[Intrepid Homoludens]

I just finished a 2 1/2 hour crime spree in Liberty City. Mind you, I haven't touched this game in months, but I slipped back into it effortlessly last night through the wee hours. I can't believe how 'bottomless' the gameworld is, that you can gracefully travel back and forth between the major levels (Portland, Staunton Island, and Shoreside Vale) by car, subway, or boat, find new things you never noticed before, and take on new minigames as you stumble upon them. It's insane! I finally accomplished the required mission that Yazuka presented me to prove my total severence from the Italian mafia back in Portland, that of assasinating my former boss Salvatore Leone before he reaches his house:

Spoiler:

After dying or failing several times, I finally figured I could prevent him from getting inside his house, instead of chasing him by car. I hijacked an armoured van, drove to his house, and blocked the garage door with it. As further security I used the two Sentinels parked nearby, and waited for him. When Leone and his entourage appeared I lambasted them with Molotov cocktails. Leone wouldn't leave the car so I shot it until it blew up, partially fueled by the Molotovs. It wasn't easy, half my health was gone in the end.

BTW, I have the PC version, where you can of course create your own custom mix of mp3s for your personal radio station. It was kinda perverse of me to be mowing down gang members, destroying property, and outrunning cops while Mr. Rogers sang It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood. I even rode the subway trains a few times just to see the pretty cinematic panoramic cutscenes. A bit of advice: the prostitutes mostly come out at night and will more likely approach you if you have a shiny expensive car. I prefer the Stinger (solid maneuverability, speed) or the Banshee (precise steering, acceleration) for getting around quickly and efficiently. If you're not in the mood for missions and just wanna hang and waste time, cruise around in cinematic camera mode - very nice views await you.

So, what particular strategies did you guys employ during your reign of terror in Liberty City? Any minigame victories you're particularly proud of? Did you find any cool secrets?

[AGA]

I love GTA3, I played it through about 3 times after-each-other, just to try out as many tactics and ways of completing missions as I could. I did 100% completion two times, that's a great way of testing your skills and getting the very most out of the game...

I'm currently playing Vice City through for the third time, going for 100% completion for the second time. I can't wait for GTA4 (or San Andreas or whatever it ends up being called)

[Huz]

I love GTA3 too. In fact, I got into it in a way I haven't been able to match with Vice City, no matter how much I try. I eventually got distracted by other games, but before then I was playing it for at least half an hour every day, on the pretext of getting to 100% completion. I usually ended up cruising around, or mowing down hapless pedestrians, or trying to fly the plane to the Observatory, or sometimes all of the above. It's just so open-ended and so much fun.

For me the MP3 feature is one of the features that keeps the game so fresh. I got bored after a few weeks of hearing the same old radio stations, so I set up every single MP3 on my system for use in GTA. Gunning down gang members with a song you haven't heard in ages blasting away in the background is great.

As for that particular mission, Trep, my strategy was...

Spoiler:

...to wait on the road opposite Salvator's gate until he drove through it. Then I sped across and knocked the bastard over his own cliff! From there, it was fairly easy to follow him down and knock him into the sea, or onto his roof...

On a subsequent occasion, I found it much easier to amass a lot of grenades and hurl a stream of them as he left the nightclub. Burn, Salvator, burn!

The array of different solutions to missions is really impressive. At times, you have to wonder whether Rockstar considered them all - I doubt it!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Huz

For me the MP3 feature is one of the features that keeps the game so fresh. I got bored after a few weeks of hearing the same old radio stations, so I set up every single MP3 on my system for use in GTA. Gunning down gang members with a song you haven't heard in ages blasting away in the background is great.

Originally Posted by Huz

As for that particular mission, Trep, my strategy was...

Spoiler:

...to wait on the road opposite Salvator's gate until he drove through it, then speed across and knock the bastard down his own cliff! It was then fairly easy to follow him down and knock him into the sea, or onto his roof...

On a subsequent occasion, I found it much easier to amass a lot of grenades and hurl a stream of them as he left the nightclub. Burn, Salvator, burn!

Wow, your first strategy is pretty wicked, I probably wouldn't have thought of it. The second one I tried, but Leone kept managing to get away and several of his men stayed behind to get me.

The array of different solutions to missions is really impressive. At times, you have to wonder whether Rockstar considered them all - I doubt it!

I doubt it too. 8-)

[MatDef]

I've almost beaten the game (stopped playing for a long time), and my favorite thing to do is to go to the mafia area, and just start shooting people.

