Customer Reviews

Grand Theft Auto 3

5 star:		(173)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

I'm 42 years old and really hesitated about buying a game that looked like it was designed by punks for punks. After several fascinating hours of wholly immersive gameplay however, I am so glad I put my preconceptions aside and bought this game. Or should I say 'city simulator'? GTA 3 breaks away from the first two in the series by going with a true 3-D first and third-person design. There's many camera angles that you can choose from on the fly. Drive cars, boats, and even planes, or just walk around enjoying the fantastic sights and sounds. This ambitious and extremely well-executed simulator was originally designed for a console, but the PC version is much better, with ultra-high resolution graphics, no loading once you're in the game, and removal of barriers that were in the console version. I'm still on the first of three islands. I haven't yet discovered how to get to the other two, but discovery is part of the fun here, and my anticipation is half the fun. You can accept missions from a variety of sources, or you can simply run (and drive) freely, experiencing the little dramas unfolding around you throughout the city and even taking part in these little dramas if you choose. The possibilies are endless and it's this free-form design that is what pushes this game way beyond any other. It combines the very best elements of games like 'Carmageddon', 'Thief', and yes, even 'The Sims' of all things. Beware however, there are adult themes here without doubt. Controls are super-easy and easy to customise to your liking. The game is easy to play, and easier to lose yourself in. There's practically no learning curve. By far, easily the best game I've bought in the last year, and I buy many. Every time you steal a car, you'll find there's different radio stations to choose from, with all different kinds of music, advertisements, and talk shows going on. You can switch between them or shut them off entirely. This adds a huge amount of atmosphere to the game, and you can even customize the game by importing your own MP3s to the game files! A note to the developers: In the add-on pack, please include a couple more CDs of this great radio stuff!

However, it has to be said that a 32 meg video card is the very absolute minimum you should have to run this. I've tried it on several of my systems, and on my PII 450 with a 16 meg TNT 1 card and 256 megs system ram, it ran, but very slowly; hardly playable on that system. On my self-built 1.2 ghz. Athlon with a 32 meg GeForce 2 card and 256 megs ram, the game ran fairly well at 640 X 480 and it was indeed playable with options turned down, but it became clear to me that a video card upgrade was needed. So yes, I did purchase a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 with 128 megs video ram just to play this game. And I don't regret it. I can now run the game (and all my other new games) at 1280 X 1024 with all options maxed, and it's super smooth.

Simply put, this game is very graphically intense and there's a living city with lots of pedestrians and cars and buildings and scenery to render, all of it accessible to you with no loading times, so a great video card is crucial! Your computer's CPU is also important, but not as important as your video card. I'm thinking a PIII 600 with a 32 meg video card is minumum, and that same processor with a 64 meg video card will make a dramatic difference in your enjoyment level. I've played this game roughly 10 hours thus far, and haven't yet encountered a single bug, crash, or lock-up. This game is destined to be a classic and I'm looking forward to whatever add-on packs or sequels come along.

I won't spend time going into how the game is played, I'm sure you already know. I can say, though, that it's true in gameplay to the two previous releases and the graphics are very, very nice! I play it at 1024x768x32 on my 1gig with a GeForce2 Pro with no hesitation whatsoever. Plus it only takes about 300MB of hard drive space to install. So far, no bugs in the game either. Another plus. Finally, the load times are almost nonexistent, even the cutscenes. If only all games were put together this well... (game developers, are you reading this??)

The music is awesome. Choose from reggae, rap, opera (!), techno, jungle, and even some really bad 80's music. Another interesting addition is the talk radio station. In one conversation obviously directed at the detractors of the game, a woman calls saying her son was playing 'Pogo the Monkey' and now all he does is jump around the house looking for gold coins.

The violence is over-the-top, mostly involving stealing something or beating up or killing someone, but the tongue-in-cheek humor is evident. In one mission you plant a car bomb and sit back to watch the show. As this happens, you notice the sign at the restaurant says "eat till you explode." The physics of the different cars, while not realistic, is still evident as you switch from a Hummer to a BMW and the hoods and bumpers go flying as you smash up your vehicle.

My only complaint, and one that I've had about this series since it started, is there is no way to adjust the difficulty settings. Granted there will probably be a million cheat codes floating around the internet very soon, but I hate using them as I feel they take away from the game itself. It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to include options that would allow us to increase/decrease the mission times or make our cars able to withstand a little more or a little less damage. The missions aren't particularly difficult (they actually seem easier than the previous GTA games), but they are challenging enough that I'm sure I'll probably end up stuck on a mission at some point in the game. Usually when this happens I'll end up looking for something else rather than deal with the frustration of playing the same mission over and over again. If you don't suffer from this hangup, I'd suggest you get this game - that is, unless you want me to send Luigi over there to rearrange your face!

Hope my review helped!

Grand Theft Auto 3 (GTA3) is being released for PC after much speculation that it might not. I am in line for my copy.

