This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Brian Mohr.

Grand Theft Auto has been one of the most successful videogame franchises in history and finally Rockstar is bringing the open-ended gameplay, extreme violence and everything else you’d expect from the series to the streets, literally, with the release of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. The PlayStation Portable exclusive title takes you on a trip back to the haunts of Grand Theft Auto III.

In this story, players assume the role of Toni Cipriani a few years before the events of GTA III. In this version, you again start out at the bottom after being out of town a few years and must kill your way to the top of the mafia underworld.

The entire presentation for Liberty City Stories is amazing. The cutscenes are long, intricate and very well done as it looks like you’re watching a movie. If that’s not enough the game features a full-fledged city with buildings you can go into; a nice variety of vehicles including playable motorcycles, cars and boats; full weather effects; and even some new and interesting characters. Rockstar didn’t just port over GTA III, but instead rebuilt Liberty City from the ground up with a completely new storyline.

The actual in-game graphics are gorgeous too and look even better than our first time to Liberty City on the PlayStation 2. The graphics are smooth, running at a solid 30 frames per second and extremely detailed. An example of this that you wouldn’t expect in the PSP version is completely destructible vehicles. You can literally tear cars apart.

Besides stunning graphics, the game’s audio is wonderful too. The voiceacting is solid, but it doesn’t have the celebrity talent of previous versions. Liberty City Stories also includes radio stations while you drive; there are approximately 10 stations included and each one has about seven songs, a personal DJ and of course the wonderfully comedic commercials that GTA is known for. The radio music spans genres including opera, rock, rap, hip-hop and even boy-bands, all of which are very engaging and keep the game moving. If that isn’t enough already, Liberty City Stories also gives players the option to play their own custom tracks in the game.

A major problem with many PSP games is the awkward controls especially in relation to the analog stick. Thankfully Grand Theft Auto doesn’t suffer at all from these as you can either use the analog or D-pad and both are very reactive. Controls can also be modified slightly if you feel the need. The lock-on targeting system isn’t the best, as it can be difficult to switch between enemies, but works very well on the limited PSP controls. Overall the controls are intuitive and if you’ve played any Grand Theft Auto before you’ll be able to pick this up in no time.

Finally, the actual game is wonderful in every respect as the load times are short; there are plenty of missions and even a multiplayer option. The load times in Stories are approximately 15 seconds long for cutscenes and less than 10 seconds when entering buildings.

As for the missions they are a little shorter as Rockstar wanted to appease those on the go. Missions take approximately five-ten minutes, but there’s plenty to do as the game offers at least 50 hours of gameplay spanning Portland, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale. Of course like every GTA game, there is plenty to do just by driving around and causing havoc on your own.

Finally, the multiplayer ad hoc mode is a wonderful feature added to Liberty City Stories. This allows you to play six people in seven games including race, deathmatch, tanks-for-the-memories, hit list and more. Tanks-a-lot has players battling for a tank in the level while hit list has everyone attempting to knockoff one of the players. Surprisingly Rockstar made the multiplayer mode a very deep experience and it certainly gets you excited for what may be offered in the future.

Though Grand Theft Auto certainly is the highest rated game for the PlayStation Portable to date it doesn’t come without a few drawbacks. Probably the most serious problem with Liberty City Stories is the camera. While on foot, the camera can get a bit out of place and to realign it you must press the left trigger. This isn’t as much of a problem if you’re just walking around, but if you’re in a firefight good luck.

Occasional slowdown was another issue present in the game. This happens randomly throughout the game and is only a minor distraction, but is worth mentioning. It seemed to be worst when you would have too much happening on-screen with cars and pedestrians. The battery life also wanes a lot faster for Liberty City Stories. For a fully charged battery you can expect approximately four hours of play.

Finally, one other issue in the game isn’t a problem, but rather a disappointment. As mentioned above Stories features multiplayer ad hoc, but we really wish Rockstar would have included infrastructure mode as well for the multiplayer experience. It’s pretty rare for six players to come together in person, but an online game would have instantly been a hit.

Overall it’s hard to imagine that any game in the next year for the PSP that could get much better than this. We are just over six months after launch and to have a game that looks, sounds and feels as impressive as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is amazing. I was stunned by how well made this game was. Stories certainly is a wonderful achievement for the PSP, but it does have a few drawbacks with the slowdown, camera issues, battery and a lack of online play, but you still can’t be that disappointed as this is the best game on the PSP.

The controls and game in general are wonderful.

Liberty City Stories looks nearly as good as any version on the consoles.

The soundtrack, voiceacting and sound effects are very impressive.

GTA is just as fun as previous titles in the series.

The game has a good amount of missions. Plenty of unlockables and hidden items.