3/5 ★ – Jack_Outside_The_Box's review of Grand Theft Auto III - The Definitive Edition.

While Grand Theft Auto is considered a gigantic franchise by today’s standards, that wasn’t always the case. The franchise started out as a top-down, arcade style experience which focused primarily on causing as much carnage as possible while driving around. While that does remain a core blueprint to the series to this day, it wasn’t until the franchise stepped into the 3-D realm that it began to draw massive attention to itself, for good or worse depending on who you ask. It’s arguable that this game was where the series redefined itself into the modern-day behemoth it has since become, and I figured with the news of GTA VI’s delay once again, I may as well start a retrospective dive through the series starting from Grand Theft Auto III. Developed by DMA Design (Known now as Rockstar North) and published by Rockstar, Grand Theft Auto III is a third-person, action-adventure game set in the open world environment of Liberty City. Development on Grand Theft Auto III started all the way back in 1999 soon after the release of Grand Theft Auto 2, with initial prototypes being built for the Dreamcast and then full development being moved to the PlayStation 2 after four months. It was noted the newer generation hardware was what inspired DMA and Rockstar to push for a fully 3-D environment for the game. Grand Theft Auto III originally released on October 23rd 2001 for the PlayStation 2 and subsequently received a plethora of ports to different consoles in the years that followed. Upon release the game received an unprecedented critical and commercial success. As of today the game totaled a 11.6-million-unit sales, making it one of the highest selling PlayStation 2 games of all time. Critically, the game aggregated an exceptional 97 score from gaming media, tying it with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 for one of the highest rated PlayStation 2 games on Metacritic. With acclaim however, controversy soon follows and no game attracted more controversy than Grand Theft Auto III. It’s massive success naturally put a major spotlight on the game leading to a number of criticisms for the game’s violent nature and apparent “corrupting” influence on children. Media outlets, school boards, lawyers and even politicians all took umbrage with the “exploitative” content which led to major calls for the game to be removed off shelves; and even sprouted a few lawsuits attributing the games influence to real world shootings and murders. Whether you put much stock in the controversy is down to personal opinion however, I think the game clearly isn’t scared of pushing the boundaries of taste with questionable results but I don’t think it’s the games responsibility to tow the line when it’s already rated for mature content, that in my opinion is a responsibility down to the player. The narrative of Grand Theft Auto III is set in the metropolitan city called Liberty City during 2001. We start the game off from a bank robbery gone wrong. Shot and left for dead by his girlfriend Catalina, small-time criminal Claude is arrested and is in the process of being transferred to state prison when his transfer van is attacked by the Columbian Cartel. After escaping with fellow inmate 8-Ball, Claude is soon introduced to a local mafia member for work and slowly works his way into the Leone crime family’s favour. It’s from here Claude will venture on a journey across the seedy and corrupt underbelly of Liberty City’s three main districts as he partakes in a number of illegal activities as he fans the flames of war between all the cities crime organizations in his goal to come out on top. There’s clearly a lot of inspiration on show within this game’s narrative. Organized crime movies and TV shows like Goodfellas and Sopranos have their DNA imprinted very succinctly within the confines of the story’s progression. I think the game does an excellent job in crafting and presenting a lot of its unique characters which help give the narrative a lot of memorability. The natural progression of the story is questionable in my opinion however, as it definitely feels like a plot of convenience as key story points seem to happen without too much lead up. I think my other gripe with the games story is Claude himself. As a mute character, we do not get much of an insight into his motivations or moral justifications. The guy just switches allegiances constantly throughout the narrative which often doesn’t get explained with any relevant context or any subsequent consequence. I know Claude has his fans within the Grand Theft Auto community, but for me he definitely comes off as the most boring of the long line of protagonists we’ve been introduced to. I think the narrative is only one small factor of the game though, where the game really makes an impression is in its gameplay I feel. As mentioned earlier, Grand Theft Auto III was the first 3-D iteration of the series and it’s clear DMA and Rockstar wanted to utilize that aspiration to the fullest of their ability. While by today’s standards, it’s clearly not that impressive a map, but if you roll back to 2001 when this game was released, there really wasn’t anything like this before. The scale and detail to Liberty City as an explorable environment is very impressive. Each of the games three distinct districts reflect the New York districts they are clearly taking inspiration from with a lot of iconic locations. It’s interesting to note that the older generation of Grant Theft Auto games made a point to lock you off from venturing to different districts until you progressed further in the story. While it does seem restrictive, I get the idea they likely wanted to give you an excuse to explore and soak up as much of the distinct islands as possible. It worked on me clearly, as despite not playing this game since my early teen years, I found myself still remembering the map layout with all of its shortcuts and secrets. It’s helpful in that case that the functionality of the game works to reward the players sense of freedom. The game gives you all the tools and options needed to formulate your own fun, which is what I would argue a lot of people remember this game for. The core memories of my time playing this game as a kid were just driving around and stealing cool cars, causing a bit of carnage in my wake. With a wide range of weapons to equip yourself with too, you can really let out your destructive side if you fancy it. It probably helps counter your destructive urges that the game has a fairly reactive Wanted system, in which police will begin to hunt you down with considerable determination depending on the wanted level your carnage has racked up. It helps in that case that the games core driving mechanics are really tight and responsive despite being so old. Dependent on the car you’ll pick up you may have to account for the weight and speed of a vehicle as you drive it around. It is worth noting that I played the Definitive Edition of this game, which was ridiculed to death back during it’s release in 2021. As of today’s date, however, the games have been patched to offer a more appropriate level of improvements. Lighting, weapon combat, textures and graphics have all had substantial touch ups in this game to help make it playable in the modern age. While I’d argue the character model improvements could only go so far due to their blocky and dated nature, it’s nice to play a version of this game which doesn’t feel as clunky as its original version did. While it’s not my favourite Grand Theft Auto game, I can still find a fair few things to appreciate about Grand Theft Auto III. My major appreciation for the game comes from how much of an impact it had on the gaming industry at the time of it’s release. It showed games were capable of reaching new boundaries and through it we received a game which did it’s very best to realize it’s 3-D, open world potential. While I don’t really rate the games lackluster narrative, I can take nothing away from the games overall design. It’s still fun to play even to this day and it was nice to revisit the title that essentially started Grand Theft Auto on its journey to become the goliath it is today.