Unless you've been sleeping with the fishes for the past decade, you'll know what the GTA series is all about and exactly why it's so bloody popular. Offering the player nothing but freedom, you normally start off doing low paid, low profile missions to scrape by - until you prove your worth and eventually work your way up in the gangster ranks. Missions only play a small role in GTA games though; it's the unlimited sidetracks and possibilities that make the Grand Theft Auto series just what it today - a unique masterpiece. There's nothing quite like it, and those games that dare to imitate the genre that GTA has created are 'taken care of' quickly and quietly. Liberty City Stories is the first Grand Theft Auto game for the new PSP platform. Chances are, if you've managed to get hold of a PSP in this mad Christmas rush and you've paid megabucks for one, then you're going to get this game. Quite honestly, you'd be a fool not to!

Liberty City Stories is no different from any other GTA game, in the sense that you have to work your way up the gangster ranks to become a made man. But we're getting ahead of ourselves already. The year is 1998 and you're back where the first 3D incarnation started, in GTA III's Liberty City. You're playing as a returning gangster who's spent a while out of town and who is appropriately named Toni Cipriani - try saying that with a gun in your mouth! Now that Toni has returned, don't expect him to have the good life right away; you'll have to work for plenty of back-stabbing, smart ass mob leaders before you're the talk of the city.

With that out the way, let me just say what an ingenious idea Liberty City Stories is. Liberty City was always my favourite place when put alongside Vice City, or even San Andreas. It's so memorable, especially if you played GTA III for as long as I did. So, the moment I powered the game up and got the lengthy introduction out of the way, I jumped on a motorbike, drove straight down to the car garage, crashed through the show room window and stole the best car I could get my hands on! I smashed out the other window and laughed as I ran over many recognisable pedestrians. It wasn't long before the cops were chasing me, so without even a clue as to where the Pay n' Spray was located, I drove there in an instant - it was like second nature. I knew exactly where to go and how to get there. So let's do some maths. An instantly recognisable city with various changes, plus new gameplay elements seen in Vice City such as motorbikes, plus a brand new story with brand new missions, minus the joy pad ties, must well and truly equal something worth shouting about.

It won't be long before you've worked your way up the ranks and you're Salvatore's right hand man. In fact, you'll be working for many people - some weirder than others, like that chubby guy who's into certain wild sexual fetishes, or that woman who enjoys clothes shopping but doesn't like to pay for any garments! Everybody has great characterisation in this game. The voice acting is top notch; in mission briefing scenes, and during missions, you'll hear very distinctive voices that can easily be put to various characters you will get to know as the game progresses. You'll even take a liking to yourself (!) - Toni that is - as he speaks in this game and often talks back to the person giving the orders. In GTA III, the guy you played as was merely a face - in future GTA games they decided that the main character should talk and in Liberty City Stories we get some classic perfected backchat and wisecracks, which gives each mission a little bit of attitude and also allows for some real relationship development between you and your on-screen persona, all in the palms of your hands.

When I talk to people about their favourite GTA game, most people say Vice City, as this was the game with many improvements and changes over the first GTA III. San Andreas always seems to get left out of the conversation, despite it being a classic in its own right - but I digress. Liberty City Stories incorporates many of Vice City's improvements and tweaks. The first noticeable change is that there are motorbikes and mopeds, which are cruising around the large city, just waiting to be stolen. Other things such as being able to bale from your car or bike are here, as well as being able to change your outfit in its entirety. You'll only be able to wield one of each weapon type, much like Vice City, and some gang missions are present, although you can't control your gang members - they're controlled by the AI. On the whole though, this game feels like GTA III with most of the best Vice City tweaks present.

Radio stations were a biggie for Vice City, with loads and loads of licensed music tracks. San Andreas' music was licensed too, but I found myself loving Vice City's soundtrack a lot more, because rap just ain't my thang. Liberty City Stories, much like GTA III, has hardly any licensed tracks; most of them are especially made for the game. This is like a double-edged knife for a reviewer. On the one hand, they've spent more time and effort on the radio, because most of the content is unique, but on the other hand none of it is recognisable - which is what Vice City was praised for. I really do appreciate the amount of radio work here, especially the chat shows, but it would have been nice to run people over listening to music from the era. I'll never forget tearing up the beach on my motorbike, listening to Spandau Ballet's 'Gold' in Vice City.

To say the radio stations aren't without their highlights though would be wrong. All the familiar stations are here such as Head Radio, and Flashback FM. There's a highly amusing talk show, where various people talk with members of the public on a range of different topics. There is one technology talk show hosted by two men who sounded a lot like Bill and Ted. They come out with loads of Internet terms, such as "L.M.A.O" and "n00b" in their conversation to people who need advice. Lots of cyber sex references also make this show complete. All the radio stations have adverts too, and each advert has some kind of reference or plug to make them truly hilarious. There is one that curses the Internet for containing the wrong kind of information, which then goes on to list a few examples - one of the many adverts that really will make you laugh out loud.

