9 replies to this topic

[Chris]

Grand Theft Auto III has finally made its way on to select Apple and Android devices today. We'd definitely recommend getting this game if your device is compatible - just think of all the nostalgia! App Store and Android Market links are below. New features added to the game include:

• an intuitive, fully scalable and customizable user interface;
• upgraded textures;
• greater resolution and draw distance;
• new mission replay and autosave features for an all-new experience on mobile devices.

Welcome to Liberty City. Where it all began.

Rockstar Games celebrates the 10th anniversary of one of the most influential games of all time. The critically acclaimed blockbuster Grand Theft Auto III comes to mobile devices, bringing to life the dark and seedy underworld of Liberty City. With a massive and diverse open world, a wild cast of characters from every walk of life and the freedom to explore at will, Grand Theft Auto III puts the dark, intriguing and ruthless world of crime at your fingertips.

With stellar voice acting, a darkly comic storyline, a stunning soundtrack and revolutionary open-world gameplay, Grand Theft Auto III is the game that defined the open world genre for a generation.

Thankfully the app is a universal binary, so for those who own an iPad and an iPhone will only have to purchase the game once to play it on multiple devices, the same goes for those of you with Android devices. Let us know in the comments if you've bought it and how it plays on your device, on which you'll need around 690MB of free space by the way. I'll be trying it on my iPad 2 tonight and I might post a short review for you all later.

Apple owners: iTunes Link - $4.99 (£2.99 / 3,99 €)
Android owners: Market Link - $4.99 (£3.23 / 3,85 €)

NOTE (for Android users): Localised versions of the game have been made for users in Australia, Germany and Japan, presumably to comply with local laws and/or language issues. If you reside in one of these countries you'll have to purchase the localised version.

Currently supported devices:

• Apple iOS Devices: iPad 1 & 2, iPhone 4 & 4S, iPod touch 4th Generation
• Android Phones: HTC Rezound, LG Optimus 2x, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Droid X2, Motorola Photon 4G, Samsung Galaxy R, T-Mobile G2x
• Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Dell Streak 7, LG Optimus Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive

[EvoLuTioN]

18mb for Android? I don't think that's the actual size, Must have a ton of data files to download before you can start playing.

Edited by EvoLuTioN, 15 December 2011 - 11:59 AM.

[Chris]

Yeah I was thinking that. It's probably just the localised part you download, the actual game is probably the same for all versions so it's downloaded through the app itself, guess it's easier for them to manage that way although still a bit of a weird way around it since they haven't done this for the iOS version.

In case anyone is wondering, GTA3 takes up 690MB of space when installed to your device, so bear that in mind if you need to free up space first.

[EvoLuTioN]

I think its the Android market which limits the size of the files, Quite a few other games on there do the same thing.

[Chris]

Oh yeah you're right. There's a 50MB filesize limit, never even knew that and I'm a developer lol. I'm guessing this is because most people download apps directly on their device so are often use their mobile data connection rather than WiFi - unlike the App Store where you can just download stuff to your computer and then sync it.

[chris82]

When I found out about this I bought it right away. I've got some screenshots of this for you guys from the Android version.



Downloading from the Market...



When you open the game the first time you get this. (This is downloading over LTE )



New Menu!



Gameplay. On-screen controls, it does support some USB controllers though. Touch-modified GTA3 UI, with improvements. You swipe across the weapons icon to change weapons, you swipe the radio station name to change stations, and you swipe the map to access it.



"Mission loading" screen, not sure if it will change on the different islands i.e. Staunton, Shoreside Vale.



"Mission Passed" screen, looks identical to GTA3



Save is the same! This is pretty much a straight port from what I've played. Head Radio starts right at the beginning, all the audio sounds good. I also heard some missions might change a little to be optimized for mobile controls.



What icon looks like, IMO the label should just be GTAIII, but the full label is "GTA3 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY"

These screenshots are in native resolution (you might have to click to enlarge), and the game runs pretty well on my phone (HTC Rezound). Because of the pixel density, I don't see the slight aliasing when playing on the phone.

