Development director Les Benzies predicts the PC version will live up to our expectations: "The PS2 version was a terrific achievement for us and now, we're looking forward to maximizing the game's potential for the PC. We know that there is an enormous, avid fan base out there that has waited patiently for the PC version of GTA3. The final product will blow them away."
Blow us away indeed. Even without multiplay (which admittedly we're a little miffed about), GTA3 is going to be one huge-ass game in terms of play time. Why we spent over 40 hours with the PS2 version alone, and we're still looking forward to playing it again on the PC.
And given the fact that Grand Theft Auto III is such a ridiculously large game, we've decided to break down the game's best elements for you every day this week. So today we present to you a big, fat picture of the most enjoyable toys in the game: the mobiles, the hot rods, and the speedsters.
As most of you already know, most of the cars in GTA3 can be immediately driven just by carjacking a few unsuspecting fools. The first set of cars players will descend upon, however, are rather simple affairs. They're sedans, station wagons, taxis, or even delivery trucks. If you really search around, you'll find a hot rod, here or there (in later levels you'll find the most boss cars). But the fact is, the game is packed with dozens of vehicles, each one able to handle differently. So naturally, a big part of GTA's appeal is the wealth of cars you can drive at any time.
"A key feature of the vehicles in GTA3 is their variety, which is crucial in maintaining the illusion of a living city," said Paul Kurowski, the vehicle designer. "The vehicles are designed for maximum flexibility, so for example, each vehicle exists in a range of different colors, and many have optional extras. And because it's a city, it was important to have not just cars but all the vehicles you'd expect to see -- vans and trucks, public transport, municipal vehicles such as garbage trucks."
Players can carjack any vehicle in the game (that's unlocked), give or take some victims who just won't part with their vehicle that easily. For instance, some characters are far more aggressive than others, and they'll fight you back, and take back their car. Others will simply complain and give it up. However, stealing a Stallion or a Sentinel is like entering into a street fight. Stallions belong to the Diablos, one of the many gangs in the game, and Sentinels belong to a classic Italian "gang" you'll forget the name of if you know what's good for you, Capiche? Both drive extreme well, but reduce your credibility with the aforementioned gangs, making you a target of a gangland hit if you continue to jack from them.
Another great feature in Grand Theft Auto III is the full, unrestrained freedom to move about. Players can simply move anywhere they want, but they do pay a price for too much recklessness.
"The fact that the player interacts so freely with the vehicles meant that we had to have interiors as well as exteriors, functioning doors, hoods and trunks," continued Kurowski. "Panels damage and fall off, so we needed a chassis underneath the bodywork. We have a day/night cycle and a traffic system, which meant we needed to have functioning lights. So a lot of decisions were dictated by the skewed realism and ambition of the game as a whole."
"The visual style is a kind of caricature," adds Kurowski. "We want people to see a vehicle in the game and to immediately understand what kind of drive it is going to be. The vehicles have a pseudo-realistic basis, but they break down into gameworld shorthand; fast or slow, tough or puny, etc."
With public service vehicles such as garbage trucks, busses, police cars, ambulances, and taxis, players are once again treated to Rockstar's wily sense of humor and incredible attention to detail. If you carjack a taxi, you can earn money by picking up customers and delivering them to their desired locations on time. You can steal a cop car, but be prepared to fight the cop until he's, um, "retired." Or you can hop into an ambulance or fire truck for another set of mini-games.
That's the beginning, really. As you progress in the game you'll find much more powerful cars that are faster and handle better, but we don't want to spoil it for you, so we'll keep hush-hush about those and let you find them for yourselves.
We'll have more on Grand Theft Auto III all this week as we eagerly await the release of the game on the PC!