"Good game, but lacking something."

It's been a rocky start for the PSP. Except for a few gems like Burnout Legends and Lumines, not much has been released in terms of great, must have software.
Rockstar looks to change all of that with Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

Set in Liberty City, the location of Grand Theft Auto III, LCS takes place in 1998. Three years before a nameless criminal wrecked havoc on the city. The main character this time around is Toni Cipriani, who GTA vets should recognize as the tough mobster that loves his mom from GTAIII. Toni begins the game just getting back in town. He had to lay low for a few years after killing an important person for the Leone family. As the game starts, you are back doing mission for Salvatore, the boss of the Leone's.

Anybody who's ever played a GTA(everybody) knows how this works. You are plopped in to a massive city where you can do pretty much anything you want. From killing peds, running from the cops and doing missions, the city is yours to have fun in. This brings up the first problem for me. I have already seen all there is to see in Liberty City. One of the reasons I loved the PS2 GTA's so much is the cities themselves. Half of the fun was running around this huge city you have never seen before. Finding out it's secrets, seeing new sights, looking for good places to do stunts and just have fun in a new, massive game environment you knew nothing about. Very little has changed about Liberty City. While it is still a fun place to set the game in, a little of the GTA charm has been lost.

Of course that is all a moot point though if you never played GTAIII, or at least not much of it. Then you are in for a treat exploring Liberty City for the first time.

The structure is the same as any other GTA. Do enough missions in a part of the city to unlock the next part and repeat. The missions themselves are much like the missions found in the console GTA's which is both a blessing and a curse. That means the brilliantly designed missions you will keep an extra save you can go back and play it as much as you want are back. That also means the poorly balanced, long, tedious, frustrating missions also return. One early mission has you running across town to get backup for a drug pickup. The pickup goes horribly wrong however and as soon as it starts, you are thrown right in to the middle of Gangsters, FBI, Cops, a helicopter above head and your gang. You have about three seconds to hightail it out of the line of fire. If you manage to survive that, you must somehow find a way to kill enough of the cops and gangsters to be able to steal the drug car and drive to the pay and spray. Except you are being shot at by cops, gangsters and helicopters making it so that you are more likely of getting the drug car blown up then making an escape. It's missions like these that have always been a problem with GTA and they are just as prevalent here.

Another gripe is the balancing of the missions difficulty level. The problem being that there really is none. You will go from missions that will not make really do anything except drive from one point to another and then the very next mission will give you an ulcer. I don't mind hard missions, I just want some kind of balance. Rockstar also didn't seem to realize that the PSP is a portable system. Some missions are just too long for a system that is meant to be played on the go. It's fine if you play your PSP at home, but if you are on a short bus ride and get into a long mission, be prepared to not be able to finish before having to turn it off. Sure, the PSP has the ability to resume gameplay where you turned it off at, but it breaks up momentum.

The gameplay itself is almost exactly like the console versions. The driving physics while no Gran Turismo, are pretty good. Of course it's always annoying to be on a mission where you have to get somewhere fast and have your car crash because of all the traffic but hey, that's GTA.

The aiming system can be nutty at some times. I have died more then once because multiple people were shooting at me and I pressed the aim button only to aim at some ped that was walking down the street or some guy in back that was NOT shooting at me. It gets frustrating at times, but for the most part it gets things right.

The weapon selection is just as good as it was in the other GTA's. You have your typical weapon classes like Pistols, Rifles, SMG's, etc and different guns in each class.

Vehicles are very much the same as they were in GTAIII. Each island has it's own share of vehicles. For example Portland doesn't have as fancy as vehicles as Staunton Island does due to the culture of each island. A nice touch that we have come to expect from GTA. Boats also make a return here and they are the same as ever. On disturbing aspect is the lack of planes. They are completely left out, which was very disappointing.

The story in LCS is incredibly disappointing. I've always considered the GTA games stories a lot. They always leave me wanting to get pas the next mission so I can see what event happens next. I felt no such desire in LCS. The story is dull from the moment you start out. Besides Salvatore, I never cared about any of the characters like I did in San Andreas. Sure, some of them provided a few laughs(Toni's mom putting a hit out on him? Priceless) but the cast was shallow overall. I regret to say that this is the first GTA since the PS1 days to have a weak story.

One gripe about the story is Toni Cipriani himself. When it was announced that he would be the main character in LCS, I was ecstatic. He was my favorite character
in GTAIII and I thought the great Michael Madsen brought so much to the role. Unfortunately this Toni is not voiced by Madsen and it shows. He feels almost as bland as the nameless mute you played as in GTAIII. Toni was just incredibly disappointing.

The sound in LCS is very much up to par. The PSP has great speakers and you can tell. The radio is back and it has a healthy selection of tunes. Rock is curiously left out though which was disappointing. Talk radio has always been great in GTA and this is no exception. Lazlow makes a return here and he is just as funny as ever. While the story may be lackluster, at least the voice acting is excellent as always. There aren't as many big names as San Andreas, but they do just as good as a job.

Graphics are pretty good. While characters still have cheeseburger hands, the character models are better then GTAIII and Vice City. The game is crisp and it looks great coming out of the PSP's screen. The framerate lags a bit, nothing unplayable but it is noticeable. Draw-distance is decent, you won't be able to see objects too far away but it's not like they pop up as soon as you pass them.

It may seem like I have been bashing this game a lot, but it's really not that bad. If you like GTA, you will like this game, just not as much as the console versions. Like I said in the title, it's lacking something. That something is probably the charm that a brand new city and great story that the console versions offer. If you have a PSP, pick it up, There isn't many better options. If you don't have a PSP, this isn't the game to get one for.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/28/05