Grand Theft Auto III is the one big step in the evolution of the GTA franchise, it is one that revolutionized the formula and cemented itself so much in the gaming space that afterwards every game wanted to be like Grand Theft Auto. After a series of top-down arcade-y crime simulators with very mixed reception and a null story comes a complete overhaul of everything that was known at the time; a vast and expansive 3D environment for the time you could do all sorts of things within, a completely voiced story of considerable length inspired by 90's crime drama films with actual characters in it, actual functional weapons that you can aim down with a new layer of stategy because of the added dimension, and just being able to drive through the living parody of New York City, filled with pedestrians and actual traffic to give it life would be just enough to blow someone's mind back in 2001. (Biggest selling point could probably be the fact that you can choose to be a psycho and rack up kills and explode cars like crazy as well.)
With the 3D revolution came a way more delectable way of progressing through the game, something that was kind of prototype'd in the last few games but was never really the focal point, so far to progress in the """story""" you had to rack up points by doing little missions in order to progress and eventually move zones. In this game the way of progressing is the missions, usually point A to point B stuff, with eliminating or escorting someone in between those but the idea is that the way to advance is simpler but highly appreciated, and even if this story is very simple and has not a lot of depth it seems to have worked for them to keep using the formula in this day and age. Also, for some reason GTA2's gang system is still in there somewhat, if you advance to a point in the story where Claude does something to piss off a gang they'll actually try to harm you when you go to zones populated with these, very subdued but noticeable where the idea came from.
So, the formula change is very nice but it's only until a couple hours in where you stop appreciating it and then start focusing on the worst aspects of the game, GTA3 is the very first 3D entry in the series, and thus the sloppiest at its job of being A Functional Video Game. For starters the mission for the majority are all Rockstar peeking over Sega's shoulder when they did Crazy Taxi, there's a buncha driving involved and sometimes you need to take a character somewhere, chase down somebody or drive to someplace really fast and none of this would really be a problem if the driving feeling wasn't so bad... Cars in this game feel like they're made of paper the way they are so light and can get tipped by absolutely anything and float everywhere even with the littlest of crashes, and they break like LEGO, getting set on fire just by crashing a couple of times or getting sprayed by an enemy. This shouldn't even be an issue but when the game is so reliant in the driving at a time limit or having to keep your car in a good state then its something thats kind of rage-inducing for the most part, it can be used to your advantage but it's generally very annoying for it to happen during the longest missions. I also had major problems with driving boats for some missions that require you to do so as they're the stiffest vehicle type and don't really move how you want them to, especially when the missions themselves require a certain point of precision thats just bothersome.
Because there's a lack of movement while you aim with any heavy weapon, and there's a severe lack of cover or even a cover system in the first place then most shootouts end up in everyone spraying at Claude at once and then him dying immediately after, the game is significantly harder just because of the unfair advantage of the AI aiming capabilities, so most combat in this game is done from a safe distance and it gets stale quick. And that's pretty much everything in GTA3, it's nice and cool to see everything new having played the 2D Universe entries but ultimately its a game that doesn't do much with its resources and usually opts for doing the same things over and over again, it gets a lot of merit for being the GTA game that changed everything but going back and playing it nowadays requires a lot of tweaking and patience to get a satisfactory experience out of it, and even then it doesn't really amp up and get better as you progress either.
Grand Theft Auto III is a game that has aged like fine milk in the desert of Sahara, and it really never got any better outside of revisiting the city in Liberty City Stories, which is a shame, I remember the game being more fun.
With the 3D revolution came a way more delectable way of progressing through the game, something that was kind of prototype'd in the last few games but was never really the focal point, so far to progress in the """story""" you had to rack up points by doing little missions in order to progress and eventually move zones. In this game the way of progressing is the missions, usually point A to point B stuff, with eliminating or escorting someone in between those but the idea is that the way to advance is simpler but highly appreciated, and even if this story is very simple and has not a lot of depth it seems to have worked for them to keep using the formula in this day and age. Also, for some reason GTA2's gang system is still in there somewhat, if you advance to a point in the story where Claude does something to piss off a gang they'll actually try to harm you when you go to zones populated with these, very subdued but noticeable where the idea came from.
So, the formula change is very nice but it's only until a couple hours in where you stop appreciating it and then start focusing on the worst aspects of the game, GTA3 is the very first 3D entry in the series, and thus the sloppiest at its job of being A Functional Video Game. For starters the mission for the majority are all Rockstar peeking over Sega's shoulder when they did Crazy Taxi, there's a buncha driving involved and sometimes you need to take a character somewhere, chase down somebody or drive to someplace really fast and none of this would really be a problem if the driving feeling wasn't so bad... Cars in this game feel like they're made of paper the way they are so light and can get tipped by absolutely anything and float everywhere even with the littlest of crashes, and they break like LEGO, getting set on fire just by crashing a couple of times or getting sprayed by an enemy. This shouldn't even be an issue but when the game is so reliant in the driving at a time limit or having to keep your car in a good state then its something thats kind of rage-inducing for the most part, it can be used to your advantage but it's generally very annoying for it to happen during the longest missions. I also had major problems with driving boats for some missions that require you to do so as they're the stiffest vehicle type and don't really move how you want them to, especially when the missions themselves require a certain point of precision thats just bothersome.
Because there's a lack of movement while you aim with any heavy weapon, and there's a severe lack of cover or even a cover system in the first place then most shootouts end up in everyone spraying at Claude at once and then him dying immediately after, the game is significantly harder just because of the unfair advantage of the AI aiming capabilities, so most combat in this game is done from a safe distance and it gets stale quick. And that's pretty much everything in GTA3, it's nice and cool to see everything new having played the 2D Universe entries but ultimately its a game that doesn't do much with its resources and usually opts for doing the same things over and over again, it gets a lot of merit for being the GTA game that changed everything but going back and playing it nowadays requires a lot of tweaking and patience to get a satisfactory experience out of it, and even then it doesn't really amp up and get better as you progress either.
Grand Theft Auto III is a game that has aged like fine milk in the desert of Sahara, and it really never got any better outside of revisiting the city in Liberty City Stories, which is a shame, I remember the game being more fun.