User Reviews

Oh my god, so much nostalgia and lot of memories on this game. I remember the first game i ever played on my pc is this game. My first impression is how very amazing this game and looks so real. Until now i still loved this game and i never forget about the memories i had with this game.

What can I say, this game rocks.

The basic story is you are a criminal on the run. Your girlfriend and partner set you up after a bank robbery by shooting you and leaving you for the cops. You are busted but during the transportation to jail the Columbians (I think) bust out one of their men from the van, you and another convict (8-Ball) escape too. He sets you up with with Luigi and you start you work in the criminal underworld. The city is made up of three islands. But you can't just go from island to island right away. Yet the story makes sense why you can't. The bridge from the first island to the second is destroyed in the break out. So there is a huge gap in it. And the underground tunnel system project isn't finished yet either. But as soon as you've finished all the major missions on the first island, the bridge is repaired and part of the tunnel system is completed. (you hear it on the radio).

The story line has it all. Betrayal, little bit of love, violence, a little humor, lots of action, and more. This is by far one of the best made games I have ever played. It is so deep in gameplay. You choose when you want to take a mission by going to the proper place and get an assignment. Don't feel like taking a job at the moment? Just walk around the city if you feel like it. People pass you on the street and you hear lots of funny comments. I dub one guy "Village Person" type because he says lines like "There is a place you can go.." and a few other things that sound like lines from a Village People song. There are college students, gang members, Chinese Triads, Mafia, Spanish hoods, hookers, pimps, cops, and more! All the types have their own voices for that type and own lines of speech.

You can beat up people with a baseball bat if you like. Just don't it in front of the cops. They don't like that. Stand around and wait after you killed some one and an ambulance will come and heal that person. Hold off the paramedics for a while and the persons body disappears and a chalk outline appears for while. You can stick your gun in a person's face and hold them up.

All cars in this game can be stolen. Well some are locked so you are out of luck on them. But the car types also have their own driving styles too. Steal an ambulance and take a corner too fast at top speed and you may tip over. Steal a fast can and you may not be able to make the turn and you spin out a bit and hit a wall. Take a different can and you may not be fast enough to out run cops or keep up with the person you are chasing. This is great because cars do not simply have the same driving stlye like they do in games like Driver 2 and such. Plus this has a good physics engine. In some chases in Driver 2 I tried to ram a guy instead of just tailing him. It was like hitting a brick wall. I didn't do a thing to him but I was pretty much totaled. Not in GTA3. You hit them and they will feel it. Lots of cool cars are in the game even an ice cream truck and a small airplane, no wings but it still flys.

Next their is the voice acting. It is superb! Excellent cast! Also in the car you can listen to the radio. different channels to choose from. There is rap, ska, classic rock, opera, a talk radio (my fave), and more. The talk radio is a riot to listen too. There are calls such as one lady complaining about people on cell phones and is even in charge of an organization (ok there are three of them) called Citizens Raging Against Phones. Yes the organization is CRAP. Another guy wants to hire a nanny because he needs to be spanked. It even has guests on it. One is a pimp who runs Fernando's new beginnings and a self help guru/martial artist.

The cities are huge! It would take you a couple hours alone to walk the entire city. Plus their are more things to do in the game than just missions. There are 100 hidden packages scattered across the three islands that make up the city. Find them to have weapons created at your hideouts. Also their are places where you can ramp your car off of for uniqe stunt bonuses. This game is not something you will finish in a few short hours. This will take over 50 hours easily to finish.

This is my all time favorite game. I hope they make another one similar to this and add even more to it. 10/10

Superior big game with real good graphics. The game has cons but this was one of the biggest games of its time. And its story is also real good mafia story. It may deserve 10 points but I thought 9 is better for this game. I'm but it has real gloomy air. It is good someways but with dark weather and blur effect it becomes a terrible looking visual.

