Electronic Gaming Monthly: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Publisher: Rockstar

Developer: Rockstar Leeds

Release Date: October 2005

Once upon a time, a man with no name came to Liberty City. He was a very, very bad man, and he did many very, very bad things. So bad, in fact, his adventures (as chronicled in Grand Theft Auto III on the PS2 and Xbox) caused people in the real world to do bad things as well, which made all the grown-ups become mad at videogames for a while.

This story isn’t about the man with no name, however, but rather one of his bosses in GTA3, Toni Cipriani (who is also a very bad man). Three years before the man with no name arrived in Liberty City, Mr. Cipriani himself was just returning to town after being away for a long time, hiding from other bad men that he’d hurt. Now Mr. Cipriani is back, ready to show everyone why Liberty City stories weren’t meant to be told to children.

Here’s what you can expect from his adventures....

Welcome to the Jungle...Again

It’s Liberty City all right. All three major areas (Portland, Staunton Island, Shoreside Vale) are intact, which means this little PSP disc is packing in an insane amount of urban real estate. It’s impressive from a technology standpoint but may be a bit disappointing for fans who’ve seen it all before. Because Liberty City Stories takes place only three years before Grand Theft Auto 3, not much has changed since we last visited the town. You will see some new (or rather, old) businesses. For example, on the PSP you’ll see Paulie’s Revue Bar, which will later become Luigi’s Sex Club in GTA3.

Throughout the city, you’ll also find stunt opportunities for your cars, hidden packages, and rampages (during which you go hog-wild and shoot as many civvies as you can within the time limit), just like in previous GTAs.

Now Featuring

Liberty City Stories jacked several post-GTA3 improvements, such as new cars, motorcycles, and GTA: San Andreas’ trip skips (to save you time when replaying failed missions) and improved targeting system (with the ability to cycle through enemies), though you still can’t shoot as effectively as you can in, say, every other videogame on the market. Unfortunately, you won’t be building up your character’s stats as in San Andreas, and you still can’t swim, as Liberty City wasn’t designed for that. You will, however, get to dress up in different outfits. Rockstar won’t say quite yet what effect this has on gameplay.

Story Time

Although the city is a familiar concrete jungle to most of us, the adventure is all new. As you’d suspect, Toni’s return to Liberty City isn’t a quiet one, with the Sindacco family, the police, and even the mayor’s office “welcoming” him home like a parade gone horribly wrong.

We’ve seen two missions so far. In one, the don sends you to pick up some money at a warehouse, which blows up just as you get there. You must scramble around picking up all the loose change while picking off Triad gangsters. In another mission, you have to stop four waves of Sindacco thugs from blowing up a casino. It starts with two cars full of hit men, then an armored truck, and finally, a dynamite-packed van, which you have take over and drive out of harm’s way. In all, Rockstar promises “a lot” of missions that can add up to between 80 and 120 hours of gameplay.