THE reason to own a PSP.

The PSP has been missing a true killer app since its launch in the spring. Arguably, there have been a number of great games for Sony's powerful portable, but nothing really mind-blowingly huge and high profile. Until Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, of course. Without even getting into any details, if you have any interest in the Grand Theft Auto series and own a PSP; close your browser, head to a store, and pick up LCS right now. If you don't have a PSP, buy one (and a copy of the game, of course).

Liberty City Stories is a fully realized installment of the GTA series, except on the PSP. We're talking the same high production values, satirical humor, and scope we have all grown to love about the franchise. I don't quite know how they've managed to put it all together in what could be considered a first generation PSP title, but they have.

The story of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories takes place 3 years before the events of Grand Theft Auto 3. We find that our main character Toni Cipriani has returned from laying low for the past 4 years after taking out a rival mob boss for the Leone crime family. Having welcomed him back with open arms, the Don Salvatore Leone is putting Toni to back work under the watchful eye of Vincenzo Cilli, one of his most trusted capos. For those not familiar with the GTA timeline, LCS takes place in the period between GTA: San Andreas (early 90's) and GTA III (early 2000's), which would set it at around the late 90s. Toni was first seen in the original GTA III as a Mafia capo in the Leone family, a part time restaurateur and an all-around momma's boy. But in LCS, Toni begins as a lower level hitman. But as you would expect, he climbs through the Leone ranks rather quickly. Liberty City Stories takes on a very Sopranos-ish vibe, especially in regards to the Toni and his relationship with his mother, whom he still lives with. Rockstar as usual, does a great job in linking up all of the games in the series, and long-time fans will certainly appreciate the continuity. The writing is superb and amusing once again, and I'd challenge anyone to not at least chuckle at the many obvious and not so obvious bits of satire.

Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North somehow created an engine that is just as capable as the console versions, and in some respects, even more so. Since the game is set in the same location as GTA III, it's very easy to make a comparison. The custom written PSP engine cranks out a game which resembles the original PS2 version of III, though with a few additional effects, some better textures, a more consistent framerate, and an unbelievable (especially on a portable) draw distance. From pretty much any place in Liberty City, you can see for what seems likes miles into the distance, with hardly any popping in of scenery. The environments, both inside and outside, are solid all around, and are as detailed and full of life as the console versions. There appears to be slightly less traffic and pedestrians overall, but there's still more than enough to clog up the various streets and avenues. The vehicles appear to be more detailed, and have better reflections. The character models are nearly identical to those in San Andreas and previous games, right down to the freaky "mitten hand" syndrome. The framerate, while mostly smooth, has a few minor hiccups every once in a while, but certainly nothing worse than seen in previous incarnations. The weather and time-of-day effects are also present, and come across just as nicely as before. LCD ghosting, which is unfortunately inherent on any LCD display, rears its ugly head a bit. The non-intentional ghosting while moving around on foot or during certain cut-scenes (usually in high-contrast scenes) is definitely distracting at first. It's mostly forgotten about after putting some time into Liberty City Stories, but it certainly stands out the first time you play the game.

Once again, the audio is as varied and impressive as you would expect it to be in a full-featured Grand Theft Auto title. The late 90's soundtrack is awesome and is very similar in style to GTA 3's. Liberty City Stories features several hours of radio station programming, complete with original and licensed tracks, the ever-popular talk station, and one of the more interesting additions, an Indian (as in Asian, not Native American) station. The always amusing satirical commercials, and everyone's favorite LCFR talk show host, Lazlow, are also back in full force. And the rumor that the game would include a custom soundtrack option is definitely true, at least it seems that way. The game's audio menu has a big disabled "Custom Soundtrack" option, but absolutely no one with the game has yet to find a way to unlock it. Rockstar has yet to officially comment besides "check the official website". Something makes me think this will end up being a future downloadable update. (Eds Note: What a coincidence, Rockstar just literally released their Custom Tracks application, downloadable from here).

The voice acting, production values, and script in general, is excellent. Michael Madsen originally voiced the part of Toni in GTA III, but contrary to rumors, he has not reprised his role in LCS; an actor by the name as Danny Mastrogiorgio (his credits on IMDB) is credited with the part. He sounds similar to the way Madsen did as Toni, and does an excellent job regardless. The rest of the cast similarly sound great, and the pedestrians, once again, have plenty of amusing comments as they go about their daily routines. Don't be surprised to hear that Liberty City Stories is just as vulgar as any GTA game before it, and it may be even worse in some respects if you can believe that. With having to squeeze that many hours of voice and dialog onto a UMD, Rockstar had to compress the audio more than they have on the previous Grand Theft Auto installations. As a result, the voices, and some of the music, have a bit of a "tinny" sound on occasion; even through the headphones. The overall audio package is stellar, and is even more impressive when you realize it is being pulled off on a handheld system.

