GTA Liberty City Stories Game Overview

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Ali is a doctor by qualification but a gamer/writer by passion. He prides himself on being a major tech geek and a game fanatic. Ali began his gaming journey as a child with games like GTA III, Half Life, and Virtua Cop. Who knew that this gaming journey on a Pentium III system would lead to a life surrounded by games and writing about them as a profession?

Story and Setting

Liberty City Stories is set in 1998, three years before the events of Grand Theft Auto 3, yet the landscape of Liberty City is the same. The map is almost identical to GTA III but with graphic enhancements.

GTA Liberty City Stories, like its predecessors, has an open-world environment where players are given the freedom to explore freely and indulge in several activities.

Toni Cipriani is the main character in GTA Liberty City Stories, who, if you remember, sends you on missions in GTA III. The plot focuses on Toni’s efforts to bring law and order back to the city. Lots of political upheavals, familial strife, and exploitation rife with illegal activity characterize this period.

A large number of characters from GTA III return in this game. Since the game serves as a prologue to Liberty City, every character has undergone significant development.

The game has one of the most engaging narratives in the 3D universe’s long history of the franchise. Toni’s motivation throughout the game is a relentless pursuit of financial success.

Most of the story revolves around the characters’ service to Salvatore Leone, the mafia clan’s godfather. It’s an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end, filled with mayhem, betrayal, and the pursuit of becoming the most powerful man in the city.

Gameplay and Graphics

In the Grand Theft Auto games, one of the most prominent themes has always been the sensation of freedom, which allows you to become reckless and cause huge destruction. The finest and most exhilarating parts of the game come from the simple act of stocking up on weapons, stepping into the street, and trying to destroy as many pedestrians, cops, and vehicles as possible, even if it isn’t a mission and doesn’t serve your cause. Using a fast car to escape the cops is also a tradition of the Grand Theft Auto series, which is a part of Liberty City Stories.

Liberty City Stories is a tad different from other games of the Grand Theft Auto series, mainly because it was launched initially only as a handheld game. The intensity of the police isn’t as aggressive as in other games of the series.

The game doesn’t allow many objects in a single frame at a time because the hardware of the PSP can’t support heavy textures, which is why you won’t spot many police cars spawning even at a higher wanted level.

The graphics might appear choppy when you’re performing actions with lots of objects in the frame. The game might completely hang for a few seconds for the texture to load. Given the PSP’s technological limitations, this is to be expected; yet Liberty City Stories comes so close to duplicating the PS2 experience in so many areas that its shortcomings stand out.

However, the game’s wide selection of vehicles, each with its own unique handling style, makes wreaking havoc on the streets of the city a lot of fun.

Let’s check out the vehicles in GTA Liberty City Stories:

Vehicles

The most prominent feature that was added to the game regarding vehicles was that your vehicle doesn’t magically un-spawn when you’re away on a mission. So if you spot and park a fast car, then continue with a mission; odds are, it will still be there when you get back from the mission. This is a much-needed feature in last-gen GTA games because getting your hands on a cool car, with no garage or warehouse nearby was anxiety-inducing.

There are 82 cars in GTA: Liberty City Stories, which include a variety of sports cars, SUVs, Motorbikes, boats, etc.

In addition to the included vehicles in the game, you can mod vehicles with the help of trainers to get an additional variety of cars in the game. Many cars from GTA III return in GTA Liberty City Stories, so expect some nostalgia while carjacking innocent drivers on the road.

Weapons

Out of the total of 34 weapons in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the vast majority are carryovers from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, while the others are either brand new or serve as replacements. The game was to include tear gas as a special weapon, but due to the hardware limitations on the PSP, the developers decided against it. So much so that if you mod smoke in the game, it will immediately crash.

Here are the weapons in GTA Liberty City Stories:

Melee Weapons

Fists	– Unarmed, hand-to-hand combat
Brass knuckles	– An accessory that may be worn on top of your bare hands to increase the force of your blows.
Chisel	– Doesn’t inflict much damage, but it looks really cool.
Hand Axe	– Not to chop wood, but people.
Hockey Stick	– Who said GTA doesn’t include sports?
Baseball Bat	– The trusty old baseball bat can put anybody out cold after a few solid blows to the head.
Knife	— This isn’t for slicing veggies.
Cleaver	– Butchers use cleavers to chop meat from animals. You may now apply it to human beings as well.
Machete	– Who doesn’t like a huge machete?
Katana	– A Samurai’s weapon of choice
Chainsaw	– A GTA Vice City classic.

