Over the past ten years, the Grand Theft Auto has captivated audiences with its grungy and edgy style, making the game a cult classic and cementing its place in pop culture for years to come.
Despite being such a fixture in the video game industry for so long, all portable attempts at the GTA series have fallen flat on their collective faces, that is until GTA Liberty City Stories hit the shelves.
The thing that really stands out about Liberty City Stories is that it feels like a combination of GTA 3 & Vice City. Combining elements from such colossal hits and having them at your finger tips not only make Liberty City Stories a must have for any GTA fan, but a good starting point for anyone who’s been living under a rock the past ten years and has never played the game.
Unlike the GBA versions of the series, the PSP version of GTA runs pretty much the same way the PS2 version does. The game’s graphics and sound are without a doubt on par with the PS2 and despite some frame rate problems from time to time, the game runs very smoothly.
One problem, however that rears its ugly head through the games great graphics and sound, is the control. Gamers may have a tough time adapting to the PSP analog stick, as driving and maneuvering your character in tight spaces can become tedious. After a period of gameplay, the game does become much easier to control, but when confronted with many enemies on the screen, getting out-of-the-way often can be too difficult than it should be.
Despite control problems, GTA Liberty City Stories is so much fun to play that most gamers will be willing to put up with the mediocre control the game has. The game loads very proficiently as well, providing gamers with the ability to take the game anywhere. That element alone makes GTA Liberty City Stories a must buy for any PSP owner.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Over the past ten years, the Grand Theft Auto has captivated audiences with its grungy and edgy style, making the game a cult classic and cementing its place in pop culture for years to come.
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