Grand Theft Auto 3 is a violent, no holds barred (with cheats of course), racist and audacious video game. While people who have a taste for these video games will enjoy it more than others who don't, I think that's the point. But for all ages, big or small, tiny or large, black or white even, this is reccomended if you have PS2- worth it alone for the radio. A

To put it simply, Grand Theft Auto 3 is one of the very best video games, or any form of entertainment for that matter, ever made.

You've probably heard about how graphically violent this game is, and there's certainly no denying it. People (criminals, gang members, cops, pedestrians, etc.) can be murdered in a variety of entertaining ways, but GTA3 isn't about mindless mayhem. The game is actually story driven, and that, combined with awesome gameplay (driving being a main factor of course) is what really puts it over the top. It's quite an experience as you rise through the ranks from petty Jack-of-all-trades thug-for-hire to a millionaire. Chock full of tons of fun missions, from carjacking to assassinations to body disposal and anything else your employer needs you to do.

Enough of my pretentious praise though. If you haven't played Grand Theft Auto 3 yet, what are you waiting for?!

A REVIEW on the GAME: GRAND THEFT AUTO 3(2001)(4/5 stars)

With the voice talents of:

JOE PANTOLIANO MICHAEL RAPAPORT

In the game Grand Theft Auto 3, your character is a man who has been betrayed, and left for dead by a partner in crime in Liberty City, where the only dirty word is hope. Now, he must restart his life by doing jobs for the local mafia, and meanwhile seek revenge on those who betrayed him.

The main idea behind GTA3 is to provide you with a new experience. You are seeing your character with a third person view of Liberty City - a seedy area where anything goes. You can pretty much just steal any car on the street you see, as long as you can catch it. Some really good cars are hidden, for example, there's a car that's just like a jaguar hidden in a car shop and you must break in to get it. There's a hidden tank, and tons more fun, but the main idea is just to provide you with fun. Some people say this game is too violent, and after all I heard, when I played it the first time I expected tons of gore. But, it's not the most violent game I've seen. I have seen worse. It's really what you do in the game that counts. For example, you can walk over to someone walking on the street, and get in a fistfight, kill him or her, and steal his or her money. Or you could sniper out people with a sniper rifle, a weapon to choose from among the many you can get in the game. But with actions come consequences, because the more you do, the more `stars' you get-the most you can get being six. For each star represented, is a higher level of police after you. Eventually, you can get helicopters, snipers, and all trying to take you down. So if you play the game like this, it can be very bad for people affected by games. The whole basic idea of the game is revolving pretty much around mafia jobs so yes, I wouldn't recommend it to children. But you can also take taxi jobs, firefighter jobs, and police jobs, hunting down criminals like yourself. So with this in mind, you can also become a good guy. Depends what you want to be. Another fun thing, is with most car racing games and such, if you want a new car, you have to go to the start menu and choose a new car (games like Project Gotham Racing, and Twisted Metal). But in this game, if you blow up your car, or simply want a new one, you just run over and pull someone out of his or her car, and steal it. Yes, agreeing with some people, this is kind of bad for people who are easily influenced to see things, so I don't recommend it to anyone who might look at this and think to themselves, ‘I think I'll go hotwire cars!' :)

The graphics are very good, and the 3-D environment is very big for a game. You can travel by subway, car, plane, and more to 2 other cities near by (after you progress in the game). So just experiencing the environment is worth the price of the game. It's very realistic, and in some parts of town it's extremely seedy (you can guess what I mean). I think a few aspects like that could have been left out of the game, but I guess the publishers decided it would make it more realistic. Anyway, yes. I definitely do NOT recommend this game to children, for not only is there violence, but the jobs you do, and the city are both almost too realistic for any child to handle. But for older teens and above, the basic idea of GTA 3 is very fun. It's a great improvement on the previous games, and you can even change your third person view to the old above head view. The game's basically a mix between Max Payne, Great car games, The Sims, and The Godfather trilogy. It's simply one of the greatest game experiences I've ever had, and it is extremely addictive (thank goodness I'm not someone who can play games and lose track of time, I would probably still think it's the day I bought the game). Anyone who wants to experience this same feeling of a virtual 3-D world of sleek, stylish cars at your hands, taking out jobs for the mafia, and so many other fun things in this game, please play it. Just don't get too addicted, because beware-it's very possible.