Projectiles

Grenade	– It takes three seconds for the whole thing to go boom.
Molotov Cocktail	– When tossed, the bottle will explode upon contact, setting fire to the surrounding area.
Detonator bomb	– Remote-controlled grenade to explode on demand

Handguns

9mm handgun	– This weapon is not very lethal but is preferable to fists alone.
Revolver	– .357 caliber rounds, deals more damage than a regular pistol, is far more precise, but takes longer to reload.

Shotguns

Shotgun	– Very lethal, best for killing your targets with only one or two blasts in close range.
Stubby Shotgun	– This weapon is more dangerous than a regular shotgun and can kill a person with a single shot from close range.
Spaz-12	– Automatic shotgun with a high rate of fire and a short reload time

Small-Caliber Machine Guns

Tec-9	– Largest clip capacity, but its rate of fire is among the slowest.
Ingram Mac 10	– Rapid-fire weapon that is not quite as precise as the others, but its high rate of fire more than makes up for its shortcomings in precision.
Uzi 9mm	– Rapid fire weapon with great precision.
Submachine Gun / MP5	– Significantly more powerful than the Uzi.

Assault Weapons

AK-47	– Weapon of choice for every psychopath GTA gamer.
Colt M4	– Another popular military weapon, and its higher rate of fire makes it an attractive alternative to the AK-47.

High-Caliber

Colt M60	– You just need one shot to murder a whole crowd.
Flame thrower	– Do you even need a description?
Rocket launcher	– Aim and Ka-boom!
Minigun	– A hall of fame weapon of mass destruction in Grand Theft Auto games.It can shoot out rounds quicker than you can blink.

Precision Firearms

Sniper rifle	-Whether you’re planning an assassination or just want to practice your headshots.
Sniper rifle with a laser scope	– More precise than a standard sniper rifle.

Best Missions In GTA Liberty City Stories

There are a total of 70 missions in Liberty City Stories. Let’s check out some of the best missions which are unique to the game.

The Portland Chainsaw Masquerade

The Portland Chainsaw Masquerade is based on the horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and it is an iconic mission of GTA Liberty City Stories. The camera shifts to a bird’s eye view and you have to face an ambush of men armed with chainsaws.

The mission begins as Toni receives a call from Vincenzo to reach the warehouse on Atlantic Quays, the same place where JD was murdered. In spite of his initial reluctance, Toni eventually decides to stop by the warehouse for Salvatore, but only after threatening to murder Vincenzo if he ever plays a joke on him again.

When Toni reaches the ship’s hull, he is met by a group of Vincenzo’s goons armed with chainsaws. The door will close behind you as you pass through, and you will be ambushed by chainsaws. There’s no choice except to wipe out every last one of them. All of the assailants are killed by Toni, and then Vincenzo comes in to make sure Toni is dead. When Vincenzo discovers Toni is still alive, he vents his frustration at him for having returned to his former position as Salvatore’s right-hand man so swiftly. Toni, armed with a Micro-SMG, fires back at him, striking him in the head and murdering him in a last act of vengeance for his previous betrayal.

After finishing the task, Toni can accept the quest “Sindacco Sabotage” from Salvatore Leone and you’ll get access to the Overalls Outfit and the SlashTV side mission as a reward.

The Made Man

Mission #29 and the last mission by JD, The Made Man, takes a sad turn. When you begin the mission, JD is extremely excited about finally being ‘Made’.

Tonnnyyy, It’s all happening today, I’m gonna be a made man, ME!

-JD, The beginning of the mission.

Toni picks up JD from Paulie’s Revue Bar in order to escort him to the event. A Leone Sentinel carries Mickey Hamfists to the scene. It won’t be long until Toni, JD, and Mickey get in the car and go to the Harwood Autocrusher and Junkyard. There is a bunch of Sindaccos behind them who want JD dead for the treason, but Toni manages to either outrun or kill them.

