Failures often occur in the gaming industry when a large company commissions a younger brother to make a spin-off that does not claim to be the main game in the line. There are plenty of examples, my favorite is Uncharted: Golden Abyss by Bend Studio. But the collaboration between Rockstar Leeds (the main development studio of GTA: LCS and GTA: VCS) and Rockstar North (the main developer of the series, helped Leeds with Stories) cannot be considered one of these.
LCS - the background game of GTA 3 - has become a worthy portable GTA. The authors managed to preserve all the laws, genres, traditions of the series and at the same time add something of their own, new.
The game tells the story of Toni Cipriani, the same one who will be one of the bosses in the third part, several years before Claude appeared in the city. The city is the same, well known to us, Liberty City. But here it is not so gloomy and, what is more interesting, of course, differs from the LC “troika”. This is one of the biggest intrigues - studying and comparing Liberty City 2001 and 1998. Where they are building what, what building was on the site of a well-known place.
The game also contains completely new introductions to the series. For example, tasks of a car dealer or a garbage collector. True, there is also an unfortunate mistake associated with new professions. During the city guide’s assignments, you need to take tourists to different parts of the city, including Chinatown, with the representatives of which the main character, due to the scenario, has a “misunderstanding.” As a result, it is not possible to pass this part.
However, you must complete the game, as it is deservedly a PSP and PS2 classic.