Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories, is not a bad game, though it does not match the other games in the franchise.
Story - GTA:LCS focuses on Toni Cipriani, an exiled member of the mafia who has returned to Liberty City in 1998 after being forgiven. Despite his previous membership in the mafia, Toni has to start from scratch to build up his reputation and rank. During the game , he meets various characters who will either assist him or attempt to take him down, from Mafia lords to corrupt policemen.
The story in LCS is a bit simpler then in other GTA games, and lasts less time then the standard GTA game. Wether this was due to being on a handheld or just a lack of effort and budget, it does not matter. LCS has an interesting story, which follows the typical GTA line of a criminal rising to the top of the chain, but is still interesting, and even funny at times. The one issue is that the characters and story lack some of the atmosphere and style of earlier GTA games, something that is very important for a GTA game.
Overall, while the story is not as good as the main GTA games, it is still interesting and enough to keep you involved.
Gameplay - Gameplay in LCS is identical to previous GTA games, a sandbox style of game which lets the player steal cars, do missions, both mandatory and optional, and cause mayham. If the player becomes too trigger happy, the police will attack at various stages of severity, from police cars to the FBI. There are a variety of guns to use, and overall is enough for anyone.
While the controls are a bit annoying if you played the game on the consoles, it takes only a little bit time to adjust to the PSP control scheme.
Typical missions in LCS resemble the ones on the console GTA games, though alot of the time, the missions are simpler in nature, and abandon the more complex missions of GTA Vice City and San Andreas, and instead opt for more simple missions like in earlier GTA games. One would have to imagine this was done both due to time and budget, and due to the handheld nature of the game. Overall though, LCS managed to deliver a GTA style of gameplay, though sometimes simple and repetitve missions can ruin the game.
Graphics and Sound - Graphically, LCS looks great for an early PSP game. Rockstar has managed to re create the entire city of Liberty City from GTA 3, on a portable system. in terms of the graphics, they are a bit better then GTA3, characters animate a bit better, and textures seem a bit cleaner. The game almost reaches Vice City in terms of visuals, though not quite. There is the occasional slowdown when things get busy, with lots of cars and explosions, though it is not frequent enough to be a major problem.
As far as Sound goes, the voice acting is very good, about on par with the rest of the series, and sound effects are also lifted straight out of the console GTA games, which means the game has some good sound effects too. An important feature of any GTA game, are the radio stations which add to the experience and make you believe you are part of that city and timeline, as well as provide some comic relief. LCS does boast some funny radio station talk and some decent music too, while not being as good as the console GTA games. Overall, GTA:LCS delivers though falls slightly short, in the graphics and sound departments.
In conclusion, GTA Liberty City Stories, is a worthwhile game to get for the PSP, it is the first GTA game to manage to bring at least some of the console 3D GTA experience , over to a handheld system. Its major problem is that some of that GTA atmosphere and gameplay has been lost in the transition.Still, LCS is a good game to get. The game is also available on the PS2, though that version is identical, it fares worse due to the fact it has to compete with games such as GTA Vice city and San Andreas. As such, it really depends on which version is found for a lower price.