5 things GTA 3 excelled at doing compared to other big titles of its era

The Grand Theft Auto series took a significant leap with GTA 3's release in 2001. The title, despite the technological limitations of its time, excelled in multiple departments, offering players a gaming experience like never before. To put things into perspective, 2001 was also the year when other big titles like Max Payne, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Devil May Cry, and Silent Hill 2 released.

However, the Grand Theft Auto entry stood out. Its success paved the path for what is arguably the biggest video game franchise today, with fans eagerly awaiting its next installment despite little promotion from Rockstar Games.

While we wait for its release, let's take a look at five things GTA 3 excelled at doing compared to other big titles of its era.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the opinions of the writer

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Giving players freedom and other things GTA 3 excelled at doing compared to other big titles of its era

1) Offering a living, breathing world

Grand Theft Auto 3 is set in a fictional location known as Liberty City, which is based on New York to some extent. The open-world map wasn't huge by any means, but it felt like an actual city back then.

Liberty City had busy vehicular traffic, day-night cycles, and different types of weather, whose implementation was recently explained by an ex-Rockstar developer. Additionally, the residents, with all their hilarious and sometime eerie quotes, also contributed in bringing the game to life like no other title of that era could.

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2) Setting a mature tone

The game's protagonist - Claude (Image via Rockstar Games)

Liberty City is not just a open-world map but a character in itself. It is mostly dark, dingy and depressing, which is prefect for the story GTA 3 tells. It is a vile place where you wouldn't want to live in real life but is just intriguing enough to keep you hooked.

There were not many games, especially back in 2001, that offered such a perfectly crafted and characterized setting. Max Payne and Silent Hill 2 are right up there, but the open-world aspect gave Grand Theft Auto 3 a significant edge over them.

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3) Giving players freedom

The Dodo aircraft (Image via GTA Base || Rockstar Games)

GTA 3 wasn't the first ever open-world game in a modern setting. However, it excelled in giving players a lot of freedom.

Players could do almost anything they wanted to, like stealing cars off the street, exploring different parts of the map, wreaking havoc in the city, trying out different weapons, or attempting stunt jumps.

Players could even fly an aircraft (the infamous Dodo), which may not seem like a big deal now, but it certainly was back then. No other game from that era offered freedom to this game's level, which is why it stood out. The GTA 3 cheats also added to the fun.

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4) Featuring immersive radio stations

Along with music, the fictional radio stations in GTA 3 feature ads, which are parodies of various elements from real life, and even talk shows, which are held on the Chatterbox FM station. The callers on this talk show are Liberty City residents, and the things that they say exhibit the classic, outlandish Rockstar Games humor.

While popular licensed music being used in video games is pretty common, the extra effort in crafting lore-building radio talk shows and ads that played in between the songs made this Grand Theft Auto title very unique.

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5) Easter eggs

Easter eggs are among the best parts of any Grand Theft Auto installment, and the case was no different with GTA 3. Whether it was the fourth wall-breaking message, parody movie posters like Badfellas, Top Down City with Arnold Stellone, or the names of its developers appearing on the radar near the map's borders, all of these things made the game just that more interesting.

Easter eggs weren't exclusive to Grand Theft Auto, but Rockstar Games' meta humor was somewhat unparalleled in GTA 3's era and still is to a great extent.

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