Revenge is a dish best served in 3D.
QUEST LOG #16: GRAND THEFT AUTO III
There are spoilers ahead.
Returning to GTA III after being utterly spoiled by the more modern and feature rich titles is strange to say the least, but more so than any other game in the series, GTA III has a truly special place in my heart. It’s best to think of it as a different type of game compared to 4 and 5, for obvious reasons, and let’s be honest, they are completely different. The first three 3D instalments of the GTA series have something about them, like listening to a vinyl record - they have more heart and warmth than the newer versions. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge fan of 4 and 5, but GTA III (as well as Vice City, and San Andreas) hit me at the exact right time. From the moment the Rockstar Games logo appears and the first few bars of Craig Conner and Stuart Ross’s intro theme (which is, at least in my opinion one of the most iconic ever conceived), I was hooked. Add to that the thrilling bank robbery, the attack on the police convoy, and the first few moments as you drive into the city, you are immersed in the world of GTA, and despite its rather basic design by today’s standards, it truly feels alive - a place worth exploring. Nothing will quite recapture the magic of experiencing a fully 3D GTA world anew but replaying it after a good few years still serves up a tangible excitement, both for a new adventure beginning and the prospect of rediscovery.
In 2001, GTA was the only game anyone seemed to be talking about, and the wait to get it was gruelling. I’ve spoken about this in a previous post, but I’ll just regale you again with the story… I didn’t have to endure years of patience, although it felt like it, I just had to bide my time until the next game purchasing window came by. I couldn’t get it immediately upon release, and the few months of waiting were filled with expectation and excitement. These were fuelled ferociously from the conversations shared with friends, the titbits of information that were gleamed from magazines and websites in the leadup to release, and the countless rumours that emerged from forums and the playground alike. Those months weren’t too bad though as revelling in the discourse was almost as fun as actually playing the games. Other distractions were abound too, and I made it though, eventually. The day I finally got it however, distractions were few and an early lesson in ambivalence was delivered. I was out with my family for the duration, we visited the shops early on, and it was almost torturous to be finally holding the game in my hand – more so for not being anywhere near a PS2. My aunt worked in a patisserie in town and towards the latter half of the day we settled there for a few hours, my parents enjoying the relaxed conversation and the 100% family discount on coffee and cake. I wasn’t yet into caffeine, but cake was interesting enough. This kept me amused for a while, but as my cake became smaller with each mouthful, my eyes began to flit to the bag within which the game box sat. Once the cake was eaten, I couldn’t help but pick the game out and turn it over in my hands. I was rather small for my age, and had my hair cut short. I have no doubt in my mind that I looked like Gollum, freshly killed fish in hand… The fish in this instance was GTA III, and I was in bliss. My eyes drank up the detail on the box, and after that, I peeled the cellophane off and clicked open the case. I can almost smell the freshly printed pages of the manual and the new plastic case… I was desperate to get home, but the bounty within the box wasn’t restricted to the disc. There inside was the map and the Welcome to Liberty City booklet, and what a treasure it was.
Looking over the manual and included map created an agonising excitement. The map opened my eyes to the vastness of the city – split across the three unique islands. This would have been enough to keep me occupied for hours on end, but the manual - it was unlike any other I had seen for a game. It had been designed within the context of a tourist information pack, and it gave me a palpable taste of what was to come. Along with the usual basic information about the mechanics and the controls, the subsequent pages detailed the systems of the game delivered in the form of adverts in a newspaper. Recruitment opportunities, places to stay, local amenities. These were all detailed therein, along with information on local figureheads and gangs. Mixed in with all this were ads for in-world companies and services. The latter pages gave an insight into what would be on offer on the almost dozen radio stations and the modes of transport accessible to the player. After reading all this, I was more than ready to play. Eventually we got home, and as soon as I could, I made for my room. The disc tray couldn’t open fast enough, and as the opening music began, I knew something was happening. What it was at the time, I wasn’t sure, but it turns out that I was about to have my gaming sensibilities changed forever. So much has been said and written about GTA III and all the rest, and I doubt I have anything new to add to the conversation, but if you can take away something from this it’s my recommendation to replay the game with an open mind to a more rudimentary and stripped back experience in terms of controls and mechanics. Soak up the atmosphere and indulge in your criminal tendencies while enjoying an engaging and cinematic story. I played through it this time on my Steam Deck and I must say that on a smaller screen, the game really feels refreshed. Having said that, I also played it on the TV a good bit too and it looks just as good blown up.
