Thank you everybody for all of the love you've shown me and this video the past couple of days! I've loved reading all of your comments and can't wait to read more of them over the next few days while this video surfs the algorithm haha But if you're interested at all in keeping the conversations flowing outside of the comment section, feel free to join my Discord server! I try to keep it somewhat active, and it's a great way to talk to me about any of your interests regarding GTA or anything else. I hope to see you guys there! discord.gg/yKB5bcB
I did not went far even at release on xbox. Difficulty and too basic gameplay always ruined the experience to me. I gave up again with the definitive edition. It just isn't a good game.
Catalina betrays Claude because she and Miguel are getting into the spank business, thus retiring from robbing and Claude wasn't useful anymore ("I'm an ambitious girl and you're just small time"). Don't spank ma bitch up and goodbye chunky lee chonk are important missions to understand the plot, in the first mission the leones find out about spank and in the latter that the triads are selling it for the cartel ("some gang from colombia or colorado or something" as Joey says), this is why the triads grow bold enough to openly challenge the leones, and the leones opposing the spank sale is the reason why the cartel was spying on them through curly bob. Ultimately as Maria herself said Salvatore betrays Claude because he made a deal with the cartel and not just because she told him she and Claude are an item. The main story is the columbian cartel threatening the underwold's balance with a new drug, the triads sell it and now feel powerful enough to take on the mafia, the yakuza doesn't want the yardies to sell it because otherwise they get too strong and the southside hoods split in two factions because they can't agree on wether to sell it or not. The plot is much bigger than Claude and his little revenge against his ex, in Ray's last mission he says that the CIA is involved with the spank business as well, do we find out how and why? No, because we are just a small fish in a huge criminal ocean. That's why I love this game, vice city and san andreas are power fantasies, the world is there for you to take, in gta 3 instead you're just a guy going through something way bigger than him. You're not the main character, you have to connect the dots yourself and even then not every question gets answered because you're just a random hired gun that receives only the strictly necessary intel, you have to work with the limited knowledge you have and fill the blank spots with logic
See, this makes a lot more sense than what I had to infer based on what the story told me. Whether or not that means I’m too dumb to understand the story is up for debate haha, but I appreciate you summing it up as well as you have!
Not everyone likes the same thing, but thankfully, the GTA community isn't savage like the Star Wars fan base where they insult each other over liking one trilogy, movie, game, or show over another.
Idk about that, if you've only played 5 you get a lot of shit. I get it though, 5 is overrated as fuck and ruined the series by making Rockstar complacent due to the constant cash flow from shark cards. I really wish the definitive editions were full blown remakes with 5 style graphics and physics, kinda like Mafia Definitive Edition. I really feel like the 3D trilogy (and the PSP duology) would absolutely fuck with modern graphics, i'd say they would be better than 5 itself.
I think majority of starwars fans can all agree the disney trilogy was absolute dog shite. It was so shite that starwars fans quit arguing about the prequels and they almost seem like a masterpiece in comparison to Disney's. GTA games were all great and built on each other. Its hard to hate any of them when you can see the growth from one to the next.
Slightly right. You ever been in GTA reddits they all act like they hate GTA5 now story & online included. It’s weird almost like they’re obsessed with the nostalgia of the old games. Idc personally as long as we get a new game. Ppl need to go outside man lol
The best things about GTA III is the atmosphere, the challenge, (if you can even call it that) and the map is brilliantly designed and feels bigger than it actually is. I do enjoy playing it so I can imagine myself back in the 2000s (I’m getting old don’t judge me ) or to enjoy that spooky purgatory atmosphere. GTA 3 has a charm to it that more games should try to replicate, but for the sake of gaming history don’t replicate the level/mission design.
I’ll defend Claude being a silent protagonist because it’s canonically recognized he is mute in the universe. Claude stands out for being the most evil and mysterious of the GTA 3D universe main characters. People forget the main characters in the 2D universe were more comically evil compared to later GTA games which had main characters with redeeming characteristics despite being criminals. Claude is the missing link to the 2D and 3D GTA universes. Even Trevor Philips in the HD universe has redeeming character traits and is not outright evil and cold-blooded like Claude.
As someone who's favorite GTA is 3, this video really opened up my eyes on how funky the really game is. I'm 100% blinded by nostalgia whenever i play/talk about this game, but im glad they fixed some of the things in the Definitive edition. GTA 3 may be a dumpster fire, but it's MY dumpster fire 😭😂
It was certainly the most ground-breaking game there'll ever be, and best ever on release. GTAV is obviously the best now. You certainly would think WTF if V was released before III, in terms of gameplay. Did miss the longer memory it had for used cars, and the Rhino controls allowing the cannon to make it the fastest thing in the game. Paramedic - 'impossible'?
certainly! having played GTA 3 to the end on my PS2 last year, I loved it, but was also pretty frustrated by it in many ways. I love a good challenge, but it could certainly get a bit ridiculous at times, it's wild saying this, but for a new casual player, DE might genuinely be the way to go given the gameplay improvements it brings, especially with the latest update that allows you to move and shoot with big weapons, that's an immense improvement over the og that gives the gameplay a LOT more fluidity.
@ChloeLovelocks I've been seeing a lot about the new DE update on Twitter, and the new mechanics that allow you to shoot while moving has genuinely made me wanna run GTA 3 *just one more time* on there hahaha
3 was a good game in 2001 but it has aged like fucking milk, vice city and San Andrea’s were the superior games and on psp LCS feels almost like a remake of 3 and I would say is the best version of the 3d universe liberty city
@@GemmyHomey You took the words right out of my mouth. I’m pretty sure I even detailed this exact sentiment in my video praising Liberty City Stories last year haha
@@DougTheDog6I’m of the opinion that LCS was wasted potential as it took too many steps back from games like VC and San Andreas. VCS on the other hand was much better than LCS and brought back many features from previous games that were lacking in LCS
In the definitive edition bundle, GTA 3 was the best one IMO. Vice City was basically just remade GTA 3 missions and when you got to the second island, the game already felt like it was over. San Andreas is classic but once you play GTA V, you expect GTA V mechanics. Overall, I had the most fun in GTA 3.
To be fair, GTA 1 and GTA 2 was exactly the same. 3 was basically taking the formula of those first two games and make it fully 3D. Vice City is when Rockstar realized they can do so much more with the series. And in defense of Claude (GTA 3 protag), he was deliberately designed to not have any morals or obligations to anyone. So thats why you're always doing things... for cash.
the parallels between GTA2 and 3 are staggering if one knows what to look for (passive story participation tied to gang respect system, stage progression, deadly ai, gouranga, multiple missions available @ the same time, signature gang cars and weapons, collection based reward system, radio stations, gouranga) GOURANGA
@@publichearing8536 also, in GTA 3, you gain money for just bump into cars like in GTA 1 and 2, and you even have the option to play the game in top down perspective
Here are some things I want to correct or point out from this video, or just mention what I love about this game. This is coming from a man whose favorite game ever is GTA III, so here's something's I gotta let you know: - The cars in this game are equally as strong as the ones in Vice City. It's just that there's no actual way of indicating how damaged a car is in GTA III. I don't want to come off as that guy, but I swear every reviewer mentions this in their reviews. If your car is smoking, that doesn't mean it's super damaged/close to blowing up. It's just a visual effect. - Most of the radio stations in the game (notably Head Radio and Lips 106) are self-composed stations, made in-house entirely by Rockstar. Game FM is based entirely on Game Recordings, an independent Hip Hop record label that no longer is around. MSX FM is based entirely around the London MC, MC Codebreaker. Every track is from Timecode's 2001 mix album titled "01.1," with each track playing continuously, one after the other with no advertisements in between. I guess the thing I wanna point out is that the soundtrack is more "personal" than any other GTA game, and I love it for that reason. - Claude betraying Kenji isn't as shocking as so many people make it seem to be. His missions are optional, so Claude has (or can have) no feelings towards him. One might even argue that Asuka didn't save his life, that was Maria. But Maria was the very reason the Italian Mafia turned their backs on Claude. So Claude killing Kenji probably means nothing to him, especially because he knows the Cartel will be at war with the Yakuza, and Catalina will have no choice but to show her face eventually (in which she does). Claude killing Maria at the end of the game apparently isn't him killing her. Just a sound effect to end the game at. Rockstar themselves confirmed this for the 10 Year Anniversary questionnaire. I personally like to imagine he does, and it's for all the mayhem she put Claude through. - The aim on PC is really, really bad because of widescreen support being poorly implemented. The guns in GTA III on PC were designed to have no recoil as to makeup for the lack of no crouch, no cover, etc. There's fixes for it on Steam, though I'm not sure if the mods are still available since the game was delighted on Steam. Don't worry, I will NOT defend the aim on PS2 lol - The Mafia shooting you on sight DOES canonically make since plot wise. I would imagine whoever took over after Salvatore died (either Joey or Tony probably) would demand Claude be hunted down on the spot. Though I agree that there should've more follow-ups after killing Salvatore, maybe a mission where the Yakuza protects you from the Mafia and you have to run? That could've been cool. - I personally enjoy how wild and chaotic the A.I. is in GTA III. Rampaging in GTA III is so much fun because of how hard police will go to take you out. Get a 4 star wanted level and just drive down a highway and seeing the three police cars driving at 200 mph and ramming you hundreds of feet in the air is far more fun than actually fighting back and since the police aren't anywhere near as strategic as they are in later titles, you can have an endless chase as long as you can keep stealing cars once they inevitably wreck yours. - The tank in GTA III is like, the best, in any of the games. It's (basically) invincible and the best toy in GTA history. - The Columbians commit terrorism at the start of the game to distract the rest of Liberty City from their SPANK-pushing, which is a small problem at the start of the game and ultimately becomes one of the biggest at the end. Also, the Old Oriental Gentleman, the man you save for Donald Love in his first mission, is the same guy who was in your convoy and was kidnapped by the Cartel. So not only does Love have a gripe against them for kidnapping him, but causing a gang war with the. would drop the prices for real estate, and he could invest, and ultimately, would help Claude get closer to his revenge. I think Love's Disappearance is one of the most fascinating missions in the game. Love has fled from LC, but we don't know why. - As for the weapon purchasing, you'll never truly need 1,000 ammo for anything. Maybe the SMG, but anything else is overdoing it. The problems you mentioned were all accurate, though. I just don't personally see the ammo problem being all that troublesome since you'll never truly need that much and since you get lots of money, dying ain't such a problem. Overall, I liked this video! I've heard a lot of hate thrown at this game the past few years, which does stank, seeing as it is my favorite game... ever. But so as long as the person who's judging it can simply respect what it's done for gaming, that's all that matters to me! Much respect, brother! ❤ Sorry for the yap lol
I just wanna respond to a few of your points: - I always noticed cars in GTA 3 start to smoke very quickly (as in after taking such a small amount of damage), but always felt that it still takes a lot more crashing afterwards for it to catch on fire. I never knew how accurate this assessment was though, so thanks for confirming it for me - As far as the Mafia’s aggression goes, I agree that it makes sense that it’d be on sight, but their 6th sense to just automatically know that the person driving your car isn’t some random civilian but rather is Claude, that’s the thing that annoys me. I realize their probably this aggressive as a result of programming limitations, as hostile NPC aggression became much more reasonable by San Andreas, but it’s still just really damn annoying lol - I’ll also say that the police AI is fun to mess around with when you’re just free roaming. I forget if this clip made it into the video or not, but as I was gathering footage of the sandbox and had the cops on me, I watched a cop pass me at Mach speed trying to hit me, only to miss and drive halfway up a building hahaha. In free roam, the cops can definitely be fun to try and evade, but when you’re trying to pass a mission, they become more of a pain in the ass - While I didn’t realize the Colombians blowing up the bridge was related to SPANK, I have already noticed that their interception of our police transport was to kidnap Donald Love’s Old Oriental Gentleman, and I think in our first mission for Love, he has us infiltrate a Colombian compound to recover him - I also realize that there really isn’t any reason to have an insane amount of ammo, but it’s still just an annoying limitation that you have to wait so long to buy additional ammo for your guns. One time when this will definitely come into play though is when you’re buying SMG ammo for Vigilante. Whenever I unlocked a new island and was about to start the mode, I’d have to spend a solid 5 or so minutes gathering ammo at the gun shop, and after buying all that ammo, I barely had any to spare after completing the required 20 levels I’m really glad you enjoyed the video btw! I know this game is still a favorite for a lot of people, so while I may not like it very much myself, I was absolutely sure to still give it the respect it deserves, especially considering how important it was to the world of video games. And no worries about the yap, I always love reading everybody’s comments, especially when they put in as much thought into them as you clearly have and are as respectful as you were!