Grand Theft Auto 3 is the very notion of what a game should be. The idea of a world where you don't really have to do anything- instead of having to crack levels by the same method (take most games for example, to beat the level you must figure out how to get to the bad guy, kill him, and win the game. And although you can choose how to fight them, you basically have to follow the whole level, the same way everyone else who plays the game does, left here, right there, watch out for that guy who pops out of the corner in 30 seconds, etc.) You can really explore Liberty City the way you want to. No standard level procedure. It's fully self-deciding on what you want to do, not what you have to do. That's what makes this game so enjoyable. Once again, GTA 3 is not a game for children but for adults. 4/5 stars. Play it, and I promise it will be one of the most enjoyable game experiences you've had in a long, long time.

JOHN ULMER-sk8boarder1088@aol.com

Left for dead by his girlfriend Catalina(she'll be our Saturday morning cartoon villain; the few occasions where you see her after that point, interest spikes) as they were running away from a just-completed robbery, Claude(nameless until his San Andreas cameo, and voiceless, yet still subtly somewhat characterized - he has attitude, nobody owns him) is then freed by his explosives-knowledgeable friend 8-Ball(...take one guess at his ethnicity), and, determined to get back the $70.000 that he stole fair and square, starts to work his way from the bottom to the top of organized crime in Liberty City(this universe's version of NY) - you will make enemies, your loyalties will have to be flexible, and you may just get doublecrossed.

There is more story, albeit this is not propelled forward by it, and, especially with the ending, it does show that not that much was built onto this vague, as well as uncomplicated, base. The subversive(almost everything in this is... it may even insult you for your failure!) nature of it thus has a negative effect, along with the several positives(always keeping you guessing, reflecting the underworld, etc.). As you work for various "families", you learn many credible characters(several voiced by famous names - Michael Madsen's mother-issues-riddled Tony, Frank Vincent's head of the mafia Salvatore, and others, all perfectly cast... and nearly everyone does great acting here, names and otherwise), and there are a ton of details that flesh out the setting. The neutral tone is refreshing - no one is the "hero", it's people doing what their chosen business calls for - and sometimes suffering on account.

With a dynamic world, this is how you do what Assassin's Creed botched: things aren't too reined in, they're under the control of the engine which is indifferent towards you, either randomized(traffic, immediate police presence, civilians' reactions, weather) or determined by laws(turfs of your foes will be patrolled, time of day that you can keep track of via the HUD clock - 1 minute of its time is 1 second of real-life time). While not all of these are "vital", they do all make it feel organic, a simulation, not a preset series of events. There are actual consequences(in spite of what those who get their logic from the likes of William Lane Craig would assert) - die or be arrested, you lose all weapons and ammo, some money, and usually any mission(if this happens on the way from having completed one, you have to decide: try again, or go gather all of the weapons again?) you were on. This is more than most games, where usually you just load(which you still can).

Saving and storing motors can only happen at Safe Houses(race back there once you're finished with doing something that was tough!), and in general, benefits tend to require travel and memorizing(or printing out a map - the minimap here is insufficient) - you can repair your wheels and simultaneously get rid of the police by getting a paint job, get bullets/arsenal(pistol, SMG, shotgun, assault rifle, the awesome but seldom useful sniper, grenade, the insane molotov cocktail - typically one per type), even place a bomb on your ride... but not on every street corner! Exploration and learning what is where and how do you get from here to there rewards itself a lot, without this being something that they felt the need to hold your hand and guide you to. This is highly intuitive - if you apply yourself, you can probably figure out what you need to do. Sure, there is some trial and error, however, this is the exception. The rule is: you plan, you react rather than curse your bad luck, you win. A hard-earned victory that satisfies.

