Grand Theft Auto III Review (Preator)
"Sorry babe, I'm an ambitious girl, and you......you're just small time."
Introduction
Grand Theft Auto 3, more commonly referred to as GTA3, was a 2001 classic that took the top-down mayhem of Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2 and morphed it into the first iteration of 3D design for the franchise. But does the definitive edition remaster capture the nostalgia of the original, or was it simply a wasted endeavour?
*Edit* I noticed after posting this review that you can only review one title in the definitive trilogy, so I will update this review to be inclusive of the other 2 games as I complete them.
🟩 Positives
🟥 Negatives
🟩 It's GTA3 through and through, with very little of the story and world changed. The perfect trip through nostalgia.
🟩 There's a decent repertoire of weapons to utilise, although not many of them act differently enough to need to use them all.
🟥 The audio and visuals haven't been improved enough to warrant buying this if you already own the original.
🟥 The world is small and mostly barren. The size is also reflected in the story as it's similarly short, which can be either a positive or a negative depending on your perspective.
🟥 The story was never really cohesive. It always seemed to jump around a bit, and that hasn't changed here.
Story
You play as an unnamed protagonist (who we now know as Claude, no spoilers!) backstabbed by his accomplice, Catalina, following a major bank heist. Claude is sentenced to prison, but before being put behind bars, he finds himself involved in a convenient break out by another prisoner. With the help of his cellmate, Eddie, they escape, and Claude begins his ascent through the underworld to find Catalina and get his revenge.
The story was always a little bland and stale, even by Grand Theft Auto standards, but it flows pretty well for the most part if you don't get hung up on the semantics. The characters are adequately designed to give you enough motivation to keep playing without ever really blowing you away.
Gameplay Analysis
Lib-oring City
I forgot how boring Liberty City is in Grand Theft Auto 3. It's big enough to give you the perception of there being lots to do without ever committing to it. There are some minor side activities to complete if you want 100% completion, such as Vigilante or Ambulance missions or the illusive 100 Hidden Packages, but for the most part, you will be left wanting while exploring the city.
Bullets, Grenades and Rockets.
Grand Theft Auto 3 was the first 3D game of the series, and it was the groundbreaking experience that defined all the titles that followed. It has a considerable arsenal to utilise, even if it isn't the largest of the series or the most varied, it's nice to see some classics return and use them in a different environment. With this said though, some of the guns aren't that different to each other, once you have the uzi, for example, the handgun is all but redundant, and this mindset plays out the entire game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2927672031
Combat has not been invigorated either, suffering from the same issues it did in the original. You can't move and gun, even with easy-to-handle weapons, health evaporates very quickly, and there is no cover mechanics that makes getting caught out in the open an impossible situation to survive.
Danger behind every corner.
As you progress through the story you will make enemies of different groups around the city, these groups can become quite bothersome, especially as you advance through the world and have to trek back from time to time. This is particularly annoying when they have shotguns and destroy your car in two or three shots, forcing you to reload back at the start of the mission.
At least you have a way to navigate.
The map always was pretty streamlined which I like, this has only been improved in the definitive edition. It has become far cleaner and easier to read.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2927672214
Audio and Visual
The visual acuity of this game is pretty subpar for what it is. The original game is quite dated, but there are more than enough mods to make it look far more modern than this remaster could even imagine. The definitive edition does some pretty nice effects with bloom effects and water, as well as a bunch of other minor touch-ups, but I don't think this game is worth the price compared to the original.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2927672110
The audio is far worse, in some cases not receiving a touch-up at all and left entirely the same. Very early dialogue has a noticeable recording buzz and sounds tinny and irritating, the later dialogue is far crisper but no different to the original material.
PC Performance and Specifications
I was able to run this game at a steady 60 FPS on its highest settings at 2560 x 1440, but far from flawless.
🟧 The game is littered with bugs and issues. This ranges from basic texture tearing, and far more noticeable ones like falling through the world and sometimes crashing entirely.
🟨 Subpar visual and audio remastering.
RAM: 32GB (Under Load Usage: 30%)
CPU: i9 10900KA 3.70GHz (Under Load Usage: 24.2%)
GPU: MSI Ventus RTX 3080 (Under Load Usage: 40%)
Final Thoughts - Borderline
Review chart here.
Grand Theft Auto 3 holds a spot in my nostalgic memory that nothing could replace. It was my first genuine step into PC gaming as a child, and I cherished this experience so much. With that being said, this "remaster" does not do it justice at all. It's basically the original game with some tacky visual aids to make you go "oooh pretty!" and hopefully helps you ignore the large glaring faults that followed the original. The combat is tedious, the story is bland, and the world is devoid of feeling. GTA3 was the epitome of open-world gaming for a time, and that time was 2001, I expected more from a remaster. Buy the original and save yourself some money or wait for a steep sale.
If seeing the bright lights of Liberty City has made you want to taste a life of crime, head on over to Hell, Purgatory and Paradise to discover the real underworld.