Bugs I've noticed:

• Game freezes, then resumes when changing the volume level via the hardware button
• In addition, if you change volume or take a screenshot during a cutscene, the cutscene audio usually goes silent
• Taking a screenshot sometimes causes the game to lag when taking the picture
• It seems that there is less traffic than GTA3, but more pedestrians (?)
• The game crashes when exiting from the menu, I have to force close it

Overall it's a really solid game, these bugs aren't game-breaking and as I said it runs well for me. Audio sounds good and graphics look touched up from the PC version a bit, other than the aliasing. Recommend, just make sure you have a supported device.

I'll upload more screenshots in a bit.

EDIT: More Screenshots



Replays are back!



Cutscene.



This time you get a full map!


Here's a few various gameplay shots:

[Spider-Vice]

Holy crap it's chris82.

OT: I'm downloading it for my Android yet its screen is small and I don't really know how the performance will be, it does say it's compatible though. The download speed is painfully slow lol.

Edited by Spider-Vice, 15 December 2011 - 09:28 PM.

[Huckleberry Pie]

Nice to have you back, Chris! And yeah, it does look 'swell on mobile devices, too. Too bad my Galaxy's too weak to handle that sort of awesomeness.

Oh, and another thing, nkjellman from GTAF got to take a peek at the data files: http://www.gtaforums...entry1060946960

NINJA EDIT: It looks like some of the other dudes have managed to stuff in some custom DFFs ingame: http://www.gtaforums...entry1060945724

It appears that the game still uses Renderware, which is a bit surprising considering that they ditched it years ago in favour of their own RAGE.

Edited by Huckleberry Pie, 16 December 2011 - 01:04 AM.

[Chris]

Nice screens Chris! I should take some off my iDevices of the same shots for comparisons sake. Have to say it looks pretty similar to me so would have to compare side by side to notice any graphical difference. I think there might be less jaggies on the iOS version though.
Actually, apparently it's "compatible" with my old HTC HD2 which I loaded an Android ROM on. I could actually play both myself lol but it would kill my battery, also not sure it would actually run since Android Market believes I'm using a Nexus One since that's what the ROM is from

Chris, genuine question and not trying to troll, but how is the battery life while playing? Play the game for 30 mins or an hour or so, how much % of the battery does this take?

Huck, I don't find it surprising at all actually. It seems to be a pretty direct port from the PC version so it makes sense they kept it all the same. Moving to RAGE would be a LOT more work and would probably increase the game size so much it wouldn't really be playable on mobile devices. As for the modding, yeah me and Psy (from iGTA) were commenting on this on Facebook. There's a few tutorials out there now, probably gonna experiment a bit myself and get some info up here.

[rockstarrem]

Nice screens Chris! I should take some off my iDevices of the same shots for comparisons sake. Have to say it looks pretty similar to me so would have to compare side by side to notice any graphical difference. I think there might be less jaggies on the iOS version though.
Actually, apparently it's "compatible" with my old HTC HD2 which I loaded an Android ROM on. I could actually play both myself lol but it would kill my battery, also not sure it would actually run since Android Market believes I'm using a Nexus One since that's what the ROM is from

Chris, genuine question and not trying to troll, but how is the battery life while playing? Play the game for 30 mins or an hour or so, how much % of the battery does this take?

Huck, I don't find it surprising at all actually. It seems to be a pretty direct port from the PC version so it makes sense they kept it all the same. Moving to RAGE would be a LOT more work and would probably increase the game size so much it wouldn't really be playable on mobile devices. As for the modding, yeah me and Psy (from iGTA) were commenting on this on Facebook. There's a few tutorials out there now, probably gonna experiment a bit myself and get some info up here.

I played for 45-60 minutes today and the battery life went down 10-20%, I was in shock. DROID X2

EDIT: Worth noting I have an extended battery.