GTA:LCS may not seem leaps and bounds of innovation over past GTAs except for its most obvious feature: it is GTA on a h
GTA:LCS is most definitely the same Liberty City introduced in GTA3. Apart from a few map tweaks and changes to represent a different part of the GTA timeline, all the roads, alleys, buildings, hills, and even a good portion of jumps are kept in LCS to vibrate some creepy nostalgia. Item placement is different in the LCS version and gave me the most disorientation as I would slip in and out of memories of playing GTA3.
The remake of LC is much more than a port to a handheld. It is a whole new chapter in the GTA universe that dives into the mafia aspect of the power struggle in LC deeper than GTA3 represented. In past GTAs missions would often stray from the main plot and broaden the universe of the game. Most missions in GTA:LCS tend to however branch directly from the core mafia theme. I found this ok that since this a revisit to LC, I'd rather much get intimate with the main character's role than the free roaming of LC. Keep in mind that the free roaming and myriad of minigames are still there in all of its original glory and thensome, and all on a handheld nonetheless.
Gameplaywise GTA:LCS is a worthy predecessor to GTA3 and GTA:VC. It however fails to follow in the leaps of gameplay that GTA:SA introduced. GTA3's and VC's load screens still pop in, there are no jumping fences, no swimming, and so on. If San Andreas never existed would we have cared as much about such issues in GTA:LCS? I've found it good to keep that in mind while playing to prevent me from forgetting how good the first two 3D GTAs were and that now I have a whole new GTA - That this is handheld! In fact I feel sympathy for any newer gamers whom have only played GTA:SA to not be able to play GTA:LCS with as much appreciation. Some control suffers a bit in GTA:LCS. Switching targets requires letting go of the analog stick. This makes LCS a little more difficult than past GTAs, but shouldn't foil a seasoned player. Targeting something like the firetruck hose is an odd mix of the dpad and analog. Everything else though feels like the original PS2 scheme.
The sound in GTA is what you would expect from any GTA game: The ambient city sound, the engine hums of cars passing by, random mumblings of pedestrians. The soundtrack harks back to GTA3's no name artists. Although this lacks the pop culture phenomenon the last two GTAs put forth with their soundtracks, GTA:LCS's soundtrack represents GTA3's soundtrack as accurately as it does the city. It is a whole new sound track, however, and this makes me wish they included some of the original songs since both soundtracks sound so much alike.
GTA:LCS may not seem leaps and bounds of innovation over past GTAs except for its most obvious feature: it is GTA on a handheld.