There is a ton to do - I've spent 24 and a half hours on it, and while I finished the plot, I only have 40% completion - and even if or when you've gotten all the hidden packages, done all the unique jumps, etc. one can always play this more: seeing how long you can last in a cop chase you started by causing enough mayhem, go everywhere. It's all up to you how deep you go in, what pace you take it at. You have more than one "contact" to get new assignments from, and they're varied, fun and, like everything in this, challenging. Assassinate, transport, tail or destroy. Throw in time-limits, having to keep your van intact and the like for extra spice. It doesn't sound like much, and yet these all feel inspired and make sense. Satire is over the top and also smart, thoughtprovoking - and it targets both sides of the aisle, equally. The 8 music radio stations cover and parody many genres(with a mix of licensed and original tunes - and you can't always tell one from the other), with 15-25 minutes of content each. No less than 58 for the hilarious, quotable talk radio.

With streets of everything from pimps in full purple getup, grannies with both hands holding full grocery bags, YMCA-ish construction workers, and areas including the inner-city with its neon-lit Red Light district and the suburbs, this feels real, and there is much to see, do, take in. For on-the-spot, jump-in-or-out jobs, grab a taxi to get to get people from point A to B, an ambulance to do the same with profusely bleeding NPC's, a police car to carry out vigilante justice, or a fire truck to go "put out", as the slogan puts it - all of this timed, and you can engage them anywhere, all it takes is the mentioned hardtop. Physics and interactivity as far as driving goes is good, though those who come here from Need For Speed and the like will find gear-shifting, acceleration and the like simplified(not gone).

There is some sexual content(in dialog) and a lot of bloody, some brutal, violent, disturbing content in this. I recommend this to any fan of non-linear gameplay. 8/10

It destroyed all the previous ones.

This game is one of the true landmarks on gaming.

Grand Theft auto was a superb gaming idea hobbled by the lack of computer power. Don't get me wrong the 2D versions was really fun but I'm sure that everyone who played it realised that the first attempt at sandbox innovation needed something more.

Then after fading away for a few years I heard on the internet about GTA III. OMG I thought, "what the hell is this" Then I watched one of the first 3D trailers and I was hooked by just the idea of a true 3D GTA game.

GTA III is a truly groundbreaking game, it has lifted gaming to a new level and laid down a standard to gamers that developers have been chasing ever since.

This game might be dated but it will forever hold it's place at a true innovation in gaming that will be remembered for a very long time….

I played this game mostly as a child and I haven't played it in a few years, but it's a good game, even known not as good as San Andreas or Vice City.

Like pretty much everyone else back in the day, I fell in love with the sandbox variety of "Grand Theft Auto III". You could do anything; steal a wide array of vehicles, joyride, shoot anybody that walks, do it all relatively consequence-free and find yourself burning up hours at a time. It was like the keys to the kingdom. And back then, the rebellious attitude and mob movie angle of the story was a lot of fun. Maybe it was because I was just that right susceptible age, but it's just such good filthy fun, even with the "Scarface" soundtrack and murky visuals. Rockstar has surpassed this since (on so many fronts) and the replay value was never at "Vice City" levels, but this was a landmark game, no question.

7/10

Twenty years ago today, Grand Theft Auto 3 came out for the PlayStation 2 and I really hope that this game gets remastered for the PlayStation 4 and maybe the PlayStation 5 today or soon.

Grand Theft Auto 3 is a slight disappointment to me. It is fun, has cool weapons, and if you throw a grenade at a gang, the result is very satisfying. However, I do not like this game much for the following reasons.

One- I don't like that you start the game out having a mission. Some missions are fun, but I don't like being forced to do one, especially in the beginning of the game.

