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  On this addition of Throwback Thursday I thought I would give a big hug to the people at Playstation, because sometimes it looks like they need one.

  The year: 2001. The location: a little place known as Liberty City. If you haven't guessed by now I will be talking about Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Playstation 2 today. This was the third installment from the now famous Rockstar North group. The thing that really made this game special is that it was the first 3D version of the game to come out. This was a huge move from their previous top-down camera view and allowed more freedom of movement in the harsh city environment. The combination of a third person shooter slash driving game was brilliant. The amount of blood sweat and tears put into this title by Rockstar really showed on the PS2. With great titles comes great controversy though and the GTA series is probably is the king of controversy. With it's violent game play and sexual nature Rockstar has probably gotten more death threats than Santa got Christmas letters that year.

  I will only say this once....this was one of the best video games I've ever played...

  The story starts you off robbing the Liberty City Bank with your girlfriend and another accomplice. While making your getaway your are betrayed by your girlfriend and left for dead in a side alley. After being arrested by the cops you are sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence. Fortunately for you this story is somewhat like Kayne and Lynch and you are freed in route to the jail. This is where the story really starts. After your "escape for good behavior" you start your new life as a street thug. Working for various underworld organizations, a crooked cop and some guy in the media world. The story missions start you off showing a cinematic cut scene of you and your "boss" talking about the mission to come. This game truly coins the phrase "Money, Power, Respect" because you accomplish missions to get money. The more money you get the more power you are given within the organization, and with power comes respect. Or so I am told.

  GTA3 consists of many different story missions each with their own ties to the criminal underworld. The missions vary from shaking down businesses for money, "taking care" of your local drug dealers, and "reaching out and touching" leaders of rival gangs. The story missions are accompanied by various "side" missions that are amusing as hell. For instance if you hop in an ambulance you can pick up hurt citizens and drop them off at the hospital for a sweet cash reward. Hop in a taxi and pick and drop off designated citizens for some extra spending money. Another non rewarding side excursion is picking up hookers, using their services, then beating them up and taking your money back. This was one of the most controversial points of the game to some.

  While you could run around with various weapons such as baseball bats, Molotov cocktails, hand grenades, AK47s, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and a sniper rifle that I used to blow people's heads clean off. You can even get "ghetto" on people while in your "ride" taking people out in a drive by shooting. Even though all this sounds fun, you had to always keep in mind that your "wanted level" would go up for the senseless killings you were indulging in. Kill a couple innocent people, not so bad, kill a cop and your "wanted level" went through the roof. If you kept it up the next thing you knew the FBI was after you, and after that the Army. Making a fast getaway from the Army and FBI can be pretty crazy seeing that they ram you off the road any chance they get. I can remember the countless hours I spent pissing off the authorities and then trying to see how long I could survive.

  The city is huge with strong attention paid to the littlest detail. There were plenty of places to go, and many sites to see. One of the best parts of the game in my opinion was the fact that you could "jack" countless number of cars and planes from their owners. If you saw a little old lady drive by in a nice car and you liked it, you just ripped her out of it, and took it over to your garage. Now where else but in an IMAGINARY place like Liberty City could you get away with such acts of violence?

  The soundtrack was another selling point of the game and this was the first GTA title to use non exclusive songs in their game. By this I mean songs that weren't created just for GTA, and I'm not talking about the cd soundtrack to the game either I'm talking about the fact that you could actually tune into many different radio stations while driving your freshly "jacked" vehicle.

  

  In the end I think that this game was one of the best titles ever made. Rockstar should be given a good hearty pat on the back for a job well done. This title might have caused a lot of controversy, but in the end video games don't kill people, stupid people kill people......

 
  Another little tid bit of info on this title. The police cars in the game were originally colored blue and white not black and white. Why the change before the release you ask. Well it seems in the stir of 911 Rockstar decided to change the cop car color scheme so that it wouldn't be the same as the NYPDs. This was only changed back with the release of Liberty City Stories.....SOURCE.......

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