Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was the first Grand Theft Auto game released for the PlayStation Portable. Set in Liberty City in 1998, it is a prequel to the events of Grand Theft Auto Advance and Grand Theft Auto III. The game was later ported for the PlayStation 2.

A unique aspect of the game is that its setting, Liberty City, is not only the same as the earlier Grand Theft Auto III, but the general layout of the city has remained virtually unchanged (except for some key differences due to LCS taking place a few years earlier than GTA III). As such, players familiar with Liberty City as it appeared in GTA III have an advantage of already being familiar with much of the geography (likewise, players following the games chronologically who move on to GTA III will also be familiar with the layout).

Storyline
There are several stories in Liberty City. This one changes everything. Once a trusted wise guy in the Leone Family, Toni Cipriani was forced into hiding after killing a made man. Now he's back and it's time for things to be put right.

His boss Salvatore Leone of the Leone Family introduces Toni to the family's capo Vincenzo Cilli and pursuades Toni do some work for him. Later Vincenzo informs Toni that former Leone member, now Sindacco Family bartender Joseph Daniel O'Toole wants to rejoin the Leones and explains that they will use JD as an inside man. Vincenzo's final request to Toni is to pick up his car but is a police ambush set up by Vincenzo. Toni escapes the police and cuts his ties with Vincenzo. Toni begins to do some work for JD to pay off JD's debt to Toni and to gather further distrupt the Sindaccos. Toni returns to see his Ma and does some work for her to rpove himself to her such as taking an embarassing photo of Giovanni Casa, taking out some Triad shipments, racing and killing Sucho and murdering Casa at the sawmill. Ma is still not impressed and calls a hit on Toni, though Toni survives the hit and escapes. Toni starts to do some more work for Salvatore by pursuading union boss Jane Hopper to obey Salvatore's demands. Salvatore's wife Maria Latore then blackmails Toni to work for her to get her and Toni out of trouble and later does a deal with the Cartel for Salvatore. Toni does some more work for JD and JD soon explains that the Siciilans are trying to broker a peace between the families. However, Salvatore smells a rat and wants someone to follow the Sicilian boss Massimo Torini. Toni follows Torini's chopper and overhears a conversation between Torini and the Diablos promising them Hepburn Heights if they help the Sicilians. Toni continues following Torini and hears a conversation between Torini and the Triads promising them they will be taken care of if they co-operate with the Sicilians. However the Triads spot Toni and Torini escapes in his chopper. JD informs Toni that he is going to be made and Mickey Hamfists joins Toin and JD to the ceremony in Harwood. Instead of a ceremony however, Hamfists executes JD and explains to Toni that Salvatore could not trust JD as he could trun on the Leones sooner or later. Toni drives Hamfists home and dumps JD's body. Vincenzo soon calls and request Toni to meet him at the freighter, Toni at first refuses but agrees after Vincenzo apologizes for his actions. Toni goes there only to find it a trap set by Vincenzo where he kills Vincenzo and all his men. Salvatore soon informs Toni that the Leones are being pressured by the Triads and Diablos and Toni and Toni pushes them back. Salvatore and Toni soon travels to Staunton after Salvatore explains that Mayor Roger C. Hole is going to blame Salvatore for everything and Toni later kills Mayor Hole and takes his cell phone to Salvatore. After doing all this Toni becomes a made man in the Leones having Ma call that hit off Toni. Salvatore soon explains that the the Forellis had Mayor Hole in their pocket and there is a new election for mayor and that their candiate Donald Love is competing Miles O'Donovan for mayor. Toni helps Donald on Salvatore's orders combat O'Donovan's efforts. Salvatore and Toni later kidnap Mayor Hole's assistant where he reveals that the Sicilian Mafia controlled both Franco Forelli and the Forelli Family, wanting a war between the mob families where they would take over after the dust settles. Toni later helps Salvatore and the Leone family weaken the Forellis to help gain domanation. Toni later does some work for Leone family corrupt cop Leon McAffery in weakening the Forellis and Sindaccos and helping the Yardies and later helps the reverend with the Liberty Tree article by helping it grow in fame but the reverend in revealed to be Liberty Tree reporter Ned Burner. Love soon tells Toni that O'Donovan has links between him and Salvatore which is destroyed by Toni even though his revealed friendship with Love causes him to lose the election. Salvatore is later arrested by O'Donovan and Toni takes revenge on the Forellis for it. Salvatore soon reveals that Sindacco Family leader Paulie Sindacco helped the Forellis and the Sicilians put Salvatore in prison and Toni kills Paulie before he can escape by sea. Toni does one last favor for Salvatore by destroying a Yakuza tank in their lockup. Love soon calls Toni and requests to meet him at his Flop-House. There he explains that he has a plan to get his wealth back and needs the plans for Fort Staunton from his former mentor Avery Carrington. Toni kills Avery and obtains the plans but is witnessed by Ned Burner and is killed by Toni on orders of Love. Both corpses are obtained by Toni and taken to Avery's plane. Meanwhile Toshiko Kasen hires Toni to work against her husband Kazuki Kasen, leader of the Yakuza by stealing their weapons, destroying their cash and revealing his ties to Toshiko. Kazuki then decides to kill Toshiko and Toni but is murdered by Toni before he can do so and Toshiko commits suicide to be "truly free". Soon Love introduces Toni to 8-Ball and they destroy the Fort Staunton district. Love then hides out in the Cartel mansion from the Cartel and escapes the city with Toni's help. Soon Salvatore reveals to Toni that he is being bailed out of prison but the Sicilians don't want that to happen so they can take over and Salvatore's convoy safely makes it to the court house with Toni's help. Finally Torini decides to kidnap O'Donovan to stop Salvatore's charges from being dropped. Salvatore and Toni chase Torini to Portland Rock where Toni kills Torini ending the crisis. Salvatore also reveals to Toni that Torini was the underboss and his eldery uncle was the boss and they have a meet with him at Momma's Resturante.

