Cinematic opening sequences are the norm, however the way GTA3’s intro seamlessly blends into the start of the game is impressive. Your induction to the underworld is soon complete and you have a small network of contacts with which to pick up missions. Apart from the technically impressive graphics, which suffer none of the problems of the PS2, the game is enormous fun. As you make contacts and eventually enemies the plot progresses at a steady pace with your character alternating between the main gangs in Liberty. The game succeeds in the freedom it gives you to commit huge amounts of in the city. It is 18 rated so you’re not going to get any missions that require you to help old people across the road. If you wanted to, you could steal a car and run down old people who are trying to cross the road, which in a game is clearly more fun. The tools of your criminal trade let you set fire to people, dismember them with high calibre rounds and generally become a bit of a hoodlum. But that’s what this game is all about and it does it in fantastic style.

Driving varies depending on what car (or indeed boat) you’ve ‘borrowed’, cars can offer some spectacular high speed crashes while the big trucks just plough through the traffic. Despite the wide range of vehicles you’ll soon find your favourite (yakusa stinger for me thank you) and you’ll be hand-braking round corners in no time. This of course is all the more important when most of the cities police force are trying to chase you down. isn’t just a means of transportation though, some missions require you to run a target off the road Chase H.Q. style or to mow down rival thugs in drive by shootings. It’s very reminiscent of Microsoft’s Midtown Madness series, just a whole lot more violent.

One thing you couldn’t do in Midtown Madness is get out of your car. No such restrictions here. You’ll spend a lot of time on foot, and apart from the camera angle getting stuck on the odd occasion, this is done just as well. You’ll need to be outside your car to access most of your arsenal so for those assassination missions and general gun fights you’ll be using this view. While this makes you more vulnerable, actually shooting people/cars/helicopters/boats is easily done. When you are on foot it brings you closer still to the city. It’s when you’re standing next to some of the buildings and bridges it gets very impressive and adds further to the feeling that have created a very large piece of real estate for you to lose yourself in.

There are a few niggles that don’t really detract from the mayhem too much but are worth noting. Whilst playing through the missions it is possible to get a feeling of deja-vou if you’ve played either of the first two. But as I’ve already said the new perspective adds so much to the game you hardly notice, aside from which no other game offers the kind of possibilities GTA3 does. The control of the vehicles whilst driving can be very twitchy and I found drive by shootings difficult to begin with. This section of the game is definitely at home on the PS2’s joypad. That said a little bit of perseverance and you’re soon barrelling around the streets in stolen cars like a 12 year old from Liverpool. AI is a bit of a mute point as well, there’s little interaction from the cities inhabitants and when cops are chasing you they just head straight for you. The game gets round this by just throwing so much at you that you hardly notice but it would have been nice to have seen the police using cover intelligently or more responses from the crowd other than fight or flight. Sound wise the often touted radio with selectable stations is okay for five minutes and then it starts repeating itself, thankfully the option to use your own MP3’s is included. I also found some of the latter missions based on Shoreside Vale (the last island) fairly difficult. Definitely a step up from what had gone before, although this could just be me being useless.