|
|
|
Untold tales
GRAND Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III. This title was originally released on PlayStation Portable (PSP). Soon enough, Rockstar announced the release of this title on PS2. The game itself isn’t supposed to be revolutionary; nonetheless it fills in some gaps. Of course, in the realm of handheld gaming, one could call it revolutionary, but not when it comes to standard consoles.
Liberty City Stories is far more expansive than GTA III with more missions (and side missions) and vehicles including motorcycles. The game manages to impress considering the fact that it is an import of the PSP version. Of course, this is not to say that the game is perfect by any stretch of imagination but then, neither are any of the earlier GTA titles.
Story
The backdrop of Liberty City Stories is set three years prior to the events of Grand Theft Auto III in a place called (surprise, surprise!) Liberty City. Once again, the main character of the game, which gamers play with, is an Italian wise guy called Tony Cipriani (unlike Tommy Versatti who was the protagonist in GTA III and IV). Cipriani is banished from the underworld for murdering a very important man but after spending some time away from criminal activities, he returns to Liberty City to serve a local crime lord, Salvatore Leone. Since Cipriani’s absence brought about the settlement of several disputes, Leone welcomes him with open arms and puts him back to work as one of his toughest mob soldiers. Leone wants to get rid of other two crime families, Forellis and Sindaccos, and, as a result, gain absolute control over Liberty City. In order to do this, he has to get rid of the gangs, run from the police and get rid of the mayor who stands in Leone’s way.
Gameplay
The Grand Theft Auto franchise is all about the gameplay and this is exactly why the games have become so popular. Similarly, Liberty City Stories is no exception to the rule. It has all the standard GTA ingredients; for example, the stars warning that flashes on the screen from time to time. One star and you get a policeman on foot on your tail. Two, and suddenly there are police cars looking for you. Three brings out the police choppers. Four stars means the FBI is hounding you and finally five stars, which means the army is sent for you. You can escape them in two ways: first, you get to a safe house where you can stay till things cool off or you can try attacking them which will only result in your death. The number of stars start increasing if you kill people, whether or not they are enemies, and if you start destroying things for no good reason.
Like other GTA games, you can use the safe houses to rest, regain your lost health or change your clothes. In fact, you have lots of clothes to choose from, along with some rather interesting costumes. For example, there is one with a jumper and a hockey mask (like the one that Jason wears in “Friday the 13th” movies). In other words, this is the safest place you can find in the game. However, it is disappointing to note that in this game, you don’t have the option of buying safe houses or any other businesses, unlike the earlier installments of the series. There is one safe house allocated to you automatically when you reach the area in question.
The drive-bys are a lot more fun. You can shoot people without getting out of your car while maintaining the speed of your car all at the same time. This is very effective when players are short of time, especially when there is a timer on a level. This tactic has to be used in order to progress through the levels and is, thus, one of the most important elements of this game.
Characters
The only playable character is Antonio, a.k.a Toni Cipriani, an exile returning home to serve his boss. As mentioned earlier, his boss, Salvatore Leone wants to control Liberty City with the help of Toni. Then there is Donald Love, who wants to run for mayor and wants Toni’s help in doing so by getting rid of his political opponents, including the current mayor. Interestingly enough, Leone also prefers Donald. Toni’s mom, Ma Cipriani, features in the game too. Toni has to prove in his mom’s eyes that he’s still tough as nails just the way he was before. Then there is Maria, a friend of Salvatore’s, who wants Toni to do a few jobs for her. There is also the two-sided JD O’Toole who was formally with Sindaccos but switched sides when Leone wiped them out.
Other characters include the Kasen guys (called Yakuzas) who own different street gangs and most of them are your enemies. Their trademark is their fast cars. Some other gangs who make their appearance in the game include the Diablos, Liberty Cartel, Liberty Triads, Purple Nines and various others. They all have one thing in common. They don’t want others messing with their businesses and Toni is doing just that.
Location
The game comprises three islands attached by tunnels, bridges, and ferry lines. These islands are: Portland, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale. Portland is the industrial sector of the city. It includes poor neighbourhoods, docks, red-light districts, warehouses, etc. Portland is also home to several criminal organisations including the Italian Mafia, Chinese Triads, and Diablos. Staunton Island is the commercial and business centre. With skyscrapers, a huge park and a casino it is the heart of the city. Crime gangs like Yakuzas and the Yardies have their homes here. Shoreside Vale is primarily a residential area. Upon entering the island, one discovers a huge airport (Francis International Airport). Moving further along, the upper class housing is located here but several poor neighbourhoods still exist (such as Wichita Gardens).
