Grand Theft Auto III

Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto III box art Grand Theft Auto III box art
Developer(s)	Rockstar North (PS2, PC); Rockstar Vienna (Xbox)
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Engine	RenderWare
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox
Release	PS2: October 22, 2001 Windows: May 21, 2002 Xbox: April 11, 2003
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player

Grand Theft Auto III, or GTA III, is a video game developed by DMA Design, published by Rockstar Games in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2 video game console, May 2002 for Windows-based PCs, and in November 2003 for the Xbox video game console. It is the third in the Grand Theft Auto series and #1 selling game of 2001.

Setting

The game takes place in Liberty City, a fictional city on the East Coast (based on New York City). Throughout the story, the main character is never named (though he is referred to in the fan community variously as "Fido", "The Kid", or "Mr. Black". He received the name "Claude" in a brief cameo in the series' later game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; because of this name he is theorized to be "Claude Speed" from GTA2). He is double-crossed by his partner/girlfriend, Catalina, during a bank robbery and sent to jail. While he is being transferred, an attack on the police convoy sets him free.

He then takes on work as a local thug and rises in power as he works for multiple rival crime gangs. The principal activity in the game is carjacking: the player may walk up to the side of a passing car and press a single button to yank the driver out of the car, get in, and start driving. Each car has its own particular performance characteristics; for instance, a "Mafia Sentinel" car is much faster and able to corner much better than a minivan. However, attempting to car-jack a Mafia vehicle often results in pursuit by the former occupant (who is invariably armed). These risk-reward balances give the game more subtlety than the nature of the in-game actions would suggest.

The Liberty City Police Department (LCPD) is the city's police agency that the player must be wary of. Minor infractions such as carjacking or fighting will have a cop give chase, gunning down pedestrians and destroying cars will raise the character's "wanted level" and bring increasingly stronger law enforcement in the form of SWAT teams, FBI agents, and the National Guard. The only way to get rid of wanted levels is to pickup "bribes" or respray the vehicle the player is driving at the Pay'N'Spray. Unfortunately, it is often inevitable to attract police attention in order to complete certain missions. The police AI is also somewhat subpar; if the main character is attacked by pedestrians or gang members, a patrolling cop will ignore that incident; however, if the main character attacks pedestrians or gang members, the cop will give chase.

Gameplay

Walking around, PC version

The player's character has a degree of freedom in his actions that, although being heavily inspired by Rockstar North's (then DMA Design) earlier Nintendo 64 game Body Harvest, was groundbreaking in 2001 and has arguably been only surpassed by the game's sequels. He is able to go on missions (shaking down a local business for "protection money", clearing the streets of drug dealers, or assassinating leaders of rival gangs, for example) in order to advance in the ranks of his current gang. Alternately, he may choose to drive around the city, stealing cars, running over pedestrians, and avoiding (or opposing) the police. If the player acquires a taxi cab, he can pick up designated non-player characters as fares and drop them off at different parts of the city for a cash payment; carjacking an ambulance lets the player pick up injured NPCs and drive them to the hospital for a cash reward. Police and Fire Brigade missions are similarly available.

As can be expected from a video game with a linear plot, new neighborhoods and districts in Liberty City will become open to the player's exploration as missions are completed and the game's story unfolds. However, the nature of the game does demand some limits to the player's freedom: just as new areas become open, some will be permanently denied of access once the player fulfills their purpose. Similarly, the player's place within the story will affect his view in the "eyes" of non-playable characters: As the player completes missions for different gangs, rival gang members will come to recognize the character; subsequently, they will chase after him and, if armed, will shoot on sight.

Thanks to the strikingly open-ended game design, it is quite possible—and common—for players to ignore the main missions and play the side missions, or simply cruise around enjoying Liberty City's sights. The game is remarkable for its depiction of what seems to be a very large city with things happening all the time in different neighborhoods. Passing vehicles and pedestrians are not just cosmetic "flavor" for the environment, but are actually part of game play: cars can be stolen and smashed; citizens can be beaten up, robbed, run over, or shot; law enforcement and members of rival gangs can be attacked and will respond with weapons of their own. The game is also noted for the emergent behavior of its non-player characters; pedestrians sometimes get into fights, and car accidents between non-player vehicles may occur on their own, without any player interference to trigger these events.

Radio stations

Stealing a car, PC version

Main article: Grand Theft Auto III soundtrack

One of the game's subtler inclusions was a variety of radio stations (part of the official soundtrack). Much of the music was specially written for the game (as well as many songs originating from the first two GTAs), however the Xbox and PC ports allowed the player to use their own MP3s, and later games included actual, licenced music. One of the stations was a full-length talk show, and many of the callers were actually characters from the story missions, often demonstrating the same views and eccentricities that had become apparent to the player during the missions.

