Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories

Reviewed by Jonathan Levy
November 21, 2005

Developer: Rockstar Games Publisher: Rockstar Leeds / Rockstar North Website: Click Here Consoles Available: PSP Number of Players: 1 - 6 ESRB Rating: M for Mature

The Grand Theft Auto series returns to Liberty City to visit events before Grand Theft Auto III. This time our main character is Toni Cipriani who has returned to Liberty City after being forced into hiding. Toni was once a trusted wise guy who now has to work to restore order to Liberty City by bringing it to the Leone Crime Family's control.

The game begins with a short intro movie and then leads to some actual gameplay. The controls have changed for this portable format. It was a little difficult at first, but picking up on the controls wasn't hard especially with the help of little messages saying what keys you need to use the first time you need to use them.

Upon exploration of the menu you'll find a new option or two. In the root menu you'll find a multiplayer menu. The game offers seven true modes of multiplayer never before seen in any of the Grand Theft Auto games. There is Liberty City Survivor, Protection Racket, Get Stretch, Tanks for the Memories, The Hit List, Street Rage, and The Wedding List. Liberty City Survivor is a free-for-all or team death match. Protection Racket is basically assault. Tanks for the Memories is variation of King of the Hill, but with tanks. Get Stretch is a variation of capture the flag with limos. The Hit List is a game of survivor, die and a new player is randomly marked. Street Rage lets you race against all your friends. The Wedding List is a free-for-all collecting cars throughout the city for cash.

After even more exploration in the menus you come across an option in the audio menu for custom tracks. An intuitive guess would assume that this would allow you to just play MP3s off the memory stick duo, but unfortunately not. Rockstar released software (available on the website) to convert audio CDs to these custom tracks and would require the PSP connected to put the files in there proper place. The custom tracks replace the Liberty City radio station when active. The custom tracks will all play in a random order and won't let you pick and choose what you might be in the mood to hear.

Between all the hours of gameplay, hidden packages, and side missions, the game takes full advantage of the WiFi capability of the PSP. So once your done with the game you can still play and enjoy all the features of multiplayer.

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