It’s really no surprise that open world games have pretty much taken over the game market today. From Red Dead Redemption to Just Cause, to even Batman Arkham City and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V, most devs try to create a strong and vivid open world for you to treat as your playground. But what game do we have to thank for influencing so many great games with a large world to play in? Well, it all pretty much started here; Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Playstation 2. Not often do we come across a game so revolutionary to the point of pretty much defining a whole genre, but GTA 3 was a spectacular gaming experience that still holds up well to this day. Without further ado, let’s take a trip back to Liberty City.
The story itself is kind of weak but they somehow made it work anyway. Basically, there’s this one gang selling a powerful drug called SPANK, and every other gang hates them for this drug that can force you to do what they want. You play as an unnamed mute character who works for this gang but during a robbery, you are shot and betrayed by your own girlfriend (who also happens to be the leader of this gang). Now, you want to take revenge on this gang and put a stop to their SPANK in the meantime, but you’ll need some help. Of course, you can’t get help without earning respect from another gang, which means you’re stuck working for various gangs for a little while. That’s the basic gist of it anyway. For a game about an immoral character working for gangs and getting involved with crime and drug dealing, it was good enough, even if later games did outdo it in story structure.
For 2001, there were very few games that looked as good as GTA3. For a game this huge, that was quite the achievement back then. The visuals are very detailed from the city streets, to the weather, to the clothes and especially the facial expressions on each character looked downright amazing. The only problem is the visuals in some areas were a little glitchy, like at times when you fall through the ground and tumble into an endless void of nothing. Other specific objects and buildings will disappear when you look at them the wrong way, but this is a rare occasion. These little hiccups don’t stop the graphics for looking decent enough, though. Well, today it’s obviously been outdone more ways than one, but still. The only thing more impressive is the sound. Once again, today, it’s probably been done better, but the sound when you walk around the city outside really makes you feel like you’re in the middle of a big city; the sound of cars constantly driving by and people walking down the street and talking. Really adds to the atmosphere of the whole setting.
Basically, this game puts you into a large city and just lets you roam free. Being able to steal any car you want and cause all sorts of havoc, the city is your playground. When walking or running around as a pedestrian, you are more vulnerable but you have more control over your movement and what weapons you use. You have the typical weapons like the pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, Molotov cocktails, grenades and, of course, your own fists. Everyone you see can be shot, blown up, or punched (and doing so will earn you money, which you need to buy weapons, ammo and armor) but not without being chased down by the cops afterwards. Not to mention a limit on health and armor. Have fun.
Of course the main attraction of this game isn’t the shooting or the running around (although that is a part of it). No, as the title suggests, you can go ahead and steal any car that you come across. Just simply run up to a vehicle and kick the driver out. Now, the car is yours. The driving controls work wonders and each vehicles controls differently and comes with their unique speed, acceleration, handling, and brakes. The variety of vehicles available to you is just staggering…at least for the time, with many sport cars, emergency vehicles, trucks and even tanks can be at your disposal. The only problem is the vehicles have their own life bar too. When a car, truck or whatever takes too much damage from gunfire or anything else, it will explode within the next few seconds, giving you just enough time to get out and run for it. Driving is what makes this game truly shine, and each vehicle is fun to drive in their own right.
As mentioned earlier, stealing cars, shooting pedestrians or just causing havoc comes at a price. Doing any crime will more than likely raise your wanted level. Each level gets increasingly difficult and a higher force will come after you. For instance, at one star, the cops go a little easy on you and you can even get away. However, as you progress, eventually they will get more aggressive, then they’ll send choppers, the SWAT team, FBI and at 6 stars, the national guard. There are two ways to go from here; die or get caught. If you die (under any circumstance, not just when the police are after you), you will start at a hospital, lose a few bucks, and lose all your weapons. If you get busted, you start at the police station and basically the same thing happens (although I don’t think you lose money). This really helps make the game interesting and at those times when you decide to screw around, starting chaos and trying to run from the police. Speaking of which, the police AI is great, they really become a threat the more crime you commit and they resort to heavier tactics to take you down like roadblocks. Unfortunately, it is annoying that there is no way to lose them when past one star, except of course to drive your car to a Pay N’ Spray, changing the color of your car and alluding the cops no matter how many stars you have.
Running around and causing chaos isn’t all you get to do in this game. Of course there are a large amount of missions to complete. The missions are mostly pretty standard and straight forward: escort missions, following missions, assassinate rival gang members, avoid cops while taking a crooked ex cop to the air port and so on. There is a variety of objectives here and they are rarely repeated, making the main missions of this game interesting at least. Simple? Yes. Fun? You betcha’, and earning a large sum of money in the meantime is rewarding too. The only problem is failing a mission, which can be a real hassle. There are no checkpoints in this game so when you fail, not only do you have to do the entire mission again, but you have to go all the way back to the person who gave you the mission, which can get frustrating. That, and while the missions are fun, you’ll be wishing you were back out on the streets causing chaos on your own time.
Grand Theft Auto 3 is a fantastic game, even to this day, and it will forever be one of the most revolutionary games of all time. The game just gave you so much freedom for its time and it hasn’t aged a bit. There’s just something enjoyable about sitting down and causing havoc throughout a large city that allows you to go anywhere with little restrictions. So much enjoyment that it has become one of the best selling game series of all time, and it’s all thanks to 3. Even though there have been other GTA games in the series, many even offering more variety, GTA3 still holds up today and is worth checking out. Who says crime doesn’t pay?