Grand Theft Auto III

"One of the most influential and successful games ever made."

―The New York Times.

Grand Theft Auto III
Name:	Grand Theft Auto III
Developer(s):	DMA Design (now Rockstar North)
Publisher(s):	Rockstar Games
Release date:	October 22, 2001
Platform(s):	PlayStation 2 Microsoft Windows Xbox Mac OS X
Engine:	RenderWare
Series:	Grand Theft Auto
Protagonist:	Claude
Date takes place:	2001
Location:	Liberty City

Grand Theft Auto III (also known as GTA III or GTA 3) is an open-world video game, developed by Rockstar North, formerly called DMA Design for the PlayStation 2 and PC ports, the Xbox version by Rockstar Vienna and published by Rockstar Games. The game was originally released for PS2 on October 22, 2001, the PC on May 2002 and the Xbox on November 2003. On August 18, 2011 it was released on the Mac.

It is the third main title in the Grand Theft Auto series, as well the first game to be in 3D. Also GTA III was the first game to utilize the Third-Person View, as opposed to the Top-Down Perspective of its predecessors (GTA 1, GTA London, and GTA 2).

Plot

Claude is a small-time robber who was betrayed by his girlfriend, Catalina, during a bank heist. Claude is then taken in a Police van along with two other prisoners, 8-Ball, and another Asian Gentleman. During the ride to the jail, the Colombian Cartel gangsters attack the van, kill the officers, and take the Asian man. Now, Claude is free, and wants nothing more than to kill Catalina.

Setting

Main Article: Liberty City in GTA III Era

Liberty City is the main setting of Grand Theft Auto III. It consists of three islands - Portland, Staunton, and Shoreside Vale. These islands are loosely based on New York City boroughs - Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey.

Characters

Main article: Characters in GTA III

10th Anniversary Edition

In October 2011, Rockstar Games announced a 10th Anniversary Edition for Grand Theft Auto III. It was released for the iOS ports for iPhone, iPad and a selection of Android devices. The game was released on December 15, 2011. A week later, Rockstar announced a series of updates which fixed some gameplay and technical issues and also added more supports for more mobile phones. Support for other devices may still be announced.

Supported Devices

• Apple iOS Devices - iPad (1 and 2), iPhone (4 and 4s), iPod Touch (4th Generation).
• Android Phones - LG Optimus 2x, Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Phones (Atrix 4G, Droid X2, Photon 4G, Droid Bionic), Samsung Phones (Galaxy R, Galaxy S2), HTC Rezound, Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.
• Android Devices - Acer Tablets (Iconia and Eee Pad Transformer), Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive, LG Optimus Pad, Dell Streak 7, Motorola Xoom.

Technical Limitations from Original Version

Due to the technical limitations of mobile devices, a number of features were removed from the game. However, the iPad version does not have these technical limitations.

Most of the lights do not show, including vehicle headlights, brakelights, emergency vehicles, street lights and traffic lights. All of this technical limitations are due to the shortage of storage capacity for mobile devices.

Trailers

Reception

Grand Theft Auto III has sold over 12 million copies.

Grand Theft Auto III received critical acclaim. The game was described as revolutionary by several game reviewers. The game's average review score of 97/100 on Metacritic, tying with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for the highest ranked game in PlayStation 2 history. IGN gave the game 9.6/10. 1UP.com gave GTA III a score of A+. GamePro gave the game a perfect score of 5/5. Edge and Famitsu were less favorable toward GTA III, giving a score of 8/10 each.

Trivia

• Ironically, despite this game was released as the first GTA 3-Era game, chronologally, it is the last.