Liberty City in 1998
At this earlier time in the GTA lineage, Liberty City is slightly different. For example, Luigi Goterelli's Sex Club Seven is named Paulie's Revue Bar, and is instead owned by Joseph Daniel O'Toole, a pervert working for the Sindacco Family (from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas), although the player sees how it later becomes Sex Club Seven. There is also a Little Italy section of town that does not exist in the Liberty City from GTA III, although its fate is explained in this game. Even the tallest tower in Liberty City in 1998 is only half of its height is compared to GTA III. The way to get from island to island has also been tweaked. A ferry now runs from Portland Island to Staunton Island, and the tunnel that connects the islands in GTA III has not yet been completed - only the section of the tunnel that runs from north Shoreside Vale to south Shoreside Vale is open. The Callahan Bridge (the bridge that was blown up in Grand Theft Auto III) has also not been fully constructed yet. Only after the mission "Driving Mr. Leone", which occurs at around 19% completion, you can actually traverse the bridge as its construction progresses. In addition, motorbikes were previously permitted in the city. The official Liberty City Stories websites reveal that motorbikes were no longer in GTA III due to a public ordinance that banned them that was supported by the Maibatsu Corporation (which marketed the oversized Maibatsu Monstrosity in GTA III) in order to promote the use of automobiles in the city.

Location
See Liberty City.

Vehicles
See Vehicles in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Weapons
See Weapons in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Characters
See Characters in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Safehouses
See Safehouses in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Major Gangs

 * Leone Family
 * Sindacco Family
 * Forelli Family
 * Sicilian Mafia
 * Yakuza

Minor Gangs

 * Triads
 * Colombian Cartel
 * Diablos
 * Yardies
 * Southside Hoods
 * Liberty City Bikers
 * Avenging Angels

Controls
On the PSP, character movement is controlled using the analog stick and the D-pad being used to cycle through the available weapons. The Select button changes the camera mode. To target an enemy, the player holds the R Button and can then cycle through targets using left and right on the D-pad. While in a car, the L and R Buttons can be used for drive-by shootings. While in the midst of a mission, all enemies (that is, those directly relating to the mission) are indicated on the radar by red dots. In the game's menu, the player can choose to reverse the functions of the analog stick and D-Pad.

The PlayStation 2 version of Liberty City Stories combines various gameplay mechanics from the PS2 versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Camera control is similar to that of San Andreas, while on-foot movement and gunplay are closer to III or Vice City. However, third-person free-aiming is available in Liberty City Stories, which is used in San Andreas. The ability to move the camera view around while driving is also maintained (it is noticeably absent in GTA III, along with an on-screen map of the city, which is featured in LCS).

