Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories review

BOAY. It’s rather difficult to boo and shout yay at the same time, but Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (LCS hereafter) does fuel mixed emotions in the fragile body of a gamer. On one hand LCS is without doubt the PSP game that gives you the largest amount of things to do and see and it's all wrapped up in the delightful package that GTA is. On the other hand we’ve seen most of it before and the few very troublesome areas like the controls haven’t been fixed even though Rockstar should have sent them sleeping with the fishes years ago. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Lets first take a closer look at the crime life of Liberty City Stories.

LCS takes place in Liberty City as we meet Tony Cipriani who used to be a trusted wise guy in the Leone crime family. However, he was forced to hide after killing a made man. Now he’s back and wants kick up stuff faster than the British gutter press after a photo being leaked showing a royal frenching a horse.

Smaller, tighter, better

LCS is a nice step back to the more focused gameplay of GTA III and Vice City after the overwhelming buffet table that San Andreas was. There are no RPG elements, you don’t have to worry about gang wars and the only girlfriends you’ll interact with are the ever-present hookers. At the same time LCS adds a few of the best features introduced in Vice City and San Andreas such as motorbikes. The tight, yet interesting and varied gameplay, fits the GTA theme a lot better than the extreme open nature of San Andreas.

This means that in the end you’ll feel much more relaxed and on top of things than in Rockstar’s recent crime spree, and although most of the missions follow the usual kill this, fetch that, survive them all schemes, they fit the mobile gaming nature of the PSP quite well. You can often complete a mission within 10 minutes, which long enough to feel engaging and short enough to be manageable even though you’re on the move. In the end it’s the superb grand theft auto around-the-clock highjacking of cars and the driving around like a madman during rush hour in New York that always made the GTA games shine. There’s of course plenty to explore and hunt for – unique jumps and collectables as well as unique cars. A few new mini-games have found the way into the PSP title, too, such as car salesman, a challenge that actually requires you to use the ball of flesh between your ears, but in general LCS is tight and fun.

Video Didn’t Kill the Radio Star

Speaking of fun you should really listen a lot to the radio stations of LCS. Rockstar couldn’t cram a zillion songs onto the UMD, so it's opted to go back to the roots and balance music with lots of hilarious ads, talk shows and lunatics errr I mean hosts. Some of them are downright brilliant and if listening to an elderly German woman with an extreme fetish for sadomasochism doesn’t force you into a huge grin, the ads for Citizens United Negating Technology will definitely manage that. They don’t mention Jack Thompson by name but the accusations against the Internet ruining everything from your poor children (“9 out of 10 children who get on the Internet are preyed upon”) to your marriage sure reminds a lot of those opportunist hearse chasers. Another nice twist is the fact that there will be news broadcasts on the radio once in a while mentioning your exploits.

While I did mention that the missions weren’t really that exciting there is actually one extremely hilarious story arch. In the early part of the game Tony tries to please his mother, who’s the typical stereotype Italian 'ma' and in the process for example has to take pictures of an extreme sexual pervert just to prove that he’s not a better son than Tony. You really feel pity for him every time she chastises him and he is cut down to size. Poor guy.

Multiplayer: So close, yet so far away

With most of LCS being about what GTA always has been about it’s about time we look at the fact that LCS is the first GTA with build-in multiplayer support. Sure, skilled coders have created multiplayer mods for the PC versions in the past, but this time Rockstar has embraced the PSP’s build-in wireless capabilities and created a wealth of online options against friends or strangers who happen stand nearby with their own version of LCS waiting to be wacked by you. A good example of Rockstar's creativity is a mode that lets you control a tank whilst your opponents are using rocket launchers to take you down.

Sadly I didn’t have the opportunity to meet any other LCS owners, so I can’t tell you about how this works out in practical terms. This is often the case with newly released PSP games, but there are so many game modes and options that you will be able to enjoy multiplayer for a long time provided you have someone to play against. For now the online crime life has eluded me.

“Grand theft”: larceny of property having a value greater than some amount

As some of you may have gathered from the headline it’s time to talk about the technical side of LCS. The game is a true achievement that Rockstar can be proud of. While details may have been toned down, the sharp PSP screen still makes it look better than GTA III on the PS2. You will encounter a few slowdowns and pop-ups of landscape, but the frame-rate is decent and certainly adequate for enjoying the game. My only real concern is a tendency for ghosting/auras in some of the cut-scenes, but at least it’s not noticeable in-game not even when you drive at max speed. The size and scope of the game is impressive and proves that the PSP can match the PS2. Once you notice the sheer amount of pedestrians and cars that move around in the city, you’ll forget that you are actually not gaming on a PS2.

Sadly the controls are still as bad as ever when on foot. The camera has a life of its own and although the left trigger is supposed to align the camera, it rarely works – especially when you desperately need it during a difficult mission. Tony runs and jumps like his pants are too tight and don't even get me started about the drive-by controls, which requires more skill than landing a spacecraft on Mars (and that aint easy, just ask the folks at the European Space Agency). One would think Rockstar could do better after so many GTA games. However, the driving is fun and the line between total control and a catastrophic slide into a building is thinner than Kate Moss.

Use the PSP, Luke

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is the best reason for buying a PSP at the moment. Sure, we’ve all played and seen this before, but who’s tired of GTA, yet? Personally I love it, I love crime on the move. It’s a full GTA on an UMD, capiche? Besides the controls and a few way too difficulty missions LCS provides you with more fun and durability than three standard PSP games put together. It’s the best first-generation game for Sony’s Handheld.

However, for the next generation of GTA I hope Rockstar will think about where it wants to take the franchise. It’s still fun, and the shedding of all the excess weight found in San Andreas did the game good – more is not always better. But we’ve been here many times now. Will we keep buying return tickets?