I'm the kind of guy who doesn't really care about the story, so GTA 3 having a "bad" story doesn't really bother me. In cutscenes, I just prefer for the guy to tell me what to do instead of talking for five minutes only to then tell me what to do. Most of the time, it's the same objective as GTA 3's missions: go there and kill a guy. I guess all the talking is an attempt to get me immersed in the story? I'd say the gameplay is okay, but that's just because I'm used to it. However, that's only when playing with a mouse and keyboard. All of the main 3D games have gameplay that feels clunky on a controller, and that's coming from someone familiar with their controls. San Andreas has the best controls, sure, but it's not that much better. GTA 3 plays almost the same as Vice City, with the only differences being the inability to crouch and having a slower lock-on system. That's it. Driving around is fine, but the vehicles and lampposts have some weird hitboxes. The aggressive police AI and the exaggerated car physics that send you flying are kind of annoying, but that's an even worse problem in Vice City, though it's mostly avoidable. That's it; thanks for reading this pointless comment. I've been playing San Andreas and Vice City for quite some time but not much of GTA 3, since I started playing it much later. I just felt the need to say that GTA 3 isn't that bad, at least compared to its successors.
Hey bro, thanks for writing your comment. I always love reading everybody’s thoughts and opinions, regardless of whether or not I agree with them, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing so many people stand up for GTA 3 and tell me what they liked about it (at least I’ve enjoyed the ones that ain’t been dicks about it haha)
I think the story makes kinda sense when using two optics: 1) GTA III is for sure a low budget and they were limited by the time, technology and stuff. However it gives the story this ominous and open ended vibe. The stuff with Donald is more about symbolism than anything else, i love how he just vanishes with the empty box being the only thing left after him. We don't know his relationship with the old man, we don't know why he vanishes after building a huge empire with radio stations, we don't know what was inside the box and what he meant by leaving the empty box there. It reminds me of Pulp Fiction a bit. I kinda liked the open edge of the lore this game has but i understand that it does not offer any polished narrative. But the abstract story telling is so fun to explore. 2) Now as for the second optic, Claude - the reason why Claude works for whatever side and barely makes any ally is because he is a mercenary guy. 8 Ball helped him and Ray as well so Claude has no reason to go against him. Both of them gave Claude a lot in return for his services, more than just money. The rest of the characters were just using him as a tool to get what they wanted. Claude kept himself detached from it since he is a mercenary who does this for money and nothing else. He has no ties to the other characters who are mean towards him. I kinda love how Claude just goes through motions without questioning everything because he understands perfectly well that if someone will cross a line with him, he will hunt them down. The clothes that Claude has also symbolize him being a mercenary type of guy. When combining these two elements i kinda.... love III lore and its characters. I wish we could have other GTA based around these two elements.
When Claude kills Kenji, I see it as a form of small revenge for the way Kenji treated him in his last mission. The narrative problem in all this is that the game gives you the possibility to kill him before even doing this mission, but let's assume that canonically Claude did all the missions before killing him.
I don't get people who say GTA 3 is better than GTA LCS, when LCS is literally a better version of GTA 3 in every way and with an actual story, GTA 3 was kinda just running random errands for characters, hardly a story.
Gta lcs didn't even ha e a real antagonist. Tony was a lackey running around following orders in liberty city. The dude was literally getting punked by his mother and lesser guys in his gang had more power than he did. It is better in many ways but story wise you must be insane
And the Weird part when u think about it, is that GTA 3 had Lack of Content for Players to be Concern to continue playing after u beat the the Main Story, and like u mentioned VC, and especially SA took 3's Legacy and just made it for what it is today❤ And while I personally have mix feelings with LCS, Good Story (at least with Vincenzo around), but gotten Eh up until the End🤷♂️ And Legitimately went back to GTA 3 & VC's style of Gameplay (Especially Lack of Swimming) but idk, I still prefer LCS over 3, but that's not saying much😂 to me SA & VCS had more Replay Value, Uniquely Different Content, even for their own Locations❤💯
The radio is better, the humor is funnier, the missions are better, it’s awesome when he shoots maria at the end of the game. All the rest of the games are ok but the don’t quite stack up
@kellykapowski2832 I have to agree that 3D era gta games had much more entertaining radio. Specifically talk shows I mean.gta IV and V were not as interesting imo. Also the dj personalities for music stations had more flavor.
You have to understand, when I described this game to people as a child they didn't believe me. You have to put yourself in the mindset of a child who has grown up playing GTA2, and has never seen a open world city in a video game. For me, this game was ruined by _Mafia: City of Lost Heaven_ ,but GTA3 still holds a place as the first 3D GTA game
8:04 Yeah the amount of times I've messed up shooting the plane, I lost an hour of sleep that night Also Claude's name isn't mentioned anywhere in GTA III, Besides's the game files. He was first officially named in GTA San Andreas
GTA 3 is historically very important for game design and technology that brought the world more in-depth knowledge on how games can look if we really tried to make something good. For it's time and with the tech they built and had, this is really the best they could have delivered, although game balancing was not their best side at Rockstar Games. Due to the difficulty and hard tuning of some missions, some missions are just difficult and unbearable. But needless to say. I'd still say this game has a charm to it that is undeniable despite it's difficulty. The difficulty may be easy for speedrunners and such but for the casual beginner player, this game is quite difficult for many reasons. I remember the mission where one had to use a bomb and a car, I just could not get passed that mission at all, even if I tried my best, so I ended my run of the game there. But I still like the game because it has that cool athmosphere and vibe that not many games have replicated since the day this game was released. I like Claude as a character despite being a mute. It is what brings the game it's unique charm. The quiet speaks alot more words, lol.
I think the problem is people don't know how to meet older games where they're at, instead of comparing them to other games that literally couldn't have been made at the time. Sure, if I compared GTA 3 to San Andreas objectively, I'd come up with very few reasons to play it. But I don't compare it to San Andreas in that way, at least not when I'm actually playing GTA 3. When I'm playing GTA 3 it's 2001, and I've never heard of games newer than that, because they don't exist. It was a fun game back then, and it's a fun game now, time doesn't change that. No other game feels quite like like GTA 3 due to the atmosphere, limitations, and time capsule feeling of it. That's why I always come back to it eventually. I never really left.
People really go into games like this with a modern day mindset, it's 23 years old.. Also the difficulty is something that's sorely missed from gta 5 and RDR2.
San Andreas and Vice City are both better games that have difficult missions and have aged better than GTA 3. It’s okay to criticize old games for not aging well.
But the driving in SA was worse than in III, and the shooting is pretty much the same (till IV). SA is only still good for the setting/story, and flying, with a decent soundtrack (but the start of quantity over quality, which went fully bloated cheapo on V/O). III is still good.
I mean, it’s a next gen release of a franchise doing its first full 3D presentation. I think it’s very unfair to compare it to future GTA games where they learned from their mistakes in GTA 3.
4:23 the fact that the developers gave the players a choice to finish Kenji’s missions or just whack him right away was pretty innovative for the time. Even though it was executed poorly (no pun intended).
Oh yeah, when I first played through the game, I was pretty amazed that they had that as an option in a game that came out as early as this one did. Then I heard about the 100% thing hahaha
Is anyone still championing this game? I thought it was pretty much consensus that the game is groundbreaking and amazing when in 2001 but has aged like a banana.
the OST of gta 3 was good I don't agree it was bad. it has sooooo many classics from so many different genres its hard to pass it man. dont get stuck on just one genre.
@@publichearing8536 i got stuck on the drum n base radio a couple months ago when replaying it on pc and I fell in love with it, specially with track "the one"
GTA 3 radio is better than most music today. No joke. MSX FM seems like a meme radio station, but if you listen to tracks like Omni Trio - First Contact, it's a banger.
Vice City is my first GTA game (in 2011) & San Andreas is my second. After experiencing those i tried GTA 3 but it's felt somewhat not as much fun playing VC & SA.(probably because of all those reasons in this video) other than that it's much interesting to explore new map & story.
I love game radio because it has such a magical New York feeling. I also decided to listen to Double Cleff and K-Jah during my second play through and I absolutely loved them.
Say what you will about the poor mechanics of... mostly everything but I doubt you could deny the game's best aspect being the missions not being overly scripted the way the later games are. Most of the missions are essentially tasks you can achieve with complete freedom and no regards to player scenario. Having been used to failing missions for doing something slightly out the specific path the devs intended for, I was kind of mind blown realizing I was playing the game however I wanted without being punished. You will never watch two playthroughs by different people and see it done the same way. I seriously hope they try to replicate the same feeling of freedom during missions for 6.
That is definitely something I genuinely enjoy about GTA 3’s mission design, the fact that you can usually complete them however you want, like how that one guy beat Chunky Lee Chong by taking the target’s car to the bomb shop. I would love for GTA 6 to restore at least the level of freedom GTA 4 gave us a lot of the time, but I don’t think I’d complain too much if they took it a step further and made its mission design similar to the 3D era games
I love III the most because it feels like a *game*; theres a lot of challenge, no boring tutorials or plot exposition for 2 hours (SA is guilty of this), brief cutscenes, little scripted setpieces and missions, and no ubisoft-type bloat. it also really forces you to be involved with the open world and the landmarks because of the lack of a map and said difficulty. each GTA after III became progressively easier and scripted, trying to emulate more of a "cinematic" experience. if III had elements like GTA2's respect system and more vehicles, it would be perfect IMO
I love these aspects of the earlier GTA games, too, especially 2, 3, and VC Although ironically I Happen to enjoy the other end of the spectrum aswell, especially GTA IV and EFLC. GTA 5 lost me a bit, dunno why but only played through it once and never again had the urge to do so a second time.
True, not to mention that it did not take very long for VC to be released after 3, something that will probably never happen again with future GTA games.
Not every way - SA definitely has the worst driving in GTA, worst handling, with lots of pop-in, and wild traffic (which is a bit better on the 360/XSX mobile port). VC is better than III in every way, apart from III has the best memory for used cars in all GTA. The cannon boost on the Rhino tank was great too - which you can't even do on V.
That’s not true. San Andreas sucked and VC was like gta 3 with less stuff like no bikes. GTA 3 is better than LCS. don’t underestimate gta 3 just bc it’s from 2001…
I played through GTA 3 for the first time back in 2021 and while I do agree with some of your points like the game being bare-bones and some activities being badly designed, making playing them later in the story borderline impossible. Still I did actually enjoy the game and it was because of the story and world. The reason I liked the story is because of the way I see the main character aka Claude. I see Claude as a mute psychopath that nobody can understand, a straight up alien. He has nothing that makes you relate to him, no friendship, no love, no loyalty, heck he doesn't even really care about money. All he does is go around and do tasks for complete strangers for no apparent reason. His character and story are straight up amusing. It always feels as if he's on the sidelines of everything happening around him yet at the same time he's at the center of it all, doing the most insane of tasks given to him. The reason why you didn't enjoy it I think is because you expected for Claude to have some of the qualities I mentioned above. As a big San Andreas fan it was also nice to see what happens to Salvatore and Catalina. In conclusion I don't see GTA 3 as a bad game, compared to it's successors, they are definitely better but I do not see it as bad. As for it being dated, it is but not to a degree where I'd have no fun playing.
This game was actually quite cursed for me because the PS2 disk itself had a problem with the Rise FM radio station. Every time it played that radio station the game would freeze and had to be restarted. So if I hopped in new car and that radio station was playing it would brick it.