So after the intro cinematic detailing Catalina’s betrayal at the bank, and our subsequent escape from custody following the explosion on the bridge, we’re left with our new mate 8Ball, and as his hands are fucked up, it’s down to us to drive to safety. Luckily, he has a hideout we can make use of nearby, so after a quick drive there, we change out of our prisoner garb and put on what Claude will be wearing for the rest of his life. Once we’re refreshed, 8Ball has us head to a local strip club to meet with Luigi Goterelli. This is our first step back on the ladder of criminal success. Luigi is a bit of a twat but pays pretty well for a myriad of rather simple tasks. We have to taxi his girl Misty about, kill a drug dealer, drive Misty about (again) and kill some pimps. A good introduction to Liberty City then. After killing the aforementioned pimps, we speak with Luigi once more to find that the Policeman’s ball happening soon and that he thinks it would be a great opportunity for his army of prostitutes to make a god bit of cash. We’ve got to ferry them to the venue as quick as we can, and we get a nice bonus if we’re speedy. First time I attempted this I flipped my car and almost killed one of Luigi’s girls. Try again… I went with picking up the girls farthest away and worked my way back, which ended in a nice little bonus with a good few seconds to spare.
In our second go at taxiing Misty about, we take her to a local mechanic, Joey, who is part of the Mafia just like Luigi. After having a good shag with Misty, he gives us a bunch of work too, and it’s here that we get to see what 8Ball is all about. We steal a car from a local restaurant and arm it with a bomb from 8Ball’s workshop and return it to where we found it, watching as the victim blows himself up after having a delicious meal. After that we’re asked to kill someone else, steal an armoured security van, drive another family member home, crush a car with a dead body in it, and act as the getaway driver for a Mafia bank robbery. During our interaction with Joey, we’re introduced to a Capo of the family, Toni Cipriani. His missions are relatively few in number but lead us to a meeting with the Don. This only happens after we’ve done some dirty work for Toni, this being the destruction of Triad laundry vans, the killing of some gang members, and the recovery of a briefcase. After this, we pick up Toni, Luigi, and Joey and head off to Don Salvatore Leone’s mansion. He then has us drive his wife Maria to a party in an industrial estate on the coast. The police try to bust the place while she’s there and it’s down to us to get her home safely. After that we get on with a bit more work for Toni, and that is more Triad killing. We off three of their warlords, and then infiltrate the Triad Fish Factory in one of their trucks fitted with a bomb. We blow the place sky high then, and we’re pretty much done, just the Don’s missions left.
After driving up to his mansion and climbing the steps to enter his lounge, I had forgotten what was looming, but as the Don started banging on about a ship, I knew I was in for trouble. After giving 8Ball a small fortune, the pair of us drive to the docks. 8Ball with a bomb and Claude with a sniper rifle – what could possibly go wrong? I recalled this mission being a pain in the arse when I was young, and I was bracing myself for miserable time. It proved only to be mildly annoying this time around. My main gripe with the game is the distinct lack of checkpoints (there being none). If there is one element of the future games that I would introduce here, it would be just a few odd checkpoints sprinkled throughout. The challenge is fine, but having to repeat certain sections over and over, like driving to a particular place, well, it can wear a little thin. This, I predict will prove to be an ongoing issue, but for now, we’ll muddle through. After getting 8Ball killed multiple times, I channelled my inner Agent 47 to coolly and efficiently assassinate every Cartel gang member on board, making sure to risk it all by gleefully shooting the explosive barrels as well (you know, just to be thorough). I couldn’t quite believe that I managed it within just three attempts… perhaps like the race mission in Mafia, my memory painted it in a worse light, or maybe, and let’s be honest, more likely, I was just shit at videogames when I was twelve. Regardless, I was happy to move swiftly on, and to get my money back as a reward.
