What can I say, this game rocks.
The basic story is you are a criminal on the run. Your girlfriend and partner set you up after a bank robbery by shooting you and leaving you for the cops. You are busted but during the transportation to jail the Columbians (I think) bust out one of their men from the van, you and another convict (8-Ball) escape too. He sets you up with with Luigi and you start you work in the criminal underworld. The city is made up of three islands. But you can't just go from island to island right away. Yet the story makes sense why you can't. The bridge from the first island to the second is destroyed in the break out. So there is a huge gap in it. And the underground tunnel system project isn't finished yet either. But as soon as you've finished all the major missions on the first island, the bridge is repaired and part of the tunnel system is completed. (you hear it on the radio).
The story line has it all. Betrayal, little bit of love, violence, a little humor, lots of action, and more. This is by far one of the best made games I have ever played. It is so deep in gameplay. You choose when you want to take a mission by going to the proper place and get an assignment. Don't feel like taking a job at the moment? Just walk around the city if you feel like it. People pass you on the street and you hear lots of funny comments. I dub one guy "Village Person" type because he says lines like "There is a place you can go.." and a few other things that sound like lines from a Village People song. There are college students, gang members, Chinese Triads, Mafia, Spanish hoods, hookers, pimps, cops, and more! All the types have their own voices for that type and own lines of speech.
You can beat up people with a baseball bat if you like. Just don't it in front of the cops. They don't like that. Stand around and wait after you killed some one and an ambulance will come and heal that person. Hold off the paramedics for a while and the persons body disappears and a chalk outline appears for while. You can stick your gun in a person's face and hold them up.
All cars in this game can be stolen. Well some are locked so you are out of luck on them. But the car types also have their own driving styles too. Steal an ambulance and take a corner too fast at top speed and you may tip over. Steal a fast can and you may not be able to make the turn and you spin out a bit and hit a wall. Take a different can and you may not be fast enough to out run cops or keep up with the person you are chasing. This is great because cars do not simply have the same driving stlye like they do in games like Driver 2 and such. Plus this has a good physics engine. In some chases in Driver 2 I tried to ram a guy instead of just tailing him. It was like hitting a brick wall. I didn't do a thing to him but I was pretty much totaled. Not in GTA3. You hit them and they will feel it. Lots of cool cars are in the game even an ice cream truck and a small airplane, no wings but it still flys.
Next their is the voice acting. It is superb! Excellent cast! Also in the car you can listen to the radio. different channels to choose from. There is rap, ska, classic rock, opera, a talk radio (my fave), and more. The talk radio is a riot to listen too. There are calls such as one lady complaining about people on cell phones and is even in charge of an organization (ok there are three of them) called Citizens Raging Against Phones. Yes the organization is CRAP. Another guy wants to hire a nanny because he needs to be spanked. It even has guests on it. One is a pimp who runs Fernando's new beginnings and a self help guru/martial artist.
The cities are huge! It would take you a couple hours alone to walk the entire city. Plus their are more things to do in the game than just missions. There are 100 hidden packages scattered across the three islands that make up the city. Find them to have weapons created at your hideouts. Also their are places where you can ramp your car off of for uniqe stunt bonuses. This game is not something you will finish in a few short hours. This will take over 50 hours easily to finish.
This is my all time favorite game. I hope they make another one similar to this and add even more to it. 10/10
