GTA: Liberty City Stories Review

Four years ago, Rockstar delivered a game that created its very own genre, a game that many have tried to emulate, a game that satirised everything from American culture to the mob: Grand Theft Auto III. In the years since the release of GTA3 in 2001, Rockstar North has continued to develop the concept with two further titles, GTA: Vice City and last yearâ??s GTA: San Andreas. Each of the follow-ups expanded on the rules laid down by its predecessor with the addition of motorbikes, flight, the ability to climb, swim, and even customise the development of the main character with a range of RPG style attributes from clothing to sex appeal.

Back in January 2005 Rockstar announced that with the impending launch of Sonyâ??s PSP in North America and Europe the world of Grand Theft Auto would be available to explore in GTA: Liberty City Stories, which would return players to the New York inspired city first explored in GTA3. Although news on the game specifics were not disclosed it was announced that the title would be developed at Rockstar Leeds with supervision from GTA kings, Rockstar North. In the months that followed various features of Liberty City Stories were confirmed including the traditional GTA milestone, which in the case of LCS would be the addition of Multiplayer options â?“ more on that later.

Set in 1998, three years before the events of 2001, Liberty City Stories follows the return of mob member Toni Cipriani to the Leone mob led by Don Salvatore Leone (once again voiced by Frank Vincent) and the tribulations that they encounter as other gangs begin to encroach on the warring Italian American turf. Driving through the tree-lined avenues of Saint Marks or hilly streets of Hepburn Heights may bring about a certain wave of nostalgia for GTA3 veterans, but be warned, Liberty City isnâ??t quite as it is in 2001. Besides certain locations fronted by different businesses (J D Oâ??Tooleâ??s hideout at Paulieâ??s Revue Bar later becomes Luigiâ??s Sex Club Seven in the home console title), the Callahan Bridge that traverses between the initial islands of Portland and Staunton is still in the final stages of construction leaving the reliable Ferries (though on strike) responsible for transporting the citizens of Liberty, and the yet to be banned motorbikes still race around the streetsâ?¦

Tailoring the needs of PSP owners, the missions in Liberty City Stories are shorter than some of the more â??epicâ?? missions on the home console titles, and most can be completed in a short number of minutes. Trying to avoid storyline spoilers itâ??s fair to say that Toni gets his missions from a range of personalities though most of them are provided by Salvatore, and there are the usual range of side-missions from the various Taxis, Police cars, and Ambulances throughout the city. In fact Liberty City Stories marks the debut of a new side-mission to the GTA universe: Car Salesman where the objective is to sell cars, achieved by Toni demonstrating that a particular car fulfils the needs set by the prospective customers; for instance taking the Hummer-clone requires a demo of off-road driving. The task has to be accomplished within a set time-limit during which Toni has to fill a â??Sale Meterâ? and return the car back to the car room, which can be a bit tight if you take the vehicle too far away from the lot. As theyâ??ve always done, the side-missions (including the return of Hidden Packages and Insane Stunts) add a distinct layer of depth to the game that continues well after the narrative is complete.

Fans of GTA3 may remember that Toniâ??s mother, the aptly named Ma Cipriani regularly puts down his achievements and thanks to his slimmer figure in Liberty City Stories, the mafia man find himself at the receiving end of tirades of abuse to the point where Mrs Cipriani actually takes out a contract on her sonâ??s life for â??his own good.â? It means that for a certain period of time in the game players will also have to take care of the assassins sent out to kill Toni that randomly appear with an AK-47 and bulletproof vest. Toyz vans also reappear in the game with the ability to race Radio Controls available to the player, although regular size vehicular races on both two and four wheels can be found.

Returning to the subject of the story missions, there are the usual â??drive toâ??, â??pick up thisâ?? and â??kill whoeverâ?? fodder but itâ??s good to see that thereâ??s a variety to the gameplay with sniper missions, chases, and escapes all making the cut. One slight criticism that does have to be mentioned is that Liberty City retains the reliance on saving the game at specific safe houses dotted in the city, which does slightly tarnish the â??pick-up-and-playableâ?? nature of the missions. The stand-by mode of the PSP may be quite efficient and perhaps instant saves might not have been ideal, but it can be a frustrating to return to the game only to find that the battery on the PSP turned flat during its semi-comatose state.

Bringing the franchise to the PSP has meant that in this instance several features found in San Andreas have been omitted. Whilst the inability of Toni to swim may be forgiven, and the lack of flying understandable given the logistics of reprogramming the roofs tops and altitude ceiling, climbing is perhaps the most missed with Cipriani struggling to deftly leap over short walls let alone clamber on top of Liberty Cityâ??s single storey structures. Itâ??s that which brings the realisation to the forefront: Liberty City is a cut-down title for a cut-down platform; with several advancements made in San Andreas left out, a largely unknown cast voicing the principal characters (Frank Vincent as Salvatore Leone withstanding), and a soundtrack of unfamiliar music it wouldnâ??t make the grade if it were a home console title but thankfully it more than gets away with it as a PSP game.

Missing a second pair of shoulder buttons has meant that there was a lot of pressure on Rockstar Leeds to re-think the traditional control system of GTA and adapt it for the PSP. Used to execute drive-by shootings, the responsibility of the secondary shoulder buttons has fallen to the handheldâ??s sole left shoulder button which also acts as a kind of catch all for manually targeting objects, and looking around whilst on foot or in transit. Overall the system works well and is responsive, and certainly makes the best of the situation. Driving through the streets is very much a case of riding a bicycle, and even though certain PSP titles take a while to get use to through the consoleâ??s nipple, careering through Staunton is as intuitive as itâ??s always been.

Visually Liberty City Stories is every inch a GTA title with the graphical style kept, and a level of detail that easily surpasses that of Grand Theft Auto III. The developers have made a good job of streaming in model details and the level of drawing distances is impressive, especially when you can see the other islands on the horizon. The game makes strong use of the widescreen of the PSP, with a level of sharpness not seen on the home consoles (certainly not in the PlayStation2 versions of GTA), and also aids the player with a screen that feels very uncluttered by the HUD. There are occasions where the frame rate takes a dive but these are rare and last for a couple of seconds. Loading times have always been a bit of a concern for the GTA titles, but theyâ??re surprisingly succinct in Liberty City Stories given the strain that the various technologies put upon the PSP. Fears of lengthy waits on start up or jumping between the islands can be written off right here as the traditional welcome â??postcardsâ?? last merely seconds.

The biggest addition to the GTA franchise within Liberty City Stories is without doubt the Multiplayer modes, which finally allows friends to steal, maim, and kill in a series of gametypes. As we detailed in our Hands-On preview of the MP modes in October, LCS features a range of gametypes for up to six players to use via Wi-Fi with Deathmatches (Liberty City Survivor) and Capture the Flag (Get Stretch) two of the more recognisable ones on offer. Others include The Wedding List where players have to collect and delivery a range of cars dotted across the islands, The Hit List which amounts to more violent version of tag, and Street Rage where players race around the checkpointed streets of Liberty. Whilst certain gametypes are team based, others are solo-based leaving players an array of characters to control including the Eminem inspired Overalls, a Chicken outfit, Goodfella, and Cipriani himself just to name but a few; additional costumes can be unlocked by playing through the single-player game. The gametypes and indeed the premise of multiplay in a GTA title work exceptionally well and act as a beacon for the title. Certain gametypes are more fun the more players are taking part although Survivor is but one that works regardless of whether thereâ??s two or more of you.