No one was surprised when Rockstar announced a Grand Theft Auto game for the PSP. Everyone however was wondering if this game would be any good. You see, GTA has come out for the Game Boy Color (GTA2) and Game Boy Advance, and let’s just say they were not very good games.

It was with cautious optimism that I popped in the Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories UMD. How would the graphics hold up? How would the control be without a second analog stick? How bad would the load times be? All of my questions would be answered pretty quickly…

The back story isn’t really anything new for this type of game. You are a gangster and you’ve just returned to the city. The “big” mafia boss gives your character a job and has you reporting to an underboss. Apparently your character doesn’t like this given his past service, but because the “big” boss orders you do obey, what choice do you have?

You start off with some pretty simple missions that are usually of the “drive from the underboss’ location to a certain point, obtain something, and drive back.” The way points are easily shown on the map and I am guessing this is to get you familiar with the city and the game, which makes sense.

After a few of these simple missions, it starts to get more complex and more difficult. You’ll find yourself trying to rescue fellow mobsters in the middle of a shootout. You’ll find yourself in a room with a whole lot of bad guys and only one weapon. The ‘side missions’ that you’re familiar with in the original GTA 3 game are also there – such as the Taxicab driver. There are also more shady jobs to do which allow you to get some big bucks.

Even with the loss of that 2nd analog stick, I was surprised at how easy the control was in the game. Yes, it’s a little difficult but not as difficult as I would have thought. The triangle/circle/square/X buttons pretty much play out the way they did on the PlayStation 2. The most significant issue I have with the game is the same issue I have with the console games – specifically the targeting system. When you’re on foot, you target a bad guy by pressing the R-button and shooting with the circle button. As always seems to be the case the targeting system never seems to target the person you want it to, so you’re going R-button happy trying to get the right one. Once you lock on, it’s pretty easy to take out a bad guy. You can cycle camera modes by hitting the select button, but for the most part the camera isn’t that bad (if you’ve played GTA at all, you’re used to it).

Single player gameplay is excellent. The missions are fun and the difficulty level ramps up over time so you’re usually given a pretty good challenge without being frustrated. There’s a wide variety of vehicles to carjack and they vary from a scooter to a big rig, and they all have unique characteristics. Pedestrians are all over the place whom you can run over, and there’s very little graphic slowdown. With the exception of the targeting system, I found the game easy to play and very enjoyable.

Although there hasn’t been a hot coffee mod discovered yet, there is still a reason why this game is rated M. There’s plenty of swearing in the cut scenes and the usual GTA violence – so make sure you keep this game away from the kiddies.

Graphics are very good and on par with the console GTA. I was surprised that with all the traffic, buildings, and pedestrians that there was very little slowdown in the game. I was also surprised that the load times are very manageable. While you are driving around between parts of the city, I don’t recall ever having to wait to load the game. During transitions – such as going from your car to meeting your boss or going inside your house – you do encounter loading times, however if you’ve played any PSP sports games (Tiger Woods and Madden come to mind), you’ll find these loading times very bearable.

Audio is at the level you come to expect from the GTA series. The radio stations are all there and add to the game. A recent patch has come out to let you use custom audio which is great, because if there’s any big audio complaint it’s the lack of depth in the radio. One channel – Flashback FM – is six songs by the same artist. I often sang along to the music in GTA and even enjoyed the original music, but this time around it’s not that great.