One key difference between Toni in LCS and Carl Johnson in San Andreas is Toni lacks the ability to climb, which renders accessing some locations - such as the hidden package location next to the Portland Island safehouse - difficult. Another difference is Toni is unable to swim, rendering any immersion in water deadly (as a result of removing the ability to swim, however, LCS renders it impossible for players to access locked areas before completing the Portland Island segment of the game; after Staunton is unlocked, it's possible to enter Shoreside Vale using the "car drives on water" cheat). A third difference that is key is that Toni lacks the ability to recruit gang members (unless the player uses the "recruit pedestrians" cheat).

One improvement to the PS2 controls over San Andreas is that during sub-missions such as Taxi Driver, the player is prompted to press the R3 button twice before cancelling a mission; in the earlier game, it was easy to accidentally push R3 and cancel a mission. However, it's still possible to accidentally quit several missions by hitting the Triangle key, exiting a vehicle, which in most cases will automatically end a driving-based sub-mission. Another improvement over previous games in any version is that after respawning from the hospital a Taxi will pick you up after dying on a mission and bring you to the mission you've previously failed avoiding those long drives to certain missions.

Gameplay refinements
GTA: San Andreas required the player to regularly feed and exercise Carl Johnson in order to prevent him from losing health and abilities. This element of gameplay is eliminated with LCS. (Unfortunately, doing so served to eliminate one source of health boost for Toni.) Also, while aircraft are visible in LCS and are even involved in a few missions, unlike GTA:SA the player does not have the ability to fly in this game (unless the player uses a chest device). Gang Wars may take place in missions and are one of the main focuses of the game, but the player cannot win new territory in this game a feature notably prominent in GTA: San Andreas.

Multiplayer
The PSP version of Liberty City Stories has a multiplayer mode, for up to 6 players through wifi ad-hoc mode (same area). The game features 7 modes of wireless multiplayer gaming, in which various pedestrian and character models from the single player mode are available as player avatars. Rockstar removed these modes from the PS2 port of GTA Liberty City Stories.

The first is Liberty City Survivor, a tie-in to the radio advertisement found in GTA III of a fictional reality television show of the same name. In Liberty City Survivor, players fight for themselves in a deathmatch. The first player to reach a certain number of kills, or with the highest score when the timer runs out is the winner. Players can also play in teams, or "gangs". Ultimately players will be able to choose from over 60 different characters, and play on all three islands, depending on progress through the single player storyline, but from the get go, it is limited to Portland with a generous nine characters to choose from.

The second mode of play is Protection Racket, in which players attack an opposing player's gang base in order to destroy four limos while the other gang tries to protect its limos. When time runs out, or a gang destroys the other gang's limos, a new round begins with the gang roles reversed.

In Get Stretch, players try to steal the other gang's gang cars from their base and take it to their base. The game ends when a gang reaches the score limit or time runs out.

In The Hit List, players have to kill the Marked player as quickly as possible. Survive as long as possible when you are the Mark. In the first round, one player will be chosen randomly as the Mark, all other players must try to kill the Marked player as quickly as possible. Once a Marked player has been killed, a different player will be randomly chosen to be the Mark. Making a successful kill on a Marked player will award you with extra time that is added to your survival time at the end of the game. Once all players have been Marked and killed, the player with the longest survival time wins. The Marked player's vehicle will take damage over time.

In Street Rage players must drive through the checkpoints to get to the finish line first. Players are allowed to change vehicles and shoot other players to win the race. Players will be automatically re-spawned in a vehicle on the track after a short period of time if they do not have a vehicle or if they have been killed. The player that finishes the race first wins. The Sticky Tires powerup improves vehicle handling for limited time, while Instant Repair is just that, an instant repair for your vehicle.

The Wedding List is a free-for-all game where players must collect cars scattered throughout the city and deliver them to shipping crates. Only players in the vehicles to be collected will know the destinations of the shipping crates. Cash is awarded based on the condition of the cars when they are delivered. Once all the cars have been collected and delivered, the player with the most cash wins this game mode.

