Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories Review

There are many popular video game series that stand out in the crowd above everyone else. Grand Theft Auto is definitely one of those. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is the newest addition to the series, but the first on the PSP. Now I know what you are thinking, its on the PSP, it has to be a port. Ok, I can't say you are wrong, because it is pretty much a port. You still do the same things, steal cars, kill hookers (the best thing of the game, oh yeah), shoot guns, do missions, etc. The story of the game is pretty much the same as all others. Tommy Vercetti is back with a brand new voice that sounds very whinney. Its gets annoying. Now when you see the title, stories you probably think it takes place before all the other games, but no. It takes place in the late 90s. You do missions and everything you do in the others. Nothing new. Now let's start off with the good. The graphics are phenominal. When you look into the PSP, you can't believe what you see. It looks more like you are looking through a small, portable window in your hands. It is really cool. You can see the facial features of Tommy very well. He looks really good in this game. There are unlockables, such as wardrobe. There is one where you can make Tommy where nothing but his underwear (perfect for some fun with the hookers, ok that was bad.) You have all your vehicles. They are all still fun to crash and hit civilians with. The missions are really good.Some rissions. Such as firetruck, police, taxi, etc. Ok, now the bad. The framerate SUCKS. It freezes up a ton which really takes away from the gameplay. But, what do you expect with graphics like these. Also, a very ironic thing is, it always freezes up right when you fly from your bike/motorcycle, which makes the crash look really cool. Either the developers meant for this to happen, or it just does. Another bad is the controls. Yes, the controlles. They are so bad!!! Its starts off with you using the nubby (analog stick) as the movement. This gets really hard because you can't get a good grip to control you nubby. This is hard because you nubby doesn't stick out to get a good grip (oh man that was wrong.) You also move you car with your nubby (wow, very wrong.) You can go to the start menu and change the controls to the D-pad, but let me explain why that is bad. When you begin with the nubby, you are like, "Hmm, this would be much easier with the D-pad." So you go to the menu and go to controls and change it to the D-pad. Ok, this is a worse idea then looking at porn in a church. When you move with the D-pad, Tommy stops every 2 seconds!! This is so frustrating. You try to switch directions, but he just stops and get hit by a car flying by you. Then, you just end up switching back and trying to get used to the nubby. Ok, next. I couldn't find any multiplayer, although it says there is. I will keep searching for that and get back to you. Next, after a few years, Tommy still hasn't taken swim classes. Everytime you hit the water he just falls in and dies. When you played San Andreas, you missed Tommy, but ironically, when you play this, you miss CJ. That is bad. Another bad thing is the loading times. Way too long. Hmm..... that is pretty much it.Even though those bad things really effect it, people are still going to buy it just because it is GTA. And I mean, it is pretty good, it makes you feel dangerous. Even women like killing hookers and stealing motorcycles. My friend's girlfriend really gets a kick out of it, and she doesn't game for anything. So this game is pretty good. The graphics are the best part though, it pretty much makes up for everything in it. I really wanted to give this game a 5, but Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories gets 4 hijacked Banshees with dead hookers on it, out of 5. Now excuse me while I steal this cheetah from this grandma, oh crap, she had a gun, run...........Wasted.