Jump to content

User:Silver Infernus: Difference between revisions

Line 73: Line 73:
What really makes the story fall flat is the fact that Claude has no ''character''. In the beginning, he's a middle-to-lower-class criminal with a girlfriend and in the end he's a middle-to-lower-class criminal with a dead girlfriend and every gang in Liberty wanting to kill him. He takes on any mission, no matter how immoral or undignified, and does it with the motivation that he was making one step closer to finding Catalina? That's a bit hard to believe. And why is it that no matter how many new people he meets, not one of them tries to make him talk or asks what his name is? How did El Burro, King Courtney, and D-Ice know Claude was the one listening to their calls? When every mission cutscene becomes so boring because each one is made up of one-sided conversations that are nothing more than the boss giving instructions and Claude nodding before leaving, you'd think everyone in Liberty City was high off something mixed the wrong way. In terms of the plot itself, it seems to be more about Claude running around doing errands and only a handful of them actually being relevant to, well, the story. It's as if Rockstar was so engrossed in finding out how many ways Claude can kill someone, and made most of the missions about that, before remembering that ''Grand Theft Auto III'' is supposed to have a plot, and occasionally sprinkled in one or two as an afterthought. It doesn't matter if a story is linear or scattered in an attempt to make it feel ''realistic''; if it becomes tedious, people lose interest.
What really makes the story fall flat is the fact that Claude has no ''character''. In the beginning, he's a middle-to-lower-class criminal with a girlfriend and in the end he's a middle-to-lower-class criminal with a dead girlfriend and every gang in Liberty wanting to kill him. He takes on any mission, no matter how immoral or undignified, and does it with the motivation that he was making one step closer to finding Catalina? That's a bit hard to believe. And why is it that no matter how many new people he meets, not one of them tries to make him talk or asks what his name is? How did El Burro, King Courtney, and D-Ice know Claude was the one listening to their calls? When every mission cutscene becomes so boring because each one is made up of one-sided conversations that are nothing more than the boss giving instructions and Claude nodding before leaving, you'd think everyone in Liberty City was high off something mixed the wrong way. In terms of the plot itself, it seems to be more about Claude running around doing errands and only a handful of them actually being relevant to, well, the story. It's as if Rockstar was so engrossed in finding out how many ways Claude can kill someone, and made most of the missions about that, before remembering that ''Grand Theft Auto III'' is supposed to have a plot, and occasionally sprinkled in one or two as an afterthought. It doesn't matter if a story is linear or scattered in an attempt to make it feel ''realistic''; if it becomes tedious, people lose interest.


It would be unfair to bash the game's graphics, as the game standards in 2001 were considerably different. The physics deserve a little more to be criticized, but that will be forgiven as well. What is really appalling even a decade back is the audio. If Colombians only have three lines of dialogue in-game, the least Rockstar could have done was not recycle them for the first mission ("[[Give Me Liberty]]"). Then there are the missions where your speakers are flooded with incomprehensible gibbering ("[[Kingdom Come]]"), as if Rockstar couldn't be bothered to use audio methods that don't make you want to mute your speakers. Most ridiculously, running pedestrians over with a car is akin to stepping on a paintball, because that's sure as hell what it sounds like.
It would be unfair to bash the game's graphics, as the game standards in 2001 were considerably different. The physics deserve a little more to be criticized, but that will be forgiven as well. What is really appalling even a decade back is the audio. If Colombians only have three lines of dialogue in-game, the least Rockstar could have done was not recycle them for the first mission ("[[Give Me Liberty]]"). Then there are the missions where your speakers are flooded with incomprehensible gibbering ("[[Kingdom Come]]"), as if Rockstar couldn't be bothered to develop a method that doesn't make you want to mute your speakers. Most ridiculously, running pedestrians over with a car is akin to stepping on a tomato, because that's sure as hell what it sounds like.


It is undeniable that Rockstar did break a lot of ground with ''Grand Theft Auto III''. But it felt like a tentative effort and had the potential to be so much more. Like the mediocre graphics and physics, comparing this game to newer ones wouldn't be fair; but it is plain to see that there were things they could have done way better, even back in 2001. Would I play it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to a friend? No, I would not. At this point, the only thing I would find noteworthy is how ''Grand Theft Auto III'''s storyline ties into its sequels, poorly done retcons aside.
It is undeniable that Rockstar did break a lot of ground with ''Grand Theft Auto III''. But it felt like a tentative effort and had the potential to be so much more. Like the mediocre graphics and physics, comparing this game to newer ones wouldn't be fair; but it is plain to see that there were things they could have done way better, even back in 2001. Would I play it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to a friend? No, I would not. At this point, the only thing I would find noteworthy is how ''Grand Theft Auto III'''s storyline ties into its sequels, poorly done retcons aside.
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.