Grand Theft Auto Advance
2004 | Game Boy Advance
The setup: Another top-down, 2D take on GTA, this portable edition tells the story of a couple of petty criminals who want to quit the life and escape the third-world hell-hole that is Liberty City. Of course, during the fateful One Last Job, one of them gets killed, and it's up to the other one to figure out who did it before he quits Liberty for good.
The rides: A bunch of generic-looking 2D cars, buses and trucks, all of which handle reasonably well.
The criminal: Some guy named Mike who wants to avenge his murdered pal Vinnie. Aside from the usual revenge-seeker personality, there doesn't seem to be all that much to him.
The town: Liberty City, two-dimensional once again but this time based more or less on GTAIII's map.
The music: Forgettable 16-bit techno, jazz and rock arrangements with garbled vocal samples. Once again, the music is tied to the car you're driving, rather than to specific radio stations.
The violence: Bloody, but relatively tame. The characters are tiny and low-res, so it's sometimes hard to tell what's going on, but when fights break out it's easy to bust out the guns and open fire. We especially like playing around with the flamethrower and shotgun, just for their raw destructive capabilities.
Why it's the best: It was the first GTA made specifically for a handheld system, and in the days before Liberty City Stories, it was the best way to get your GTA fix while out of the house.
Why it isn't: Frankly, it sucks balls. The story is flat and the characters are uninteresting, and the graphics and raw action are actually less interesting than the original GTA's. Plus, it's not easy to find your way around when Liberty City's just one flat, misshapen block after another.
Does it hold up? No. But if you absolutely have to play a portable GTA and you don't own a PSP, then still no.
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