Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) in the United Kingdom, and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D title in the Grand Theft Auto series. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, May 2002 for Windows, in November 2003 for the Xbox and in November 2010 for Mac OS X. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008.[7] The game is preceded by Grand Theft Auto 2 and succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
GTA III is set in modern Liberty City, a fictional metropolitan city based on New York City. The game follows a nameless criminal[1] who was betrayed by his girlfriend in a bank heist and is required to work his way up the crime ladder of the city before confronting her. GTA III is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters.
The game's concept and gameplay, coupled with the use of a 3D game engine for the first time in the series, contributed to Grand Theft Auto III's positive reception upon its release; it became 2001's top selling video game[8] and is cited as a landmark in video games for its far-reaching influence within the industry.[9] GTA III's success was a significant factor in the series' subsequent popularity; as of 2008, five GTA prequels set before events in GTA III have been released, particularly Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories which revisits GTA III's setting a few years prior. GTA III's violent and sexual content has also been the source of public concern and controversy. According to Metacritic, GTA III holds an average critic score of 97/100, making it the highest-rated PlayStation 2 game
Setting
Grand Theft Auto III takes place in Liberty City, a city on the East Coast, which is loosely based on New York City, but also incorporates elements of other American cities.[10] GTA III's Liberty City has also been used for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (only for one mission in San Andreas), and is one of four renditions of "Liberty Cities" featured throughout the series; the other three are present in Grand Theft Auto (GTA1), Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV). The timeline of GTA III is set at around the autumn of 2001, the present time around the first release of GTA III, October 22, 2001; this was indicated by the Liberty Tree website, which included plot points that connect to events in the beginning of the game, in its last existing monthly entry, dated October 18, 2001
Story
The player character has robbed the Liberty City Bank with his girlfriend, Catalina, and a male accomplice. While running from the scene, Catalina shoots him and leaves him to die in an alley; the accomplice is also seen lying nearby. The player character survives but has been arrested and subsequently found guilty and sentenced to jail. While he is being transferred, an attack on the police convoy aimed at kidnapping an unrelated prisoner sets him free.
With the help of a fellow escaped prisoner, the player character then takes on work as a local thug and rises in power as he works for multiple rival gangs, a corrupt police officer and a media mogul. In the process, Maria, the mistress of a local Mafia boss, begins to take a liking to him. The Mafia leader, Salvatore, grows suspicious and lures the player to a death trap; but Maria saves him, remaining close to him throughout the storyline. He later goes to work for others, including the Liberty City Yakuza and media mogul Donald Love. Eventually, his exploits attract the attention of Catalina, now affiliated with a Colombian drug cartel, resulting in the kidnapping of Maria. This gives him the opportunity to face Catalina once more, which results in a firefight and Catalina's death
Characters
Main article: List of characters in Grand Theft Auto III
In addition to the exploits of the game's player character, the storyline, while not as integral to the game as its successors, depicts the character development of several non-player individuals and bosses, through cut scenes before the start of each mission, as the player progresses through the game. Most of the characters encountered revolve around corruption, crime and a fictional drug called "Spank," which is a growing menace in the city.
With the success of GTA III and its sequels, several of these characters or their relatives reappear in future GTA titles with major or minor roles, and their personal background expanded, particularly Leone family Don Salvatore Leone, media mogul Donald Love, Phil, the One-Armed Bandit, 8-Ball, Catalina and Toni Cipriani.
The voice cast for the game's characters features several established celebrities. Notable voice actors include: Frank Vincent, Michael Madsen, Michael Rapaport, Joe Pantoliano, Debi Mazar, Kyle MacLachlan, Robert Loggia, Lazlow Jones and late rapper
Grand Theft Auto III inherits and modifies much of the gameplay mechanics from its predecessors, Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, combining elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game in a new 3D game engine. The idea of using a 3D game engine in such a genre was however not new: the first game to combine elements of action, shooting, and driving various vehicles in a sandbox-style 3D world was Hunter, released in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST home computers.[12][13] The first developed by DMA Design was Body Harvest (1998), for the Nintendo 64. Publicly debuted in 1995 at Nintendo's SpaceWorld video game trade show, Body Harvest was revolutionary for its time, but despite above average reviews,[14] the game sold poorly.[15] GTA III takes the gameplay elements of Body Harvest and combines them with the GTA series' open-ended game design to create a level of freedom and detail that was unprecedented in 2001.[16]
On foot, the player's character has the additional ability to sprint (but is incapable of swimming), as well as use weapons and perform basic hand to hand combat; he is also capable of driving a variety of vehicles, (with the addition of watercraft and a fixed-wing aircraft).
A screenshot of Claude running with a pistol in hand. With a completely redone game engine, the player is now able to see forward and better explore GTA III's environment.
Criminal offences, such as carjacking, murder and theft will result in increasing levels of resistance from the authorities. If the player's "wanted" level reaches certain levels, the police, FBI, and army will respond accordingly. When the player character collapses from his injuries or is arrested, he will re-spawn at a local hospital or police station respectively, at the expense of losing all weapons and armor and an amount of money for medical expenses or bribes. While this is similar to previous Grand Theft Auto games, the player character is essentially offered unlimited "lives," as opposed to the limited number of lives in GTA1 and GTA2. This allows the player character to "die" as many times as she/he pleases, and render it impossible to indefinitely lose in the game.
A major feature in GTA III's predecessors that allowed the player to obtain cash by committing petty crimes has been downplayed in GTA III, encompassing only car ramming, vehicle destruction and pedestrian killing. The amount of money in the player's possession is no longer a requirement to unlock new areas in GTA III. There are only two exceptions to this, which require the player to have a certain amount of money. Instead, the completion of missions and unfolding of the game's storyline are now responsible for this role. Additionally, the player is allowed to return to all unlocked areas of the city. However, as new areas open up, access to other, previously available areas becomes more dangerous or difficult, due to hostilities from enemy gangs.
The interface of the game has been significantly overhauled. The player-centered compass is replaced by a separate mini-map that also displays a map of the city and key locations (safe houses and contact points) or targets. Armour and health levels are now indicated in numbers, and a 24-hour clock is added. Gang behavior is no longer dictated by "respect" meters used in GTA2; instead, the player character's progress through the story affects his view in the "eyes" of gang members. As the player completes missions for different gangs, rival gang members will come to recognize the character and subsequently shoot on sight.
Whereas multiplayer modes from previous GTA titles allowed players to connect through a computer network and play the game with others, GTA III was the first computer game title to only ship with a single player game mode. As a result, third-party modifications were developed that re-extended the game with the absent network functionality through manipulation of the game's memory. One of these modifications became known as Multi Theft Auto and was developed alongside this title and future GTA successors
