The Biasphere

Skambu (gaming profile | personal site)

Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:56 pm EDT
31 Game Reviews

GTA: Liberty City Stories was the first GTA game on the PSP. Around a year later, it was ported to the PS2. It's rare that a PSP game gets ported to the PS2, but this was an exception! Was this game worthy of a port? Let me fill you in on all you need to know!

There's not much of a story to this game. You play as Toni Cipriani (from GTA III). Tony killed some guy for Salvatore Leone a long time ago, and he's been laying low ever since. Toni then comes back into Liberty City 3 years later, ready to continue his life of crime. He comes back, finding that he's low in the Leone hierarchy, and he starts doing jobs for people straight away to earn respect. Toni eventually has to do jobs for loads of people, all over the city.

The moment I started playing this game, I noticed one thing, right from the beginning, GTA: LCS has PS2-like graphics! I seriously shouted "WOAH!". Everything in the game looks great, from the cutscenes, to the cars, even down to the characters faces. It's a completely new engine used specifically for the PSP. It looks amazing!

The controls in this game rock. I thought that they'd be awkward, since you only have 1 analog, which means that you won't have much control over the camera. Turns out you can just press L to straighten out the camera, which is nifty. All the buttons do something, and none of them feel forced. Driving's a breeze, Aiming's a breeze, all the controls in this game, are great.

Some of the missions in this game, are awesome. Most of them are really hard, so it takes a lot of practise, but it's worth it. One of my favorites, is protecting a casino from a rival gang. They eventually plant a bomb in a truck near the casino, so you have to drive it away, only to find that it's crippled and barely moves! You nearly get killed, but just get away, it's seriously really cool.

But some of the missions, seem really random. Like Missions from your Mum. She doesn't see you as her son anymore, so instead of tring to make me better, she sets hitmen on me, so I can get killed. What a great mum! It's a pretty fun mission though, took me about 20 minutes to figure out what I had to do.

It doesn't seem like there's much music in the game, and there isn't. I don't mind listening through all of LCFR 2 or 3 times, because it's really funny! (Seriously, I love the Electron Zone!) Most of the music isn't well-known either, so even if you like the genre, you most likely won't know the songs. The PSP version is actually capable of having a custom soundtrack. I haven't used it, but it sounds like a cool feature. At least then there'll be music you like on the radio, and it'll make the game that little bit funner.

My complaints with the game, are nitpicking, but I feel that they have to be said. Many small things in this game annoy me, like sometimes my garage doesn't open, some missions aren't self explanatory, the Pay 'N' Spray isn't on the main map, and there's no Metal radio station! WHAT THE HELL! Metal always gets me pumped up when I'm playing games, but in Liberty City Stories, I'm just driving along, listening to Nurse Bob. But, like I said before, this is nitpicking, and these problems don't really hinder the overall gaming experience.

BUY OR NOT TO BUY: Pick it up, it's a completely portable GTA experience! And it's dirt cheap!

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