Each station featured various commercials at intervals. These ads often referred to their advertisers' official websites, such as Petsovernight.com. All of these sites actually existed; they were set up to tie in with the game. However, although looking very much like genuine online stores, all links to purchase or order the products actually led to Rockstargames.com. The radio ads also gave out their official phone numbers which were also (apparently) registered by Rockstar; however in this case curious gamers only found an answer phone at the other end.

The list of Grand Theft Auto III radio stations is as followed:

• Head Radio
• Double Cleff FM
• K-Jah
• Rise FM
• Lips 106
• Game Radio FM
• MSX FM
• Flashback 95.6
• Chatterbox FM

PC/Xbox ports and handheld remakes

The PC version of the game, released on May 21, 2002, has been criticized for performance problems, especially in light of the much smoother performance of the next game in the GTA series, Vice City. This was due to technical issues; the game engine rendered everything within the draw distance, even things hidden behind buildings or trees, whereas Vice City only rendered what could actually be seen. The PC version does, however, support higher resolution textures and a custom option for MP3s.

The Xbox version was initially supposed to be released in spring 2002 but it was shelved when Sony signed an agreement with Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar Games' parent company), making the GTA series a PlayStation 2 exclusive until November 2004. However, the agreement was amended in 2003 and the Grand Theft Auto Double Pack containing both GTA III and Vice City was released for PS2 and Xbox in December 2003. The Xbox version of the Double Pack has improved audio, polygon models, and reflections over the PC and PS2 versions of the game. The Double Pack was not released for PC.

Two handheld titles based on GTA III have also been released. Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004) was initially intended as a Game Boy Advance port of GTA III, but has since introduced a new storyline set in Liberty City, roughly one year before the events in GTA III. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005) was released for the PlayStation Portable, also set in the same location as GTA III, but taking place in 1998, three years before the events in GTA III.

Market performance and critical acclaim

File:Gta3-pc-taxi.jpeg

Driving a taxi, PC version

Upon its release, GTA III unexpectedly emerged as a smash hit at its initial US$49.95 price and became the #1 selling video game of 2001 in the United States. Later discounted to $19.95 as part of Sony's "Greatest Hits" program, it continued to sell well and went on to become the second best-selling video game of 2002, behind only the next game in the series, 2002's Vice City. This was a remarkable achievement in an industry where most games experience strong drops in sales despite price drops, as gamers have a strong tendency to purchase only the "next new thing". GTA III continued to sell well as part of the Xbox Double Pack, even though it was two years old when the Double Pack hit shelves in December 2003. The Double Pack's success for Xbox was due to several factors, the critical acclaim (not just for the GTA series but also for the Xbox improvements) and controversial game content, two games in one, graphical improvements, and lastly the Double Pack debuted at half the price of a regular Xbox game.

Grand Theft Auto III was the first game in the series to feature a deep storyline with high quality voice acting and navigable three-dimensional graphics. All of this is seemlessly integrated in the realistic setting of a (dysfunctional) urban environment which parodies a real-life city. Although multiplayer was discarded, it had a minimal impact as the many major improvements won legions of fans over to a series which formerly enjoyed a cult following. Also notable is that GTA III was the first in the series to be released on video game consoles before the PC, citing the growing size of the console market. As a result of these shrewd moves, the Grand Theft Auto series was now a blockbuster franchise. All subsequent games in the series have followed the GTA III formula and have been best-selling and critically-acclaimed (and controversial) as a result.

The game was touted as revolutionary by several game review websites and publications, and received such rewards as Game of the Year from GameSpot, GameSpy, and Cheat Code Central, and Best Action Game of 2001 by IGN, receiving an average of about 95% from the review websites and publications. [1], [2]

Criticism

Aside from its violence (see Controversy), there was criticism, often for the "lack of criticism" that surrounded the GTA series after the launch of Grand Theft Auto III. In other words, GTA III and especially subsequent GTA games following the GTA III formula were so sure to be critically acclaimed blockbusters that they were not seriously scrutinized (most flaws were downplayed) during early reviews. Alternatively, many reviewers were biased in favour of the GTA series. While GTA III's sequels undoubted improved on many aspects of gameplay, many technical gliches were also carried over.

One example was the "ugliness" and simplicity of GTA III characters and objects which became especially noticeable if the main character was walking around instead of driving. Such graphics are similar on the level of Half-Life and subpar to Quake III, but this was rarely criticized and GTA III routinely received higher graphics scores than other better-looking games.