After getting rid of the Cartel cargo ship, I moseyed on back to see the Don, and he gave me a mission to pick up a car covered in blood. I was to have it scrapped before the police found it. Just as I came to where the car was parked, I received a page from Maria warning me that the car was booby-trapped, and that I should meet her instead. It seems I came to the double cross mission far quicker than I had anticipated. I knew the moment the pager started to beep that I was about to board the boat… I think it’s important to take a moment to appreciate the work of art that is the pager sound. I had this as my text tone for a very long time, as I’m sure many people did. It was eventually replaced later by one of the sounds of the Game Boy Horror from Luigi’s Mansion and that was then superseded by nothing, as my phone now remains permanently silenced. Was fun while it lasted though… This simplified version is taken from the theme of the original Grand Theft Auto (Joyride by Da Shootaz). The original track is as iconic as any GTA theme, but the simplicity of the pager ringtone is just sublime, and would no doubt evoke the letters G T A from any gamer upon hearing it. The tune is used many times over in the series, but my favourite after the GTA III version is the reinterpretation that plays just after the keyboard tapping and the snippet of Video Killed the Radio Star as Vice City loads. On the topic of sound, the radio in GTA III must be applauded too. Even to this day, an in-game radio is something of a treat, and one that more often than not underdelivers. Throughout the series, the radio stations of GTA have been an enduring highlight. From the impeccable selection of music, to the expertly written and funny dialogue, it serves as both a piece of entertainment and functions as one of the best pieces of world building I’ve ever seen in a game. Nothing adds depth to the game more than this, and if you find yourself driving with the radio switched off, the world feels far less immersive. Along with chopping a desk into two half-desks, which was always a highlight of mine from Chatterbox, there are some truly classic tunes featured here. Push it to the Limit – GTA did.
I pushed the limits too, those imposed by the municipality of Liberty City. When I first got the game, I tried everything I could to circumnavigate the barriers put across the bridge in an attempt to cross over onto the second and third islands. Putting on the flying cars cheat, spawning a tank, spinning the turret around to act as a booster, and blasting my way across the broken bridge was my only successful method. This time I had no such compulsion to go against the game. I was happy to milk Portland for all it was worth. However, as I reached the pier and met with Maria and her friend Asuka, that a childlike excitement returned to me as the second third of the game was about to be unlocked. There were choppy waters that night, but as Maria and Asuka chatted away, I navigated the channel between the islands, taking in the looming skyline that greeted me as I edged the boat closer towards the docks. After mooring up and climbing the stairs, we had a brief exchange with Asuka before being left to our own devices. A whole new environment to explore, and, as luck would have it (actually I think it’s always there, but let’s just pretend we’re lucky), a shiny new Yakuza Stinger just sat in the carpark waiting to be stolen. Auto theft is our speciality after all…
The first island is the most visited of course, I’ve started the game fresh many times over the years, but I’ve only ever completed it once (well, twice now), so Staunton Island, while still familiar to me, is certainly less trod than the first, and as I drove about a bit before heading to my new hideout, I was constantly oh yeah-ing to myself as the vague old memories resurfaced. Once I stashed the Stinger in my garage (always good to have a decent car ready in case of an emergency), I jacked a taxi and drove back to Asuka’s condo. There she brought up her trust issues, and although she wants us to develop a good business relationship, she won’t trust us until we kill Salvatore. Music to my ears. In any GTA, one of my main sources of entertainment is enacting a vendetta against random NPC’s who’ve accidentally run me over, or crashed into my car. Occasionally they speed off and an impromptu chase begins. So if fun can be had from such small acts, you can bet I’ll enjoy killing the Don and his associates for their betrayal. Betrayal is at the heart of the game of course, as it starts with Catalina’s. We’ll see to her later, for now though, it’s the Mafia in our sights, and we drive back to Portland using the newly repaired bridge. We weave through the streets towards Luigi’s bar and upon arriving we see the Don and his entourage leaving. A good bit of drive-by shooting gets the job done pretty quick, and before we know it we’re heading back towards Staunton Island, leaving behind the very angry remnants of the Mafia. Job done.
After dealing with Salvatore, Asuka has us doing a few other odd jobs. Killing a bunch of spies around Staunton Island, stealing a police patrol boat to sink a reporter, and killing an undercover cop. During one visit to her condo, Asuka introduces us to her brother Kenji and has us meet with a crooked police officer called Ray. Asuka doesn’t need us much after that point, and we’re either meeting Ray in the grubby park toilets or Kenji at his upper-class casino. Quite the extremes then, but both offer up plenty of violence and cash, so we’ve no grounds for complaint. Kenji has us busy from the off, blowing a hole in a police station and liberating a high ranking Yakuza member. After that we’re stealing sports cars, ambushing deals between the Cartel and the Yardies, collecting protection money, killing Diablos, and ending it all with a killing spree focused on Yardie drug dealers. Ray on the other hand… well, it’s not much different. To start we’re killing his former partner, defending his friend from a Cartel raid, recovering evidence, and ending the life of his current partner before attempting to kill his former partner again, who somehow survived the first attempt. We leave Ray for a bit then as we work for Donald Love, but as a final farewell, we have to drive Ray to the airport. If we get him there safely he rewards us with a bulletproof Patriot and a bunch of weapons. I drove the Patriot directly to my safehouse after that mission, of course, and it will remain there forever more, as is the one from my original playthrough, sitting safely on the memory card until the next solar flare or EMP wipe it from existence.
