A victory for the business side of video games more than the creative -- its biggest achievement was getting itself out on a popular new console starved for a GTA-style game while development of the real deal, GRAND THEFT AUTO IV, took forever. The reward for their shrewd timing was popularity well beyond what they probably would have enjoyed under any other circumstances, because as a game, it's ... fine. And kind of just barely.
Everything about the structure and the gameplay is, of course, incredibly derivative, but there are a few sparks of personality. The story is super basic but probably a hair better-written that most of its contemporaries. It has a good voice cast of interesting names. The narrative throughline of gangs as dysfunctional families is at least consistent and legible. And there are a couple amusing peeks at the chaotic identity that the series would later be known for.
But other than that stuff, there's plenty here to dislike or just be bored by. The side missions are uniformly dire -- slapped together, frustrating, and worst of all, required to some degree just to unlock story missions. I'm a big completionist guy with a lot of shameful map-full-of-icons open-world 100%s on my resume (including all of this game's sequels, incidentally), and even I, having now played through this game twice, haven't ever even entertained the idea of going for it here because of how miserable it would be.
A lot of stuff in this game feels tossed off, fumbled, or poorly thought through. Occasionally it feels like the whole thing is barely hanging together. But it is playable. If you can power through the rough spots there's an engaging enough game in here, and it even has a couple effective story beats which, surprisingly, get a lot of payoff in the later games. And that, of course, is the game's real legacy -- its sequels. The direction this series would end up charting (once again, in a brilliant strategic response to what GTA was doing at the time) ultimately justifies this, and makes one thankful for the somewhat mercenary nature of its development and release.
Everything about the structure and the gameplay is, of course, incredibly derivative, but there are a few sparks of personality. The story is super basic but probably a hair better-written that most of its contemporaries. It has a good voice cast of interesting names. The narrative throughline of gangs as dysfunctional families is at least consistent and legible. And there are a couple amusing peeks at the chaotic identity that the series would later be known for.
But other than that stuff, there's plenty here to dislike or just be bored by. The side missions are uniformly dire -- slapped together, frustrating, and worst of all, required to some degree just to unlock story missions. I'm a big completionist guy with a lot of shameful map-full-of-icons open-world 100%s on my resume (including all of this game's sequels, incidentally), and even I, having now played through this game twice, haven't ever even entertained the idea of going for it here because of how miserable it would be.
A lot of stuff in this game feels tossed off, fumbled, or poorly thought through. Occasionally it feels like the whole thing is barely hanging together. But it is playable. If you can power through the rough spots there's an engaging enough game in here, and it even has a couple effective story beats which, surprisingly, get a lot of payoff in the later games. And that, of course, is the game's real legacy -- its sequels. The direction this series would end up charting (once again, in a brilliant strategic response to what GTA was doing at the time) ultimately justifies this, and makes one thankful for the somewhat mercenary nature of its development and release.
3Jet
1 year ago
But i'm still gonna 100% play this game because i'm a masochist lmao.