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Grand Theft Auto III is considered to be the first 3D game in the series,[37] using Criterion Games' RenderWare game engine.[38] When designing the game, the development team expanded upon concepts introduced in the previous Grand Theft Auto games. Benzies stated that the intention was to recreate the "freedom and diversity" of the previous games in a "living, breathing 3D world", using the power of the PlayStation 2 to do so.[6] The console's ability to use DVDs, an improvement over the PlayStation's limit to CDs, allowed the team to store more data, such as animations, music and environments.[39] Despite this, the team found it difficult to fit the game into the PlayStation 2's 32 megabytes of RAM, due to the scale. The game's size also created difficulties for the testers, due to the variety of options.[5] Benzies felt that creating a living city was the "underlying principle" of the game's concept during development.[6] Executive producer Sam Houser felt that the game's 3D element allowed the "chemistry of the team [to come] together perfectly for the first time".[40]

Grand Theft Auto III

A major difficulty the team encountered was converting all game elements into a fully 3D world, including the sound and radio stations, as well as designing and voicing the non-player characters, due to the amount that existed within the open world;[41] producer Dan Houser said that there was about 8,000 lines of recorded dialogue in the game,[41] while audio programmer Raymond Usher estimated about 18,000.[42] The basic technical elements of the game began to work together in mid-2000, with a carjacking mechanic prototype and stable streaming model.[43] Streaming was initially intended to be reserved for music and map geometry, but other elements were eventually included when it became apparent to the team as more data was entered.[5]

When designing the game world, the team initially created a "hybrid city", which producer Dan Houser describes as "a post industrial Midwest slash east coast generic" city.[44] Upon developing within this game world, the team realised that basing the design on a real location meant "you have a lot of things you can say about it".[44] As a result, the team redesigned Liberty City, which had been previously featured in Grand Theft Auto (1997), basing it loosely on New York City.[44] The city is broken into three islands: an industrial section representing Brooklyn and Queens, a commercial centre resembling Manhattan, and suburbs similar to New Jersey.[45] The islands unlock as the story progresses; the team wanted players to "start out feeling poor and work to being richer".[46] Dan Houser describes Liberty City as a "hybrid of a generic American city", including Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia.[46] He felt that the parallel realism of the world allowed the team to make more social commentary than previously.[35] Sam Houser cited films and shows like Heat (1995) and The Sopranos (1999–2007) as inspiration for the setting, and wanted to emulate them in the game.[47] He also cited the influence of The Legend of Zelda series (1986–present) and the film Goodfellas (1990), describing Grand Theft Auto III as "a cross between a gangster movie and an RPG".[48] Dan Houser also cited The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario 64 as influences.[49]

Story and characters
The team developed the story and design simultaneously. "We use the story to expose the mechanics, and we use the mechanics to tell the story," said Dan Houser.[34] Houser found it difficult to create the narrative, as the game is so strongly focused on player freedom. He wanted the story to be more nuanced and interesting than the generic "rise and fall and rise again of a superhero bad guy".[46] The game's script was also focused on mission objectives, attempting to implement high amounts of interactivity.[43] Houser felt that each mission is "its own short story", and part of an "overarching story".[34] Houser and co-writer James Worrall drew influence from mob films, and the mafiosi featured in films by Martin Scorsese. When writing the story, Houser and Worrall regularly met with the designers, and filled a room with post-it notes to reconstruct the story components to shape the game.[43]

Many of the game characters were animated using motion capture, filmed at a rented studio at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,[47] though this was limited by technical restraints. The character movement was also treated as being cinematic, though limited polygons heavily inhibited this.[50] Animating non-player characters entering and driving cars proved to be difficult for the team, due to the variety of vehicle designs. "It involved chaining together dozens of different animations and altering key frames in code," recalled software engineer Alan Campbell.[35] The team used varying camera angles when animating the game's cutscenes, in order to evoke different emotions.[51] For the voice acting, the team wanted "natural, subtle performances", which proved difficult as many of the actors "had in their head the idea that because video games are animated their performances needed to be animated", explained motion capture director Navid Khonsari.[50] The game's playable protagonist is unnamed in the game,[17] and his name is not officially revealed as Claude until his appearance in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). He is a silent protagonist, never speaking throughout his appearances. The team decided to make Claude silent primarily because it "did not seem like a major issue", due to the other challenges faced during development, and also partly to allow players to identify with the character, as the character will be who the players want him to be.[13]

Sound design
Grand Theft Auto III features about three-and-a-half hours of in-game radio material. For the music, the team sought a broad diversity, to recreate the real sensation of skipping through radio stations, reflecting the gangster movie culture invoked by the game. The team used the talk radio stations to add character to the city, and provide a "unique take on American life";[52] Sam Houser described it as "a very iconoclastic look at America".[48] The team used real DJs to portray those on the radio. In doing so, the team wrote unusual dialogue for the DJs, seeking the effect of "high production values and absurd content". Music director Craig Conner assembled the assets of the radio station—music, advertisements, DJ dialogue, station imaging.[52]