There is also a small industrial area located north of the airport. Liberty is perhaps the most-featured city in the GTA universe. It has made an appearance in five of the games. GTA III, Advance and Liberty City Stories are entirely set in Liberty City. Vice City and San Andreas have opening credits that start in Liberty City and during each game there are constant references to it. San Andreas even has a mission that is located in Liberty City.
This is a town ruled by gang violence. There are numerous gangs based on those found in real life. The Yakuzas, Triads, mafia, and several others are all based on their real-world counterparts. While there are some allies between gangs, the bonds are weak and it usually doesn't take much to start a gang war. No single group can control the city for too long as there are just too many gangs struggling for power and the strongest usually become the target for all other groups.
Vehicles
Remaining true to its Grand Theft Auto origins, there are many vehicles to choose from in this game. These involve basic cars, some of them slow, others rather fast along with heavily armoured vehicles. A majority of the cars are those found in Vice City. Unfortunately there are no new ones. Then there are different bikes which include heavy bikes, the PCJ 600, Harley Davidsons and dirt bikes. Each one of these bikes is suitable for different missions; for instance, heavy bikes are used when speed is required, dirt bikes for reaching high places and Harley Davidsons for plain, old fun. Apart from the basic cars, you can also ride police cars, FBI cars which are both fast and armoured and Rhino tanks belonging to the army. These are simply indestructible and if something comes into contact with its body, the object will explode. However, the downside to the game is that you cannot jack any flyable object like planes and helicopters the way you could in Vice City and San Andreas. Still, you can drive speed boats.
You also get to drive remote-controlled vehicles, which is kind of strange if you are living in the ’70s or ’80s. Unfortunately, there is only one mission where you can do this.
Weapons
There aren’t many weapons to choose from in this game. You have your basic melee weapons which include swords, chainsaws and baseball bats. Swords are quick and chainsaws are heavy but more lethal than swords. Chainsaws restrict your movement. Then there are throwable objects like Molotov cocktails which can be used to barbecue your enemies and hand grenades to blast them into oblivion. There are firearms which include hand guns, magnums, shot guns, AK 47s and sub-machine guns. Heavier guns include my personal favourites — chain guns and rocket launchers — which can be used to take down helicopters and other heavily armoured vehicles. Other guns include the flame thrower which has quite a range and can burn things in a jiffy. These guns, like chainsaws restrict Toni from running at full speed.
Challenges
Apart from the main story, you get to do side missions or to look for secret items. Side missions are shown by pink coins. Some of them can be found quite easily while others are hidden for which you have to search the city from top to bottom. There are two kinds of side challenges. One is the time attack where you have to achieve the goal in a certain amount of time and then there are rampages, where you have to destroy or kill people in a given time limit. Completing these will add to your completion percentage or give you health or weapons. Also, you can race and earn easy money. But as you progress, the races become harder and more complicated.
Side challenges aside, you can look for secret items hidden in parts of the city. If enough secret items are collected, they will unlock random bonus items which include alternate clothes or costumes. However, this is time-consuming.
Music
When riding a vehicle, you have the option to listen to dozens of radio stations. Most of them are dedicated to music while others include latest Liberty City news and talk shows. Surprisingly, there is an Indian station on which you can listen to some old school Indian songs. There is also opera, rap and alternative rock, each of which comes with their own station. My favourite station is the one that has talk shows. The channel features absolutely crazy people who call in equally idiotic hosts to discuss their problems. Previous GTA games also have this station. Another funny feature is the advertisements in which people try to attract customers using silly ploys.
The stations vary from vehicle to vehicle. For example, there are fewer stations available on a bike as compared to a car.
Graphics
There is no improvement in the graphics in this game but this can be easily overlooked because the game is quite detailed on its own so one doesn’t get time to pay attention to the graphics. As for the in-game graphics, the faces of the characters are edgy, detail to emotion is limited and the lip movement is minute.
As for the environment, it is very detailed but has some limitations. However, the weather changes are fun. For instance, rain and thunderstorms add to the mood. However, unlike Vice City or San Andreas, the time of the day doesn’t change which means that throughout the game, you play during the day.
All in all, Liberty City Stories is like any other GTA game, barring a few limitations, which is not at all surprising considering that Rockstar was in a great rush to produce and release this title. Various gaming websites do not rate this game highly (7.5 out of 10 stars), but fans of this franchise should certainly consider playing it.
The writer is a freelance contributor
|
|
|
|