I just started playing gta 3 again for the first time since 2007 and I like it for nostalgia compared to later gta games its a skeleton of what gta could become and what it has became
You don't understand it in the context of when it came out. It was brand new, it was 3D, it was mind blowing. Easily a 10/10 at the time it came out. I guess youngsters will never really know, they grew up playing superior GTA style games on their iPod Touches for free.
I mean, hell yes it was a breakthrough back in the day, and it’s a certified hood classic, but you couldn’t swim and even a helicopter could only fly like 50 feet off the ground.
Claude just wants revenge, he was betrayed and now everything and everyone is just a pawn in his mission, they are criminals who eventually will backstab him, at least this is what I think is happening in his mind. Think of him like Arthur Chigurh, no talking, no money, just a psychopath with goals.
Claude's character is so overlooked because he's just downright evil. He has no loyalties, no ambition and doesn't even speak. He just wants to kill, then revenge, and earn money to buy better weapons to kill more again. He's like Michael Myers.
Imagine going right now and buying an iPhone 3gs , of course your gonna tear it a new ssshole because it's inferior to the latest... dude you had to be there when it came out to really feel the joy and excitement.
I get what you’re saying, but my issue with GTA 3 is how poorly it’s aged compared to the games that immediately followed it, Vice City and San Andreas. Whereas 3 was only a good game back when it came out, the latter two titles are still a genuinely fun time to play through even 20 years after they came out (at least in my opinion). And while I’ve been playing San Andreas for all 20 of those years and thus have an obvious nostalgia for it, I really played Vice City for the first time the same day that I played GTA 3 for the first time. I essentially have the same level of experience with the two titles, but I really don’t have a thing to bitch about regarding Vice City. And I really wouldn’t even care tbh, but it’s all the people who have gotten the wrong message in my past videos talking about GTA 3 who’ve driven me to make this video
@@edospher8601 Don’t get me wrong, I understand as well that GTA 3 walked so that all the games after it could run. Given the knowledge the developers had at the time, they knocked it out of the park with this game. But that being said, that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy playing GTA 3 nowadays if it doesn’t hold up nowadays
@@DougTheDog6 Very true , imo its very boring and repetetive . The one of the most important things in a game is Gameplay. Vice city on the other hand was very different , more engaging and fun missions , good characters and overall vibe is uplifting.
I love gta 3 but that’s silly homie. It’s a great classic game that just didn’t age well with the silly missions and god awful AI. I still love it though. It’s my second favorite gta out of the trilogy.
All points are valid, but GTA III was unprecedented at the time of release and everything "wrong" with it was soon improved in later games, which kinda makes it immune to criticism over 20 years later. Also, I think the soundtrack was actually great. Sure, when I played VC later I thought that was better, but returning to this game years later I realise, III has the perfect soundtrack for police chases and rampages. Other games' radios played songs, that were already hits, III's soundtrack feels tailor-made for the setting.
GTA 3 is just one of those games you leave alone in today’s age. It’s like the stone wheel to the cave men. You had to have been there to understand how great it was
The PC version does have auto aim, you change your controls from standard to classic in the settings and then it's the exact same thing as the console version.
Never realized that, I’ll have to go through and check that out next time I hop on. Although if it’s the same as the PS2 version’s auto aim, I’ll probably stick with the free aim lol
I'm glad most people in the comment section actually respect your take. Afterall, it's always interesting to hear people's opinions. Both positively and negatively.
This game holds a special place in my heart. When I was a kid, my mom brought home an old computer from her employer, and playing this game on it felt like stepping into a whole new world. I used to dive into it right after school, completely lost in its magic. I even lent it to my friends once I was done with it-but to this day, they still haven’t returned it!
I’ve been seeing these hindsight reviews and I don’t think it’s fair. Games like GTA V, Rd2, fallout and more gave spoiled us into thinking that’s what video games are. This game is fun and always will be, the bugs have been that since the beginning, don’t judge it with your 2020s brain
I do think it’s fair if other games from its era can hold up in the modern day with no problem. As I’m typing this reply, I’m watching the end credits of Vice City because I literally just beat the game again, and even though the game only came out one year after GTA 3, it still gave me an enjoyable experience. I understand that GTA 3 was a good game when it came out, and I understand that it laid the foundation for games like Vice City and the ones you listed to prosper, but that doesn’t give it a pass for not being fun to play through in this day and age
I know this is the cliche response, but you truly, truly had to experience this game when it first came out in 2001. The world was in a haze of doom/confusion in the wake of 9/11 and then this comes out and COMPLETELY changes the face of video games. I think for a lot of us we associate the two.
GTA 2/III are my dark souls, the bugs and insane mission difficulties are what makes it great for me. And also, being the first 3d game it was pretty experimental, and still kept the absurdity of the 2D games with it.
When this game came out we didn't play it for the story, we played it because it was the only open world game where you could do so much. Being all we had at that time it was a place many of us lived clocking so many hours. I bought a PS2 specifically for this game and I don't think I got another till vice city came out. We had to learn the map, tricks to make mission easier, sharing any info we could without having any online databases to search. So it makes complete sense to me why this would be unlikable to some. Even tho I grew up with it I wouldn't put that effort in if It had come out more recently. There are so many similar and better things to play but, I'll always love it for what it gave us.
I think the story is severely lacking. However, in a weird way I think the poor plot makes Claude more interesting unintentionally. I find it interesting how Claude is perfectly ok with doing anything so long as it gets him closer to Catalina. He cares about revenge and only has loyalty to himself and the pursuit of that goal. He can be friends with you one minute but if someone else asks him to take you out, he won’t even hesitate if he sees a way to further his goal. I kinda like how he coldly takes out Maria at the end, Claude wasn’t there to save her at all, if anything she was a pain in his neck so he just kills her and that’s that. It shows the whole game he made no connections to anyone but rather was only doing everything just so he could get his revenge on Catalina, he’d probably kill 8-Ball if asked to. But because he backstabbed just about every faction in the city except Donald Love who has fled Liberty by the end, he now exists in a city that wants him dead where he has no one he can rely on. He has to live the rest of his life with his head over his shoulder and will likely die a horrible death considering he betrayed many groups that treat that act as the worst thing you can do against them. It makes me wish there was a sequel exploring Claude’s character. After all, he was dating Catalina, did he have love at some point or was their relationship solely out of a desire to make money? He seemed innocent enough in San Andreas, did Catalina corrupt him or was he always this way? Maybe he resents Catalina for turning him into a monster or maybe not, but we’ll never know because we abandoned the 3D era. Not saying my speculation makes it good but you have to admit it’s an interesting set up for an alternate universe GTA4 that was set in the 2010s about Claude set in the PS2 universe.
I really like the way you’ve thought about this story because that’s a perspective I hadn’t considered at all. From my standpoint, it felt like Claude mostly abandoned his drive to get revenge against Catalina until it just fell in his lap, but from the way you described it, he calculated and found his path to revenge and didn’t care who he had to sacrifice to get it. That perspective makes a lot more sense and I think actually makes it a better story. Thank you for your insight!
This game was made for the audience of that era, 23 years has passed, even if you're entitled to your opinion, that's completely and absolutely irrelevant because the game has given what it had to a looooooooong time ago, pointless argumentation.
@@thunderboltproductionsshpk Alright then riddle me this. You could argue Vice City was made for generally the same audience since it came out only one year later. 22 years have passed since then, but my opinion is that it’s still a fun game. Is my opinion still irrelevant because I wasn’t there to properly enjoy it in 2002, even though I still thoroughly enjoy it in 2024? That game gave what it had to a long time ago as well, and it’s still giving it even now, so why can’t GTA 3?
@@DougTheDog6 It is very simple to explain actually, GTA3 was only meant to bring the GTA world into a 3D environment, that was their main goal. The budget for 3 & VC was the same, but in 3 they used it to build all of the game mechanics, freeroam, design, guns, cars etc. In VC they already had everything pre-made so they immediately focused on the story\characters, in SA they went further and added customization, larger map etc. Each game had unique atmosphere. Your opinion is your opinion, you still like VC because of its story\characters\memories, i dont know and i dont need to know that. What i know is that its a bit too late to talk about these games now.
They didn’t just focus on a better story with more memorable characters in Vice City, they also introduced new mechanics like the ability to crouch, they updated the car physics, added a pause menu map, and overall just wrung out many of the issues that exist in GTA 3. I agree that Vice City has the luxury of being built on an already successful game, and I fully believe that if it’s only as good as it is because Rockstar had gained plenty of knowledge about the new open-world 3D genre by making GTA 3 first. But basically the point of this video was to say that as great as GTA 3 probably was when it came out, it doesn’t hold up today like many other games do, and that’s because of the knowledge Rockstar lacked before they made it The reason why I talk about this stuff nowadays though is because last year, I made a video praising Liberty City Stories to encourage people who never gave it a try for being ‘just a PSP port’ to try it out if they have the chance. I considered it a better version of GTA 3 and ended up getting blasted for it by a ton of comments lol. So, since it’s been on my mind since then, this video was pretty much a response to the argument that GTA 3 is a good game just because it was groundbreaking. Yeah, maybe I’m a couple decades too late on the subject, but as somebody who only played through both Vice City and GTA 3 for the first time a couple years ago, it’s relevant to me, and if it’s relevant to me, I’m gonna talk about it haha
No shit, no one without the nostalgia of playing it as a kid right when it came out actually enjoys playing it now, it's a game with zero QOL considerations because no one even understood what to ask from this type of game yet
I have briefly played it back in the early 2010s but never tried to fully immerse myself in it until recently. This turned out to be my favorite GTA. Obviously flawed in many areas and objectively not the best game in the series but III gave me a specific type of enjoyment none of the other games managed to.
I’m aware of this, I myself split Taxi into two runs as I didn’t have the time to do all 100 in a row, but I believe you lose the bonus you get for doing so many fares in a row if you end the session and start a new one
This game is dated now, but back in the day, this game was mind-blowing! For us who grew up playing the NES, SNES, SEGA, N64, never before were we able to roam a massive 3D world, full of people, all kinds of vehicles, and cause so much anarchy. We couldn't believe what we were playing. GTA III wasn't just a milestone, it changed the way we viewed games forever, it was the beginning of the massive open world games of today. Nobody really cared about the flaws like a main character who doesn't talk or how the story is pretty random. The difficulty was o.k.; you had to practice, but once you got it, it was pretty fair. PS I didn't like GTA IV. I thought it was a huge downgrade to San Andreas and even Vice City. Sure GTA IV was the most realistic of the series to that point but more realistic doesn't necessarily make it better or more fun.
I agree with you in regards to GTA 4. When it first came out, it was cool how realistic it was, but it definitely lacked a lot of the features we had in San Andreas and Vice City. Nowadays now though, while it still lacks those features, I’ve been able to have a lot of fun messing around with the game’s realistic physics
GTA 3 is definetly the weakest of the trilogy, it's feels experimental so to say but it has it's own theme wth the dark/foggy atmosphere. Really like the 2000's vibe
Music, movies, emos etc. Me personally I would play "dark" dystopic games at the time, wether it's on a space ship with grey steel corridors or a stonecold castle. The games were often a bit older and before my time, but those I played took place in dark areas like spacestations, polluted cities or underground science labs.
I hate to use this word but for me gta 3 is outdated, not in its story or narrative, but gameplay. As much shit the Definitive Edition gets(and rightfully so), the quality of life additions like the weapon wheel and checkpoints are really welcome and only improved my experience with gta 3.
The idea of GTA 3 was to show off the new capabilities of the PS2 such as a full 3D open world that is breathing and living. Claude was never meant to talk, the story was an addon to the gameplay, that's why it was and feels like circustance or luck in the way it ends. As for the gameplay, this was one of the first attempts to develop a game like this, DMA (former Rockstar) only had experience with 2D mechanics so GTA 3 ended up feeling very arcadey because they tried to translate a lot of the mechanics from GTA 2 into a 3D world like when you hit cars you get money. Though the difficulty was a normal thing back then, PS1 and early PS2 games were generally very difficult because they were short games so it was a common design philosophy in order to extend its value, even Vice City can feel hard at times. Honestly if it wasn't for the atmosphere and the DnB music, I probably wouldn't like it too much either. This game and Hitman Contracts have the darkest atmosphere of the era without jumping into the horror genre.
