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GTA LIBERTY CITY STORIES is a bit like something out of The Sopranos. It's a mob of heavily greased hair styles and sporting the no-nonsense look of black suits and dark glasses. Originally released on PSP, it has now made it way onto PS2 in an aim to reflect the same success as previous GTAs, but many would say it is to cash in on the success it has seen on PSP.
Liberty City Stories follows the journey of Toni Cipriani, a man who for years has lain low after taking down a made man. The heat has now simmered and Toni now returns to stake his claim in a city where corruption is strife and the battle for territory is anyone's game. Toni returns to the Leone crime family, the same family that was behind the order to take out a member of a rival mob. Toni remains loyal to head of the family, Salvatore (Sal) Leone, and shows this by agreeing to undertake a series of missions throughout Liberty City Stories to prove it.
Liberty City Stories is set three years prior to GTA III and follows a simple storyline of Toni wanting to become a made man. It does offer some history of other GTA games, because it is set three years prior, but apart from that it is not as in-depth as, say, San Andreas. Gamers have the choice to either carry out missions as they relate to the story or you can mix it up with additional missions. If you look to mix it up a bit, then additional missions vary from a bit of street racing, providing a taxi service or even hunting down criminals in police cars. Additional missions are more or less a chance for you to increase your takings/cash so that you can buy weapons. There is plenty of weaponry scattered throughout the city on roofs, around warehouses and along the train tracks. The types of weapons on hand include 9mm pistols, assault riffles and knives, and for heavier artillery, rocket launchers can also be accessed.
The difficulty in missions varies in skill level and offers some variety from delivering drugs to delivering a fully loaded car bomb. Always on your tail throughout is an assassin hired by Toni's mum to take him out at any stage of the game. The assassin is not like the mob as he carries heavy artillery and is kitted with a bulletproof vest. He is not easy to take down and you may need to resort to other means if you only have a handgun.
If you compare the missions to its predecessors, these are not on the same level. Previous versions of GTA offered more blood, gore and hand to hand combat. That's not to say that Liberty City Stories is not good, as you do see the detail such as blood pouring out of the boot of your car as you carry bodies around or exploding heads (on headshots), but it does not really match to the same level.
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