Before the series took a revolutionary (and evolutionary) turn to what we now know is The Game That Changed Video Games Forever, Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto II offered limited thrills as a driving and shooting game.  It wasn’t bad, not by a long shot, but it didn’t make you want to keep playing it over and over again for a long period of time.  That is, until Grand Theft Auto III made us a legion of happy console gamers.  So imagine our delight when Grand Theft Auto Advance promised the top-down view of the first two games but the freedom and action of the third installment.  Is this the handheld version us car jacking fiends have been waiting and praying for?

Grand Theft Auto Advance places you squarely in Liberty City sometime before the events that transpire in the PlayStation 2 classic Grand Theft Auto III.  The story puts you in the car jacking shoes of Mike who, along with his mentor Vinnie, are trying to scrape up just enough money to get out of Liberty City and make it on their own.  They’re tired of running errands for the local Portland mafia but in order to strike off on their own they agree to pull off some last jobs.  After a few jobs the two are about to leave town when the car that carries Vinnie (and the money) explodes.  Mike soon finds himself being pursued by the police as his need to avenge his mentor’s death takes him through the criminal underground that makes up all three major islands of Liberty City.

It’s a fitting story true to the series itself but, unfortunately, it’s poorly told due to the badly written dialogue.  Yet the story isn’t what makes GTA Advance a handheld treasure, it’s the gameplay that is heavily influenced by the third game.  Much like the third outing, you’ll have the complete freedom to explore all of Liberty City so much of what you’ll see in the game will no doubt be extremely familiar to those that clocked in countless hours with the PS2 game. You’ll be able to drive through Portland, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale and you’ll find that many of its usual locales are in place.  So you’ll be able to drive to Ammu-Nation to purchase firearms, fix up your ride at the Pay N Spray and plant a bomb in a car thanks to the help of an explosives expert called 8-Ball (remember him?).

The game is played in the original top-down view of the first two games but thanks to the map you’ll come to make sharp turns around corners and find alleys to use as shortcuts.  Mike can jack any vehicle and surprisingly enough there are a large number of them to choose from in this game (everything from the fast Banshee to the clunky limo).  Carjacking, of course, means Mike can get out of a vehicle any time he chooses so you can move around by foot if you want.  The great news is that you’re free to explore your surroundings all to your heart’s content but the game is driven on by its missions and there are hundreds of missions to take on including many of the famous mini-missions that make this a never-ending game.

The missions are familiar territory for fans of the series.  You’ll go from chasing down a drug dealer selling his product where he shouldn’t be to collecting protection money.  Mike’s story of revenge also has him bringing down mobsters either by use of vehicles or taking a pistol or shotgun to said mobsters on foot.  Either way, it’s all genuine GTA III action and you’ll love every second of it.  To mix things up you can also take on taxi, paramedic, firefighter and vigilante missions just by simply activating the corresponding vehicle.  A checkered flag icon indicates a street race so you can earn cash by racing against others.  Just like the big boys, there’s so much to see and do.

Driving, fortunately for us, is done right.  You’ll be able to make sharp turns, skid and reverse without it becoming a complicated action so driving is definitely a highlight.  It’s also great to see that each vehicle handles the way it should so you can’t make a truck swerve as easily as a smaller car can.  Of course, the major difference between the console games and this one is that the vehicles take an insane amount of damage before it starts to smoke.  On foot, Mike might not aim as good but after coming to feel comfortable with the controls it won’t take long for you to send bad guys to the morgue.  Oddly enough, you’ll be able to pop a cap on dozens of guys before the police catch of whiff of your Charles Bronsan-esque killing spree.  Yes, you’ll see that the law in this Liberty City if pretty merciful--unless of course you’re killing cops, then it’s all roadblocks and chases.

If that wasn’t enough there are the hidden packages to collect (and by now we know the rewards of collecting all one hundred) and you’ll even get to drive the tank.  With some many great features, you’ll start wondering if there’s anything wrong with the game.  Well, if I had to chose some weaknesses it would be the little things that don’t really take away from the overall experience but would have made the experience all the more pleasurable.  For starters, during a mission you’ll often get your employer sending you a message and the message in question comes in the form of these letters that take up most of the screen.  It obscures a good half of the screen and oftentimes in really bad times.  Secondly, your hideout is used to save your game (up to three save slots available) but even after you save your current health remains the same.  You won’t be fully healed and this will have you chasing after ambulances or driving to the hospital for a health pick-up.  See, minor complaints that don’t really keep you from having a blast but would have been appreciated if only they were handled a lot better.