"Clause was never meant to talk." That's actually false. The GTA Series Videos channel on UA-cam acquired the official design document of GTA III and Claude originally had dialogue and conversations. But partway through development, Rockstar decided to scrap his dialogue and make him a silent protagonist.
@@DeadPixel1105 So there is conflicting info from Rockstar. In all their Q&As they always said Claude was never meant to talk and even descredited that trailer video with the "get out of the car" quote as being fake. Imo, early on they wanted to have Claude from GTA 2 but then as development actually started they ditched that idea and made him mute.
Playing a game when you weren't there for it to be "current" shouldn't detract from someone's opinion over material, also mind you, gta 3 even in the era it was released aged faster than almost every other game released that year, whether it was mechanically, visually, or writing. Also I don't understand that comparison of "Fortnite kid" and "Platformer" it literally makes no sense in this context of a criticism of a story AND gameplay over what is only a gameplay difference. Though smashing cars and fighting in GTA 3 is still very fun it still has it's great charm to this day like all 3d gta's.
That’s makes no sense I didn’t play gta LCS when it was currently heck I wasn’t even born yet when the game came out yet I recently just finished the game and I had a blast and think it’s extremely underrated does my opinion no matter ?
I personally disagree, not playing a game when it came out may actually make your opinion more objective due to not being blinded by the novelty of new tech and pretty graphics, also possibly nostalgia altho I this is coming from someone who believes the 'nostalgia blindness' argument to be very weak Also I think your Fortnite kid analogy is flawed, I'll admit this is only a personal antidote but my little brother is a big Fortnite fan yet he can enjoy a lot of retro games, for example recently I introduced him to Saints Row 2 and the 3D era GTAs and he enjoyed them (tho he was already a fan of GTAV so that may have influenced his opinion) (also ik SR2 isn't technically retro yet, but it's an older game)
in GTA3 never use cheat code to spawn tank, because spawned tanks will never disappear and no matter if they been destroyed, it can affect the traffics
HUH?? I love driving around in Vice City. 3 I can understand. But in Vice City fast cars spawn like wildfire, and the radio soundtrack and 80’s Miami atmosphere?? Your crazy
@@DougTheDog6Get good, all jokes aside I have the tiny ass map of 3 printed on my brain so the map is not a problem for me. I certainly get your frustration though, I used to hate GTA 3 when I was a small child but grew to love the game when I was a teenager.
@@DougTheDog6 The map is small and should be easy enough to remember Being able to make a mental map is something every person should be able to do unless you have a legitimate disability
I didn't need a map. It wasn't a thought when I played thru GTA 3, and going back to it, I didn't notice that it ain't have a map on the pause menu like later games till' it was mentioned in another video. I didn't know the physical was meant to be used. I just thought of it as a cool extra with the game. Lol
12 year old me loved this game but now as an adult I still get ptsd from some of the missions one of the things i like about it was the soundtrack and the dark gritty atmosphere
I agree that it really doesn't hold up well, but I still like playing it just for its vibe alone. When a game simply nails its atmosphere, then I don't really mind its shortcomings in other areas.
I mean i can understand not liking the game now if you compare everything with san andreas/vice city/ vice stories/lc stories and granted the story might not be the best, but you can't tell me you didn't like it when it first came up.
I probably would’ve enjoyed it when it first came out, but sadly my earliest experience playing this game was after I’d already dumped countless hours into San Andreas and before GTA 4 came out
@@DougTheDog6that’s your problem. GTA 3 is one of the greatest games ever made…get a clue! before doing videos😂😂 just bc other games have better graphics later years on doesn’t mean the original one with the idea is bad, that’s stupid😅
@@PrincessDesert Dawg, at no point in any of my videos have I ever made the claim that superior graphics make a superior game. San Andreas *barely* looks better than GTA 3, do you really think that’s why I like it so much more? I don’t like GTA 3 because of its lack of content, crappy controls, and because it’s outdated. GTA 3 was great for its time, but every game in the franchise that followed it has built on it to improve themselves in every way
@@DougTheDog6 bro. GTA 3 is a classic. You’re jumping to conclusions …just bc u dislike it for some reason . Liberty city stories has better graphics so what??? It’s not regarded as one of the greatest games ever made, GTA 3 IS regarded as one of the best ever made. It beat Driver 2!! Because that’s what it’s competition was about back in September 2001. U have to be more realistic
@ Again, I don’t care about GTA 3’s graphics, San Andreas’ graphics, LCS’ graphics, etc. But sure, GTA 3 was revolutionary when it came out. Without it, we don’t get either of the other games I just mentioned, nor do we get all of the other titles that came after it. But I don’t find GTA 3 to be a fun game in 2024, and that’s because all of those other titles took what was made with GTA 3 and continually did it better Was GTA 3 the best game of all time in 2001? Sure. But in 2002, that title went to Vice City, and in 2004, it went to San Andreas, and that game has held the crown ever since (in my opinion at least). That’s what I’m claiming. Not that GTA 3 wasn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread when it first came out, but that it’s not a fun game to play today
in GTA3 the 8-ball bomb shop is unique, from portland the car explodes when entering the car, in staunton the bomb is on timer, and in shoreside you'll get detonator
i played this game shortly after playing gta vice city and sa and i remember not liking it, not cause it was hard but because in nearly every mission you were inside of a car and there were only like 2 mission were you actually got to leave your car and shoot at people. this game is closer to a racing game than an open world crime simulator, the only difference is you steal cars instead of buying them.
Its great game!! Original missions, interesting story, great plot, fine graphic, many hours of gameplay, 2000 atmospheric awesome. Absolute legend! Game old 24 years and recommend it to others to experience! Pease.
Naw, even as someone who loves this game, I have to agree with him. III's controls are often awkward and the game is extremely punishing. I sympathise, even as a longtime fan.
I agree with the comment that this is a "you had to be there to experience it". I remember going to my cousin and watching him play this game and it just blew my mind. The 3D sandbox was something my ten year old brain just wasn't used to. And i spent many days convincing my parents to let me visit my cousin more so I could play that game.
GTA3 holds a place in a heart. Good memories of sneaking this game when I was a kid and I loved every second of it, unfortunately I cannot enjoy it today, it just isn't fun to play but I still appreciate it.
I feel like the typical Rockstar mission-based story structure is usually a detriment to the quality of storytelling. Even in Red Dead Redemption 1, a huge chunk of the missions were of the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" variety. So you weren't really progressing the story as much as you were completing random tasks for certain characters so that EVENTUALLY they would help you progress the main story.
You can get good at any garbage doesn't mean it's not garbage. I think any true GTA fan can acknowledge issues with the games and also you don't have to love every game in a series either to be a true fan of the series.
Car physics is the main reason why I love GTA 3 over say San Andreas, it is so fun to run away from FBI on 5 stars in GTA 3, I did that for years each night after work back in the day, that's where my most viewed video (1.3 million) came from. Gun play is super OP on PC due to insane pixel accuracy, that's why I started playing with PS2 aiming even on PC to make the game harder. I also like Vice City but popped wheels and spikes ruin the fun for me.
When I play GTA3, it takes me back to my junior year of high school when it was a brand new game. I spent so much time playing this game with friends who I’ve either lost touch with, or have passed away. I’ll agree that the following GTA titles are better by leaps and bounds. However once I start up GTA3 on a play through, it takes me back to a simpler time where spending time with your friends didn’t mean you had to write it down on a calendar two weeks in advance.
Thank you everybody for all of the love you've shown me and this video the past couple of days! I've loved reading all of your comments and can't wait to read more of them over the next few days while this video surfs the algorithm haha
But if you're interested at all in keeping the conversations flowing outside of the comment section, feel free to join my Discord server! I try to keep it somewhat active, and it's a great way to talk to me about any of your interests regarding GTA or anything else. I hope to see you guys there! discord.gg/yKB5bcB
Bro all I'm saying is it's a skill issue.
Jk, good video, I agree
@@DougTheDog6 You're very welcome. Happy holidays to you.
Love the game, but hard to go back too. Still rather play it over 4. 4 has no soul.
9:35 Unless you also do KoKaine, then you will never understand any Rockstar game.
9:35 Unless you do Kokaine, then you will never understand any Rockstar game.
Its aged terribly, but if you experienced it in 2001, it was amazing.
It aged well imo, but i didn't... FML!
It did not age terribly lol
I did not went far even at release on xbox. Difficulty and too basic gameplay always ruined the experience to me. I gave up again with the definitive edition. It just isn't a good game.
Big facts
This is facts, for 2001 this game was insane, a 3d sandbox crime simulator? Hell yeah. Of course it doesn’t hold up now, it’s been almost 24 years.
GTA III walked so that Vice City could...jog. And then San Andreas fucking sprinted
Then GTA 4 won a gold medal in a race
@LincolnAKAVenox Fellow GTA IV fan, I see
@MuscleCarLover much respect 🤝
But seriously I've been playing that game a lot recently and it's so much better than on the Xbox 360 lol
@@LincolnAKAVenox Best enjoyed with original radio. I originally played it on PS3 and got hooked
@@MuscleCarLover is the radio different on the pc compared to consoles? I never noticed
I unironicly love how difficult and janky this game is! The dark, eriee atmosphere is amazing too.
Same. I love how primitive the game is, makes me appreciate the game more n also I just absolutely fucking love the gta games, every one of em
Love that about Manhunt it takes place close to liberty City and is really Dark and Gritty.
@@strungmist8448Yeah!
@@John-996Yes!
This
Catalina betrays Claude because she and Miguel are getting into the spank business, thus retiring from robbing and Claude wasn't useful anymore ("I'm an ambitious girl and you're just small time").
Don't spank ma bitch up and goodbye chunky lee chonk are important missions to understand the plot, in the first mission the leones find out about spank and in the latter that the triads are selling it for the cartel ("some gang from colombia or colorado or something" as Joey says), this is why the triads grow bold enough to openly challenge the leones, and the leones opposing the spank sale is the reason why the cartel was spying on them through curly bob. Ultimately as Maria herself said Salvatore betrays Claude because he made a deal with the cartel and not just because she told him she and Claude are an item.
The main story is the columbian cartel threatening the underwold's balance with a new drug, the triads sell it and now feel powerful enough to take on the mafia, the yakuza doesn't want the yardies to sell it because otherwise they get too strong and the southside hoods split in two factions because they can't agree on wether to sell it or not.
The plot is much bigger than Claude and his little revenge against his ex, in Ray's last mission he says that the CIA is involved with the spank business as well, do we find out how and why? No, because we are just a small fish in a huge criminal ocean.
That's why I love this game, vice city and san andreas are power fantasies, the world is there for you to take, in gta 3 instead you're just a guy going through something way bigger than him. You're not the main character, you have to connect the dots yourself and even then not every question gets answered because you're just a random hired gun that receives only the strictly necessary intel, you have to work with the limited knowledge you have and fill the blank spots with logic
See, this makes a lot more sense than what I had to infer based on what the story told me. Whether or not that means I’m too dumb to understand the story is up for debate haha, but I appreciate you summing it up as well as you have!
@@DougTheDog6 thanks!
@@riccardomallardo7779 Beautifully said
@@DougTheDog6yes u are dumb.
Holy shit dude. I wish I could save this comment. I've never thought of any of this. I just played the game when it came out and had a blast.
Not everyone likes the same thing, but thankfully, the GTA community isn't savage like the Star Wars fan base where they insult each other over liking one trilogy, movie, game, or show over another.
Idk about that, if you've only played 5 you get a lot of shit. I get it though, 5 is overrated as fuck and ruined the series by making Rockstar complacent due to the constant cash flow from shark cards. I really wish the definitive editions were full blown remakes with 5 style graphics and physics, kinda like Mafia Definitive Edition. I really feel like the 3D trilogy (and the PSP duology) would absolutely fuck with modern graphics, i'd say they would be better than 5 itself.
I think majority of starwars fans can all agree the disney trilogy was absolute dog shite. It was so shite that starwars fans quit arguing about the prequels and they almost seem like a masterpiece in comparison to Disney's. GTA games were all great and built on each other. Its hard to hate any of them when you can see the growth from one to the next.
