While I'm waiting for my 72 iTunes songs to download, I thought I'd write a bit about my recent experience with the PS2 version of Liberty City Stories.

First off, I am clearly one of those people who will just keep on buying slightly modified rehashes of the same thing, as long I liked the original thing they are based on. Witness my Metroidvania collection. As long as they make that type of game, I will probably continue to buy it.

I don't think GTA is much different. I picked up LCS knowing that it would be just the same old thing with a slightly different package. And what do you know? I played the game like mad for the first week I had it. I think this is a good game for anyone looking for a quick GTA fix and has already played their other games to death. The excitement tapers off about halfway through though. It's somewhere between GTA III and Vice City in terms of features and overall quality. It's still got the same old frustrating aiming system, and the same frustrating bugs that never seem to get fixed. And as far as I can tell there are no aircraft, which leaves me feeling confined.

One newly frustrating aspect of this game that I didn't see mentioned in any other reviews is just how dark it is on a television. With the software brightness turned all the way up I would frequently find myself running into walls I couldn't see because the environment was so murky. There were a couple of times when I'd be in the middle of a mission at night and I'd have to stop moving until daybreak because I just couldn't see anything. I'm not sure if this has to do with the game's PSP origins (maybe the portable's screen is just a lot brighter?) or not. I know a lot of developers prefer a dark atmosphere in the studio and this can't have a good effect on a game's lighting . . .

The story in this game is at about the level of Vice City - characters are 1 or 2 dimensional and not nearly as engaging as CJ and the Grove Street Families. But I'm a story Nazi. For most folks I think this one gets the job done.

Overall I rate this game a 7 out of 10 (with 5.5 as neutral).