On with the Love missions then, and this billionaire has us up to all sorts of naughty behaviour. First, we recover a contact of his from a Cartel compound, killing all those there who get in our way. Fine. The next mission though has us turning on the Yakuza by murdering Kenji under the guise of the Cartel. Claude shows absolutely no sign of remorse for this, as we’ve come to expect… let’s just hope Asuka doesn’t find out. After that, we’re picking up contraband dropped at sea from a plane, defending a security van as it crosses the city, and later acting as a decoy while the police try to kill us. We unlock the third island during these missions, and our third safehouse too (along with the ability to gain 6 wanted stars… not sure if that’s a good thing or not). We head back to Love’s skyscraper after this only to find him missing. There is no follow up to this, and we just leave… This is when we have to get Ray to the airport, but after that, it’s back to Asuka. She’s discovered that Kenji has been murdered, but luckily, she’s under the impression that the Cartel were responsible. So instead of me, she’s torturing Miguel (who Catalina ran off with at the start), and she’s managed to find out that Catalina has arranged for three death squads to hunt us down in Shoreside Vale. That bitch! Anyway, we become the hunter, luring these squads to a trap that Asuka has set. As we lead each of these cars to an industrial estate, a group of well-armed Yakuza soldiers cut down the Cartel members as they emerge from their vehicles. After that, Asuka has us driving all over the three islands hunting for coffee stands that are a cover for selling SPANK (the drug that is responsible for much of the trouble in the city). This mission is a bit of a pain until you learn the locations of these stands. Once you do, they’re pretty easily dealt with just by ramming into them with your car. The last mission she has for us is to blow up a plane and recover its cargo of drugs.
My memory was that the third island got used far more in the main missions. Granted, we’ve been there quite a few times so far, but no contacts reside there, and other than a few missions, the finale, the payphone, and a remote control car mission, not much is really based there. This surprised me in this playthrough, and I found that the end of the game was looming before I was quite ready. After recovering the drugs for Asuka, we make one last visit to the construction site to find that she and Miguel are dead, Maria has been kidnapped by Catalina and the Cartel, and that we need to bring $500k to their manor house in Shoreside Vale in order to get her back. We drive straight there and after handing over our weapons, we’re escorted in under guard. We hand over the suitcase of cash and Catalina tries to have us killed… what a surprise. All hell breaks loose then as we’re unarmed and surrounded by a rather overwhelming force. Claude manages to down one of the guards the cutscene, so as we gain control, we pick up the dropped pistol and go nuts with the fire button, all the while edging towards the gate to make our escape. We just about make it out, but with less health than we’d like. At least we’re alive I suppose. Stepping out of the gate we see Catalina’s helicopter fly past. Under fire, we jack a car and chase after it – revenge will be ours… delicious revenge. Cartel members pepper the road along the dam upon which Catalina has landed, and not only are they numerous, but they’re also armed with M16 rifles and are particularly good at aiming. They can render a vehicle a burning wreck in a split second, so upmost caution is required here. Caution didn’t quite cut it the first few times, so after a good few attempts, I had to get better at escaping the mansion after the exchange in order to lose lese health. After multiple attempts, we finally down the helicopter and kill Catalina for good, rescuing Maria in the process. Her whining angers Claude in the end cinematic however, and as she complains about her hair and nails being ruined, we hear a single gunshot. Add her murder to Claude’s mile long rap sheet…
So there we have it, Claude’s business is concluded, but there is more to the game than just the main missions. I remember rather obsessively traipsing around the three islands in my quest to locate all 100 hidden packages during my original playthrough. Having a wide assortment of weapons spinning about in my hideout was more than a good enough carrot to get me an honorary degree in urban exploration – were such a thing to exist… actually, after looking it up, it apparently does. Anyway, it certainly got me seeing every inch of the city back then. I was far more interested in the story this time around, and I’m not as starved for games as I was by then (more like drowning in them these days), and my desire to repeat the exercise was somewhat diminished. I think as collectables go, it’s a great implementation, and comes with a tangible set of rewards… but once is enough. It turns out that I managed to find quite a few of them during the course of my criminal activities, but the majority will remain hidden forever, and I just funnelled my cash into the Ammunation stores and that army bloke Ray introduced us to instead. I think during my original playthrough I thought that perhaps my money might be used elsewhere, but other than arming and armouring myself occasionally and the payment required in the Bomb Da Base and The Exchange missions, cash isn’t really of much use… at least in knowing this, it means that I don’t have to make sure I get a refund from the prostitutes that kindly offer their services to me.
