GTA on a handheld is an impressive achievement! But, LCS quickly gets stale if you've played other GTA games before.
1. GTA on a Handheld!!
An impressive technical achievement! When I first played the Liberty City Stories, I was completely blown away. It looks like GTA...it sounds like GTA...it plays like GTA...only this time it is on the palm of your hands!
2. Huge and Immersive Environment
Liberty City looks awesome. It's fun simply going around the city just to see their version of "Time Square", "Central Park" or "China Town". Liberty City is enormous. It consists of 3 main "islands". I would have been satisfied of having only one of them in the game. So, having 3 huge areas to roam around and cause havok in is icing on the cake!
3. Lengthy Game / Great Value
Liberty City Stories is a long game. You will be hard-pressed to find a longer PSP game. There are countless number of main and side missions to try out. This game will keep you busy and entertained for a long time. It's an absolute steal that the game is under $20! A definite must buy.
The Bad:
1. Same old GTA
The game's greatest strength may also be its greatest weakness. The fact that Liberty City Stories follows the exact same old GTA formula is actually a minus for GTA veterans/fanatics. It does not offer anything new or exciting. The gameplay and mission structure is the same (...if not a tad shorter or smaller) compared to the other GTA games in the series. I actually got bored halfway throught the game because the missions are basic rehash of something I, as a GTA fan, have already done a hundred of times before in the other games.
2. Bad Shooting Controls
This may be a PSP shortcoming rather than a problem with Liberty City Stories. But, the manual shooting controls is basically unplayable. It is virtually impossible to manually aim using the analog stick. You will have to resort to auto-locking your shots to get through the game. Say goodbye to headshots. =(