In Tanks for the Memories players have to be the first to the tank and try to survive the target Tank Time. Other players must try to destroy the tank before the Tank Time is reached. If this happens, the player who caused the most damage to the tank will occupy a new tank and, as before, it must be destroyed as quickly as possible. This continues until a player reaches the Tank Time; this player is declared the winner.

Music
Liberty City Stories features ten radio stations, which comprise a mix of both licensed music and tracks created specifically for the game .These are the same Radio Stations in GTA III but set 3 years before the events of GTA3 and are shown as earlier counterparts and some has ended broadcast by GTA3's timeline.

The ten radio stations are as follows:
 * Head Radio
 * Double Clef FM
 * Lips 106
 * Rise FM
 * The Liberty Jam
 * Flashback FM
 * MSX 98
 * Radio Del Mundo
 * K-JAH
 * LCFR

Custom Soundtracks
A special feature (only in the PSP version of the game) is the ability to listen to custom soundtracks. Previously, only Grand Theft Auto games on the Xbox and PC were able to implement custom soundtracks. When Liberty City Stories was released, the custom soundtracks option was featured in the "Audio" section of the menu (by pressing Start in gameplay) but did not have any use. Many people posted on various internet forums asking how to use the feature. At one time, it was thought that these custom soundtrack abilities had to be unlocked, but this would have been very unusual since previous games didn't do this.

A few days after release of the game, Rockstar placed the application called "Rockstar Custom Tracks v1.0" on the official site under the "Downloads" section. This then gave people the chance to use the custom soundtracks feature. The application appears to be based on Exact Audio Copy.

In the application, songs from a CD are ripped, compressed, and converted to files that can be read by the game. Because Rockstar Custom Tracks (RCT) only allow the ripping of songs that are from a store-bought CD, burning your downloaded songs onto a CD won't work. The only way to bypass this restriction is to use iTunes to put your music on a CD, as RCT recognizes iTunes-burned CD's as store-bought CDs. This was met with much criticism among the fan community. However, fans have found a way to compress and convert MP3 files that are not burned onto CD's. RCT can also look up and use the names from the FreeDB server if there are no names for the song(s). There must be at least one save file in order for RCT to work. It is thought that this will be used for other games Rockstar will release on the PSP from the name. More details can be found in the PDF in the file downloaded from the official site.

Glitch
On the PS2 version of the game, the radio stations are far less dynamic than those of GTA: San Andreas. Noticeably, the stations do not appear to offer consistency; if you leave a vehicle and then re-enter it after a few moments, often the programming changes to something else, or even starts over (this is particularly noticeable with LCFR and The Liberty Jam, on The Liberty Jam sometimes it won't play "All I Need" by Method Man).

Tips & Tricks

 * The Helicopter Sniping Trick
 * Hidden Weapons in GTA Liberty City Stories

Cheats
See Cheats in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Trivia
.
 * This is the first GTA 3 Era game not to feature a former or would-be playable character followed by GTA Advance and Vice City Stories.
 * The mission pattern in the game is like that of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The pattern is Portland to Staunton to Shoreside Vale to Portland again. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the island pattern is Los Santos to San Fierro to Las Venturas and then back to Los Santos.
 * This game has a longer name than any of the other games in the Grand Theft Auto series (excluding the GTA IV expansion packs).

Official sites

 * Official website

Teaser sites

 * http://www.ammunation.net – Ammu-Nation, the ingame munitions store chain.
 * http://www.lips106fm.com – Lips 106, one of the ingame radio stations.
 * http://www.electronzoneradio.com - Electron Zone Radio, a segment on Liberty City Free Radio.
 * http://www.crowfest98.com - Crowfest '98, Crow's music festival on its way to Liberty City.
 * http://www.pauliesrevue.net – Paulie's Revue Bar, a strip club in the Red Light District.
 * http://www.citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org (also .com) – Citizens United Negating Technology (CUNT), an organization revealing the evils of the Internet
 * http://www.bathtubginstill.com - Old Horsey Bathtub Gin Still.
 * http://www.pastmaster-game.com/ - PastMaster, an educational game.
 * http://www.itsvivisection.com/ - Vivisection, a boardgame/chemistry set.

Fansites

 * GTAPSP.com
 * GTAPortable.com
 * GTALCS.net (The GTA Place)
 * GTALibertyCityStories.net (GTANet)
 * GTAForums.com (GTAF)

Trailers
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