Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Features
By Eric Bratcher
published

It's GTA. It's on PS2. It's $20. Insert "offer you can't refuse" joke here

According to publisher Rockstar, the Grand Theft Auto series has sold 44 million games on PlayStation 2 worldwide. According to Sony, there are more than 37.8 million PlayStation 2s in North America as of May 15, 2006, and roughly 4.7 million PSPs. Put these facts together and it's clear that there could be as many as 33 million PS2 owners in North America who want to play Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, but haven't because it was a PSP exclusive. No more.

Not only is Rockstar's latest crime-em-up nearly here on PS2, it's been improved. And not only that, but it's one of our favorite entries in the series. And not only that, but it's only going to cost you a mere $20. This is the part where you kiss the Godfather's hand in gratitude. Then shoot him, steal his car and send it plunging into the drink and then shake down his thugs for their drug money. This is GTA, after all, and the trademark "go anywhere, do anything" gameplay is in full force.

But wait, you say - wasn't this a PSP game originally? Isn't it a stripped-down GTA, nothing like the full-sized console versions? No, it's not. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the missions are divided into shorter, more easily digestible chunks than in previous GTA games (which many folks will actually prefer), you'd probably never guess LCS has portable origins.

You can still steal cars, taxis, ambulances, semi trucks, police cruisers, boats and motorcycles (two things you couldn't steal in the original Liberty City story, Grand Theft Auto III ). You can still do everything from punching people on the street to machine-gunning gang members to earning money as a cabbie to arresting criminals to tearing ass around town in a tank. You can wear clothes ranging from a bright yellow kung-fu suit to overalls and a bloody hockey mask. And if you follow the story missions, you can whack gangsters, shoot your way out of a kidnapping, steal an arms shipment from the yakuza and take pictures of a grown man in a diaper to give to your mom.

Eric Bratcher
Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.
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