@@coments101the story from Vice city stories shits on 5s already lmao
@@conswan57 Yeah, but the graphics and animations aren't as good, the physics too. Vice City Stories is dope, but would be even better that way.
Slightly right. You ever been in GTA reddits they all act like they hate GTA5 now story & online included. It’s weird almost like they’re obsessed with the nostalgia of the old games. Idc personally as long as we get a new game. Ppl need to go outside man lol
“Espresso 2 Go” is the one mission that makes me not want to replay the game from beginning to end. Anyone else remember that awful mission?
Same. HATED that shit as a kid.
Nah it's still the easiest mission when you know how to avoid the Leones shotgun
@@Light56372yeah. Using the bulletproof Patriot Ray gave to Claude.
For me that mission is kinda easy as long you have bulletproof Patriot from ray
Pretty much everything following unlocking the second island makes me not want to play the game again.
The best things about GTA III is the atmosphere, the challenge, (if you can even call it that) and the map is brilliantly designed and feels bigger than it actually is. I do enjoy playing it so I can imagine myself back in the 2000s (I’m getting old don’t judge me ) or to enjoy that spooky purgatory atmosphere. GTA 3 has a charm to it that more games should try to replicate, but for the sake of gaming history don’t replicate the level/mission design.
I’ll defend Claude being a silent protagonist because it’s canonically recognized he is mute in the universe. Claude stands out for being the most evil and mysterious of the GTA 3D universe main characters. People forget the main characters in the 2D universe were more comically evil compared to later GTA games which had main characters with redeeming characteristics despite being criminals. Claude is the missing link to the 2D and 3D GTA universes. Even Trevor Philips in the HD universe has redeeming character traits and is not outright evil and cold-blooded like Claude.
Yes Claude is only protagonist who is a psychopath the rest are sociopaths
Trevor is a momma's boy
Claude would not hesitate to kill his own mother to get his way
@SarimFaruque Yes Claude works for the person who pays him the most and if he finds someone better he'll just move on to them and kill the old guy
Damn Claude is high-key one of the scariest video game protags of all time if looked at through that lens.
He’s my favorite gta protag second is Tommy. He just doesn’t have any time for bullshit.
As someone who's favorite GTA is 3, this video really opened up my eyes on how funky the really game is. I'm 100% blinded by nostalgia whenever i play/talk about this game, but im glad they fixed some of the things in the Definitive edition. GTA 3 may be a dumpster fire, but it's MY dumpster fire 😭😂
It was certainly the most ground-breaking game there'll ever be, and best ever on release. GTAV is obviously the best now. You certainly would think WTF if V was released before III, in terms of gameplay. Did miss the longer memory it had for used cars, and the Rhino controls allowing the cannon to make it the fastest thing in the game. Paramedic - 'impossible'?
@@goatlps That's up for debate. Deus Ex and Thief both have claims to that. Halo, too.
certainly! having played GTA 3 to the end on my PS2 last year, I loved it, but was also pretty frustrated by it in many ways. I love a good challenge, but it could certainly get a bit ridiculous at times, it's wild saying this, but for a new casual player, DE might genuinely be the way to go given the gameplay improvements it brings, especially with the latest update that allows you to move and shoot with big weapons, that's an immense improvement over the og that gives the gameplay a LOT more fluidity.
@ChloeLovelocks I've been seeing a lot about the new DE update on Twitter, and the new mechanics that allow you to shoot while moving has genuinely made me wanna run GTA 3 *just one more time* on there hahaha
@@DougTheDog6 it might be worth a shot tbh
gta3 was literally my fav game for years, I love the dark moody atmosphere and early 2000's vibe. The map is a work of art too.
3 was a good game in 2001 but it has aged like fucking milk, vice city and San Andrea’s were the superior games and on psp LCS feels almost like a remake of 3 and I would say is the best version of the 3d universe liberty city
@@GemmyHomey You took the words right out of my mouth. I’m pretty sure I even detailed this exact sentiment in my video praising Liberty City Stories last year haha
@@DougTheDog6I’m of the opinion that LCS was wasted potential as it took too many steps back from games like VC and San Andreas. VCS on the other hand was much better than LCS and brought back many features from previous games that were lacking in LCS
Surely the definitive edition improves it a lot. I've only played San Andreas in the definitive edition rebuild
Nah Liberty City stories looked blan compared to gta3
Couldn't have said it better myself. Vice City, despite only being a year later and having the same fundamentals, aged WAY better
In the definitive edition bundle, GTA 3 was the best one IMO.
Vice City was basically just remade GTA 3 missions and when you got to the second island, the game already felt like it was over.
San Andreas is classic but once you play GTA V, you expect GTA V mechanics.
Overall, I had the most fun in GTA 3.
in terms of feeling..GTA3 cannot be beaten.
GTA3 was ahead of its time. trying to evaluate using 2024 optics is pointless. its like stating Pong is janky.
The reason I’m evaluating it by today’s standards is because the other games in the series hold up by today’s standards
Its like saying donkey kong is a bad game
@@DougTheDog6 Do they really though??? 🤣 (I really don't think so, despite them having good stories)
@@SendManHell069 I still thoroughly enjoy Vice City, San Andreas, Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories, so yeah I’d say they hold up
Define 'janky'. Pong was very basic, but I wouldn't say janky. I think it's perfectly ok to review III now - and it's still a good game, mostly.
To be fair, GTA 1 and GTA 2 was exactly the same. 3 was basically taking the formula of those first two games and make it fully 3D. Vice City is when Rockstar realized they can do so much more with the series.
And in defense of Claude (GTA 3 protag), he was deliberately designed to not have any morals or obligations to anyone. So thats why you're always doing things... for cash.
the parallels between GTA2 and 3 are staggering if one knows what to look for (passive story participation tied to gang respect system, stage progression, deadly ai, gouranga, multiple missions available @ the same time, signature gang cars and weapons, collection based reward system, radio stations, gouranga)
GOURANGA
I cannot play GTA if they are tank controls. GTA3 did better, but it still was janky.
@@publichearing8536 also, in GTA 3, you gain money for just bump into cars like in GTA 1 and 2, and you even have the option to play the game in top down perspective
Here are some things I want to correct or point out from this video, or just mention what I love about this game. This is coming from a man whose favorite game ever is GTA III, so here's something's I gotta let you know:
- The cars in this game are equally as strong as the ones in Vice City. It's just that there's no actual way of indicating how damaged a car is in GTA III. I don't want to come off as that guy, but I swear every reviewer mentions this in their reviews. If your car is smoking, that doesn't mean it's super damaged/close to blowing up. It's just a visual effect.
- Most of the radio stations in the game (notably Head Radio and Lips 106) are self-composed stations, made in-house entirely by Rockstar. Game FM is based entirely on Game Recordings, an independent Hip Hop record label that no longer is around. MSX FM is based entirely around the London MC, MC Codebreaker. Every track is from Timecode's 2001 mix album titled "01.1," with each track playing continuously, one after the other with no advertisements in between. I guess the thing I wanna point out is that the soundtrack is more "personal" than any other GTA game, and I love it for that reason.
- Claude betraying Kenji isn't as shocking as so many people make it seem to be. His missions are optional, so Claude has (or can have) no feelings towards him. One might even argue that Asuka didn't save his life, that was Maria. But Maria was the very reason the Italian Mafia turned their backs on Claude. So Claude killing Kenji probably means nothing to him, especially because he knows the Cartel will be at war with the Yakuza, and Catalina will have no choice but to show her face eventually (in which she does). Claude killing Maria at the end of the game apparently isn't him killing her. Just a sound effect to end the game at. Rockstar themselves confirmed this for the 10 Year Anniversary questionnaire. I personally like to imagine he does, and it's for all the mayhem she put Claude through.
- The aim on PC is really, really bad because of widescreen support being poorly implemented. The guns in GTA III on PC were designed to have no recoil as to makeup for the lack of no crouch, no cover, etc. There's fixes for it on Steam, though I'm not sure if the mods are still available since the game was delighted on Steam. Don't worry, I will NOT defend the aim on PS2 lol
- The Mafia shooting you on sight DOES canonically make since plot wise. I would imagine whoever took over after Salvatore died (either Joey or Tony probably) would demand Claude be hunted down on the spot. Though I agree that there should've more follow-ups after killing Salvatore, maybe a mission where the Yakuza protects you from the Mafia and you have to run? That could've been cool.
- I personally enjoy how wild and chaotic the A.I. is in GTA III. Rampaging in GTA III is so much fun because of how hard police will go to take you out. Get a 4 star wanted level and just drive down a highway and seeing the three police cars driving at 200 mph and ramming you hundreds of feet in the air is far more fun than actually fighting back and since the police aren't anywhere near as strategic as they are in later titles, you can have an endless chase as long as you can keep stealing cars once they inevitably wreck yours.
- The tank in GTA III is like, the best, in any of the games. It's (basically) invincible and the best toy in GTA history.
- The Columbians commit terrorism at the start of the game to distract the rest of Liberty City from their SPANK-pushing, which is a small problem at the start of the game and ultimately becomes one of the biggest at the end. Also, the Old Oriental Gentleman, the man you save for Donald Love in his first mission, is the same guy who was in your convoy and was kidnapped by the Cartel. So not only does Love have a gripe against them for kidnapping him, but causing a gang war with the. would drop the prices for real estate, and he could invest, and ultimately, would help Claude get closer to his revenge. I think Love's Disappearance is one of the most fascinating missions in the game. Love has fled from LC, but we don't know why.
- As for the weapon purchasing, you'll never truly need 1,000 ammo for anything. Maybe the SMG, but anything else is overdoing it. The problems you mentioned were all accurate, though. I just don't personally see the ammo problem being all that troublesome since you'll never truly need that much and since you get lots of money, dying ain't such a problem.
Overall, I liked this video! I've heard a lot of hate thrown at this game the past few years, which does stank, seeing as it is my favorite game... ever. But so as long as the person who's judging it can simply respect what it's done for gaming, that's all that matters to me! Much respect, brother! ❤
Sorry for the yap lol
I just wanna respond to a few of your points:
- I always noticed cars in GTA 3 start to smoke very quickly (as in after taking such a small amount of damage), but always felt that it still takes a lot more crashing afterwards for it to catch on fire. I never knew how accurate this assessment was though, so thanks for confirming it for me
- As far as the Mafia’s aggression goes, I agree that it makes sense that it’d be on sight, but their 6th sense to just automatically know that the person driving your car isn’t some random civilian but rather is Claude, that’s the thing that annoys me. I realize their probably this aggressive as a result of programming limitations, as hostile NPC aggression became much more reasonable by San Andreas, but it’s still just really damn annoying lol
- I’ll also say that the police AI is fun to mess around with when you’re just free roaming. I forget if this clip made it into the video or not, but as I was gathering footage of the sandbox and had the cops on me, I watched a cop pass me at Mach speed trying to hit me, only to miss and drive halfway up a building hahaha. In free roam, the cops can definitely be fun to try and evade, but when you’re trying to pass a mission, they become more of a pain in the ass
- While I didn’t realize the Colombians blowing up the bridge was related to SPANK, I have already noticed that their interception of our police transport was to kidnap Donald Love’s Old Oriental Gentleman, and I think in our first mission for Love, he has us infiltrate a Colombian compound to recover him
- I also realize that there really isn’t any reason to have an insane amount of ammo, but it’s still just an annoying limitation that you have to wait so long to buy additional ammo for your guns. One time when this will definitely come into play though is when you’re buying SMG ammo for Vigilante. Whenever I unlocked a new island and was about to start the mode, I’d have to spend a solid 5 or so minutes gathering ammo at the gun shop, and after buying all that ammo, I barely had any to spare after completing the required 20 levels
I’m really glad you enjoyed the video btw! I know this game is still a favorite for a lot of people, so while I may not like it very much myself, I was absolutely sure to still give it the respect it deserves, especially considering how important it was to the world of video games. And no worries about the yap, I always love reading everybody’s comments, especially when they put in as much thought into them as you clearly have and are as respectful as you were!
You took all that time to type out a UA-cam comment?