There were serious recurring problems such as clipping (when characters and objects get "half-stuck" in walls and the ground), a bug which caused vehicles to disappear, relatively poor AI for NPCs; many of these issues were not fixed in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Controversy

File:Gta3-pc-police.jpeg

Police trouble, PC version

GTA III is controversial because of its violent and sexual content, and it generated moral panic upon its release. For examples of video game violence, many TV news channels often show a play session of GTA III where the main character is gunning down pedestrians and blowing up police cars. The player is rewarded with cash for various illegal and immoral actions: one allegation, frequently cited in the press, was that in the game, players had to carjack a car, pick up a prostitute, have (implied) sex with the prostitute, and then kill her and steal her money. This action, while permitted ("sex" restores the player's health, up to 125% of its normal maximum), is never actually required and like all in-game crimes incurs the wrath of the police. Non-mission crimes such as this also lower the player's criminal ranking in the statistics screen. It is possible to play without committing any actual criminal acts.

After its initial release in Australia, the game was banned—the only country to do so—and a censored version of the game was released in its place. A key reason why this course of action was taken was that Rockstar did not submit GTA III to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), the body that, among other things, rates videogames according to their content in Australia. Lacking a suitable R18+ rating (the highest rating being MA15+), the game was 'Refused Classification' and banned for sale because it was felt that the game was unsuitable for an audience older than 15, but younger than 18. Australia still does not have a R rating for videogames like it does for movies. Interestingly, whilst the sequel Vice City was censored, the next sequel San Andreas was not (despite featuring more 'mature' content), leading many to conclude that the only reason the game was banned in the first place was that the OFLC was angry at Rockstar for not submitting the game for review.

Among other things, the censored version removed the ability to pick up prostitutes; however it was later found that standard gore was still available if unlocked by entering what in other countries' versions was a "more gore" cheat code, and the uncensored version was also playable by changing the computer's time zone to that of the USA.

Various critics hypothesized that if children were to play the game, they might acquire sociopathic attitudes toward others. Several minors arrested for car theft in the United States claimed their motivation was derived from playing the game.

It was because of GTA III that the Wal-Mart chain of retail stores announced that, for games rated "M" by the ESRB, its stores would begin checking the identification of purchasers who appeared to be under 17.

On October 20, 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young people shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by GTA III) filed a USD$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive Software, retailer Wal-Mart, and PlayStation 2 manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America. Rockstar and its parent company, Take Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in U.S. District Court on 29 October 2003 that the "ideas and concepts as well as the 'purported psychological effects' on the Buckners are protected by the First Amendment's free-speech clause." The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that and is trying to get the lawsuit moved into a state court and actioned under Tennessee's consumer protection act. The lawsuit is still pending as of the end of 2004. For similar reasons, a lawsuit has erupted over GTA Vice City, the sequel of GTA III.

A number of changes were made in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. These included removing the ability to blow limbs off NPC characters and stopping the selection of certain character models when using cheat codes. Although often rumoured no aeroplane missions where altered or changed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks as there were no missions to remove. The ability to remove limbs using weapons can be re-enabled using cheat codes. An obvious change was the new colour scheme of the LCPD which is modelled after the black and white like the LAPD, while the old colour scheme of blue stripes (seen in previews and the manual map) resembles that of the NYPD [3].

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Grand Theft Auto III

Weapons

• Fist (Slot 1)
• Baseball bat (Slot 2)
• Pistol (Slot 3)
• Uzi (Slot 4)
• Shotgun (Slot 5)
• AK-47 (Slot 6)
• M-16 (Slot 7)
• Sniper rifle (Slot 8)
• Rocket launcher (Slot 9)
• Flamethrower (Slot 10)
• Molotov cocktails (Slot 11)
• Grenades (Slot 12)

External links

Offcial sites

• Rockstar Games' official GTA III website
• PetsOvernight.com a (fake) online store heard on several GTA III radio stations
• Love Media a fake site that is also advertised on GTA III radio stations run by Donald Love
• Dormatron Another fake site heard on the radio stations.
• Pogo The Monkey Another fake site as heard on a humorous radio advert.
• Liberty Tree Newspaper for Liberty City (also owned by Donald Love).

Third party resources

• Grand Theft Auto III wiki FAQ/Walkthough at the Gameinfo Wikicity
• GameFAQs walkthroughs and FAQs for the game
• Grand Theft Auto III at IMDb
• Grand Theft Auto III at MobyGames

Fan sites

• GTA3.com - Part of GTANet.com
• GTA3.net
• GTAGaming
• The GTA Place's GTA III Section
• GrandTheftAuto-3.com
• The GTA Underground
• GTA King.com
• PlanetGrandTheftAuto