Let's be honest, the GTA games have always had slightly wonky control schemes, but ones that could usually be adjusted to. The PSP is missing 2 triggers, the select button, an entire analog stick, and the analog stick R3/L3 buttons. So as you can expect, the control has changed. All of the basic movements, both on foot and in a vehicle, are more or less the same. In particular, without the second analog stick you have even less camera control than before, so you are even more at the mercy of game's engine. The left trigger in combination with the analog stick is used for a number of camera related functions but they are no real substitute for the second analog. The game's camera mostly behaves, I believe thanks to the widescreen view, although there are times when you'd like to swing the view back into a certain direction a bit quicker. The lock-on targeting and free-aim weapon/attack schemes have been brought over from San Andreas intact. There is no crouching or crouch walking however, and there is only one common attack button now. When fighting with weapons from a distance, things usually go relatively smoothly. When the need arises to bust a cap at close range it can frequently be a challenge to actually lock on to the proper target, especially when under pressure. This problem has existed in the entire series, but it is magnified to an extent in GTA: Liberty City Stories due to the control restrictions. If you were able to live with the controls in III, Vice City and San Andreas, you'll have no major problem with the control in this version, once you become accustomed to the changes. As for driving, the controls are just about perfect. The analog nub takes a few minutes to adjust to, but once you do, it's smooth sailing. I found many vehicles, the motorcycles especially, to be even easier to handle. The physics have not suffered at all either. From the insane flipping/twisting stunts bonuses, to the chain reaction of several cars catching fire then exploding, to the flying over the dirtbike handlebars, Rockstar did not skimp on that aspect of the game's engine.

It's impossible to review a PSP game without mentioning load times, especially since the first batch of games had some nasty and confusing loading issues. LCS absolutely does not suffer the same fate. After the initial load (which is about 20 seconds), loading is faster than any console version of GTA yet. Saving/loading a game, starting a new mission, entering a safe house, or reloading a mission takes anywhere from 2 to 3 seconds, to around 10 or so. Changing your clothing takes about a second, and is much improved over San Andreas. Once you are out and about in the city, there is no loading what so ever. Somehow they've squeezed an insane amount of detail out of the engine all without the need to constantly stream from the UMD. You can hear it spin up here and there, but not as much as you'd expect considering the amount of data they would need to fetch. Still, one of the best features of the PSP is the instant "sleep" mode. If you never need to jump back to the PSP home menu or change UMDs, you can literally just instantly continue from exactly where you left off. It's practically a guarantee that you will never see the title screen after starting up for the first time. Battery life, when using the headphones at about 50% volume and the screen brightness at high, has lasted 3+ hours, though I've never let it run down totally. Rockstar claims about 4 hours under the right conditions, which is really quite good.

As with any game in the series, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is all about the missions and the details. The game is packed full of story driven missions and assorted side-jobs and tasks. The missions, which progress the storyline, are only about 60 - 70% of the game, with the remainder being the additional fun stuff to keep you busy. The same variety of missions are available in LCS, though they are somewhat tailored to the portable format. In other words, they are on average, a bit shorter in length, though there are some fairly involved longer scenarios as well. Shorter does not always equal easier, since you'll find a few fairly difficult missions that will require several restarts. One of the amazing aspects of the GTA series is the A.I., and LCS doesn't disappoint at all. The city presents itself as a living breathing entity, with people just going about their own business. You can cause all sorts of chaos yourself, or watch the various citizens do it for you. For example, I've seen a guy carjack an individual, run down some bystanders, then get into a gun fight with the police, which lead to the ambulance crew being dispatched.

Possibly as a first step to get the next GTA games online, Rockstar has put together a rather full-featured WiFi multiplayer mode. Unfortunately the WiFi play is restricted to the local Ad-Hoc mode. Regardless, the game is packed with multiplayer content. Up to 6 players can battle it out in 7 distinct modes, in the entire unlocked city, with over 60 unlockable characters/outfits, with all the vehicles, the full cache of weapons along, and exclusive power-ups. The modes range from flat out racing, to strategic team-based gang fights. If the multiplayer mode included true online functionality (though it is already possible via tunneling software like XLink Kai), it would have been an incredible addition.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is easily, hands-down, the best "console style" portable game yet. Rockstar has cut no corners in crafting the game for the PSP and it shows. This is the real deal, and is, in my opinion, a good enough reason to buy a PSP. A few control issues hold it back from getting a perfect score, but we'll save that for Vice City Stories (we hope).