Storytelling

Amidst all the emergent gameplay and interesting choices, Grand Theft Auto III also manages to tell a compelling story. The bulk of this storytelling happens in cut-scenes, but it is interesting to note how short and to the point they are. The opening of the game manages to convey a lot of information ” the player character s involvement in a bank robbery, the girlfriend who betrayed him and leaves him for dead, the trial that sends him to jail, the main character s subsequent involvement in a prison transport break that leaves him a fugitive from the law ” all in approximately two minutes. The cut-scenes that come at the start of each mission are even shorter and to the point. The fact that the game is exceedingly well written and has top- notch voice acting certainly helps to make the reliance on cut-scenes more forgivable.

But the game tells its story through more than just the cut-scenes, with the believability of Liberty City perfectly supporting the game- fiction . Players are sent on missions to various neighborhoods that show the diverse types of life that exist in the city, with the types of cars driving around and the pedestrians walking the sidewalks matching the flavor of the neighborhoods appropriately, all contributing to a remarkably consistent world. The radio stations players can tune into while driving any of the vehicles also contribute to this fictional space, with each station playing into the satirical themes of the game and its biting take on American culture. And again, the writing on the radio is some of the best satire you are likely to find in any medium.

Though the missions and cut-scenes that make up the main story arc are completely pre-scripted and cannot change based on the players actions, the designers made a number of decisions that allow players to still feel like the story is their own. First of all, though the objectives themselves do not change, the order in which players attempt many of the missions is left to their own discretion. Furthermore, players can play through the game s main story arc without even going on all the missions, meaning each user will likely play a different subsection of the content that is available. Also, in Grand Theft Auto III the designers deliberately kept the main character mute so players could feel more immersed in the game, avoiding the distancing effect of having a main character that talks. Since players are already making choices in the game-world that define the personality of their character, keeping him from speaking allowed this personality to be dominant in the players minds, instead of something the designers established for them. Interestingly, Vice City added speech for the main character, though this was not particularly praised by users or the press.

Of course, one could hardly discuss Grand Theft Auto III without bringing up the controversy its release created in the mainstream media. What seems to have upset people the most was the players ability to have the choice of running over innocent pedestrians and, specifically , paying to sleep with a prostitute and then killing her to get their money back. Such complaints seem to come from critics who do not fully understand the nature of an interactive world. In such a world, players have the choice to play as they want. Would it be better if pedestrians magically jumped out of the way of players cars? What lesson would that impart to players? Indeed, many players of the game will go out of their way to avoid pointless killing. I have discussed the game with plenty of players who deliberately avoid killing innocents as they move through the world; they simply see it as something they don t want to do and it becomes part of their role-playing experience. In the end, creating a world where players are able to make meaningful choices means making a world where they may make some very bad choices indeed. The people who complain about a game that allows for the making of such poor choices are the same people who would prefer to censor what people can read and see in other media as well. If one believes in free speech for novels and films , one must also allow players the freedom to act as they want inside a simulated game-space.

I have seen a few members of the development community complain about all the awards that the game received. Surely a game that pushes violence and taboo subject matter as far as Grand Theft Auto III does should not be rewarded? Certainly, it should not be rewarded based on that alone, nor should it be rewarded based on its tremendous popular success. However, the fact of the matter is that Grand Theft Auto III , through its systems-based design and emergent gameplay, pushes games toward their tremendous potential more than most other games of recent memory. And based on that, the game truly deserves all of the accolades it has received.