Welcome to Liberty City. Where it all began. The critically acclaimed blockbuster Grand Theft Auto III brings 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.
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In the GTA Online character creator, players can choose Claude from GTA III, Niko Bellic from GTA IV, or John Marston from Red Dead Redemption as their custom protagonist's father, quietly tying the online world into the wider Rockstar universe.
Want to run around Liberty City dressed as GTA III's silent protagonist? It's possible, but you have to make a specific, fairly cold-blooded choice first. During the mission where you decide whether to kill Playboy X or Dwayne, choosing to let Dwayne do the deed opens up Playboy's now-empty apartment, and tucked away inside is Claude's classic outfit from GTA III, ready for Niko to put on.
You'd think the silent protagonist of GTA III would at least get named on screen somewhere, but nope. His name only gets confirmed years later, buried in a phone call you can overhear during San Andreas. Blink and you'll miss it.
Australia actually pulled GTA III from shelves shortly after launch over the violence, and a handful of unedited copies had already made it into people's hands before the ban kicked in. Rockstar had to strip out some sexual content just to get a revised version approved.
Before GTA III, the whole series was top-down. This was the game that dragged Liberty City into full 3D, and honestly it's the reason the franchise still exists in the shape it does today.
Line up a sniper rifle on the moon and take a shot, and it'll actually change size on screen. Nobody outside Rockstar really knew why this was in there for years, until an ex-developer finally explained it on Twitter.
The playlist on Flashback FM isn't just inspired by Scarface, it's lifted straight from the film's actual soundtrack. When the station came back for Liberty City Stories they swapped it for Giorgio Moroder cuts instead, which makes sense once you remember he scored Scarface in the first place.
Wander around long enough and you'll hear civilians drop lines like 'you can sail the seven seas' or 'there's no need to feel down.' They sound like throwaway barks, but they're actually nods to Village People lyrics.
The bank heist that opens the game takes place somewhere you can never actually walk to during normal play. The only way to even glimpse the area is by getting a Dodo airborne and flying over it.
Before RC cars became a recurring bit in later games, GTA III was the one that introduced them to the franchise.