After you kill them and escape the scene, you must drive JD to safety. When you finally reach Harwood, there is no ceremony waiting for JD, instead, it’s a hit on JD’s head. Mickey shoots JD because Salvatore ordered it.

The reason Salvatore didn’t trust JD, according to Mickey, is that he might have betrayed the Leones as he did the Sindaccos. Toni drives Mickey to Portland View and then dumps the vehicle in a body of water, obliterating all traces of the crime. JD’s corpse is still in the front passenger seat. You must avoid driving near cops with the corpse of JD in the front seat, otherwise, you’ll get a wanted level.

Dumping the car in Portland View results in passing the mission. This is a depressing mission because JD has always been kind to Toni and helped him out whenever he needed it, it’s unfortunate that Toni was unable to help JD by talking to Salvatore before Mickey carried out the hit.

Snappy Dresser

The aim of this mission is to convince your Ma that Giovanni Casa is not a ‘great man.’

“Casa?! But, Ma, Casa ain’t a good man, he’s a pervert!”

-Toni at mission start

This is the first mission you receive from Ma Cipriani, where you have to convince her that Giovanni Casa is not a great man as she compares you to him, with him being a better man as he calls his mother every day while Toni doesnt.

This is one of the funniest missions in GTA Liberty City Stories where Toni follows Giovanni Casa with a camera, to catch him in a perverted act just to prove a point to his mother (which ends up in failure anyways).

Toni follows Casa as he picks up two prostitutes and drives them to a remote part of Callahan Point. Casa then wears a diaper and chases after the girls. Toni catches him in the act and takes his pictures to prove to his mom that Casa is a pervert.
Toni brings photos of Casa’s perversions to Ma in the hopes that they would win over his mother’s favor. But the entire thing backfires on him as Toni’s Ma expresses concern why her son spends his time clicking weird pictures of other people.

Main Characters In GTA Liberty City Stories

Grand Theft Auto series has some of the wildest characters in video gaming history. Liberty City is no exception to that tradition. Here are the main characters of GTA Liberty City Stories:

Toni Cipriani

The main character of 2001’s Grand Theft Auto III and the focus of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Antonio “Toni” Cipriani, is a franchise mainstay. In Portland, Liberty City, Toni was born to Ma Cipriani and a mafia boss father. In the Saint Mark’s area, he shared a house and a business with his parents.

Cipriani was raised in a Mafia-controlled neighborhood and eventually joined the Leone Family after being entangled in the criminal underworld. Toni assassinated a made man in 1994 under Salvatore Leone’s command and went into hiding for four years. The game begins after Toni comes out of hiding, and resumes his operations in Liberty City.

Don Salvatore Leone

The name Salvatore Leone has been linked to many games in the Grand Theft Auto series. He’s the head of the Leone crime family. Since the 1980s, Toni has mostly received assignments from Salvatore Leone. Sal initially refused to give Toni missions since he had been silent for four years; instead, he sent him to work for Vincenzo, the new Capo of the Leone Family. However, following the murders of J. D. O’Toole and Vincenzo, Salvatore starts giving Toni missions.

Donald Love

Don Love is a multimillionaire entrepreneur who runs the Love Media empire. Donald is acquainted with the Leones via a common acquaintance. After Toni killed Roger C. Hole, the mayor of Liberty City, Love decided to run for office. Love goes to work for Don Salvatore Leone and takes advantage of the situation by employing Toni Cipriani and benefiting with his money.

First, Love has Cipriani steal a body for him to consume, then he has Cipriani campaign for him and murders several of O’Donovan’s campaigners. Toni Cipriani steals the bodies of Avery Carrington and Ned Burner for Donald Love to eat, which further proves that Donald Love is a cannibal.

Massimo Torini

In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Massimo Torini, a Sicilian gangster, plays a pivotal role as the game’s major antagonist. Torini is a high-ranking member of the Sicilian Mafia sent by his superiors to broker peace between the Leones, the Forellis, and the Sindaccos, the three crime families who dominate Liberty City. However, Salvatore understands that Torini’s true goal is to take control of the city.