As it is not on PC yet, I played the Playstation 2 (PS2) version. Not knowing anything about this game, I picked up the control expecting to play some kind of racing game. And then...

I am standing on a bridge in a prison jump suit. My buddy, who is shot, is climbing into a car before me. He tells me to drive, he "Knows a guy" who can help us.

Without pause, I climb into the car and I am driving. I can go anywhere in this city! I can stop ANYWHERE in this city and get out of my car. I can car-jack anyone's car I want. (Some are junk, some are hotrods and some are fire-trucks!)

I could choose to work my way up the ranks of the mob. Or, I could just choose to go around town and cause trouble! It was like playing a video game for the first time. All I wanted to do was explore this rich world and story-line.

And that is exactly what I plan to do when I get my PC Version. I highly recomend this GTA3 for adult gamers.

If you are a parent, be aware, this game contains very mature subject matter. Including the ability to pick-up ladies of the evening. Nothing graphic, mind you, but the car does rock back and forth as your money disappears.

Now this is one addictive game. I recommend buying a strategy guide first. This is a game of many hidden pleasures. On the pc version, you can even create your own radio station by adding MP3's to a special file included on the disk. However, you need a FAST computer to play this - I have a Pentium 4 1.5 gigs with 640 megs of ram and a 64 meg Radeon card, and it still slows down, usually when multiple cops are chasing me.

If you've ever dreamed of being a sociopath on the rampage, this is for you. You can steal cars, drive over or shoot innocent civilians, play one gang of off another and blast police helicopters from the sky. You don't even need to complete the boss missions, although they're a lot of run also. The police are relentless and aggressive and won't go away simply if you kill a lot of them. Also Liberty City itself is a wonder - an enormous New York/Chicago hybrid with recognizable, distinct neighborhoods and landmarks. For fun you can simply drive around for hours, running over civilians and avoiding cops.

For the PC version, buy a joystick. You'll need it. Also the radio stations are great - you have a choice among rap, 80s pop, rave, reggae, classical, talk and modern pop, complete with annoying DJ's and commercials. If you get tired of the stations (there are about 3 hours of music here) you can create you own station with MP3s. I've never seen a game where the player can create his own soundtrack.

Now there's no multiplayer, but that's not a huge drawback.

Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PC is a nearly direct port of the PS2 vesion. This doesnt make it any worse of a game, but of course it doesn't make it any better. People who have bought into the hype of the TV commercials and rave reviews may be initially let down. Minor hardware problems may show up even if your system meets the requirments. However, as the amazing world that is Liberty City slowly shines through the fog, even the games strongest critics will be blown away. As the nameless main character you may complete up to 73 missions within 3 gigantic sections that could be games of their own. The freedom to do whatever you want while you're not trying to survive the increasingly difficult storyline is what really makes GTA3 great. No game to date has allowed players to cause this much mayhem. The sound is perfect. Its truly a pleasure to find a game with such fantastic voice acting. The graphics may leave some wanting more. The detail is amazing but the textures are sometimes blocky. The display settings are adjustable and some tweaking may be needed based on personal preference. Overall GTA3 is truly an instant classic. The replay value is tremendous and the game is well worth its price.

For anyone who hasnt played this game, it's the best. Whether you play the missions through or just cruise around beating the crap out of strangers and stealing their nice cars, this game will hook you. I can lose 5 hours with GTA3 and not know the difference. Once you get a mental layout of the city, you can make short work of the missions. The main idea of the game is to break the law. You are an escaped ex-con liberated from an armored prison transport by the Yazuka clan, who are interested in another of your fellow inmates. What luck! From this point on you can follow the missions by doing petty jobs like driving a prostitute to her man, progressing on to becoming a hitman and whatnot, or you can just cruise Portland, the lower-class industrial gang area of Liberty City. Complete missions and you can progress to Staunton Island, the more middle-class, commercial area. Do well enough here and you're off to Shoreside Vale. The interesting thing about GTA3 is that it is very loosly based on NYC. But you can see the resemblence when you play the game: Portland=Queens, Staunton=Manhattan, Shoreside=Jersey. The thing that makes GTA3 so different that it gets its own gaming category is that you never, ever have to do anything. If you don't feel like doing a mission right now, you don't have to. Just go mug some rich people over on Shoreside. You also have 12 weapons and over 50 cars at your disposal. Each car also has several mods, and there are also gang cars (Diablo Stallions, Yazuka Stingers, Cartel Crusers) and emergency cars (firetrucks, enforcers, ambulances). The game has many surprise twists and has a viable plot along with the free-feeling liberty to beat the crap out of that annoying dude who walks down the street saying "in the navy" over and over. Theres even radio stations that continuoulsy play music for your driving pleasure. The new computer version also has much better graphics and and sound, and you can listen to your mp3's on your computer rather than always listening to the same stations.

I couldn't decide what to write first.

Thats how awesome this game is.

Out of my 10+ years of PC Gaming I've seen alot of games come and alot of games go. Out of all of them, GTA III is one of the best (if not the best) "Street Life/Hitman for Hire" games that I have ever played. (And I've played alot).

