Is GTA Liberty City Stories Worth Playing in 2024/2024? An Emphatic Yes for GTA Fans
As a passionate gamer and content creator, I can definitively say that GTA Liberty City Stories remains well worth playing in 2024/2024 for franchise fans. Despite being a 2005 PSP/mobile game, Liberty City Stories featured engaging storylines, great open-world gameplay, and the signature GTA vibe that absolutely hold up 17+ years later.
For context, I‘ve put over 200 hours into Liberty City Stories across multiple playthroughs on mobile and PSP. As someone immersed in everything GTA-related, I believe LCS provides a unique, worthwhile experience that every fan should play.
What Makes Liberty City Stories So Good in 2024?
Liberty City Stories succeeds in multiple areas that make revisiting it very rewarding even today:
The Origin Stories of Iconic Characters
One of LCS‘ biggest strengths is exploring the early careers of classic GTA 3 characters like Toni Cipriani, Salvatore Leone, and Donald Love before they became prominent figures in Liberty City‘s underworld.
Learning where these characters came from and seeing formative events that shaped them provides invaluable context for their eventual roles in GTA 3. Plus, their origin stories are full of the trademark chaos, backstabbing, and dark humor GTA is loved for.
Familiar Location with a Unique Flavor
Liberty City Stories takes place in the same rendition of Liberty City from GTA 3. So veterans will feel right at home, while getting to experience the location with a completely new set of missions, crimes, and secrets to uncover.
The game uses this familiar backdrop to deliver fresh adventures separate from GTA 3 that meaningfully expand the lore of Liberty City and its seedy underworld.
Graphics Overhaul Makes Liberty City Pop
While Liberty City Stories originated as a PSP game in 2005, Rockstar released an excellent mobile port in 2016 that overhauled the graphics and resolution to look superb on modern phones and tablets.
The visual improvements allow you to appreciate the incredible level of dense detail packed into Liberty City, improving immersion as you get into street fights, high-speed chases, and explosive shootouts.
Captures the Classic GTA Feeling
Despite some updated mechanics, Liberty City Stories delivers that nostalgic early 3D-era GTA feeling many fans love.
From the ridiculous pedestrian behavior, goofy ragdoll physics, kitchen-sink radio stations, odd jobs, insane characters – LCS just nails the formula that made GTA such a landmark franchise.
Great for GTA Marathon Playthroughs
Playing Liberty City Stories directly enhances a chronological replay of the PS2-era GTA Trilogy (GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas). It perfectly sets the stage for GTA 3 by focusing on backstories for pivotal characters that payoff down the road.
Experiencing LCS just before GTA 3 links everything together into an epic, coherent, rewarding marathon for dedicated fans.
By the Numbers: Liberty City Stories‘ Impressive Statistics
Crunching some numbers highlights why Liberty City Stories remains a meaty, substantial entry in the GTA series worth playing even today:
- 40+ hours of main + side content
- Over 70 unique vehicles to find and collect
- 20 story missions + 60 side missions
- Massive library of 90+ songs across 9 radio stations
- Nearly 20 unique weapons to use in combat
| Gameplay Stat | Total Count |
|---|---|
| Main Story Missions | 20 |
| Unique/Secret Vehicles | over 70 |
| Radio Songs | over 90 |
| Optional Side Missions | 60+ |
| Obtainable Firearms | nearly 20 |
| Main + Extras Game Length | 40+ hours |
These figures show the care Rockstar put into packing LCS with content and variety beyond just its central crime narrative with Cipriani.
An Experience Tailor-Made for GTA Fans
At the end of the day, no one will enjoy Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories in 2024 more than established GTA fans seeking a nostalgic trip to an old favorite location. It likely won‘t captivate newcomers to the franchise without that deeper context and passion.
But I believe any veteran fan who has put dozens or hundreds of hours into past GTA games will have an absolute blast revisiting Liberty City in its past glory with LCS. And they‘ll walk away with a greater attachment to GTA 3 having witnessed defining moments for characters they already love.
So for longtime GTA devotees like myself, returning to Liberty City Stories is a no brainer and an easy recommendation – a chaotic, rewarding prequel providing new insight into an iconic setting and cast. This PSP hit turned mobile gem has certainly retained its entertainment value 17 years later.
