Happy 10th Birthday Grand Theft Auto III - need some stories

[Steve T Power]

On October 22nd, 2011, Grand Theft Auto III turns 10 years old! Whether you still play GTA or not, everyone has to recognize the effect that this watershed title had on the industry. This is a call for your best "GTA III" stories! What was that first play like? What was the most fun you had with this titan of a game? Get the ball rolling - the best ones will be shared on the podcast!

[Attrage]

GTA III was my first experience of a sandbox-style game and thus the game that got me excited about sandbox-style games! From the opening cutscene of escaping the prison van on a gloomy night and making your way to your first safe house, I was immediately enthralled. The missions were very cool, but I have to admit the most fun I had with this game was simply exploring the city. I loved the freedom. And also more so than play the actual storyline missions the game was at it’s most fun for me just throwing a mafia guy out of his black BMW-style car (I loved those cars!) and then tearing off down the street as he chased after me, pinging bullets off my newly acquired ride. Then I would just go tearing like a bat out hell around the city seeing how much chaos I could cause. Or going down to that gas station I think it was in the lower east side of the map, stealing the semi-trailer prime mover from the parking lot and seeing how long I could go around slamming into cars and causing as much destruction as possible before my suicidal rampage was brought to an abrupt end in one way or another.

I loved the fact that while on a mission, the open-ended and unpredictable nature of the game could make things go very wrong very fast. I remember one mission (can’t recall the exact details it was too long ago) but basically all I had to do was take a car and get it resprayed, and then take it somewhere else. Pretty straightforward? Yes, except my enthusiasm got the better of me and in one handbrake slide around a corner I mowed down a couple of pedestrians and slammed into the side of a police car. My pulse racing I of course decided to see if I could get away, so I put pedal to the metal and tore off down the street, but got t-boned at the next intersection and flipped the car. So, now on foot I drew down with the cops and blew a couple of them away before legging it down an alley watching those damn wanted stars increase. Needless to say, I failed the mission and went down in a hail of lead. But damn it was fun.

Wow…writing this has made me want to dust off the old PlayStation 2 and give this game another whirl!

[Steve T Power]

That's the joy of it - even ten years on - the game is still a little slice of brilliance.