A bold statement if ever there was one. But, one I stand by whole-heartedly. Just what is it exactly that makes GTA3 for the PS2 so amazing? Is it the car-jacking craziness? Is it blowing up helicopters? Flattening those pesky pedestrians? Discovering illicit packages? I'll attempt to itemize and analyze (in no particular order) the many reasons that make the game so devilishly good.

GRAPHICS and LEVEL DESIGN
While GTA3 is not outrageously beautiful, it does have an appealing overall art style that is both realistic and slightly "cartoony".

The un-named player avatar is attractive and "cool" with a wide variety of believable animations.

NPCs are appropriately (and sometimes humorously) attired and move in ways that quickly reveal their personalities. From bedraggled street persons to Armani-suited criminals, one instantly recognizes typical denizens of the big, bad city.

Vehicles are a stand out. The selection of cars and trucks is large and well-rounded. SUVs, beat up station wagons, tons of slick sports cars, pimp-mobiles, trash trucks, cop cars, ambulances, taxis, and many more are here to be jacked and driven to death. The only vehicle missing is a motorcycle. Next time let's have rice-burners, old European bikes, and scooters. Beep beep!

Cityscapes are very well done with convincing textures and decent draw distances. From gleaming high-rises to derelict storefronts, seemingly every type of building is represented. A depressed downtown, thriving business sector, and suburban sprawl are here with all the attendant hospitals, police stations, liquor stores, and homesteads one would expect to find. One important, missing element is the ability to actually enter more than a few of the buildings. This was apparently unavoidable due to time constraints and will be addressed in the next iteration of the game.

Streets are laid out in convincing grids with a few dead ends, dirt roads, and inaccessible construction zones thrown in for good measure. Players quickly begin to memorize the best routes and smoothest paths to destinations as they do in real life cities.

Weather effects, sun-flare, smoke, and explosions are all well done and unobtrusively convincing. When a player's car whips around a corner, wheels burning rubber, exhaust billowing out of the tailpipe, and crashes through a stack of boxes in a fog-enshrouded night - you'll know you are close to achieving the magical "Gameplay Nirvana" we all yearn for.

WEAPONS
A varied and vicious arsenal is available for fragging fantasy-fulfillment. Bats, handguns, Uzis, M-16s, grenades, rocket launchers, and others are obtainable and powerful enough to satisfy even the meanest badass's brain-splattering urges.

A wide spread criticism of GTA3 has been its difficult aiming system, but this writer has found the right trigger auto-targeting scheme sufficient, and with time and practice, one can become quite a deadly adversary indeed.

Weapon models are well done, muzzle flashes convincing, and weight balancing is finely tuned. Finding a safe perch and using the sniper rifle to pick off gang members from great distances is a supreme pleasure. I find drive-by shootings to be a bit difficult to accomplish, but most players seem to do just fine.

CAMERA
The camera is nicely done, and importantly, rarely hinders a player with any frequency. A wide choice of views is selectable and players are sure to find one or two that they find functional. I do wish a playable first-person view was an option. While a fixed, first-person view is available you are unable to move with this mode enabled. The Cinematic camera is difficult to drive with but simulates appearing in your own, exciting action flick. It's superb for recording gameplay and enjoying a humorous playback. A built-in replay feature would have been fantastic. Developer Rockstar Studios has smartly added replays to the PC version of the game.

PLOT
Similar to the finest cinematic Mafioso masterpieces such as The Godfather Trilogy, Goodfellas, and Casino, GTA3 brings the player along on a rollickingly violent goodtime yarn. All the thematic pieces are in place for a solid, darkly humorous tale, but the player chooses when and where he will go on missions and proceed with the story. GTA3's non-linear gameplay is definitely one of its best features. YOU choose when to go on missions, not the game designers. Giving the player ultimate control is an all too unique occurrence.

MOVIES
Mission set ups and plot-progressing movies have all been created using the in-game engine. A player is never drawn out of the world by jarring transitions between the in-game graphics that they have become accustomed to and lushly pre-rendered FMVs.

SOUND
All the sounds of a thriving, modern metropolis can be heard in Liberty City. Vehicles whine and rev, airplanes rumble, gunshots ring out, explosions boom, glass shatters, and pedestrians mumble or shout hilarious quips. But the standout feature in the aural department has to be the wide variety of all-too-real sounding radio stations. Rock, 80s Pop, Reggae, Classical, and the consistently hysterical 'Chatterbox' talk station are a delight and add an engrossing layer of immersion to the game playing experience.

VOICE ACTING
Professional film and voice actors were hired to portray the majority of sleazy characters who inhabit Liberty City and the results are a pleasure. For far too long gamers have been subjected to sub-par voice acting and when care and attention is paid - it shows. Some of the radio personalities are a bit wooden (it's easy to guess who's professional and who's a friend of the producer or a bored programmer) but in general, the performances are above average.

ENDING
I won't give anything away here, for the two readers who have yet to beat the game, but I will say that I was slightly disappointed. The ending wasn't bad, by any stretch of the imagination, but I did expect a sensational ending cinematic and was left wanting.

REPLAYABILITY
Players are left in the game world after beating enough missions and proceeding through the pertinent plot points. Freedom to continue romping and rolling through Liberty City after "finishing" the game is a nice design choice and encourages players to complete all the missions, find all the hidden packages, and experiment with the plethora of zany cheat codes.

IN CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it - my many reasons why Grand Theft Auto 3 is the greatest game ever made. If you need further convincing, just look me up. You know where you can find me - Liberty City, USA. "The worst place in America."

Discuss this Review in Our ForumsSpridal