@@brianswathey I for one enjoyed reading it
💯💯
I'm the kind of guy who doesn't really care about the story, so GTA 3 having a "bad" story doesn't really bother me. In cutscenes, I just prefer for the guy to tell me what to do instead of talking for five minutes only to then tell me what to do. Most of the time, it's the same objective as GTA 3's missions: go there and kill a guy. I guess all the talking is an attempt to get me immersed in the story?
I'd say the gameplay is okay, but that's just because I'm used to it. However, that's only when playing with a mouse and keyboard. All of the main 3D games have gameplay that feels clunky on a controller, and that's coming from someone familiar with their controls. San Andreas has the best controls, sure, but it's not that much better. GTA 3 plays almost the same as Vice City, with the only differences being the inability to crouch and having a slower lock-on system. That's it.
Driving around is fine, but the vehicles and lampposts have some weird hitboxes. The aggressive police AI and the exaggerated car physics that send you flying are kind of annoying, but that's an even worse problem in Vice City, though it's mostly avoidable.
That's it; thanks for reading this pointless comment. I've been playing San Andreas and Vice City for quite some time but not much of GTA 3, since I started playing it much later. I just felt the need to say that GTA 3 isn't that bad, at least compared to its successors.
Hey bro, thanks for writing your comment. I always love reading everybody’s thoughts and opinions, regardless of whether or not I agree with them, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing so many people stand up for GTA 3 and tell me what they liked about it (at least I’ve enjoyed the ones that ain’t been dicks about it haha)
I think the story makes kinda sense when using two optics:
1) GTA III is for sure a low budget and they were limited by the time, technology and stuff. However it gives the story this ominous and open ended vibe. The stuff with Donald is more about symbolism than anything else, i love how he just vanishes with the empty box being the only thing left after him. We don't know his relationship with the old man, we don't know why he vanishes after building a huge empire with radio stations, we don't know what was inside the box and what he meant by leaving the empty box there. It reminds me of Pulp Fiction a bit. I kinda liked the open edge of the lore this game has but i understand that it does not offer any polished narrative. But the abstract story telling is so fun to explore.
2) Now as for the second optic, Claude - the reason why Claude works for whatever side and barely makes any ally is because he is a mercenary guy. 8 Ball helped him and Ray as well so Claude has no reason to go against him. Both of them gave Claude a lot in return for his services, more than just money. The rest of the characters were just using him as a tool to get what they wanted. Claude kept himself detached from it since he is a mercenary who does this for money and nothing else. He has no ties to the other characters who are mean towards him. I kinda love how Claude just goes through motions without questioning everything because he understands perfectly well that if someone will cross a line with him, he will hunt them down. The clothes that Claude has also symbolize him being a mercenary type of guy.
When combining these two elements i kinda.... love III lore and its characters. I wish we could have other GTA based around these two elements.
When Claude kills Kenji, I see it as a form of small revenge for the way Kenji treated him in his last mission. The narrative problem in all this is that the game gives you the possibility to kill him before even doing this mission, but let's assume that canonically Claude did all the missions before killing him.
I don't get people who say GTA 3 is better than GTA LCS, when LCS is literally a better version of GTA 3 in every way and with an actual story, GTA 3 was kinda just running random errands for characters, hardly a story.
Gta lcs didn't even ha e a real antagonist. Tony was a lackey running around following orders in liberty city. The dude was literally getting punked by his mother and lesser guys in his gang had more power than he did. It is better in many ways but story wise you must be insane
And the Weird part when u think about it, is that GTA 3 had Lack of Content for Players to be Concern to continue playing after u beat the the Main Story, and like u mentioned VC, and especially SA took 3's Legacy and just made it for what it is today❤
And while I personally have mix feelings with LCS, Good Story (at least with Vincenzo around), but gotten Eh up until the End🤷♂️
And Legitimately went back to GTA 3 & VC's style of Gameplay (Especially Lack of Swimming) but idk, I still prefer LCS over 3, but that's not saying much😂 to me SA & VCS had more Replay Value, Uniquely Different Content, even for their own Locations❤💯
It is called preference.
The radio is better, the humor is funnier, the missions are better, it’s awesome when he shoots maria at the end of the game. All the rest of the games are ok but the don’t quite stack up
@kellykapowski2832 I have to agree that 3D era gta games had much more entertaining radio. Specifically talk shows I mean.gta IV and V were not as interesting imo. Also the dj personalities for music stations had more flavor.
One thing I would say that GTA III does better over both VC and SA is that it doesn't force shitty RC vehicle missions down your throat.
Yeah those were the worst
SA doesn't force them, Zero missions are optional
@@lestorm5530Oui.
You’re half wrong.
All my homies HATE Zero
You have to understand, when I described this game to people as a child they didn't believe me. You have to put yourself in the mindset of a child who has grown up playing GTA2, and has never seen a open world city in a video game. For me, this game was ruined by _Mafia: City of Lost Heaven_ ,but GTA3 still holds a place as the first 3D GTA game
8:04 Yeah the amount of times I've messed up shooting the plane, I lost an hour of sleep that night
Also Claude's name isn't mentioned anywhere in GTA III, Besides's the game files. He was first officially named in GTA San Andreas
@DougTheDog6 i just made that comment, i wasn't expecting a pin, but thank you so much for the pin
GTA 3 is historically very important for game design and technology that brought the world more in-depth knowledge on how games can look if we really tried to make something good. For it's time and with the tech they built and had, this is really the best they could have delivered, although game balancing was not their best side at Rockstar Games. Due to the difficulty and hard tuning of some missions, some missions are just difficult and unbearable. But needless to say. I'd still say this game has a charm to it that is undeniable despite it's difficulty. The difficulty may be easy for speedrunners and such but for the casual beginner player, this game is quite difficult for many reasons. I remember the mission where one had to use a bomb and a car, I just could not get passed that mission at all, even if I tried my best, so I ended my run of the game there. But I still like the game because it has that cool athmosphere and vibe that not many games have replicated since the day this game was released.
I like Claude as a character despite being a mute. It is what brings the game it's unique charm. The quiet speaks alot more words, lol.
I think the problem is people don't know how to meet older games where they're at, instead of comparing them to other games that literally couldn't have been made at the time.
Sure, if I compared GTA 3 to San Andreas objectively, I'd come up with very few reasons to play it. But I don't compare it to San Andreas in that way, at least not when I'm actually playing GTA 3. When I'm playing GTA 3 it's 2001, and I've never heard of games newer than that, because they don't exist.
It was a fun game back then, and it's a fun game now, time doesn't change that. No other game feels quite like like GTA 3 due to the atmosphere, limitations, and time capsule feeling of it. That's why I always come back to it eventually. I never really left.
People really go into games like this with a modern day mindset, it's 23 years old..
Also the difficulty is something that's sorely missed from gta 5 and RDR2.
San Andreas and Vice City are both better games that have difficult missions and have aged better than GTA 3. It’s okay to criticize old games for not aging well.
@acceptable1609 but I think gta 3 has aged well for a game from 2001, it's very playable today, if you can't get into it then that's a you problem
GTA 3 was revolutionary for its time
But unlike GTA SA,it does not age well
But the driving in SA was worse than in III, and the shooting is pretty much the same (till IV). SA is only still good for the setting/story, and flying, with a decent soundtrack (but the start of quantity over quality, which went fully bloated cheapo on V/O). III is still good.
@@goatlps What are you on, driving feels way better in SA than in 3.
@@goatlps No way in hell is the driving in SA worse than 3.
Even Vice City aged way better
@@goatlps Dude, what are you smoking??? You are a straight busta if you think SA driving was worse than 3.
If you havent done drive-by's in a Diablo Stallion while blasting "Rising to The Top" on Game FM then you haven't gotten the full GTA 3 experience 💯🙏🏼
we gon give this all that we gooooot
What a shitty experience that must have been. Maybe for lil kids or retards who enjoy consuming shit.
preach 💯
KEEP RISIN TO THE TOP aye thats my jam😂
I mean, it’s a next gen release of a franchise doing its first full 3D presentation. I think it’s very unfair to compare it to future GTA games where they learned from their mistakes in GTA 3.
4:23 the fact that the developers gave the players a choice to finish Kenji’s missions or just whack him right away was pretty innovative for the time. Even though it was executed poorly (no pun intended).
Oh yeah, when I first played through the game, I was pretty amazed that they had that as an option in a game that came out as early as this one did. Then I heard about the 100% thing hahaha
Is anyone still championing this game? I thought it was pretty much consensus that the game is groundbreaking and amazing when in 2001 but has aged like a banana.
You’d be surprised hahaha. Just sort this video’s comments by new if you wanna see how many die hards are still defending this game
the OST of gta 3 was good I don't agree it was bad. it has sooooo many classics from so many different genres its hard to pass it man. dont get stuck on just one genre.
slyder score
the startup and menu theme kill the Billboard 100 for me every day of the week.
@@publichearing8536 i got stuck on the drum n base radio a couple months ago when replaying it on pc and I fell in love with it, specially with track "the one"
GTA 3 radio is better than most music today. No joke. MSX FM seems like a meme radio station, but if you listen to tracks like Omni Trio - First Contact, it's a banger.
Vice City is my first GTA game (in 2011) & San Andreas is my second. After experiencing those i tried GTA 3 but it's felt somewhat not as much fun playing VC & SA.(probably because of all those reasons in this video) other than that it's much interesting to explore new map & story.
GTA 3 IS A MASTERPIECE RAHHHHHHHH
I love game radio because it has such a magical New York feeling. I also decided to listen to Double Cleff and K-Jah during my second play through and I absolutely loved them.
Say what you will about the poor mechanics of... mostly everything but I doubt you could deny the game's best aspect being the missions not being overly scripted the way the later games are.
Most of the missions are essentially tasks you can achieve with complete freedom and no regards to player scenario. Having been used to failing missions for doing something slightly out the specific path the devs intended for, I was kind of mind blown realizing I was playing the game however I wanted without being punished. You will never watch two playthroughs by different people and see it done the same way.
I seriously hope they try to replicate the same feeling of freedom during missions for 6.
That is definitely something I genuinely enjoy about GTA 3’s mission design, the fact that you can usually complete them however you want, like how that one guy beat Chunky Lee Chong by taking the target’s car to the bomb shop. I would love for GTA 6 to restore at least the level of freedom GTA 4 gave us a lot of the time, but I don’t think I’d complain too much if they took it a step further and made its mission design similar to the 3D era games
I love III the most because it feels like a *game*; theres a lot of challenge, no boring tutorials or plot exposition for 2 hours (SA is guilty of this), brief cutscenes, little scripted setpieces and missions, and no ubisoft-type bloat.
it also really forces you to be involved with the open world and the landmarks because of the lack of a map and said difficulty.
each GTA after III became progressively easier and scripted, trying to emulate more of a "cinematic" experience.
if III had elements like GTA2's respect system and more vehicles, it would be perfect IMO
perfectly explained
I love these aspects of the earlier GTA games, too, especially 2, 3, and VC
Although ironically I Happen to enjoy the other end of the spectrum aswell, especially GTA IV and EFLC.
GTA 5 lost me a bit, dunno why but only played through it once and never again had the urge to do so a second time.
I appreciate GTA3 for how groundbreaking it was back in the day, but VC and SA are just way better in every way.
True, not to mention that it did not take very long for VC to be released after 3, something that will probably never happen again with future GTA games.
Not every way - SA definitely has the worst driving in GTA, worst handling, with lots of pop-in, and wild traffic (which is a bit better on the 360/XSX mobile port). VC is better than III in every way, apart from III has the best memory for used cars in all GTA. The cannon boost on the Rhino tank was great too - which you can't even do on V.
That’s not true. San Andreas sucked and VC was like gta 3 with less stuff like no bikes. GTA 3 is better than LCS. don’t underestimate gta 3 just bc it’s from 2001…
I played through GTA 3 for the first time back in 2021 and while I do agree with some of your points like the game being bare-bones and some activities being badly designed, making playing them later in the story borderline impossible. Still I did actually enjoy the game and it was because of the story and world.
