The Nappy Cat Chronicles

The Good:

• Car physics have improved
• Less police on the roadways
• Better traffic flow: No more random lane changers, cars don’t speed through intersections and honk at you incessantly, cars will stop before hitting you
• Dress selection, gun selection, and entering/exiting have sped up considerably
• Missions are mob missions (This concept was absent from GTA:III)

The Bad:

• Explosions really throw you off: If you think you can get away without being injured, don’t count on it
• Reloading while aiming doesn’t seem to flow
• The NPC’s don’t tell each other what’s going on and your boss doesn’t notice if you take out three carloads of rival gang member in one mission
• Being shot at while leaving Ammunation? Don’t shoot back inside the doorway or the clerk will shotgun you in the back
• No crouching/climbing/swimming and no rolling/walking while aiming
• You need to press L3 to activate free aim
• Sometimes the garage door won’t open (this is nothing new but it would have been nice to have it fixed)
• No learning curve
• Sacrificed graphics and framerate for speed

The Ugly:

• Your car will regularly disappear during pre-mission cutscenes

Regardless of the bad and the ugly, GTA:LCS is enjoyable. Because it’s essentially a PSP port (and costs $20), flawless gameplay can’t be expected. But, it is disappointing that the basic controls and character maneuvers of GTA:SA are missing.

If you’re a diehard GTA fan and can forgive programmers, this is for you. If you’re a casual fan who has never really gotten too far into any GTA game, GTA:LCS may be short and fun enough to hold your attention. If you’re somewhere in the middle, donate your $20 to KEXP.