Cuts, changes, and the 9/11 effect
[W]e felt that a full content review of all our titles and the marketing materials we use to represent them was absolutely necessary for us ... we have come across certain small contextual references that we were no longer comfortable with, as well as a couple of very rare gameplay instances that no longer felt appropriate to us.
Terry Donovan, Rockstar managing director, IGN, 19 September 2001[53]
Prior to the initial release, several modifications were made to the game. While changes are frequent during game development, the changes in Grand Theft Auto III were noted to be around the time of the September 11 attacks, which led to speculation that some changes were motivated by the attacks. On 19 September 2001, Rockstar delayed the game's release by three weeks, citing the attacks as an influencing factor in the delay.[53] "Everyone had someone who had an uncle or brother [who was impacted by the attack]", said Paul Eibeler, then-president of distributor Take-Two Interactive.[54]

After the events of 9/11, the original colour scheme of the police cars in the game (top), which resembled the NYPD, was changed to a generic black-and-white design common in the United States.

The original artwork for the game, which was changed after the events of 9/11.[55] The artwork was used as the cover in Europe.[56]
One of the changes made shortly after 9/11 was the colour scheme of the police cars; the original colour scheme of blue with white stripes specifically resembled that of the New York City Police Department. It was changed to black-and-white designs common among several police departments in the United States, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Other changes include altering the flight path of a plane to avoid appearing to fly into or behind a skyscraper, removing a mission referencing terrorists, as well as some changes to pedestrian dialogue and talk radio.[57]

Another cut to the game is the character of Darkel, a revolutionary urchin who vowed to bring down the city's economy. When references to Darkel were found in the game's code, speculation arose that the character was related to 9/11, however Dan Houser explained that the character had been cut "months before [release]".[57] There are also reports and previews stating that the game featured school children as pedestrians prior to release,[58] although Rockstar has dismissed such rumours as "nonsense".[55]

Rockstar stated that the game was "about 1% different" after 9/11, and that the biggest change was the cover art. They felt that the original cover, which was ultimately released as the cover in Europe, felt "too raw" after 9/11, and was changed into what became the "signature style" of the series.[55] Sam Houser claims that the cover was designed in an evening, and was instantly preferred over the original cover.[56] The cover was inspired by the movie posters for 1960s films, such as The Thomas Crown Affair (1968).[55]

Critical reception
Initial release
PlayStation 2 version reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic 97/100[59]
Review scores
Publication Score
1UP.com A+[60]
AllGame 5/5 stars[11]
Edge 8/10[61]
Eurogamer 10/10[62]
Game Informer 9.5/10[64]
GamePro 5/5[63]
Game Revolution A[10]
GameSpot 9.6/10[65]
GameSpy 94/100[66]
IGN 9.6/10[4]
Grand Theft Auto III was released to critical acclaim. Metacritic calculated an average score of 97 of out 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 56 reviews. It is the sixth-highest rated game on Metacritic, tied with a number of others.[c] Reviewers liked the game's sound,[4][62][65] gameplay,[60][62][68] and open world design,[4][10][64] though some criticism was directed at the controls.[11][63][66] Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer called Grand Theft Auto III "a luscious, sprawling epic",[62] and Official PlayStation Magazine named it "the most innovative, outlandish, brilliant video game".[69] GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann described the game as "an incredible experience that shouldn't be missed by anyone";[65] IGN's Doug Perry named it "one of the best titles of the year, on PlayStation 2, or on any system".[4]

Many reviewers found the 3D graphics a welcome change from the 2D of the previous games.[4][68] GameSpot's Gerstmann particularly praised the character and vehicle models, and the overall texture quality of the city.[65] GameSpy's Andrei Alupului found the graphics "really rather impressive", describing the car models as "greatly improved" over those in Midnight Club.[66] Eurogamer's Bramwell considered the graphics "generally pleasant to look at", but considered it inferior to games like Gran Turismo 3 and Ico.[62] Justin Leeper of Game Informer described game world as "stunning in scope and detail",[64] and Perry of IGN found it to be "on a scale that's truly epic".[4] Game Revolution's Ben Silverman called the city a "technological marvel ... that captures the essence of gritty city life in amazing detail".[10]

IGN's Perry considered the game's sound "unbelievably and meticulously delivered", particularly praising the soundtrack, voice acting and sound design, stating that it was "really approached as if it were done for a movie".[4] Eurogamer's Bramwell echoed similar remarks, describing the city sounds as "perfect" and the soundtrack as "monstrous".[62] The sound was described as "terrific" by GameSpot's Gerstmann and Game Revolution's Silverman,[10][65] and 1UP.com appreciated the subtlety of the in-game radio stations.[60] AllGame's Scott Alan Marriott named the music "the true star" of the game.[11]