The reason I liked the story is because of the way I see the main character aka Claude. I see Claude as a mute psychopath that nobody can understand, a straight up alien. He has nothing that makes you relate to him, no friendship, no love, no loyalty, heck he doesn't even really care about money. All he does is go around and do tasks for complete strangers for no apparent reason. His character and story are straight up amusing. It always feels as if he's on the sidelines of everything happening around him yet at the same time he's at the center of it all, doing the most insane of tasks given to him.
The reason why you didn't enjoy it I think is because you expected for Claude to have some of the qualities I mentioned above.
As a big San Andreas fan it was also nice to see what happens to Salvatore and Catalina.
In conclusion I don't see GTA 3 as a bad game, compared to it's successors, they are definitely better but I do not see it as bad. As for it being dated, it is but not to a degree where I'd have no fun playing.
GTA 3 aged like milk, but I still absolutely love it. It's important for what it is, but it's more important for what it started.
This game was actually quite cursed for me because the PS2 disk itself had a problem with the Rise FM radio station. Every time it played that radio station the game would freeze and had to be restarted. So if I hopped in new car and that radio station was playing it would brick it.
Ive never experienced this once. Wonder if it was just your disk?
I just started playing gta 3 again for the first time since 2007 and I like it for nostalgia compared to later gta games its a skeleton of what gta could become and what it has became
You don't understand it in the context of when it came out. It was brand new, it was 3D, it was mind blowing. Easily a 10/10 at the time it came out. I guess youngsters will never really know, they grew up playing superior GTA style games on their iPod Touches for free.
I mean, hell yes it was a breakthrough back in the day, and it’s a certified hood classic, but you couldn’t swim and even a helicopter could only fly like 50 feet off the ground.
Claude just wants revenge, he was betrayed and now everything and everyone is just a pawn in his mission, they are criminals who eventually will backstab him, at least this is what I think is happening in his mind. Think of him like Arthur Chigurh, no talking, no money, just a psychopath with goals.
Claude's character is so overlooked because he's just downright evil. He has no loyalties, no ambition and doesn't even speak. He just wants to kill, then revenge, and earn money to buy better weapons to kill more again. He's like Michael Myers.
It may have aged poorly, but damn, it gave us RISE FM and MSX FM. That's a W for fans of electronic music lmao
Imagine going right now and buying an iPhone 3gs , of course your gonna tear it a new ssshole because it's inferior to the latest... dude you had to be there when it came out to really feel the joy and excitement.
I get what you’re saying, but my issue with GTA 3 is how poorly it’s aged compared to the games that immediately followed it, Vice City and San Andreas. Whereas 3 was only a good game back when it came out, the latter two titles are still a genuinely fun time to play through even 20 years after they came out (at least in my opinion). And while I’ve been playing San Andreas for all 20 of those years and thus have an obvious nostalgia for it, I really played Vice City for the first time the same day that I played GTA 3 for the first time. I essentially have the same level of experience with the two titles, but I really don’t have a thing to bitch about regarding Vice City. And I really wouldn’t even care tbh, but it’s all the people who have gotten the wrong message in my past videos talking about GTA 3 who’ve driven me to make this video
@@DougTheDog6 "How poorly it has aged" 🤡😂
You’re proving his point
Not to mention slow ass Claude gets back with her in San Andreus lol
San Andreas takes place before GTA 3, so that’s when he gets with her initially lol
I have the same opinion , but i understand why it was the way it was . It was the first dive in 3d Gta game , i think they did their best.
@@edospher8601 Don’t get me wrong, I understand as well that GTA 3 walked so that all the games after it could run. Given the knowledge the developers had at the time, they knocked it out of the park with this game. But that being said, that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy playing GTA 3 nowadays if it doesn’t hold up nowadays
@@DougTheDog6 Very true , imo its very boring and repetetive . The one of the most important things in a game is Gameplay.
Vice city on the other hand was very different , more engaging and fun missions , good characters and overall vibe is uplifting.
It's better in 4:3 on a crt and a dualshock 2
If you don't like gta 3 you're gay simple as that.
I love gta 3 but that’s silly homie. It’s a great classic game that just didn’t age well with the silly missions and god awful AI. I still love it though. It’s my second favorite gta out of the trilogy.
THIS GAME SUCKS SO BAD CLAUDE DOES NOT EVEN TALK IN ANY CUTSCENE. THE MAIN CHARACTER IS BORING
hes like link. thats the point.
That's why it stands out I dig the no talking thing
All points are valid, but GTA III was unprecedented at the time of release and everything "wrong" with it was soon improved in later games, which kinda makes it immune to criticism over 20 years later. Also, I think the soundtrack was actually great. Sure, when I played VC later I thought that was better, but returning to this game years later I realise, III has the perfect soundtrack for police chases and rampages. Other games' radios played songs, that were already hits, III's soundtrack feels tailor-made for the setting.
GTA 3 is just one of those games you leave alone in today’s age. It’s like the stone wheel to the cave men. You had to have been there to understand how great it was
The PC version does have auto aim, you change your controls from standard to classic in the settings and then it's the exact same thing as the console version.
Never realized that, I’ll have to go through and check that out next time I hop on. Although if it’s the same as the PS2 version’s auto aim, I’ll probably stick with the free aim lol
I'm glad most people in the comment section actually respect your take. Afterall, it's always interesting to hear people's opinions. Both positively and negatively.
GTA 3 is brilliant. Always was and always will be
This game holds a special place in my heart. When I was a kid, my mom brought home an old computer from her employer, and playing this game on it felt like stepping into a whole new world. I used to dive into it right after school, completely lost in its magic. I even lent it to my friends once I was done with it-but to this day, they still haven’t returned it!
I’ve been seeing these hindsight reviews and I don’t think it’s fair. Games like GTA V, Rd2, fallout and more gave spoiled us into thinking that’s what video games are. This game is fun and always will be, the bugs have been that since the beginning, don’t judge it with your 2020s brain
I do think it’s fair if other games from its era can hold up in the modern day with no problem. As I’m typing this reply, I’m watching the end credits of Vice City because I literally just beat the game again, and even though the game only came out one year after GTA 3, it still gave me an enjoyable experience. I understand that GTA 3 was a good game when it came out, and I understand that it laid the foundation for games like Vice City and the ones you listed to prosper, but that doesn’t give it a pass for not being fun to play through in this day and age
I know this is the cliche response, but you truly, truly had to experience this game when it first came out in 2001.
The world was in a haze of doom/confusion in the wake of 9/11 and then this comes out and COMPLETELY changes the face of video games. I think for a lot of us we associate the two.
GTA 2/III are my dark souls, the bugs and insane mission difficulties are what makes it great for me.
And also, being the first 3d game it was pretty experimental, and still kept the absurdity of the 2D games with it.
i like the atmosphere. the gameplay and mission design were always bad, the plot was always generic mob movie stuff
I beat this game because i never beat it as a kid but it was a chore
When this game came out we didn't play it for the story, we played it because it was the only open world game where you could do so much. Being all we had at that time it was a place many of us lived clocking so many hours. I bought a PS2 specifically for this game and I don't think I got another till vice city came out. We had to learn the map, tricks to make mission easier, sharing any info we could without having any online databases to search. So it makes complete sense to me why this would be unlikable to some. Even tho I grew up with it I wouldn't put that effort in if It had come out more recently. There are so many similar and better things to play but, I'll always love it for what it gave us.
I think the story is severely lacking. However, in a weird way I think the poor plot makes Claude more interesting unintentionally. I find it interesting how Claude is perfectly ok with doing anything so long as it gets him closer to Catalina. He cares about revenge and only has loyalty to himself and the pursuit of that goal. He can be friends with you one minute but if someone else asks him to take you out, he won’t even hesitate if he sees a way to further his goal. I kinda like how he coldly takes out Maria at the end, Claude wasn’t there to save her at all, if anything she was a pain in his neck so he just kills her and that’s that. It shows the whole game he made no connections to anyone but rather was only doing everything just so he could get his revenge on Catalina, he’d probably kill 8-Ball if asked to. But because he backstabbed just about every faction in the city except Donald Love who has fled Liberty by the end, he now exists in a city that wants him dead where he has no one he can rely on. He has to live the rest of his life with his head over his shoulder and will likely die a horrible death considering he betrayed many groups that treat that act as the worst thing you can do against them. It makes me wish there was a sequel exploring Claude’s character. After all, he was dating Catalina, did he have love at some point or was their relationship solely out of a desire to make money? He seemed innocent enough in San Andreas, did Catalina corrupt him or was he always this way? Maybe he resents Catalina for turning him into a monster or maybe not, but we’ll never know because we abandoned the 3D era. Not saying my speculation makes it good but you have to admit it’s an interesting set up for an alternate universe GTA4 that was set in the 2010s about Claude set in the PS2 universe.
I really like the way you’ve thought about this story because that’s a perspective I hadn’t considered at all. From my standpoint, it felt like Claude mostly abandoned his drive to get revenge against Catalina until it just fell in his lap, but from the way you described it, he calculated and found his path to revenge and didn’t care who he had to sacrifice to get it. That perspective makes a lot more sense and I think actually makes it a better story. Thank you for your insight!
@@DougTheDog6 glad you found it interesting!
Claude is cold blooded. He would definitely beat Trevor in a fight. I think he’s the craziest protagonist so far.
This game was made for the audience of that era, 23 years has passed, even if you're entitled to your opinion, that's completely and absolutely irrelevant because the game has given what it had to a looooooooong time ago, pointless argumentation.
@@thunderboltproductionsshpk Alright then riddle me this. You could argue Vice City was made for generally the same audience since it came out only one year later. 22 years have passed since then, but my opinion is that it’s still a fun game. Is my opinion still irrelevant because I wasn’t there to properly enjoy it in 2002, even though I still thoroughly enjoy it in 2024? That game gave what it had to a long time ago as well, and it’s still giving it even now, so why can’t GTA 3?
@@DougTheDog6 It is very simple to explain actually, GTA3 was only meant to bring the GTA world into a 3D environment, that was their main goal. The budget for 3 & VC was the same, but in 3 they used it to build all of the game mechanics, freeroam, design, guns, cars etc. In VC they already had everything pre-made so they immediately focused on the story\characters, in SA they went further and added customization, larger map etc. Each game had unique atmosphere. Your opinion is your opinion, you still like VC because of its story\characters\memories, i dont know and i dont need to know that. What i know is that its a bit too late to talk about these games now.
They didn’t just focus on a better story with more memorable characters in Vice City, they also introduced new mechanics like the ability to crouch, they updated the car physics, added a pause menu map, and overall just wrung out many of the issues that exist in GTA 3. I agree that Vice City has the luxury of being built on an already successful game, and I fully believe that if it’s only as good as it is because Rockstar had gained plenty of knowledge about the new open-world 3D genre by making GTA 3 first. But basically the point of this video was to say that as great as GTA 3 probably was when it came out, it doesn’t hold up today like many other games do, and that’s because of the knowledge Rockstar lacked before they made it
The reason why I talk about this stuff nowadays though is because last year, I made a video praising Liberty City Stories to encourage people who never gave it a try for being ‘just a PSP port’ to try it out if they have the chance. I considered it a better version of GTA 3 and ended up getting blasted for it by a ton of comments lol. So, since it’s been on my mind since then, this video was pretty much a response to the argument that GTA 3 is a good game just because it was groundbreaking. Yeah, maybe I’m a couple decades too late on the subject, but as somebody who only played through both Vice City and GTA 3 for the first time a couple years ago, it’s relevant to me, and if it’s relevant to me, I’m gonna talk about it haha
No shit, no one without the nostalgia of playing it as a kid right when it came out actually enjoys playing it now, it's a game with zero QOL considerations because no one even understood what to ask from this type of game yet
I have briefly played it back in the early 2010s but never tried to fully immerse myself in it until recently.
This turned out to be my favorite GTA.
Obviously flawed in many areas and objectively not the best game in the series but III gave me a specific type of enjoyment none of the other games managed to.
