Original Xbox Review: Grand Theft Auto 3.

Unlike the previous two entries in the series, it was the third game that made the entire world sit up and take notice; as for the first time in history, the series would be taking into the 3rd dimension.

Or 3d, if you will.

And thus, history was made; defined by one game that forever changed the face of open-world video games.

Contrary to popular belief, the GTA series wasn't the first open world games to allow this degree of freedom, but it was the third game that popularized it and cemented it's place as one of the best ones out in the market. Grand Theft Auto 3 was released in October 22, 2001 for the PS2, Microsoft Windows, and the original Xbox. Early in 2oo2, I had the pleasure of playing bits of it on the PS2, but that version was plagued with slowdown and bugs that it ruined the experience for me. Having just played the original Xbox version, I gotta say it's MILES better than the PS2 version, but more on that later.

In a nutshell, the story goes like this. You're a low-level thug that was betrayed by your girlfriend during a robbery, got locked up in the joint, and then during a prison transport, the bridge gets blown up, and during the chaos, you break out and with the help of an ally, you set out to build your criminal empire by working with various organized crime figures while seeking revenge on the one person that betrayed you; all in the (un) confined space of crime-infested hell-hole that is Liberty City.

The story is basically there to get you from point A to point B, so it's really not that compelling and complex, although it does allow for some funny moments;  though Rockstar Games's humor is not up to everyone's taste. I'm not sure how everybody feels about it, but for whatever it sets out to do, it does so despite not warming up to everyone's sensibilities.

So in order to ascend to the top of the criminal empire, you control your character in a believable( at the time) 3d world; populated with various NPC's that spout lots of dialog; sometimes humorous, but also at you if you punch, shoot, or bludgeon them to death with various weapons ranging from pistols, shotguns, machine guns, submachine guns, flamethrowers, sniper rifles, magnums, grenades, Molotov cocktails, and grenade launchers. At some point in the game, you come across a military base where if you complete the mission, you get some heavy-duty firepower to blow away the competition on your way to the top. And depending on who you ally with, your "friends" can either help you, turn on you, or you could turn on them yourself. It's a cutthroat world in GTA 3 and if you want to survive, you gotta make a few "sacrifices". And this also comes with irony. Your girlfriend betrays you after a successful robbery, yet you betray those you ally with. It's this sense of irony that makes this game and other series after it so engrossing and compelling; despite GTA 3's admittedly thread bones plot.

As for the controls, they are what you pretty much expect playing 3d action games. You can run, jump, shoot, punch, steal any vehicles you want, blow them up, drive around town or over people, ramps; earning you points for stunts; though strangely enough, you can't climb or swim. Why is that, I don't know; whether the game's engine wasn't advanced enough to allow such actions at the time or they didn't have time to program them in, but it's a bit odd that your character can't perform these actions. Though the game does control fine, it's other attributes haven't aged well; namely the targeting system when you combat enemies which doesn't work all that well. Even if the option of auto targeting makes things easier, you'll find yourself targeting in the other direction, rather than, you know, your intended target. I even saw footage of the player character strafing while taking out enemies! Why the option to strafe wasn't present in the PS2 and Xbox versions is beyond me, but had it been included, it would've made combat much easier.  Also, when driving vehicles; especially sports cars and trucks, the controls can get oversensitive and should you even remotely nudge the left analog stick, you'll find yourself spinning uncontrollably or rolling down the hill. This could lead to some extremely frustrating moments when your in hot pursuit or being pursued; I know because I had my fair share of screaming obscenities at the screen when even a slight clip from a vehicle during a high-speed pursuit had me spinning like Taz from Loony Toons. Despite all of that, the game controls really well, even with those minor huddles.

You can also replenish your health by going into heart icons, but the game also adds a "alternate" method by stopping by a prostitute in various parts of the game. Though it is a bit risque, it fits right in the corrupt, seedy game's atmosphere.

The graphics, for the most part, are sharp and detailed, especially the Xbox version with very little fog and draw distance, and articulated fingers!! Yes, you read that right, the PS2 and even PC versions, pale in comparison to GTA 3 on Xbox in terms of details. What you see in both PS2 and PC versions is what could best be described as "mittens" as opposed to actual fingers. There's even impressive visual effects such as weather going from sunny to cloudy, and then foggy to rainy; for instance when it rains, you can see droplets of it on your screen while in 3rd person view and when you're inside a vehicle and this is also when you go near a broken hydrant or fall into the water and also when you go under a sign on a building, the droplets disappear; really nice touch. Unlike the PS2 version which suffered from severe framerate drops, the framerate in the Xbox version runs really smoothly. I played this game from start to finish for the first time on Xbox 360 and only a few times were there random bits of slowdown; particularly when there's heavy traffic in the urban district of Portland in the game's setting; seemingly modeled on Chicago. Compared to the PS2, the Xbox version runs MUCH smoother; However, footage of the PC version shows it running even more smoother than the Xbox version and because I don't own a high-end PC (yet), and based on my time with GTA 3 on PS2, I went with the Xbox version and I was really pleased. So I thoroughly enjoyed  what the Xbox version had to offer in terms of visuals and framerate.

Here's a detailed comparison from YouTube.com on how each version differs from eachother.

One has to wonder despite being on PC, how come Rockstar Games couldn't render fingers on 3d character models despite the hardware?

There's more. On the audio side, is some very impressive voice acting talent lending their credence to the dark underbelly of Liberty City with the likes of Joe Pantoliano, Michael Rapaport, Debi Mazar, Guru, and Michael Madsen. The atmosphere and ambiance wouldn't be complete without vocal talent and GTA 3 oozes with them into bringing this urban crime drama to life. The vehicle sounds were impressive by the standards of the time, but some of the guns sound weak compared to the others that you get later in the game. Thankfully, there are various mods out there at least for the PC version that allows for more dynamic and rich gunfire sounds.

So is GTA 3 still the best game out there? I'd say yes it is. Despite some questionable control and visual issues, the game still holds up, even to this day and age of HD gaming. It may not have the deep and compelling narratives of later games in the series, but for what it did, it achieved it's goal admirably by giving the player to cut loose in wide-open sandbox world that has never been done before. Other games have tried to replicate it's formula, with mixed results, but the GTA series nailed it; almost perfectly. The first two games were good in their own right, but GTA 3 was the one that REALLY put Rockstar Games on the map.

GTA 3. A classic open-world experience that has unprecedentedly took the world by storm and will appeal to newcomers and veterans alike. Truly a classic.

Oh, and as a side bonus of reading this review, here's the Official GTA 3 Trailer!!

Enjoy!!

                                                                                       

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