GTA: Liberty City Stories - Multiplayer Preview

Though a heavily limited two-player mini-game featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas last October, Rockstar has refrained from expanding its most successful franchise into the realms of multiplayer; but with the advent of GTA: Liberty City Stories on PSP, all that is about to change. Looking set to deliver a 100% top-notch GTA experience at the end of October with the sort of traditional single-player action that youâ??d expect from Rockstar (check out Hands-On preview of the game here), the team at Rockstar Leeds have bitten the bullet and will give fans of the series something that theyâ??ve desired from day one â?“ Multiplayer.

During a recent visit to Rockstarâ??s London offices we were given a taste of the action set to come on the gameâ??s release with the help of three Rockstar representatives (plus myself) sitting down for some Wi-Fi Deathmatch action. But before we discuss the intricacies, here is how TVG took the news that GTA was going Wi-Fi multiplayer. Sat in the reception area at Rockstar, weâ??re met by one of the companyâ??s representatives who sits down and tells us the big secretâ?¦which is when my eyes come out of our heads on stalks and my jaw developed a rather nasty bruise from dropping to the ground so hard. Once Iâ??d gathered my thoughts however a grin appeared on my face that would probably last for the rest of the day.

Easily accessible at any time, the Multiplayer mode allows six gamers to battle across seven different gametypes, including the Deathmatch "Liberty City Survivor", a Capture the Flag based mode called "Get Stretch", and a team-only game entitled "Protection Racket". Before we dive into the various aspects of the game however, itâ??s worth noting this: whilst we played the single-player mode via a PSP running off a development kit, the multiplayer game was being played out across Wi-Fi. One of the guys at Rockstar was hosting the game on his PSP and therefore the load times for the multiplayer aspects, which were quite short, were probably close to the eventual final build of the game.

Rockstar explained that at the start of the game only nine characters will be available to chose from, though this figure will eventually reach up to sixty plus through progression in the single-player game. At the demo, we were able to play as single-player modeâ??s Toni, Mona Lott, Mrs Menalot, Lance Urwell, Lou Scannon, Officer 69 and Cipriani: Rockstar refused to comment on some of the other characters that can be unlocked in the game so letâ??s keep our fingers crossed that we get to play as some of the major characters from GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas.

Though the deathmatches took place in the first Liberty City island of Portland, Rockstar explained that the multiplayer mode does expand to include all three islands, which might seem a bit overwhelming until you see the vehicles at your disposal just as they are in the single-player game. Though it seemed a little less populated, the streets of Portland were far from empty evacuated zones, and thanks to the radar, your opponentâ??s whereabouts are available to see at all times (unless they pick-up a special â??invisibilityâ?? item â?“ more on those shortly) as well as colour-coded pinpoints locating weapons, armour, and health.

Setting the number of kills to win at five, the game began and itâ??s at this point that it finally hit: this was GTA multiplayer, and it felt natural. Ok, so perhaps deathmatch wasnâ??t the most original gametype in the world, but it did have its own identity with a mass of weapons to pick up and areas that grenade launchers and sniper rifles could be more than useful. During the games it was surprising how much carnage occurred with cars and pedestrians getting the line of fire with explosions breaking out in the streets. The control system was the same as the single-player as youâ??d expect, and there was no sign of lag throughout the matches: the game didnâ??t seem have any glaring faults at all, though it has to be said we were too busy concentrating of killing the opponents to notice.

Special pick-ups are available in the multiplayer mode and are dotted around the expansive environment of Liberty City along with the more typical GTA weapons, health and armour. These pick-ups will certainly give gamers an advantage over their competitors (for a limited time at least) with one offering invisibility on the radar screen and another with quad-damage, prepare for some frantic fighting in the streets. Almost taunting at players, each of these â??specialtiesâ?? has its own like audio ditty when picked up â?“ so when you hear that ice cream van jingle you know that potentially youâ??re in for a rough ride.

Though there was only time to play a couple of Survivors, it was more than we needed to see how much of an impact these new multiplayer features will have on the gameâ??s release on October 28th â?“ Rockstar Leeds (and North) have done a brilliant job in retaining a strong GTA experience in the mode right down to the gametypes. The two other modes that Rockstar have so far disclosed are Get Stretch, and Protection Racket. The former is essentially Capture the Flag with limousines instead of flags, and will require gamers to have good skills in offence and defence tactics since the lengthy vehicles arenâ??t exactly renowned for their small turning circles. As you can imagine, getting out of the way of a rocket will be pretty difficult to achieveâ?¦

Protection Racket is a Team-only gametype in Liberty City Stories and sees gamers assigned to specific gangs across the gameworld with the turn-based objective of either attacking or defending a base. The attacking side has the aim of destroying four limousines inside the defending gangâ??s base; once this has been accomplished, the timer stops and the teams swap places with the second gang on the offensive trying to destroy the new defenderâ??s limos within the time limit set by the first team.