Grand Theft Auto 3 (Rockstar, PC, MA15+)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald rating: * * * * )

Liberty City isn't the sort of place you'd want to bring up your kids. It's a grimy, urban ghetto inhabited by pimps, prostitutes and just about every major crime organisation.

The streets of Liberty are peopled by some serious sociopaths, from London's Yardies to Tokyo's Yakuza, not to mention the Mafia and Triads. The burning question is: if you buy this game, will you become one yourself?

GTA3 has had some seriously bad press and it would be hard to defend a game where serious, wanton violence is mixed with sex, appalling driving and hard drugs.

It would be almost impossible if it wasn't for the fact that it's all over-the-top, Mickey-taking fun and an excellent game.

The graphics are first rate, the sound track is brilliant, it takes about as long as a short jail term to play, and it has lots of those clever touches which take a game from being good to excellent.

Grand Theft Auto 3 has been ported over from the PlayStation 2 and needs a fairly powerful system to run properly. Minimum is a P3 or Athlon processor and a 3D card.

This gives you almost movie-style graphics, but with a curious cartoon quality, reminiscent of Marvel Comics.

The game starts with you and your leather-clad girlfriend roaring up to a bank in a Porsche and robbing it at gunpoint. She then shoots you before running off with the loot.

You go down for a 10-stretch, but escape during a crash on the way to jail. After that it's murder and mayhem as you work through a series of missions which will not earn you a Community Services Medal.

Driving plays a big part and you have to navigate a series of vehicles around Liberty's streets. This alone is almost a game in itself.

The missions are big and complex and require criminal cunning as well as a propensity for mindless violence.

peter_eley@nzherald.co.nz