Two- It's just not as fun as San Andreas and GTA 4. This one gets boring for me after about a week, whereas San Andreas and 4 can keep me hooked for months.

Therefore, it's really your choice if you want to buy this game, but I recommend buying San Andreas first, because this one is kind of boring.

Summary Rockstar Jumps into action with there first and worst title on the Playstation 2, Grand Theft Auto III. Apart from this failure it also managed to set a new 3-Dimensional sandbox genre off to a bad start with bad graphics, bad storyline, and bad controls.

Graphics 2/10 The character models are painful to view, while the whole world will burn a hole through your eyes. The camera angles are some of the worst the world has ever seen (almost as bad as the older Resident Evil titles), not to mention the fact that the camera cannot be turned in any vehicles.

Playability 1/10 Even for a game with few controllable aspects, the ways you control them are designed horribly. After playing this game for nearly two hours your fingers will be bleeding from the blisters that the control gives you. You will probably not even be able to tell what buttons you are pressing because the button symbols will be covered it blood.

Sounds 0/10 Your eardrums are guaranteed to be busted are completing this game, that is if you ever complete it. The selected songs on this game were not even made on this planet, and to make it worst Rockstar threw in some poorly thought-up radio station advertisements, along with very bad Joe Pesci imitations.

Entertainment 2/10 You can play this game for about five minutes, ten if your patience. you'd be lucky to get past the first three missions on your first try, due to the game's difficulty and lack of development. Way to go Rockstar you screwed up gaming for ever this time.

This is one of the most entertaining and controversial, yet wonderful games out there. Though it received heat from parents everywhere and other countries tried to ban it, it is without a doubt one of the best, and one of a kind out there(Do they think younger ones would play this? This is for older ones). Well it may not be for everyone, due to the violent content, grammar, and sex, but hey it is a satire of everyday life, but mostly depicting a grimy, rough city, supposedly this is supposed to be New York, where you control a nameless(we shall learn his name in GTA:SA!) and speechless gangster who's been wronged by the gang he worked for, now he goes freelance in the Pulp Fiction-esquire environment of Liberty City, where you work for different gang factions, just to do their dirty work. But that's not it, you can also walk around steel a car, and do whatever you will, it's non-linear! And because it is, you don't have to do some of the missions, though most of them are part of the story. This is one of the best and it is the first game of it's kind I played. If you like this play also Mafia(more like a 1930's GTA to me), GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas, thank you Rockstar, it's good, see.

Excellent game and story. Still playing in 2020 and it´s still addictive. Simply excellent

As someone, who has been actively playing PC/console games since mid 90's, I dare to say I've seen a lot. Times are passing by and trends are changing too with my favorite genres as RTS , adventures being on decline while FPS , visual novels are on the verge of its popularity now.

My apologies to all for the first sentimental paragraph but I felt like I want to mention that due to the fact that GTA3 is more than 15 years old game now. The question is - is Grand Theft Auto 3 the best game (within franchise) made so far? I dare to say "NO", as every single time a new GTA comes out, gaming community is stunned with graphics, options etc.. but I can say that no game is going to be as revolutionary as GTA3 was back in the time.

Having played GTA2 for tens, maybe hundreds of playtime, seeing and hearing news of GTA3 was something unimaginable. EVERYONE was talking about it.. people were reading printed magazines and early reading every preview / news / reviews available and every game picture was like idol, no matter if it was gameplay or not. When we finally got our hands on the game, the feeling was just .. hard to describe. From isometric view of GTA2, Rockstar threw us into open world fully in 3D graphics and that was the main factor of its legacy. It was first (or one of) fully open world game in 3D - no more square boxes watched from the sky, you saw 3D models of people walking on the street, you could steal any car you want and of course - the legendary teenage approach back then was "you can get a hooker, have sex with her and then kill her with a baseball bat to get your money back"!!! I know it might sound lame nowadays but back then, all kids in school were talking about things like this. Some people played arcades, some played strategies, others preferred adventures - but everyone was playing GTA3.

