Genre: Third Person Action
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Price: 19.99 USD
US Release Date: June 6, 2006
Equipment: 21" Panasonic TV c. 2000, slim PS2, standard DualShock 2 controller
Completion: Approximately 7 hours to get halfway through the second island.
Welcome back to Liberty City. It's just like you remember, only worse.
Antonio "Toni" Cipriani is trying to get paid, laid, and made, in that order. He starts the game as just another earner in Don Salvatore Leone's organization. Liberty City Stories takes place chronologically before GTA3, which allows for some minor changes to the landscape, and characters from the series appearing at earlier points in their lives. The city itself is contested by three factions: the Italians, the Triads, and the Diablos. Toni needs to make his mother proud by rising in the ranks and taking down the other gangs.
LCS plays just like the other GTA games, or the million and one clones thereof. The city is (almost) wide-open, anyone's car is at Toni's disposal, and there are numerous side-missions in addition to the main storyline missions. Advancing the storyline opens the other two islands, and completing the side missions gives rewards like fire-resistance, unlimited running, extra health and armor, and weapon pickups back at the safe house.
Graphically, the engine is showing its age. It's not 2001 anymore, but Grand Theft Auto is stuck there. While using a six year old engine isn't necessarily a bad thing, its been five games now (including the recent Vice City Stories). Time for a change.
Voice acting in the GTA games has always been top-notch, and LCS doesn't disappoint on that front. The sound effects are most likely reused, but that's forgivable. What's not forgivable is the poor choice in music. The rock station is terrible, the flashback/80's station isn't any better, and the talk radio station isn't funny.
The controls are familiar to anyone who's played the GTA games on the PS2, and suit the game perfectly. Nothing unusual here, just the basic shooting, running, jumping, and driving, all in third person. The targeting mode, while supposedly much improved, still doesn't work right. Why anyone would want to target an old lady across the street when there's an asshole pumping AK-47 rounds into them from two feet away is something I'll never understand.
The police force in Liberty City is much more aggressive this time around. Wanted stars accumulate much faster for lesser crimes, and squad cars become relentless at only two stars. Plus, citizens are much more resistant to surrendering their vehicles. At least half the time, the driver who has just had his vehicle stolen will come running up and take it back.
By going back to the safe house, Toni can restock his weapons if he's unlocked the necessary pickups, store a car or three in the garage, change clothes, and save the game. Safe houses are available on each of the islands.
Liberty City, as one might expect, is laid out the same way as it is in GTA3. All the car models return as well, with the new addition (to LC, not to the GTA series) of motorcycles. Crashes are just as spectacular as they have always been. Even low speed collisions result in hoods denting and doors shearing off.
Like the other GTA games, certain missions can be extremely frustrating, while other missions are cakewalks. There isn't a linear, or even exponential progression of difficulty, but more of a scatter plot.
Violence, language, and adult content abounds in LCS. It's not particularly graphic, given the engine limitations, but heads can be popped with the sniper rifle, and people can be beaten to death with an aluminum bat. Characters routinely drop f-bombs, and of course, it's still possible to pay a hooker for sex, and then murder her in order to get the money back.
There is no multiplayer, online or off.
For fans of the GTA series, LCS is more of the same. Whether that's a positive or a negative is up to the individual.
Heath Says:
LCS sucks. I don't know if it's a symptom of being originally developed for and released on the PSP (although signs point to yes), or if I'm just spoiled by next gen games like Saint's Row (or even GTA: San Andreas), but LCS is poor quality. No swimming, crap radio stations, a terrible targeting system, over aggressive cops and civilians, and a sticking point in the middle of the game adds up to not much fun. Seriously, why the hell do 50-60% of the civilians try to take their cars back from a man armed to the teeth? This is Grand Theft Auto, stealing cars is literally the name of the game. When that becomes unnecessarily difficult, I get pissed off. Needless to say, when I became stuck on the second island because the only story missions available were a shooter on rails (nearly impossible with an analog stick), or a timed assassination mission with three targets on opposite ends of the city, I was done playing. The only saving grace is that LCS is 20 bucks. Even so, I think it's 20 bucks better spent elsewhere.
Final Verdict:
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