- 4.5; Impressive for a handheld gameA lot of times when you buy a new system, you tend to check out the games that are sort of unanimously agreed on as a game to get. After awhile of playing my DS and Wii, I thought I'd give in and get a PSP as well and many games were suggested or looked intriguing but familiarity and a good price brought me to Liberty City Stories. While the content isn't exactly for all ages, LCS shows what exactly Sony's tiny machine can pull off and aside from a few hiccups, this is a great game to check out for recent PSP purchasers or longtime owners - provided you're old enough for this of course.
Story: Taking place in 1998, 3 years before the original Grand Theft Auto III, Tony Cipriani as just arrived to Liberty City after laying low from killing a "made man" which is a big mafia no-no. But his absence has left others taking over what he had so Tony has to rise up again in the ranks and take on various tasks to be where he used to be or maybe even further.
Graphics: Despite its smaller system, the PSP always looked like it could handle more complex games like God of War or Crisis Core and while graphically LCS doesn't impress on a aesthetic level, the fact it's even on this system with all 3 islands (Portland Island, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale), the streets and the exact map layout of each. As for how the game looks, the GTA series has never really had an attractive look and on the PSP, it's a bit more forgiveable.
Sound/Music: The GTA series has always had great voice acting and in this one, there's a few notable roles that work well while others just don't really fit and lack a certain something. Tony for example doesn't really have the drive of Tommy or the care of CJ (yes I said care), this guy just feels more "angry mode" than anything. The music comes from the radio stations when you're on a vehicle and I never did like GTA3's radio stations and often listened to the Chatterbox though in some cases on a more intense mission, I had big operatic orchestral music on like Double Clef FM.
Gameplay: III started the whole "open-ended gameplay" that many have been copying which allow you to traverse the city and do whatever you feel like. That's here as well from taxi and vigilante missions to the main stories, or just doing insane jumps and finding hidden packages, completists could have a ball with this one. The main story missions are the same as always: pick someone up and drop em off and/or shake off cops, blow up something or go on assassin sprees where you have to off someone. The problem comes in the narrative where there was always a drive to the missions but since the story wasn't that intriguing, the missions felt more like tasks to do or errands.
Controlling on the PSP did feel different since I was so used to the Dual Shock and the analog gets the job done although sometimes it was too finicky with me trying to correct myself and the lack of a good camera control doesn't help. Pushing the L shoulder and moving the analog allows a rotating camera but it always felt awkward. The other notable problem is the targeting system where it's way too easy to target civilians or others instead of the guy you want and enabling the free-aim by pressing the down button felt sluggish and it's best to just reposition. Other than that, the game still controls the same, although you can't swim (poo).
If you're old enough and were a fan of the game, it's a good idea to check out Liberty City Stories. It's not quite the best in the series or the worst but it's worth looking into it anyway.
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