12:22 the taxi mission, you don't have to do 100 fares in row, just in total, means you can continue taxi later
I’m aware of this, I myself split Taxi into two runs as I didn’t have the time to do all 100 in a row, but I believe you lose the bonus you get for doing so many fares in a row if you end the session and start a new one
This game is dated now, but back in the day, this game was mind-blowing! For us who grew up playing the NES, SNES, SEGA, N64, never before were we able to roam a massive 3D world, full of people, all kinds of vehicles, and cause so much anarchy. We couldn't believe what we were playing. GTA III wasn't just a milestone, it changed the way we viewed games forever, it was the beginning of the massive open world games of today.
Nobody really cared about the flaws like a main character who doesn't talk or how the story is pretty random. The difficulty was o.k.; you had to practice, but once you got it, it was pretty fair.
PS I didn't like GTA IV. I thought it was a huge downgrade to San Andreas and even Vice City. Sure GTA IV was the most realistic of the series to that point but more realistic doesn't necessarily make it better or more fun.
I agree with you in regards to GTA 4. When it first came out, it was cool how realistic it was, but it definitely lacked a lot of the features we had in San Andreas and Vice City. Nowadays now though, while it still lacks those features, I’ve been able to have a lot of fun messing around with the game’s realistic physics
gta 3 is better than vice city, fight me
GTA 3 is definetly the weakest of the trilogy, it's feels experimental so to say but it has it's own theme wth the dark/foggy atmosphere. Really like the 2000's vibe
my question to you is why do people associate the early 2000's with a dark eerie vibe?
Music, movies, emos etc. Me personally I would play "dark" dystopic games at the time, wether it's on a space ship with grey steel corridors or a stonecold castle. The games were often a bit older and before my time, but those I played took place in dark areas like spacestations, polluted cities or underground science labs.
I hate to use this word but for me gta 3 is outdated, not in its story or narrative, but gameplay. As much shit the Definitive Edition gets(and rightfully so), the quality of life additions like the weapon wheel and checkpoints are really welcome and only improved my experience with gta 3.
The idea of GTA 3 was to show off the new capabilities of the PS2 such as a full 3D open world that is breathing and living. Claude was never meant to talk, the story was an addon to the gameplay, that's why it was and feels like circustance or luck in the way it ends. As for the gameplay, this was one of the first attempts to develop a game like this, DMA (former Rockstar) only had experience with 2D mechanics so GTA 3 ended up feeling very arcadey because they tried to translate a lot of the mechanics from GTA 2 into a 3D world like when you hit cars you get money.
Though the difficulty was a normal thing back then, PS1 and early PS2 games were generally very difficult because they were short games so it was a common design philosophy in order to extend its value, even Vice City can feel hard at times.
Honestly if it wasn't for the atmosphere and the DnB music, I probably wouldn't like it too much either. This game and Hitman Contracts have the darkest atmosphere of the era without jumping into the horror genre.
"Clause was never meant to talk."
That's actually false. The GTA Series Videos channel on UA-cam acquired the official design document of GTA III and Claude originally had dialogue and conversations. But partway through development, Rockstar decided to scrap his dialogue and make him a silent protagonist.
@@DeadPixel1105 So there is conflicting info from Rockstar. In all their Q&As they always said Claude was never meant to talk and even descredited that trailer video with the "get out of the car" quote as being fake.
Imo, early on they wanted to have Claude from GTA 2 but then as development actually started they ditched that idea and made him mute.
it aged badly but it was also the beggining of something new
I still like this game
no disrespect, if you didnt play the game when it was current then your opinion isnt valid. its like asking a fortnite kid to play a mario platformer.
Playing a game when you weren't there for it to be "current" shouldn't detract from someone's opinion over material, also mind you, gta 3 even in the era it was released aged faster than almost every other game released that year, whether it was mechanically, visually, or writing. Also I don't understand that comparison of "Fortnite kid" and "Platformer" it literally makes no sense in this context of a criticism of a story AND gameplay over what is only a gameplay difference. Though smashing cars and fighting in GTA 3 is still very fun it still has it's great charm to this day like all 3d gta's.
That’s makes no sense I didn’t play gta LCS when it was currently heck I wasn’t even born yet when the game came out yet I recently just finished the game and I had a blast and think it’s extremely underrated does my opinion no matter ?
I personally disagree, not playing a game when it came out may actually make your opinion more objective due to not being blinded by the novelty of new tech and pretty graphics, also possibly nostalgia altho I this is coming from someone who believes the 'nostalgia blindness' argument to be very weak
Also I think your Fortnite kid analogy is flawed, I'll admit this is only a personal antidote but my little brother is a big Fortnite fan yet he can enjoy a lot of retro games, for example recently I introduced him to Saints Row 2 and the 3D era GTAs and he enjoyed them (tho he was already a fan of GTAV so that may have influenced his opinion) (also ik SR2 isn't technically retro yet, but it's an older game)
GTA SA is a 20 year old game and it still holds up. So he’s still allowed to have an opinion
-someone who disagrees with his opinion
gatekeeping video game opinions based on birth date is wild
in GTA3 never use cheat code to spawn tank, because spawned tanks will never disappear and no matter if they been destroyed, it can affect the traffics
worst opinion ever just dropped
It’s actually a pretty common opinion
@mittensthekittens probably among retards yeah
No it isnt @@mittensthekittens
@@NTEDOG561 it is, I’ve seen many reviews on it about how janky the game is
@@mittensthekittensMajority like the game
Lol, I feel the pain of not being able to bail out of the car when it's on fire.
The driving is awful in this and vice city.
HUH?? I love driving around in Vice City. 3 I can understand. But in Vice City fast cars spawn like wildfire, and the radio soundtrack and 80’s Miami atmosphere?? Your crazy
@@joshuakausmann5504but what about the actual driving physics?
@@joshuakausmann5504 ok? The driving controls still suck lol
@@Matias-dr3ys that’s literally what I’m talking about 😂
What's wrong with the driving? They're incredibly simplistic
That game is not that bad GTA three it was a good game. I played it three times recently now I’m playing vice city.😅😊
Game doesn't have a map in the pause menu so you'd take out the physical copy of the map that came with the game just to know where shit was.
That’s all well and good until you pick up a used copy and don’t have a map for it since the previous owner kept it
@@DougTheDog6Get good, all jokes aside I have the tiny ass map of 3 printed on my brain so the map is not a problem for me. I certainly get your frustration though, I used to hate GTA 3 when I was a small child but grew to love the game when I was a teenager.
@@DougTheDog6 The map is small and should be easy enough to remember
Being able to make a mental map is something every person should be able to do unless you have a legitimate disability
I didn't need a map. It wasn't a thought when I played thru GTA 3, and going back to it, I didn't notice that it ain't have a map on the pause menu like later games till' it was mentioned in another video. I didn't know the physical was meant to be used. I just thought of it as a cool extra with the game. Lol
12 year old me loved this game but now as an adult I still get ptsd from some of the missions one of the things i like about it was the soundtrack and the dark gritty atmosphere
Yall never play gta 5 what????
I agree that it really doesn't hold up well, but I still like playing it just for its vibe alone. When a game simply nails its atmosphere, then I don't really mind its shortcomings in other areas.
I mean i can understand not liking the game now if you compare everything with san andreas/vice city/ vice stories/lc stories and granted the story might not be the best, but you can't tell me you didn't like it when it first came up.
I probably would’ve enjoyed it when it first came out, but sadly my earliest experience playing this game was after I’d already dumped countless hours into San Andreas and before GTA 4 came out
@@DougTheDog6that’s your problem. GTA 3 is one of the greatest games ever made…get a clue! before doing videos😂😂 just bc other games have better graphics later years on doesn’t mean the original one with the idea is bad, that’s stupid😅
@@PrincessDesert Dawg, at no point in any of my videos have I ever made the claim that superior graphics make a superior game. San Andreas *barely* looks better than GTA 3, do you really think that’s why I like it so much more? I don’t like GTA 3 because of its lack of content, crappy controls, and because it’s outdated. GTA 3 was great for its time, but every game in the franchise that followed it has built on it to improve themselves in every way
@@DougTheDog6 bro. GTA 3 is a classic. You’re jumping to conclusions …just bc u dislike it for some reason . Liberty city stories has better graphics so what??? It’s not regarded as one of the greatest games ever made, GTA 3 IS regarded as one of the best ever made. It beat Driver 2!! Because that’s what it’s competition was about back in September 2001. U have to be more realistic
@ Again, I don’t care about GTA 3’s graphics, San Andreas’ graphics, LCS’ graphics, etc. But sure, GTA 3 was revolutionary when it came out. Without it, we don’t get either of the other games I just mentioned, nor do we get all of the other titles that came after it. But I don’t find GTA 3 to be a fun game in 2024, and that’s because all of those other titles took what was made with GTA 3 and continually did it better
Was GTA 3 the best game of all time in 2001? Sure. But in 2002, that title went to Vice City, and in 2004, it went to San Andreas, and that game has held the crown ever since (in my opinion at least). That’s what I’m claiming. Not that GTA 3 wasn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread when it first came out, but that it’s not a fun game to play today
in GTA3 the 8-ball bomb shop is unique, from portland the car explodes when entering the car, in staunton the bomb is on timer, and in shoreside you'll get detonator
How dare you dislike a game i have no strong feelings about one way or the other shame
I shit my pants
i played this game shortly after playing gta vice city and sa and i remember not liking it, not cause it was hard but because in nearly every mission you were inside of a car and there were only like 2 mission were you actually got to leave your car and shoot at people. this game is closer to a racing game than an open world crime simulator, the only difference is you steal cars instead of buying them.
Its great game!! Original missions, interesting story, great plot, fine graphic, many hours of gameplay, 2000 atmospheric awesome. Absolute legend! Game old 24 years and recommend it to others to experience! Pease.
I think what makes every GTA title so compelling is the balance between fun and frustration.
90% of this video is skill issue lol
Lack of fun issue*
Don’t act like this game is good or easy
@@KevinZamora19 bro git gud crybaby ass
Naw, even as someone who loves this game, I have to agree with him. III's controls are often awkward and the game is extremely punishing. I sympathise, even as a longtime fan.
It isn't. It's design issue
I agree with the comment that this is a "you had to be there to experience it". I remember going to my cousin and watching him play this game and it just blew my mind. The 3D sandbox was something my ten year old brain just wasn't used to. And i spent many days convincing my parents to let me visit my cousin more so I could play that game.
who cares what you do and do not like? also me commenting on this video is not an indication that i care im just a hater
BASED
GTA3 holds a place in a heart. Good memories of sneaking this game when I was a kid and I loved every second of it, unfortunately I cannot enjoy it today, it just isn't fun to play but I still appreciate it.
gta 3 literally changed gaming. it is a gem and u should give it the respect it deserves
At 21:45 I quite literally give it the respect it deserves lmao
@@DougTheDog6 some people just dont watch the whole video before commenting even though they should
@@DougTheDog6 a backhanded compliment is not giving it respect
I feel like the typical Rockstar mission-based story structure is usually a detriment to the quality of storytelling. Even in Red Dead Redemption 1, a huge chunk of the missions were of the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" variety. So you weren't really progressing the story as much as you were completing random tasks for certain characters so that EVENTUALLY they would help you progress the main story.
Deny it all you want, but it’s your skill issue. Any TRUE gta fan loves and enjoys 3. 💁🏻♂️
"Hurr durr skill issue" 🤓
You can get good at any garbage doesn't mean it's not garbage. I think any true GTA fan can acknowledge issues with the games and also you don't have to love every game in a series either to be a true fan of the series.
No true Scotsman fallacy.
Car physics is the main reason why I love GTA 3 over say San Andreas, it is so fun to run away from FBI on 5 stars in GTA 3, I did that for years each night after work back in the day, that's where my most viewed video (1.3 million) came from. Gun play is super OP on PC due to insane pixel accuracy, that's why I started playing with PS2 aiming even on PC to make the game harder. I also like Vice City but popped wheels and spikes ruin the fun for me.
When I play GTA3, it takes me back to my junior year of high school when it was a brand new game. I spent so much time playing this game with friends who I’ve either lost touch with, or have passed away. I’ll agree that the following GTA titles are better by leaps and bounds. However once I start up GTA3 on a play through, it takes me back to a simpler time where spending time with your friends didn’t mean you had to write it down on a calendar two weeks in advance.