I don't know what to write first. The graphics, even by todays standards are still very good. Almost every aspect of game play has been perfected, and there is virtually no limit as to how many hours you can play this game. Considering that I never play the same game for more then a month or so, it has taken me about 5 months of on and off play to complete the story to this masterpiece. After completeing the game I viewed the "Statistics" and it said the game was only 46% done. That is because there are so many sub-missions throughout the game.

I think it would be fair to match the amount of missions in this game to the amount of tasks to complete in the game "Black & White". There are ALOT.

As far as actual gameplay goes; it is completely action packed, but not without realism. Each car in the game has their own handling characteristics. Each gun has its own pros and cons. You get a real sence how it feels to graduate from being a street thug for hire to a known and feared hitman - or "part of the family" (In the Mafia).

The nice thing about this game is that it doesn't focus on just one sect of organized crime. You'll encounter everything from the Jamaican "possie" to Columbian drug dealers, to lower level street gangs, to the well organized sydicate of China Town, even the Italian Mafia seems to be well active in Liberty City.

The sound in the game, is like everything else, supurb. With a good selection of radio stations, you'll be jamming to the beat all throughout the game! They even have a special radio station for your own MP3's!

Yeah, this game is...awesome

The Good: Supurb Sound and Visual Affects; Never ending gameplay; diverse missions.

The Bad: No Multiplay; some clipping.

The Ugly (Bottom Line): This game is one of the best. Anyone who rates this less then a five star game is wack.

Iceman

Hey,

You can play the the mission with way better graphics than the console game gives you. You get to put in your own MP3s, so you can run a muck in the city to Beethoven, Notorious BIG, or Zepplin. What more can you ask for???

Well how about some new skins for your charachter and the cars?? They are available if you know where to look. (Belive me it's not hard to find)

Now when I started playing this, I thought to myself, no way do I want to play this with a keyboard. But low and behold I never got a chance to find the right gamepad for me.(I'm difficult that way) So I ended up passing the game with the keyboard and belive me for most of the game my fingers got use to the positions and I was able to do some slick moves.

Now you want to make sure that your PC can handle this game so read the requirements. I am way above the recommended one so I am a little biased. My game play was smooth!

Anyway, my rating is "all good".

If your thinking about getting it, stop thinking and purchase it.

I have always dreamed of the GTA series going 3D. With GTA3, a whole new era of gaming has come of age. As far as I know of, this is the only game that goes from on-foot gameplay to driving without reloading a new interface. This game provides a storyline (unlike other GTA games), and the classic GTA unlimited continued gameplay. It also includes new taxi, paramedic, firetruck, and vigilante missions. These allow you to still get goals to preform long after all the main storyline missions have been completed.
Not sure if it would come out for PC, (and knowing my current PC would never run it,) I bought a PS2 largely for this game (and for the PS2's other perks, like MGS2, Final Fantasy X, etc.), and have not regretted it. Maybe the PC version could add new things, like the ability to make new cars, character skins, etc., which would be great. One thing is for sure, it is going to be worth every penny.

Grand Theft Auto III is unlike any computer game I've ever played. I can't tell you how amazing it is to get to do what you want, when you want in a game. Feel like playing just the main missions? No problem. Want to make a little extra cash between missions by putting out fires, busting other criminals or driving a cab? No problem. Want to just drive around the massive city wreaking havoc and seeing how long you can get by with it? No problem. It's games like this that show the possibility of what gamemakers can do when they think "outside the box."

There are hundreds of hours of gameplay in Grand Theft Auto III. And chances are, you'll want to go back and play various missions through again because many missions can be done in different ways.

The voice acting is superb and the overall sound is also excellent. The radio stations that every car plays are hilarious. The PC version allows you to place MP3 and/or WAV files into the game, so that you can have your own radio station to listen to as you drive around.

Graphically, the game is nothing special. It looks good, but it's not going to win any awards. It's hard to complain, however, when the game world is so large. Liberty City, where you play, is broken up into three distinct parts. The developers had to draw the line somewhere! But, I'll take amazing gameplay over amazing graphics any day.

A couple notes of caution, however. First, this isn't a game for the children in your house. There's something about drive-by shootings, hooking up with prostitutes and lobbing Molotav cocktails into city parks that isn't really appropriate for younger kids. Frankly, I'm not sure a lot of adults would like that either, HOWEVER, the game does it in an over-the-top comical way, so while it can be a bit graphic at times, it's not realistically graphic.

System requirements can be quite steep, too. The required and recommended specs won't get things running with all the bells and whistles turned up, though that may not bother you. I'm running an Athlon XP 2000+ CPU. That works wonders on loads, but my GeForce 2 MX 400 card is going to need to be upgraded to get this game running without really choppy framerates in some parts of the city at 800x600 resolution.

Bottom line....If you have the ability to run the game, you'll enjoy it if for no other reason than the incredible gameplay.