Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

It's time to get out the dictionary of superlatives again - it's another GTA game! The sex that is Liberty City Stories is wearing down our batteries...

	Version PSP	Developer Rockstar Leeds	Publisher Rockstar Games	Genre Action / adventure

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The one technical aspect that does concern us though, still, is the targeting system. In earlier previews it seemed to be much improved, but with a longer play time now under our belts, we've found that it can still cause problems. At one point, instead of targeting the mean old Triads shooting our face off, it instead chose to point us at a civilian driving between us on a bike. Wasted. Not funny. In the inevitable next GTA game, whenever there are active threats, can the targeting system please completely ignore pedestrians/civilians?

There are nine selectable characters for multiplayer.

Still, all of this presentation and technical wizardry is of no consequence if the game isn't fun to play, and on this front the singleplayer campaign may very well divide opinion, simply due to Rockstar's choice of returning to a familiar stomping ground. Liberty City may well be ever so slightly different from the last time we were there, but it's still so familiar and instantly remembered that there isn't that element of discovery, and wide-eyed wonder, inherent in having a whole new game world to explore.

It does, however, induce that aforementioned feeling of comfort, and for the record, we here at Kikizo towers enjoyed the instant familiarity (indeed, there are still many who feel GTAIII to be superior to its successors). Like a comfy old pair of slippers, we could just slip them on and immediately feel at home.

If all there was to this new portable iteration of car-jacking, sandbox play, there was a danger that the only hot beverage this game would be associated with would be cocoa. However, and it's a big however at that, we're overjoyed that every GTA game has a very clear identity of its own; that unique something that somehow just makes the same old, same old feel exciting all over again.

GTAIII had the courtesy of adding that extra dimension; Vice City brought the style (and a wardrobe full of Hawaiian shirts); San Andreas added an immense amount of breadth and depth, with its scale and RPG elements respectively. Liberty City Stories' defining factor is by far and away its extensive range of multiplayer options, for up to 6 players.

In this, the choice of returning to pastures old starts to make more sense, that instant familiarity meaning players can fall back of their ingrained geographical knowledge of weapon filled nooks and sniping spot crannies, and just get on with killing their friends, rather than having to spend hours learning anew. This is crucial to the success of the multiplayer experience.

'Liberty City Survivor' (the deathmatch game) will probably become the most played of the multiplayer games, being a frantic free-for-all, or team-based event. The capture-the-flag ('Get Stretch') and attack/defence ('Protection Racket') modes are more strategic, but equally frenzied. 'Tanks for the Memories', a king-of-the-hill variant in which one player controls a tank (with everybody else out to destroy it), can also be a bit of a laugh, though the racing mode ('Street Rage') can get a tad quiet - e.g. rarely seeing other racers - and a bit of Burnout's rubber-banding catch-up could have upped the enjoyment factor of this event. All in though, there is the potential to lose way too much time to LCS' multiplayer shenanigans.

If those multiplayer options aren't going to be something you will be able to explore, you will be missing out on a huge chunk of what LCS has to offer, quite possibly its raison d'être, but the singleplayer campaign is still a worthy (and lengthy, at around 50 hours) addition to the series. That is as long as the comfortable familiarity doesn't turn you off, though bear in mind that the script will put many a smile on players' faces.

Get them WLAN switches to their full, upright positions though, and you'll get to experience hours upon hours of flak jackets, Molotovs, rocket launchers, tanks, limos and chainsaws; and a hell of a lot of swearing from nearby friends, too.

Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL 7.5 8.5 9.0 9.0 8.5 9.0

THE VERDICT: Liberty City Stories is the next instalment in the Grand Theft Auto series, just as Rockstar has been saying all along. The initial familiarity with the city itself could be divisive of players' opinions, some of whom might find things too uninspiring, but the decision becomes obvious once multiplayer games get going. The singleplayer mission may well just be a 'greatest hits' of past GTAs, and in terms of structure and mission length isn't exactly suited to a handheld machine, but this is still GTA people, come on, it's worth a punt regardless. The multiplayer hi-jinks make this an essential purchase... and just in time for Christmas too, who'd have thunk...

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