Review: Grand Theft Auto 3 for iPhone, iPad, Android

Rockstar Games released the 10th anniversary edition of Grand Theft Auto III for iOS and Android back on Dec 15th 2011.

It stays true to the original game play and the story line is unchanged. The graphics are really good for the small platform of the IPhone 4S that I played it on. Although I did find myself wishing for a bigger screen. Driving fast made oncoming traffic hard to follow. Also the physics on collisions felt a little stronger then what I remember making it harder to recover from being hit. None the less this had no real effect on my enjoyment of this old classic.

For those of you that never had a chance to play the original here’s a quick run down. The setting is generally based on NY neighborhoods which they call Liberty City. You begin playing your character after he bust out of prison while being transferred to another housing facility. You then try to rise in power and dominate the gang infested Liberty City.

For the game play there are two kinds of missions: story line based and side missions. The story line follows a single character throughout various missions that lead to unlocking three different islands on the map. The side based missions range from being an ambulance driver, taxi driver, firefighter and a police officer after stealing their vehicles. You’re also able to roam free and cause havoc on the city; stealing cars, running people over, beating, stabbing, shooting, and even killing anything you want. Though, all of these crimes comes with consequences. The more crime you do the higher your wanted level gets making it harder to outrun the law!

With a game originating from a console, you would think it would be hard to play on a phone but I have found otherwise. With the open sandbox design of the city brings great playability. You can easily run around town, steal a few cars, complete a mission or two, and then save it for later. From 5 minutes to 5 hours the additional auto-resume feature makes it that much easier to handle.

GTA 3 has some of the best controls I’ve used for a driving game on a phone. It felt so fluid like I never put the controller down 10 years ago. When on foot it felt like there was a lot missing, especially when it came to aiming or selecting a target with gun combat.

Overall Rockstar Games did an excellent job bringing this title back.

Available now on iPhone / iPad / Android

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars • Price: 4.99¢ • App Store