Grand Theft Auto 3 iPhone, iPad Review: A Strong Contender For Game of the Year

Funny how things play out, isn’t it? Back in 2001, when Grand Theft Auto III (GTA III) was originally released on the PlayStation 2, the overriding challenge was to bring the previously 2D series into the realm of full 3D. There would be few among us that would argue against Rockstar successfully and magnificently pulling off the challenge; thus providing the spark that would signal players’ love affair with all things sandbox and open-world.

Fast forward 10 years and Rockstar are again faced with a challenge. This time in how to bring a game held in such high regard by so many to a device without buttons, without analogue sticks and primarily designed as a means of communication and fart machines.

Perhaps that’s playing Apple’s box of tricks short (this review is based on the iPhone edition), after all this is the same device that has provided full 3D experiences (of varying success) in the form of Dead Space, Infinity Blade , various EA Sports titles and others.

No matter how you look at it, though, bringing the full living, open-world of Liberty City to the palm of your hand is an altogether different proposition. Not only are there technical issues to solve, but Rockstar has got to provide a framework of inputs and controls that not only work but are intuitive to GTA III newcomers and veterans alike.

At the end of the day, this is a Rockstar game. Rockstar don’t tend to pick or produce half-baked projects. Rockstar showed us that you can make an expansive desert fun in Red Dead Redemption and that the simple act of asking questions can be extremely engaging in L.A. Noire.

They’ve now shown us that full open-world environments work on a pocket sized touch-screen devices. To say that this 10th anniversary edition of GTA III represents an achievement on the same scale as the 2001 release would be a gross overstatement, but to say it works is not.

Those elements that make it work are exactly the same as they were 10 years ago. However, the way you interact with them is, obviously, not.

There’s no doubting that this edition of GTAIII has the best “virtual analogue stick” implementation I’ve just seen on the iPhone – it’s a far cry from the comparative crap offered by iPhone editions of Gameloft knockoffs and Fifa. In a bit of particularly smart thinking, anywhere you touch on the left side of the side becomes the central point of your virtual stick, removing the need for pinpoint finesse and needlessly accurate muscle memory.

It’s the rest of the controls that fail to live up to par. Sprinting, jumping, entering/exiting cars, shooting et al are plonked onto the right side of the screen as a series of buttons sitting next to each other. For someone with large thumbs like myself, accidentally hitting jump when I want to shot the guy gunning for me does (and will) lead to too many premature deaths - in turn leading to frustration and too much cursing.

Problems also exist when inside vehicles as camera movements are handled by tapping and sweeping at the centre of the screen. Unless you’re an octopus, this forces you to take your thumbs away from the steering and/or pedals, which is particularly annoying when you’re being chased and want to look at your pursuers while remaining on the road.

Still, things are hardly a nightmare and, as I alluded to above, there are many examples of how to approach similar problems in an inferior manner.

Controls aside, this rerelease is universally excellent. It seems that nothing has been cut from the original; all the voiceovers, radio stations, missions, car types and locations retained. The silent anti-hero protagonist is as good at letting the rest of the colourful cast take centre stage as he ever was and the plot line still provides the sense of wackiness, post-modern reference and divisiveness as it ever did.

Given the fact that these kinds of games have moved on quite some distance since GTA III’s initial release, some of the missions do feel outdated and repetitive. Replaying it some 10 years later makes it clear that the design team had a difficult job trying to figure out how to properly integrate some mission plots into the bigger narrative picture.

Add that to the issues with the control schemes (which can make time limited missions especially taxing) and you’ve got an experience that will likely turn as many people off as it does on. Essentially, there’s no doubting that the PS3 version remains the definitive edition.

If you’re going to take the plunge and pick this up for the grand old price of £2.99 then you really do need to put on your patient hat on and enter into proceedings knowing that some difficulties lay ahead. Once you accept that, and engross yourself in the world, you’ll find a game that is worth the pain and effort – if only for the characterisation and plot alone.

We so often forget just how much quality the PS2-era GTA games packed when it came to narrative and character. Many of us remember them initially for their technical prowess – pulling off an open, 3D world. After that, we remember them for the vast array of options they afforded when it came to rampaging around the environment and figuring out ever more ingenious means of ending lives.

The experience locked away in GTA III is beautiful. Unfortunately, the control scheme represents a complicated key.