Paulie Sindacco

As the casino owner and don of the powerful Sindacco family, Paulie Sindacco serves as the game’s secondary antagonist. Leaving the operations of the criminal family to his capos, Paulie shuttles back and forth between Liberty City and Las Venturas on a regular basis. His constant relocations have given him the moniker “The Invisible Don” because of how seldom people encounter him in Liberty.

Vincenzo Cilli

Vincenzo “Lucky” Cilli is a Leone and serves as the family’s Capo early in the game. Taking advantage of Toni Cipriani’s absence to advance in the family. The sight of Vincenzo is enough to make Toni hate him.

Because of his jealousy, Vincenzo Cili calls Toni to a trap, where men with chainsaws ambush him. Toni survives and shoots Vincenzo for the betrayal.

JD O’Toole

Paulie Sindacco’s bar is managed by Joseph Daniel “JD” O’Toole, an Irish Italian American who also moonlights as a pimp at the club. As a member of the Sindacco family, JD aspires to achieve “made-man” status.

After JD begins working for the Leone family, they assure him that he will soon be a “made-man” However, Salvatore never trusts JD and eventually has him killed by Mickey once he outlives his usefulness.

Maria Latore

Salvatore’s young wife, Maria Latore, and he have a lot of issues. The first time Salvatore saw Maria was six years ago. Maria is cheating on Salvatore by seeing “Wayne,” the head of the local motorcycle gang.

Maria’s lack of self-control is evident in her use of Salvatore’s money, drug use, and stealing. Furthermore, she tends to become lost in her babblings due to her excessive chatting.

Ma Cipriani

Ma Cipriani is the only parent of Toni. She has always treated him poorly since she thinks he’s too “girly” While Toni remained in hiding for four years, he never once contacted his mother, which is why she despises his presence after he has returned. Despite her sons’ best efforts, Ma remains dissatisfied, so she orders a hit on Toni. Ma’s disapproval of Toni does not abate until he becomes a ‘made man,’ after which she cancels the hit.

Multiplayer

When compared to other recent console games, Liberty City Stories stands out due to its capabilities for up to six-player multiplayer. Several standard game modes are available, such as deathmatch, capture the flag, and king of the hill variations. In addition to the standard single-player campaign, the multiplayer option has both teams, and free-for-all games, with more characters and locales, unlocked as the player progresses through the story.

Although it is possible to play with two people, due to the expansive landscapes, doing so is a tedious experience. However, the game’s multiplayer mode is where its true appeal lies. No need to worry, though; it won’t be the main attraction, as Liberty City Stories is mainly a single-player game.

Release and Ports

After its 2005 debut on PlayStation Portable, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. The PS3 version was released on April 2, 2013. On December 17, 2015, the game was released on February 11, 2016, on Android. This unauthorized PC port’s development started in 2017, and it was supposed to be completed in 2021; however, the developer ultimately scrapped the project.

Alternative Games

If you loved GTA Liberty City Stories, odds are you will love the following games as well! Here is a list of games that are like GTA Liberty City Stories so you can experience a similar story to the masterpiece or fill the void after ending this game.

1. Red Dead Redemption

Another masterpiece created by Rockstar, Red Dead Redemption, was released in 2010 on PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Much like GTA Liberty City Stories, RDR never made it to PC (While there are rumors that a PC remaster would hit the stores in 2023).

Red Dead Redemption follows the trail of John Marston; the gameplay is incredible, the graphics are tolerable, and the story is one of a kind. If you are a fan of the emotional roller coaster the story of GTA Liberty City Stories depicts, you will love Red Dead Redemption!

The game received a lot of positive reception mainly because of the amazing story and gameplay, so much so that Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption 2, which was no less than one of the best games to ever hit the market.

Red Dead Redemption is based around the end of the cowboy era in the United States, and instead of Sentinel outside the Salvatore estate, you can find a hardy steed outside Bonnie McFarlane’s ranch.

It features numerous mini-games and side quests like GTA Liberty City Stories, and there’s a huge map to go with the amazing open-world gameplay.