Visually, Grand Theft Auto Advance is something to behold.  Its top view is purely GTA I and II but then again, when you’re passing through the familiar street corners of the Portland Red Light District, you’ll see the influence of the third game throughout.  The three islands are connected to each other, making this one massive playground filled with alleys, parking lots, hospitals and even the Shoreside Vale airport.  The vehicles are pretty basic but you get the idea which one are the slow cars and which ones are made for zipping through traffic.  Speaking of traffic, the game does a marvelous job of showcasing dozens of moving vehicles and pedestrians (although sometimes cramming many people and vehicles slow down the framerate).  There’s the traditional gore that spreads around a flattened (or shot) pedestrian or gang member and explodes right before your eyes when they’ve taken enough damage.

As for the game’s sound, it tries to push the limits of the GBA’s sound capabilities by offering a wide variety of sound effects, voices and music.  The vehicles have their own identifying sounds that are specific to the vehicle type.  For example, muscle cars have an engine that roars when you accelerate while the trucks have a powerful rumbling engine.  While you obviously won’t drive around in a vehicle with a fully functional radio, each car has its own music that gives the illusion that you’re listening to a radio station.  The music playing while driving ranges from cool 70s funk to the thumping beats of something that somewhat passes as hip-hop.  Slam into another car and you’ll hear from the driver of the other car.  Steal a police car and you’ll hear the occasional message from the dispatcher.  Fire a gun and you’ll hear the loud retort.  This is great stuff, indeed.

Grand Theft Auto Advance is one of the most impressive Game Boy Advance games to come along this year.  Its style pays homage to the series by offering an action-packed jaunt into a living, breathing world filled to the brim with dozens of things to do whenever you feel like it.   The missions are more than plentiful and the controls are as perfect as they come.  Purchase this one right away if you’re a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series or love a game that’s both innovative and loads of fun. 

Gameplay: 8.5
It’s all about the freedom and Grand Theft Auto Advance lets you run (or drive) wild in the streets of Liberty City just like the third console outing of this series.   The story might not be the game’s strongpoint thanks to poorly written dialogue, but you’ll have way too much fun blasting through the hundreds of missions and great driving sequences to even care about the weak dialogue.

Graphics: 7.5
The three islands are MASSIVE and even have familiar locales that fans of Grand Theft Auto III will quickly recognize.  The top-down view is reminiscent of the first two GTA games and work excellently here because of the amazing camera work.  Even the effects look great like watching cars explode and Mike torching cars (or thugs) with a blowtorch.  The game does occasionally stutters and the mission info that pops up during a mission blocks the view with its huge letters.  

Sound: 8.2
Simply one of the best attempts to cram as many distinct sounds and various tunes into a Game Boy Advance cartridge I’ve seen on the little handheld system.  Each car has it’s own distinct engine sound appropriate to the vehicle in question (e.g. trucks sound like trucks and muscle cars sound like muscle cars) and listening to them peel out is a delight.  Guns sound sharp and bones crunch when you run over a pedestrian.  Each car even has its own set of tunes that range from funky to kind of tiresome but the best part is that you’ll hear other drivers shout things out to you and the police dispatchers.

Difficulty: Medium
The many missions vary in difficulty much like the console versions and you’ll often find that the harder ones are all simply trial-and-error type missions you complete by learning from your mistakes the first few times you try it.  The races are challenging and so are the various mini-missions.

Concept: 9.2
What can be said about a game that brings to life on the Game Boy Advance all the things we love about the console versions of the GTA series except for AWESOME.  You can run around and bash mobsters in with a baseball bat, steal any car the crosses your path and put the main mission aside and grab a taxi and drive people around for cash.  You’ll even be able to hunt for the hidden packages and also come into contact with recognizable GTA III characters.

Overall: 8.4
Grand Theft Auto Advance on the GBA is one hell of a ride into the depths of the criminal underground and you’ll love every minute of it.  Its enormous free-roaming environments, plenty of cars and hundreds of missions will keep you busy for a really long time so pick this one up if you love the series and all the crooked wheeling and dealing that goes along with it.