Much like the hidden packages, the array of side missions in GTA III are a well of additional gameplay hours. The taxi missions for example pretty much crowbar in the entirety of Crazy Taxi into the game, and the Vigilante, Fire Fighter, and Ambulance missions all fill a similar niche. These distractions are overall very fun but can be incredibly frustrating too. This is mostly due to the rather primitive driving, the often floaty and unpredictable physics, and the very fragile vehicles. More often than not your fun will be ended in a sudden burst of flames, or the game will weird out as you take a corner at speed, leaving you upturned in a verge. These missions provide excellent rewards such as infinite run, police bribes, new weapons, and vehicles. None of these are necessary to enjoy the game, but if you can master them, you’ll be getting a lot more from GTA than you otherwise would. Add to this the Import/Export missions, the remote-controlled vehicle missions, and the off-road races, well, it all adds up to a rather considerable amount of game, and back in 2001 this was almost unprecedented, and cemented GTA III as masterpiece.
Having said that, it’s still flawed in some ways - as everything is. The virtues of the title are clear to all, but what about the negatives? What’s aged poorly? Or what was always bad? Well, I’ve mentioned the lack of checkpoints or autosaving in the game, and in returning to Liberty City from Los Santos, you really do notice its absence. This is just about forgivable as the majority of missions are fairly designed and there are only a select few that will stick out as irritating, and perhaps for what is quite a short game, an autosave or checkpoint system might compress the experience further. Personally I would rather a more user friendly experience that is streamlined and compact, but the legacy of arcade difficulty was still strong back then. This issue is made a little worse by my second gripe with the game, which is the aforementioned physics engine. While some jank in this area is usually a source of great amusement within games, it can also be a source of great frustration when your car goes spiralling out of control from the slightest bump. Things like this happen rather often in GTA III, and while they are amusing for the post part, the improvements made in the later games highlight how rudimentary the game is. Driving for the most part is intuitive and responsive, but when it goes wrong, it can sour the experience. The frequency and ease in which vehicles catch alight and explode is also annoying. The gunplay also leaves much to be desired. An entire reworking of the game would be required if the method of gunplay from the PC versions was the default however. I’ve played every title on PC as well as console, and using the mouse to shoot makes it orders of magnitude easier. More challenging enemies would need to be included in the earlier titles if the lock on system was replaced, but as it stands, it creates enough of a challenge in and of itself. Targeting is a bit of a pain, and the M16, Sniper Rifle, and Rocket Launcher were often my go to, as they allow for manual aiming. The most noticeable thing for me upon revisiting the game was how short the narrative is. The story goes at an incredible pace, and the moments which are cast as pivotal betrayals or shifts in circumstance feel a little more difficult to care about in a revisit. Claude’s lack of conversation skills perhaps add to this, but in the third act especially, the story seems somewhat rushed. Now this may be because I played through the game quicker this time around, it may be a sign of the times, or perhaps as I said at the beginning, I’ve been spoiled by the sprawling narratives of the later games. The mystique of a the game has faded, I know the extent to which I can push it now, and those unknown boundaries vastly added to the enjoyment the first time I got my hands on the game - there is little mystery left… I still thoroughly enjoyed revisiting Liberty City and taking on Claude’s role, but I think one last playthrough was enough. Time to move on… probably to Vice City.
It was quite the adventure to experience this game again after so long. Which of the GTA games are your favourite? Which one do you have the fondest memories of? While GTA III might have made the biggest first impression, the later titles are just as important to me, and I have fond memories associated with them all.
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