About Grand Theft Auto III (GTA III)
Following two canonical installments and an expansion pack, GTA III marked a major turning point in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series. For the first time, the game was set in a fully 3D world with a storyline worthy of a Hollywood film. To understand the impact of this game, it is essential to take a step back and look at the early 2000s. At the time, the PlayStation 2 was just beginning its run, and the industry was undergoing a major shift with the demise of the Dreamcast and the imminent arrival of the GameCube and Xbox.
Under Rockstar’s leadership, the studio DMA Design acquired the RenderWare 3D engine designed by the engineers at Criterion Games (creators of the future Burnout). Leslie Benzies, a programmer at DMA Design since 1995, took over as head of the studio, and the team set to work on a game based on Godzilla. For this project, the first task was to create an entire city, complete with roads, buildings, and everything else that goes with it.
While they were trying to save memory, the developers realized they could use a different approach with Sony’s upcoming console (whose memory was limited compared to other consoles). Working with programmer Adams Fowler, the project’s lead artist, Aaron Garbut, discovered that the environments could be loaded progressively. As in a game like Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast, it is possible to move around the environment while the data loads during your progression. For the team, it was a game-changer! DMA Design realized that its future game could revolutionize the industry of video games.
With the PlayStation 2, they tried to optimize the hardware and passed this test successfully. For months, the team at DMA Design had been modeling a huge number of objects, vehicles, and characters. The city was becoming increasingly realistic, and the programmers had even gone so far as to incorporate a day-night cycle. When the game hit the shelves, the gaming press and players were blown away by what they saw. As a true open-world game, GTA III was so rich and detailed that it far surpassed almost all of its competitors.
Inspired by movies such as The Godfather, Carlito’s Way, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos, GTA III puts the player in the skin of a criminal evading a prison transfer. The game begins as the player takes control of the car to head to the hideout. Now under threat from the police, they will gradually rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld and become a major figure in Liberty City. Presented as an open-world action-adventure game, GTA III is what is known in the gaming world as a sandbox game. You are free to do whatever you like, whether you want to follow the main storyline or take part in side activities around the city.
Why Should I Play GTA III?
GTA III, or Grand Theft Auto III, can be considered one of the first open worlds in video games. In this story, the player takes control of Claude Speed, a criminal betrayed by his girlfriend during a hold-up. Wounded, he is found guilty, but during his transfer to jail, the convoy is under attack. Now he has to go into hiding from the police and try to get his life back on track. The problem is, it’s difficult to escape one’s past, and our hero will gradually find himself drawn back into criminal activities against a backdrop of clashes between rival gangs and mafia groups.
GTA III is an open-world 3D action-adventure game. By making the conventions of ‘sandbox’ games accessible to a wider audience, Rockstar’s game is built around a series of main missions, side objectives, and various activities. Aside from the main storyline, players can move freely around Liberty City, exploring different districts, each with its own distinct character. These include the residential district, the industrial district, the business district, the suburbs, and so on. As well as exploring, players take part in missions where they must take control of vehicles or engage in aggressive assaults, whether through hand-to-hand combat or intense firefights.
What’s brilliant about GTA III is that it draws inspiration from numerous films to immerse the player in an atmosphere straight out of a gangster film. It features all the hallmarks of cinema classics, such as The Godfather. Even though the character is silent (which isn’t the case in later Grand Theft Auto games), you’re completely immersed thanks to the variety of missions, the different neighborhoods of the city, and the radio stations that let you listen to numerous tracks while exploring the metropolis. GTA III is a masterpiece that laid the foundations for all future installments, and it’s still just as enjoyable to explore years later.
Is GTA III Free-to-play?
No, Grand Theft Auto III is a paid game, but it’s been around for quite a few years now. You can therefore find it on various platforms at very attractive prices. It also offers the advantage of being available on current-generation consoles, notably as part of a trilogy released as a high-definition remaster.
Where Can I Download GTA III?
GTA III is now a classic of the open-world action-adventure genre. It is now available to buy and download on a wide range of platforms: Windows PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, macOS, Android, and iOS. The remaster is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2. On some devices, the game is not available as a standalone but in the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy.
What Games Should I Play If I Enjoy GTA III?
Sleeping Dogs is a game like GTA, which takes place in a huge open world. The story tells how Wei Shen, an undercover cop who infiltrated the triads, tries to obtain more information about the wishes of the bad guys and his past. Spiritual successor of True Crime, Sleeping Dogs is a spectacular game, with wonderful graphics and fights that are directly inspired by John Woo and Jackie Chan’s movies. It’s a generous adventure and one of the most underestimated open-world games of its generation.
Watch Dogs 2 is set in San Francisco. You’re Marcus Holloway, a young African-American hacker who joins DedSec to dismantle a mass surveillance system. Instead of the first episode, this sequel tries to embrace the opposite with colorful landscapes, cool dialogues, and great characters. The world of hacking is really immersive, with interesting missions and a great world map.
Grand Theft Auto V, or GTA V, is the last episode of the GTA series. Waiting for GTA VI, this game features three characters: Michael, a reformed gangster; Franklin, a young criminal; and Trevor, an unstable psychopath and illuminated guy. The story takes place in Los Santos, a fictitious metropolis inspired by Los Angeles, which is like an additional character. Missions, activities, graphics, music, dialogues, writing… GTA V is a masterpiece to download. It’s really one of the most immersive open worlds of all time.
