weapons later, but they aren't essential for the game at all, so it is up to the player if they want to collect them or not. So there are other things to do other than story mode in the game, there are just some frustrating parts with the random gunfire at times, and sometimes unforgiving difficulty at times.
Story
You are a gun for hire basically working for the various gangs of liberty city trying to get revenge on the female gang member that shot you during a robbery and got you arrested. You manage to break out of custody on the way to jail and then you go about doing odd jobs while trying to find the girl responsible for the betrayal. It's a simple story and that's about it. The gangs you work for at times are constantly betraying you or dying so you don't get to know many of the people that work for very long and your character is a quite mute. You're character never speaks throughout the entire game so you know nothing about him. You really don't even know you are trying to get revenge until later in the game, since nothing about it is even said that much until later. You are just a gun for hire working for these gang members while trying to earn money and not get wasted or busted. As far as a story goes, while it is still interesting, since it sort of follows a lot of gang stereo types, such as the mafia, triads, yakuza, and other such gangs like this, but the fact you are a simple gun for hire and that is about it, you really don't have much motivation at times for him. The fact that the characters you do see are interesting does help here, but it just feels like more effort could have been put into the story of this game.
Graphics
The graphics for the time are actually pretty good. Going from top down 2D to a 3D world is a big jump and for this game it works rather well. Being able to see everything around you in so much better detail and to see what is coming ahead of you instead of having the top down view is such a blessing for this series. You do still have the typical problems with early PS2 era games in that you can only see so far ahead of you before there is a simple fog to mask the distance, which can make things simply appear out of nowhere ahead of you. I can't blame the game much for this though, since it is a typical problem of the PS2 era, but it can be a little annoying if you might accidentally have a car come out of nowhere to hit you, which did happen several times in the game. The details are limited on items and the cars themselves look a bit simple and act a bit simple as well when they take damage. You have to expect this though, but the cars do at times act a tad unrealistic due to the graphical limitations of the time. Overall though, the graphics aren't that bad as long as you go into it with a PS2 era frame of mind.
Sound
As with other GTA games then and now, the radio music, and sounds of the game are top notch. The game's outdoor sounds of the city as you are driving around seem fine enough, the sounds of gunfire, the sounds of the cars and the people all around you seem to all sound and fit rather well. The music and talk station on the radio offer you a variety of music and things to listen to that can keep you pleasantly entertained as well. The only real drawback is there is sort of a lack of variety and the stations will loop rather quickly, especially if you only like certain stations and don't care for certain genre's of music. This would really be my only complaint with the sound is the fact that the variety is a little lacking, but I'm sure some of this has to do with storage space from a PS2 game compared to other systems that could store more music on them. I can't really punish it much for this, but it will get old after awhile hearing the same music, talk, and commercials towards the end of the game.
Control
Alright, this is the element of the game that will frustrate you the most. Now the controls aren't unplayable by any means no, but they can be frustrating at times. The main things that are so frustrating are the camera being centered on you and shooting controls. So often I would find myself wanting to look in a certain direction but not being able to because I was moving or being chased and you can't really free control the camera. This flows directly into the shooting controls as the problem camera can make you a very easy target for enemies that are chasing you or are in certain angles as you can't aim properly at them and you will die from this. You can't see where people are at to aim properly while they can and you will suffer from it and be infuriated from trying to turn the camera around and aim before your health is completely drained. Controlling the cars, and roaming around and doing most other things are completely fine in the game, but the fact that the camera can cause all these control problems for you is quite the problem. While you may complain about things in the game like difficulty, bad controls from the camera are sometimes the most frustrating as a hard game is just hard. Tricky controls, can be quite frustrating.
Replay Value
This game does have replay value in the fact that you can continue to roam the city causing chaos like in all GTA games and earning more money to pay for more weapons to shoot around with in the game long after story mode is completed. There are the little hidden packages and jump tricks you can find. Then of course you can replay story mode over once again. Still, really unless you enjoyed story mode a lot, the replay value really does come from the fact that you have free roam of the city and can create chaos as you choose and explore it more and more. If you get bored with this though, there is little else to do unless you want to cause more chaos. The chaos is the thing that makes this fun for many people and that is a big plus. Still, it would have been nice to have a few other things to do other than just cause chaos once story mode is complete, other than shooting rampages and collecting hidden things.
Overall, GTA3 is a fun game, but it is easy to tell that it is a bit of an early trial of the series, but it was one that needed to be made and led to other great games down the line. Some of the things in this game are a bit limited at times, and there are definitely some frustrating things in the game. If you can ignore some of these things, as they aren't game breaking, then you will definitely have a good fun time causing chaos in liberty city for a time to come. You still don't want little kids playing this as there is quite a lot of gang violence, drug references and other sexual themes that you want to keep the little ones or ones that don't know what these thing are from seeing. Still, overall, it is a good time as long as you don't let some of the flaws frustrate you during story mode.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Grand Theft Auto Three a seven point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 7
Story: 7
Graphics: 8
Sound: 9
Control: 6
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 7.5