Coming back to the missions and, for the most part, I really enjoyed them. Some missions involve quite a bit of driving, others involve quite a bit of killing, but either way, you're bound to have fun. Sometimes though, you feel like there's not much story behind a certain mission, or that the missions aren't really as deep as the console counterparts; I found myself 'losing the cops' or 'picking up the prostitute' far too many times in one day. Don't get me wrong - you'll always get some degree of enjoyment out of a mission - be it from a certain comical phrase or the unlocking of new gameplay advancements. Saying this, the missions are easily as replayable as other GTA games, because there are many ways you can go about completing each and every one of them, if you just think about it. The missions are definitely good enough for a handheld console, but I would expect a lot more if this was a new GTA game on a home console.

With that said, the missions are probably simpler for two reasons. Firstly, the PSP cannot handle the epic missions of a full-powered console, and secondly to give it more of a pick up and play feel, which definitely succeeds. Something that gets in the way of shooting missions is the control scheme. For the most part the controls are fantastic; using the analogue stick is as fluid and as spot on as I could have hoped for. But with the D-Pad directly above the analogue stick, switching weapons requires either an abnormally long nose or another hand! [Hopefully neither of which anyone reading this review is afflicted with! Although a third hand might come in handy… Ed] One last thing that I almost knocked an additional point off the overall score for is the saving method - you still have to go out of your way to a safe house to save. You won't always have the time or the motivation to drive back to your house after a mission you've just completed on the train. There were times when I just turned the PSP off because I was tired of playing. However, I was willing to lose my progress, because I looked forward to doing the mission again - it was no skin off my nose to escape the docks once more!

I've raved about the fantastic sound throughout this review. Some great voice acting and very entertaining radio are just two of the sound treasures I have covered. Also worth mentioning are the sound effects, like the distant yelling, or the beeping horns in traffic jams, with the odd curse word coming from the sunroof for added effect. Not only does Rockstar provide you with a decent soundtrack in the car, but they go that extra mile and create surroundings full of ambient, real-time noises for you to enjoy on foot. You won't be able to fully appreciate any of the sound without a decent pair of headphones though - and don't expect to know what's going on without them either!

The graphics will blow you away. Simply put, it's like looking at a scaled down PS2 GTA in your hands. Character models look a little rough around the edges, but the vehicles look stunning, much like they did in Midnight Club. You can really feel the speed in some of the faster cars too. When there's a lot happening on screen, the game does occasionally slow down - the frame rate suffers from time to time, but it doesn't really get in the way of the otherwise perfect, mind-blowingly good graphical department - and to be able to view Liberty City on the PSP is simply amazing. This game really has lifted the bar where graphics are concerned; it makes MediEvil look like a joke!

The loading times surprisingly are surprisingly short. You don't really notice them - but that's probably because you're so excited and anxious to find out what lies past the loading screen. The city, when loaded, is without loading times - which is an amazing achievement on PSP. From time to time you'll get the odd load as you enter a car, to load the appropriate radio station, but other than this there's nothing much in the way to ruin your playing time.

To top everything off, Rockstar has included some amazing multiplayer, never seen before in a GTA game. As you'd imagine, the multiplayer here lets you choose one of the three towns in Liberty City, providing you've unlocked them of course, as well as one of the many skins you have undoubtedly unlocked along your travels. The seven multiplayer modes on offer allow six players to roam around killing each other, or performing some other gangster related task. Seven is a big number where modes are concerned; there is plenty of variety, such as a free-for-all Death Match and GTA's version of Capture the Flag, with limos instead of flags, cleverly named "Get Stretch". The multiplayer modes grant players with unlimited sprints, while power-ups and weapons are scattered around in the form of pickups. Thankfully, traffic and pedestrians are here to make the multiplayer feel just like the single player - except with friends! Unfortunately, to fully enjoy all seven modes, you're going to have to find more than one additional friend, but once you have a group of mates, expect that gang-war multiplayer mode to really take off. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg though. Maybe look out for a massively multiplayer online Vice City Stories in the coming years! [We can but dream! Ed]

I don't think there will be a game as good as this for the PSP for a long while. I absolutely love this game, and I'll be honest, I don't keep hold of many games for long - only the best of the best. And, my friend, this will join my strictly limited collection of PSP games, alongside Wipeout and Midnight Club. With so much lasting appeal, including 100 hidden packages and side missions with taxis and pizza bikes, as well as that amazing multiplayer, you will never get bored. There's one small catch with this game, however. It's not very travel friendly. Of course, if you're going on holiday, then yes, this is your game, but shorter car journeys and Liberty City Stories just won't perform. The game needs at least 20 minute bursts, to load the game, find a mission and complete the mission, then to save it again. However, if you're like me and play mainly around the house, then I cannot think of a more perfect way to waste five hours in front of the fire. Until your PSP battery goes. If you haven't got hold of this already - just buy it - it's what the PSP was made for!

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).