Grand Theft Auto III (PC)

This PC version is even better looking than the PS2 one was, with even more opportunity for flashy lighting effects, over the top explosions and beautifully rendered mayhem. This is silky-smooth stuff and the graphical details are truly awesome as you'll see the first time you carjack a taxi and take off like a lunatic, mowing down the innocent.

Sonically, GTA 3 cannot be beaten; in-car tunes are provided from one of nine radio stations, each with its own distinct feel, and the sounds of the city are all here too; walk around for a while and you'll hear far-off police sirens, motorists abusing one another and general chit-chat as people go about their business.

The game is very open-ended. Its major focus is the mission-based goals--start out as a convict accidentally sprung from jail and work your way up to become a shining light in one of the city's controlling gangs. If that gets dull, hijack a cab, police car, ambulance or fire engine and carry out missions suitable for your mode of transport, and if all else fails, find the ludicrously dangerous-looking ramps and hit them hard for some big air and big cash bonuses.

It has to be said that GTA 3 fully warrants its 18 certificate, dealing as it does with mob warfare, indiscriminate murders, auto crimes, prostitution and more. The language gets a little "fruity" from time to time and you can't help but wince as you watch innocents get in the way of a good firefight. At the end of the day, though, this is a game and nothing more; thankfully, it's a good game, a very, very good game in fact, so buy it now. Or we'll send Luigi and the boys round.--Chris Russell

The worst thing about it is the missions. A good half of them go like this- move to these places and pick up\destroy these things, with a time limit. The developers could have been much more imaginative. Also, they are very frustrating as they are generally pointlessly difficult, and when you fail you need to go all the way back to the mission start point. Couldn't you just restart the mission? The whole thing reeks of poor design.

Also, don't expect the same level of freedom of GTA 2. Although there's plenty of extra missions, there's no system where you earn the respect of gangs to do missions for them. The game is linear.

On the plus side, the music is excellent and varied. There's something for everyone, including rap, drum and bass, pop, dub and even classical! There's also a very amusing chat station.

The graphics are somewhat poor (and yes, they were poor back in 2002 when this PC version was released). The draw distance for the buildings is excellent, but the city is on the whole very blocky and undetailed. Unfortunately, that good draw distance doesn't apply to the people and cars, who pop in about 40 ft. in front of you. The people aren't the best either, but then again many are displayed at once. The cars are pretty good.

Overall, the game can be very fun, having an entire city to explore and endless civilians to kill. I don't recommend it though.

Although it fails to fix many of this game's major faults (the missions are better, though) I suggest Vice City rather than GTA 3.