Grand Theft Auto III

22 Oct 2001

PC (Microsoft Windows) PlayStation 2 Xbox Mac PlayStation 4
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9.5 rating
1638 want
9281 played
928 playing
333 reviews
Developer
DMA Design
Developer
TransGaming Inc.
Publisher
Rockstar Games
Take-Two Interactive

Tags

Time to beat

Main story icon

Main story

12h 43m
Main story and extras icon

Main story + extras

20h 5m
100% completion icon

100% completion

37h 38m
Based on 47 answers
Summary

Featuring a fully 3-D living city, a combination of narrative driven and non-linear gameplay and a completely open environment, Grand Theft Auto III represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment. For the first time, players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, and let loose in a fully-realised 3 dimensional city, in which anything can happen and probably will. With a cast of hundreds, 50 plus vehicles, ranging from sports cars to ice cream trucks and from boats to buses, 3 hours of music, including opera, reggae, house, drum and bass, pop and disco, a huge array of street ready weapons and some of the seediest characters in video game history, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a sprawling epic which will show you that sometimes, crime can pay and sometimes it can pay you back. Available now for PlayStation2, Xbox, PC and Macintosh.

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GTA 3 was such a mind-blowing improvement since the pixelated gta 1 and 2 on the ps1. It sets you down in the middle of a detailed clockwork world, presents you with a physics model and a wide variety of interesting objects to interact with, and then gives you the freedom to smash them into each other and enjoy the resulting mayhem. You're also presented with a series of missions, which tell the ongoing story of your life of crime among the game's cast of unsavory characters.

While these missions provide a proper plot and a beginning, middle, and end to the game, you can attempt them whenever you want, making this a huge glo up from the previous games. In between the missions, you were free to do whatever you want, either on foot or in any number of vehicles, most of which you can rob from their owners. Other than the always satisfying manufacture of general chaos, there are plenty of more-structured tasks to accomplish. For instance, if you steal a cab, you can begin accepting fares which to me was a great callback for crazy taxi. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances also each have timed subgames associated with them. Completing these side tasks granted you various bonuses, ranging from access to extra weapons to cash bonuses.

The real star of the game, however, is the city itself. Rockstar has done an amazing job of creating a living city dense with detail. The streets were busy with both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. There was so much detail as the sun can rise or set into darkness and different weather patterns move in and out. And unlike in most games, you can actually drive to the skyscrapers on the horizon several miles away. Which makes you feel like youre in a Lana Del Rey Music Video.

You could tell the cut scenes haven't aged as well graphics wise however the voice acting in my opinion is still amazing to this day. The soundtrack is still fire even today. Sure it can be a bit lacking nowdays since it didn't provide any new content and the fact that...it got Remastered and that didn't do it much justice either. It is still a game that has tons of replayabilities however it still doesn't even compete with the likes of Vice City or Even San Andreas
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02 Feb 2025
I wish Claude talked
29 Oct 2022
Grand Theft Auto III is a highly important title that shaped the gaming industry into what it is today, and I respect the hell out of it, but on its own today, it is a mostly frustrating experience with a serious lack of substance in the narrative department.

Visually it is of course dated, but it is still easily playable and enjoyable for what it is. It does have some sort of charm to it, as well as a well-defined, exhausting vibe of a grim big city setting.

Narrative is probably the worst aspect of GTA III; there are little to no memorable characters, besides Asuka and Donald Love, are mostly as deep as a puddle. Narrative is clearly just there to serve missions without trying to tell any meaningful story, or any story at all, to be fair.

Gameplay is mostly decent, and the open-world design is iconic, but what isn't is the lack of a map and any shop or paint job store indicators, making navigating the open world a pain in the ass. The map itself, though, is fairly good, with great variety making all three islands distinct. Mission design is good too, but there are a good number of absolutely annoying difficulty spikes that require trial and error to persist. Shooting mechanics are only lock-on aiming, and that is also frustrating, making a single mistake a death sentence. There isn't a lot to do besides missions, mostly just another car-driving minigame, but now you are a taxi driver, then a fireman, then, well, you get it.

To sum up, GTA III is a great introduction and a highly important entry to the series itself and gaming as a whole, but on its own, it's mostly a frustrating experience that did not age well. Personally, nostalgia means alot to me and I tend to have a softer side to titles I played as a kid back then, but man, even nostalgia is not saving this one. You are good if you skip GTA III; there's nothing to miss out on besides morbid curiosity to witness where it all started.
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20 Apr 2025
It’s like Citizen Kane, of great historical significance,but eventually out of time.
15 Apr 2023
Played on: Playstation 4 (Standard)
Version: Playstation 4
Edition: Digital

I remember playing the shit out of this as a kid. I guess I've become spoiled because I had a terrible time with the story, gameplay, & AWFUL controls. NPC dialogue stole the show.

Final verdict: Don't touch it
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03 Apr 2022
GTA III Essentially utilizes The previous titles Formula but now With A big diffrence,Can you guess what it is?YES the cars get destroyed easier(And the game world is now in 3d,nothing important of note of course)
This game adds the variety of characters which were the most fashionable for the time being 2001, Fat short Italian mobster with balding proplem called Toni and living with his mom of course(classic).
Pleased to see More references to classic Mafia films such as godfather(salvatore Leone name is a reference to vito corleone name of course.)and Goodfellas(there's a poster called badfellas,look it up.)
In simple Terms GTA III is revolutionary;elaviting the whole industry not Only in terms Of 3d but in terms of Quality of life,i dare say no game had ever done what was accomplished here,the sensations of not knowing what could happen at an moment;now I'm not saying GTA III perfects this but the concept had never been so tangible before.
GTA III was te beginning of a new era with such iconic characters and all the references to The source material used,and the sarcastic tune is a Very fabulous touch.
Playing this game Feels like witnessing History going down,like nothing else could Match.
To summarize GTA III is the perfect classic GTA formula and if you don't want to play the first two III is the definitive experience in 3d
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16 Jan 2025
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