Grand Theft Auto 3

Preview - Free-roaming ultra-violence from the Grandmaster's of the sub-genre.

This is a game that requires no introduction. But, as I’m here to write (also given the fact I do have a word quota to fill), I had better have a go at writing one. Ahem…

Way back in the heady days of the original Pentium processor, when 2D was still ‘okay’ and graphics cards were something that were best used in CAD; a game appeared. Well, It didn’t quite ‘appear’, it more ‘exploded’ onto the scene. The game was called Grand Theft Auto. It was a simple looking little game, viewed from a basic 2D, ‘top down’ perspective. To look at, it was nothing special, however, it’s content and gameplay cause a slight stir… Basically, you were a petty criminal working your way up the crime ladder. To get to the top you had to steal, kill, maim and do all sorts of nasty jobs, usually reserved for people called ‘Barry’ with more fingers than brain-cells. You ran riot over the city, stealing cars, killing cops and doing all these nasty things in a very graphical way (even if it was all in a cartoon style); it was all tremendous fun. However, some people saw this game as disgusting (as in those people who don’t play games) and wanted it banned. Daily Mail readers wet themselves at the thought of youngsters reanimating in-game violence, so it wasn’t long before a court case was brought about. It failed. Miserably. So, in their bid to get this game banned, they in fact made it a success, a legend, as everyone rushed out to get this game that ‘they tried to ban’. A resounding “D’oh!” from the Daily Mail readers there then…

The second game (catchily entitled Grand Theft Auto 2) passed most of us by. It was good, but the 2D graphics didn’t really cut it any more and the violence had lost its shine (there are only so many times you can run over a 2D cop). It seemed that the series had ran out of steam. But, how wrong we were…

Grand Theft Auto 3 originally came out on the PS2 and soon became the best selling PS2 title, and rightly so. So, how does the PC version look in comparison? Well, all indications are excellent and we could have another stonker on our hands, Daily Mail readers beware, the beast is back…

First things first. How does it look on the PC? Well, of course the PS2 version was no ugly duckling, so expect a slightly crisper version of the PS2 visuals. The in-game models are detailed and very fluid, shifting around at incredible speeds (especially when you get an ‘Infernus’), there is hardly any slow down, even with the hundreds of pedestrians and other NPC’s that you encounter on-screen. The weather effects are truly awesome too; it will rain, become foggy and clear to reveal brilliant sunshine, all within this living city. There are no sharp pointy bits here, my friends; it’s first-class all the way. Never has street violence been so well presented…

The in-game sounds are pretty good; too, there are plenty of screams and shouts as you go about your business, although they do repeat frequently. You can, however, never tire of hearing some of the phrases screamed at you as you car-Jack someone. All the other effects are also nice, guns sound real as do the cars (one of the best V8 engine sounds in a game ever!), you will find yourself jumping at the sound of ricochets, they are that good. As for the music, the game doesn’t really have a musical score as such. Instead you will hear radio stations when you enter vehicles. There are a wide variety of stations for you to listen to. There are Rock stations, Pop, Classical and best of all a talk station called ‘Chatterbox’, which has some very funny callers, and warrants listening to. You will find yourself stealing a car and then changing the radio to your preference. It’s quite a good little feature really.