Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Things feel mighty familiar in Liberty City.

	Version PS2, PSP	Developer Rockstar Leeds	Publisher Rockstar	Genre Action

By Alex Wollenschlaeger

I have two real problems with Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories in particular and the series in general. First, the freedom that the GTA games have become known for isn't really there - at least, not in the way I want it to be. And second, for a game that is build around the idea of a consistent world, it forces you to get out of it more than most games I've played. Let me explain.

There are a handful of people in each of the three areas in the game that have their own set of objectives for you, whether that involves proving that your mother's new boyfriend is no good or helping get a slimy politician elected. While it's true that you're free to tackle these in any order you want, tackle them you must, and if you come across a mission that's poorly conceived, you're stuck repeating it over and over until you get it right if you want to go further in the game. It's linearity forced on a free-world design.

My second beef is directly related to this. There are a lot of missions in the game that just aren't fun to play, but you're forced to do them if you want to carry on. My least favourite missions are those where you have to evade the cops, who are insane in their rabid desire to bring you down. Realistic, perhaps, but it's also frustrating when you have to repeat a mission because some flatfoot batters you silly repeatedly. The end result is that if you get busted or die and you don't want to lose your weapons or your money, you'll do what GTA players have done through the years - you'll load your last save. Again and again.

There's some mercy to be found in the game design of Liberty City Stories. Because it was originally made for the PSP and has now made the startling jump back in the other direction, the missions are more bite-sized than the epic ones found in previous series entries. And because the game world is slightly smaller, getting around is less of a chore than it was. It's also nice to see that getting hold of a bike to zip through traffic is much easier.

The portable origins of the game are a sore point. While the game world is still big and there's enough gameplay here to keep you playing for dozens of hours, there's something missing. That spark is gone, and it's not just because of the sub-standard graphics. There are fewer songs on the radio and the writing isn't as snappy as before. The DJs are still funny, though, and I let out a chuckle on more than one occasion.

The biggest plus to come out of the platform shift is that you can now do away with that accursed sliding analog nub on the PSP for a genuine Dual Shock controller. The aiming system is still not right, and the auto-targeting will probably always make a mess of things, but at least it's less of a pain to control the proceedings. Unfortunately, that's about it.

If you've already played this on the PSP then there is no reason at all to buy this. The streets are perhaps a bit more crowded and you could fool yourself into thinking that the draw distance is a few meters longer, but this is essentially the exact same game as what appeared on the PSP last year.

The thing is, that could be enough for a lot of people. If you prefer to tackle meaty games like this on a big TV with a real control pad, you'll be overjoyed that you're getting the chance. And let's be honest here - this is another Grand Theft Auto game. That's enough justification right there for a lot of people. The game is not without it's problems, but the budget price goes a long way to letting you look past all the flaws.