[remixor]

How is this game in comparison to Vice City? I picked up VC for my PS2 pretty much just because everyone said "it's like GTAIII, but newer". However, it seems like I'd prefer the atmosphere of GTAIII to VC's 80's setting. Is it worth picking up, and are there any big things missing from III that are in VC?

[AGA]

The features are exactly the same, as is the gameplay. The graphics are slightly less polished, and obviously the plot/"campaign" is different. Oh, and there are no motorbikes or helicopters in GTAIII... It's still almost as great though, well worth getting.

[twifkak]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

It was kinda perverse of me to be mowing down gang members, destroying property, and outrunning cops while Mr. Rogers sang It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood.

It's the only way. In the golden days, my brother and I would tape songs off the 70's funk station and then sit the boombox on top of the TV while kicking meanie ass on mute. (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, stayin' alive!)

[ysbreker]

you could do that mission much easier like this:

Spoiler:

Go up the roof opposite the stripclub, there is a sniperrifle waiting there for you if I'm not mistaken. take aim, and shoot his head clean off when he walks out the stripjoint, or if you don't have a sniper rifle, a handy grenade can do the trick aswell

[ragnar]

I have not even begun playing it.

[SamandMax]

For that mission:

Spoiler:

I just parked at the end of the street, and when he was coming out, I got a headshot.

[James]

nah. ive only played it casually with friends.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I've just realized, all the little events you stumble on in the gameworld aren't scripted! I've seen random fist fights break out, sudden muggings, car collisions, and NPC deaths from getting hit while crossing the street. They just happen unpredictably. I've even seen crowds of pedestrians run and gather and gape at any sort of tragedy, like if I blow up a car or kill someone by running over him. This game never stops surprising.

[zarathustrian]

I'm currently playing Vice City for PS2--the licensed 80's music they've thrown in is vastly superior to that of the first game (which is good at first, but tends to grate on the nerves after the umpteenth playing). The game itself if pretty similar to GTA3, although the story is a fair deal more involving this time round.

It's been a while since I've had a decent block of time to devote to my precious Playstation, and as such, I haven't made much progress in the game. If only real life had a Pause button--not that these last few months have been bad though. Far from it.

[Royal Fool]

I played GTA3 on PS2 at my friend's house, but I still finished it and got a lot of the extra missions and stuff, heh. I didn't have my own PS2 back then, and although I do own one now, I didn't feel like getting GTA:VC for it at the time.

I tried out GTA3 on the PC, and hated the controls. Not that controlling the character was bad, although it was more stiff due to me only having a keyboard, but what I hated was the mouse aiming. Also, the game was somewhat sluggish on my computer, which was very weird as it isn't that graphically advanced.

So anyway, I finally got GTA:VC for PC. Been playing through it the last few days (I'm at 25%), but I still feel that GTA3 was better. To me, the game doesn't feel polished enough, although there are many improvements that GTA3 lacked, like a lot more variety in vehicles. I really don't get the whole plot and how Tommy manages to get so friendly with Lance and all that. Characters that I thought would get more time in the spotlight are just thrown backstage.

Two things I particularly notice about GTA:VC that are different from GTA3. First, the game runs much better on my computer than GTA3 ever did. It's very fast and has a steady framerate. Also, I notice that the game seems to, how do I put this... store less data about the cars and people that are around you. For example, if I stand in the street and look at a car that's not too far away, then turn around and look back at it, it's gone. Same goes for pedestrians. It's really annoying, as you can't stir up as much chaos because things just keep disappearing if they're not on your screen. This has even been taken to the extremes in a bug that I experienced, where all life in the city ceased to exist until I killed myself.

I think I still prefer the PS2 controls over the PC ones. Controlling helicopters and planes in GTA:VC on the PC is horrible and I'm forced to remap all my keys just to have a specific layout while using a chopper. (I use the arrow keys since I'm left-handed)

I like being able to buy businesses and safehouses, though. A neat feature, although it opens up halfway into the game. The music is also great, just like in GTA3.

So, uhm.. for the moment, I still prefer GTA3.

[DanteGR]

I finished GTA3 and moved on to Vice City.
Finished that also though

[pleto4_ryan]

nice scenes in GTA3

*put on the opera station, use the cinematic camera mode and start a chase with the police....

Impressive moments

[Tom_K]

Have rented it, but waiting for a price-drop to buy GTA: Vice City for PS2. C'mon Greatest Hits.

[Master Zeta Mole]

I so Totally agree with everything you said. I LOVE GTA3, And Vice City



From,
Master Zeta Mole

Played it to the end without stopping. All worth it.

By the way, my way of completing that mission is to just rush the strip club.