In an attempt to put an end to the lack of good games on the
PSP, the long-awaited GTA: LCS has finally arrived. The visuals are stunning.
The soundtrack is amazing, and the load times are quite impressive. As with all
good things, there are some negatives that need to be addressed.
There’s no question about it; GTA: LCS is gorgeous. I can’t
express how good this game looks. The character and car models could both stand
to be better, but once you see how great everything comes together in the
highly detailed cityscape, all the individual flaws are forgotten.
As you traverse the city, you may notice flaws that are
inherent to the PSP itself such as the game “pausing” here and there to load
the next area. For the most part, this loading is only a fraction of a second.
For the most part, this doesn’t affect the game, but I thought it worthy of
mention. The longest load times I’ve experienced come when loading up a garaged
car, leaving your house after resuming the game, and when a really long cut
scene is about to unfold. Other than that, the loading is exceptional. I’m
really impressed with what Rockstar managed to do here considering Midnight
Club 3 for the PSP has some of the absolute worst load times on the system.
The audio side of GTA is amazing. I’ve heard a good amount
of voice acting and the stuff present in this title tops most English anime. Every
word is spoken clearly and with feeling. The default music is quite good, but
my favorite station would be the talk radio station with its hilarious content.
As if to kick up the audio a notch, GTA: LCS is the first game to allow custom
sound tracks. While utilizing them isn’t the easiest thing to do, it does add
that extra level of customization.
Moving around the fully realized city is actually just as
one would expect from the series. There are a few camera issues that thankfully
don’t last long. Even though you can control the camera, it tends to be a
little wonky. The control for each car, truck, bus, and motorcycle is
drastically different. Likewise, each weapon of the same type functions much
differently. Overall, I’d have to rate the control the best of its genre on the
PSP so far.
Contrary to popular belief, only black men can swim. More
accurately, you’ve lost the ability to swim around in this game. Perhaps, they
did this only to keep you on the main island, but it feels like a slight step
backwards. Among the omissions from San Andreas is the “leveling up” aspect.
You can no longer train at the gym and increase your strength or any of that
stuff. They seem to have gone back to the basics. As a result, the game feels
less involved than the last one. Even so, there are plenty of things to
accomplish this time around.
GTA is a complete game that melds many different genres
flawlessly on a portable system just as its older cousins have done on the
consoles. To be honest, I’m absolutely amazed at this accomplishment. As noted
above, Rockstar seems to have gotten past their loading issues they had with
Midnight Club 3. Hopefully, this will continue in future releases from the
company
Perhaps one of the most engrosing features of GTA:LCS is the inclusion of several multi-player games. These games range from the classic deathmatch to unique games that could only be done in a GTA environment. Unfortunaly these weren't made avaliable through infrastructure mode as I had originally thought. It's unfortunate, but no matter how you look at it, it's an extra feature that is greatly appreciated and likely to be present in the next console GTA.
Overall, I'd say that this is one of the best representations of the series on a portable system and by far one of the best PSP games to date. To be sure, this is the PSP's "killer app" that everyone has been looking for. Most people don't know about the underground emulation scene on the PSP so the fact that you have to update to 2.0 for the game to work won't be much of an issue at all. This is the first game I can honestly say is worth it's price tag of $49.99.
