GTA Liberty City Stories Review (PSP) By idioticgenius

7 / 10
04 Jan 2006 at 16:20

Review by: idioticgenius

Now I've never really been a huge fan of Liberty City, the atmosphere in GTA3 was too dull with the weather being non-stop rain or fog making the screen hard to see occasionally even with the game brightness on full. Being the first game that I have played (and now completed) this game has definitely showed me the possibilties of the PSP, despite the fact that the PSP cannot possibly have the quality of graphics as the new PS2 games rockstar* have made a game with better graphics that a lot of early PS2 games first try on the handheld.
The game itself is really enjoyable, it includes a lot of the fun stuff from the previous GTA games and combines them to make one hell of a game. Missions include terrorising the city with a armoured firetruck, shooting down a lot of helicopters and some 'other' things that I won't spoil. The game really fits in well with GTA3 and is a great prequel.
If you need convincing that the PSP is worth buying then this game does that job perfectly.

Graphics 8/10
You know, the only thing that stops it from going higher is the stunning graphics of San Andreas. Yeah ok, theres no need to tell me that PSP can't handle as much as PS2 because I know that, but it still came as a dissapointment to me that the grphics conuldn't be slightly better than they are. Graphics are definitely improved for Liberty City as a whole, an improvent over the Liberty City we saw in GTA3, mainly because the game is more brighter, not as much rain or fog as we once saw in the miserable city.

Gameplay 9/10
The game features many interesting and enjoyable missions, plenty of big explosions and quite a few of the other good stuff from GTA, the game makes up for the fact that you can't get in the helicopter by giving you plenty to blow up in the missions! Side missions haven't improved much at all, traditionally featuring some of the most boring and repetitive missions Rockstar have decided to carry on with the tradition except add loads of each. There is a considerable amount of enjoyable side missions too though including Karmageddon, Scooter Shooter, 9mm Mayhem and Avenging Angels. The taxi, paramedic, vigilante, firefighter, delivery and RC missions are all still there, showing no signs of being dropped or made non-required, whoop-de-do...
The one thing I hate Rockstar for doing is dropping flying. Flying to me is the only thing that makes me go back to play San Andreas, and was one of the main reasons Vice City appealed to me when I played it. See I love flying in GTA, I hoped since the end of San Andreas after finding the locations and mastering the flights of every helicopter and plane (news chopper and andromada included) I wanted a new plane to play with, finding out that LCS has none whatsoever that can be was a real letdown.

Storyline 6/10
Oh come on!
San Andreas featured a hugely in-depth storyline, featuring a man betrayed by his best friends plus many other stories occuring throughout. Even Vice City was about a guy taking over whilst his old boss gets mad. There is no main storyline, just the odd loss of gang turf. The only thing that comes close to a main storyline is Salvatore's arrest, but even that could be done without you. Its basically one guy working through the ranks of a city up for grabs to secure himself a place high up in the Leone gang. The side stories are rubbish, and the last level involves killing a guy who only featured in the game once!. There is also a lack of missions, not nearly as many as before and not as good either.

Replay Factor 2/10
Only about 2 missions are worth playing again, and even those arent worth too much hassle. If you manage to find a rare vehicle or boat then its still pointless, since theres nothing to do with it, and theres nothing to do once you complete them, since the side missions and hidden packages are anything but fun.

Overall 7/10
A dissapointing addition to the GTA series. I can only hope this is the last GTA set in Liberty City and that they improve the next GTA for PSP some more.

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