Nowadays, graphics and options might not be appealing anymore but me and all my friends will never forget Asuka whipping her peons, Toni Cipriani and his mother (we never saw), mechanic 8 Ball, Diablos - the lamest gang with the best car, Jamaican gang with their shitty lowriders and Columbians with jungle-like hats and boots in pick up trucks. And of course, at last but not least, Italian gang with their Sentinels always tunes up to classical music. Nothing can beat those memories, ever.

A game of epic change, so fun.

The driving is fantastic, I'll happily do taxi missions for an hour.

Rated M for Violence,Language and Sexual Content.

The Grand Theft Auto series started in 1998 with GTA1 and then the sequel,GTA2 in 1999.The first two games of the series were not very popular.But in 2001 GTA3 was a huge success and was very popular.It became one of the highest selling PS2 games.Is the game good? Definitely.In 2001 when I played it at a friends house it was excellent.You were able to drive around a huge city and do almost anything.Not to mention the great storyline the game had.Of course now with GTA Vice City and San Andreas,this game does not seem AS good anymore but its still good.Of course the soundtrack isn't great compared to GTA Vice City and San Andreas but at least Flashback has the classic songs from Scarface on it(not all of the songs though).In this game you play a mute man who'se name is not said in the game but In San Andreas we find out it is Claude.Anyway you are betrayed by your girlfriend while robbing a bank.But on the way to prison something happens and you and a partner escape.From there you start doing missions for the mob and gain respect while taking revenge on your ex-girlfriend.GTA3 is almost impossible to find for the PC.I suggest buying a PS2 and getting the game.You wont regret it and the game will still seem good even if you have played the other GTA's before it.I just started the game but I heard this is the hardest one in the series.

10/10

I nearly killed myself laughing about how outrageous this game is. It is so much fun. This game is perfect, because if you're bored, you can make you're own mission. The missions are fun too, but you can go further with you're own missions. Yes the games are violent, but you have to realize, these aren't people, these color images. Also this game could be disgusting. Notice there are no kids or animals in this game, therefore you can't kill them. This game could be a lot cruder than it is. So over sensitive people get over it. Anyway this game is incredible. In some ways I like it better than Vice City, but then many improvements were made in the game play of Vice City. I'm still annoyed that in neither game, you can't swim. That's ridiculous, what better getaway then jumped in the water, Especially if your boat blows up in the middle of the water; What do you do? This game is awesome anyway

The depth of the game, the flexibility, the side missions, and graphics and gore, the acting (voices), and the over-all package make this one of the all-time greats. I would recommend this for any PS2 owner. It is clearly a must own.

Grand Theft Auto III sadly does not hold up to anything the driving is ok but when u back up your car barley moves it is so annoying so u have to move it by walking in to it cops are annoying they interfere with every mission u do if it is shooting they'll be there to arrest u yay fun the map is the only good thing i like i actually like the map a lot after that this game is not good at all.

I just finished playing Grand Theft Auto 3 for the second time, focusing on not using any cheats and getting 100%. Unusually for a video game, I loved it even more replaying it. I know it sounds hyperbolic, but for me, the Grand Theft Auto games are really some of the best video games of all time, and number three is the one that started the excellence.

What makes it so great is a combination of a few things. One of the most important one is the free-roaming environment. You could play for many hours following your own whims rather than some game developer's narrowly defined mission. Another factor in this is that the Grand Theft Auto worlds are big. The "artificial intelligence" is also admirably complex and varied. Of course, there are pre-defined missions, too, and part of what makes them succeed so much better than those in many other games is that there are so many ways to accomplish the missions--the game retains its free-roaming attitude for the most part whether you're playing missions or not. The missions do not have to be completed in a strict order, and there are many optional side missions and mini-games. The missions are varied, creative, and a lot of fun to do, as are various situations you can get in during free roam. But as important as anything else, Rockstar got the controls, camera views and such almost perfect. Nothing can sink a game faster than wonky controls or a camera that hinders seeing what you're doing. You don't have to worry about any of that here.