2. GTA: Vice City Stories

If you enjoyed the prequel to GTA III (GTA Liberty City Stories), then you’ll most probably enjoy the prequel to another one of the most popular games released by Rockstar, GTA: Vice City i.e. GTA: Vice City Stories.

In GTA Vice City Stories, you play Vic Vance; the older brother of Lance Vance, the friend-turned-foe in GTA Vice City.

Vic dies early on in GTA Vice City as a drug deal with Tommy Vercetti is ambushed, and Vic gets shot in the crossfire.

You play as Private Vic Vance, who joins the Army and is soon sent on several dubious assignments by his superior. You explain to him that you need to get your hands on some money to care for your sick sibling but that you’re morally opposed to engaging in such practices.

You start dealing drugs, murdering gang members, and engaging in other dubious activities while constantly whining about how awful your life is. It’s strange that Vic appears so strongly opposed to this type of thing, but he engages in it time and time again and follows the instructions of sketchy characters.

The story might not be the highlight of the game, but it received tons of positive reception of the newly introduced Empire missions in the game and the amazing soundtrack which takes all the attention.

The game is an improved version of GTA: Liberty City Stories, featuring more weapons and vehicles while taking place in vibrant Vice City as opposed to the dull Liberty City.

If you loved Liberty City Stories, then make sure to try out GTA Vice City Stories on your handheld and home consoles.

3. Saints Row: The Third

If you’re a fan of open-world games that allow you to cause unwarranted feats of destruction, then Saints Row: The Third is just the game for you!

The game feels more like a parody of a multitude of famous games, you can fully customize your character, and with a combination of some of the weirdest weapons I’ve ever seen in my years of gaming, you strive to become the strongest gang in all of Steelport. The game poses you with multiple choices as the story progresses, which affects the outcome of the ending.

The whole Saints Row series is a comedic masterpiece, and Saints Row: The Third stands out from the entire series as unofficially the best game of the series.

You can drive around the huge map by jacking cars and terrorizing innocent civilians, be careful not to get unwanted attention from other gangs or the government agency (STAG) as it follows a similar pattern to GTA’s wanted level system. The more chaos you cause, the more stars you get, and stronger forces arrive to kill you. If you want to play Saints Row: The Third in high definition and new-gen textures then you’re in luck! Saints Row: The Third Remaster has also hit the markets!

If you thought GTA was the craziest open-world action-adventure game, then you clearly haven’t played Saints Row: The Third.

FAQs

Question: Is GTA: Liberty City Stories On PC?

Answer: No, GTA: Liberty City Stories hasn’t been ported for PC yet. But, if you want to play the game on your computer, you can download an Android emulator like Bluestacks, Gameloop, etc., and run the game as you would on an android device.

Question: Can You Cheat In GTA: Liberty City Stories?

Answer: Yes! GTA games are incomplete without cheats. Rockstar devs have to include cheats in GTA: Liberty City Stories in every platform it was released. Moreover, you can download trainers to toggle cheats easily instead of pressing the buttons in specific sequences to enable the cheats.

Question: Can You Mod GTA: Liberty City Stories?

Answer: Yes! You can add lots of different mods to GTA: Liberty City Stories, as it includes complete mod support. You can add vehicles and weapons and manipulate in-game textures to make the game even more fun! Take caution, though, because GTA: Liberty City Stories has not been ported for PC, so there is only a small number of mods you can install simultaneously before the game crashes due to hardware limitations of the PSP.

Conclusion

Rockstar knows how to hit the mark with GTA games; GTA Liberty City Stories takes place before the events of GTA III and follows the story of Toni Cipriani, who sends you on missions in GTA III.

Liberty City Stories introduces the amazing gameplay of GTA games on handheld consoles like the PSP. It gained a lot of positive reception due to the amazing gameplay mechanics, variety of cool weapons and vehicles, nostalgic setting, and great characters.

Although it was launched initially for the PSP, Liberty City Stories features a huge open-world map with so many elements that can keep you glued to the screen for hours on end.

I hope you enjoyed reading this review of GTA: Liberty City Stories; check out more amazing Grand Theft Auto articles below!