Reviewers considered the style of the game's missions to be a welcoming departure from those in previous games.[62][65] 1UP.com described the missions as "wonderfully creative",[60] while GamesMaster appreciated the diversity.[68] IGN's Perry similarly appreciated the variety and scale of the missions, and praised the amount of available side missions.[4] GameSpy's Alupului described the game's story as "well-paced" and "coherent", featuring plot elements akin to a mob film.[66] GameSpot's Gerstmann found the missions entertaining and challenging, but noted that exploring the game world also offers "a great deal of fun" to players.[65]

Reactions to the game's controls were mixed. Alupului of GameSpy found the game "controls beautifully", both while driving and on-foot.[66] Game Revolution's Silverman identified the control issues as the game's only flaw, although praised the responsiveness of the driving mechanics.[10] Matt Helgeson of Game Informer similarly described the driving as "great", but noted "clunky" combat.[64] GamePro's Four-Eyed Dragon found the cars simple to manoeuvre.[63] Edge described the game's combat as "an awkward system that stymies play".[61] 1UP.com noted particular flaws in the targeting system, explaining that it "often focuses on the wrong guy".[60]

Microsoft Windows version
Windows version reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic 93/100[70]
Review scores
Publication Score
Game Informer 9.5/10[71]
GameSpot 9.3/10[72]
GameSpy 94/100[73]
IGN 9.4/10[74]
PC Gamer (US) 92%[75]
X-Play 4/5[76]
When Grand Theft Auto III was released to Microsoft Windows in May 2002, it received similar critical acclaim. Metacritic calculated an average score of 93 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 20 reviews.[70] It was the highest-rated Windows game on Metacritic in 2002.[77] Reviewers liked the visual enhancements[72][73][74] and control improvements,[71][75][76] but criticised the port for its demanding system requirements.[72][74][76]

The in-game features and controls in the port were generally well received. IGN's Tal Blevins praised the higher precision of the mouse controls, finding the aiming mechanic more precise.[74] GameSpot's Erik Wolpaw also commended the mouse controls, but disapproved the replay system, particularly due to the lack of options with timing and camera controls.[72] Extended Play's Andrew Bub appreciated the addition of a custom radio station, as well as the availability of custom skins.[76] Daniel Morris of PC Gamer praised the gameplay tweaks provided by the port, but criticised the lack of major additional features, such as an overhead map of the in-game city.[75]

The port's visuals received a positive response from reviewers. GameSpot's Wolpaw praised the port's reworked textures, but criticised the frequent popup, and the advanced system requirements.[72] IGN's Blevins similarly criticised the necessity of an advanced system for stable play, but ultimately felt that the port looks "a bit nicer" than the original game.[74] GameSpy's Sal Accardo felt that the port "looks much sharper" than the PlayStation 2 version, though noted some "choppy" animations.[73] Extended Play's Bub mentioned that the advanced settings resulted in slowdown and crashes.[76] Game Informer's Matt Helgeson noticed little difference between the visuals of the original and the port.[71]

Mobile version
Mobile version reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic 80/100[78]
Review scores
Publication Score
Destructoid 7/10[3]
Eurogamer 5/10[79]
GameSpot 7/10[80]
IGN 7.5/10[81]
Pocket Gamer 9/10[82]
When Grand Theft Auto III was released to mobile devices in December 2011, it received generally positive reviews. Metacritic calculated an average score of 80 out of 100, based on 26 reviews.[78] Reviewers liked the enhanced visuals,[3][81] but criticism was directed at the touchscreen controls.[79][80]

The port's visuals were well received. IGN's Peter Eykemans commended the smoother textures, especially condensed on a mobile screen,[81] while Destructoid's Jim Sterling noted improvements in the character and vehicle models.[3] Mark Walton of GameSpot wrote that the game runs well on high-end devices like the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy S II, but noticed significant frame rate and texture issues on the Xperia Play.[80] Pocket Gamer's Mark Brown identified the game's short draw distance leading to sudden popup, although still found that the models and textures "have been given a tune-up" in the port.[82]

The touchscreen controls received a mixed response. Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead appreciated the driving mechanics, but felt that moving on-foot is "a flaky way of navigating" the world, and criticised the "clumsy" shooting mechanics as most of the guns cannot be manually targeted.[79] IGN's Eykemans felt that the controls "make half the experience frustrating",[81] and Destructoid's Sterling described them as "by far the biggest barrier toward enjoying" the port.[3] Brown of Pocket Gamer found that the touchscreen "hasn't hindered [the game] too drastically", commending simple movement and "effortless" driving mechanics.[82] Some critics identified better controls upon the use of external gamepads, but felt that they hinder the game's portability.[80][83]