Of course, with the focus on crime, violence and mayhem, the game isn't for all sensibilities, but there's no denying its genius as a game, whether the content is to your tastes or not. It happens to be to my tastes, so I love it even more.

All of the above is so brilliant that I have to wonder why after Grand Theft Auto 3, not every game is developed with a free roaming world and all of those other features. After playing this, I find playing many other games annoyingly restrictive or narrow--even some of Rockstar's own games, like Manhunt, and to a lesser extent, The Warriors.

The fear is probably that others do not want to be said to be copying Grand Theft Auto, but when Grand Theft Auto 3 and subsequent GTA titles are such a revolutionary concept in gaming, this is a case where other developers, and Rockstar for its other games, should just bite the bullet and proceed along the lines of the revolution. It's as significant as the transition from text-based games, like the old Infocom titles, to graphics-based games, once computers gained enough power and memory to handle it.

And as excellent as Grand Theft Auto 3 is, there are many areas that could be improved upon, especially as power and memory increase more in computers and gaming consoles. The worlds could be even bigger and more complex, with more complex player character actions and options, and more missions, side missions, side actions, side objects to interact with and so on (a direction Rockstar itself has headed in with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas). More importantly, the artificial intelligence can become much more complex and varied. As systems allow, the standard for new games should resemble a combination of Grand Theft Auto-styled worlds and sim games, where small decisions and actions have branching, complicated effects, including leading to different missions and outcomes.

Different kinds of content needs to be explored a lot more in these future games. As I said, I love the content of Grand Theft Auto and similar crime/violence games, but there's a lot else I'd love, too. Content is only limited by our imaginations, and we need to exercise and challenge our imaginations as much as possible. Just for one example, I'd love a game where the entire world is literally mapped just as it is and where I can have all the transportation options really available to me (but where there are methods to shorten travel times if I desire, but also the option to keep them the same as they'd be in real time), and where the main, original goal is to go on a variety of archaeological digs in an attempt to prove that humans arrived on the planet as aliens from other worlds. During the course of the game, I could interact with all kinds of things in all kinds of locations--like people, stores, minigames that involve skiing, and white water rafting and on and on, and some things that I do, some decisions that I make, might end up completely changing the goal of the game and the missions that I can follow.

The above idea would take an incredible amount of computing power, an incredible amount of research and resources and programming hours and money, of course, but these are the kinds of goals we should be shooting for down the road, developing more complex free-roaming games on our way to get there. Programming via "modules" that can be re-used is one excellent idea that the gaming industry has started to utilize. The kinds of games I'd like to see will only be feasible with that approach, where future developers can incorporate and expand on previous developers' work.

The Grand Theft Auto games should just be the beginning of this direction, not considered the ultimate expression of the direction that therefore we shouldn't copy and instead go back to games where you must play mission to mission by the numbers with players' characters in small, confined spaces with only a limited set of actions and interactions possible. That would be an almost incomprehensible regression, maybe only explained by laziness and/or cheapness.

In any event, play this game if you haven't already!

You kind of have to love it because... this was sort of the game that really kicked GTA into high gear wasn't it? The others were kind of footnotes until III came along and had a better story, a better feel, better almost everything.

And a part of me misses being able to get the National Guard on me, then drive into a chop shop, get my car spray painted, and almost lose them for a moment, only to back into one of them on accident and have to drive back in for another spray.

But, like all the others, it was Vice City that reigned supreme. It was Vice City that would become legend.

And, III game with the draw back of shotguns and instant death when driving through neighborhoods you wronged to the point where it slowly cut down your roaming capabilities.