Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City vs Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is an open-world racing game from Rockstar North / Toronto (2010) while Grand Theft Auto III is an action-adventure game (2001).
Quick answer: Grand Theft Auto III has the higher Metacritic, 97 to 79.
Grand Theft Auto III
What each one is
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is filed under Open-World and Racing. In contrast, Grand Theft Auto III under Action-Adventure.
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City includes both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony together and does not require a copy of the original Grand Theft Auto IV to play.
Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto series. Set in Liberty City, loosely based on New York City, the game follows Claude, a silent protagonist who becomes entangled in a world of crime, drugs, gang warfare, and corruption while pursuing revenge against his ex-girlfriend. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. Its open world design lets the player freely roam Liberty City, which consists of three islands.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Most Grand Theft Auto games are set in fictional parodies of well-known United States cities, in a number of different time periods. The games are split into three different universes (2D, 3D, and HD), each with their own reinterpretations of previously established settings. The universes share the names of cities, several brands, and background characters who never make physical appearances in the games (with a few exceptions), but are otherwise… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Ever since the release of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, the Grand Theft Auto series has been a major success, both critically and financially. It has shipped over 470 million units, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. In 2006, Grand Theft Auto was voted one of Britain's top 10 designs in the Great British Design Quest organised by the BBC and the Design Museum . (Wikipedia)
Plot
Small-time criminal Claude is betrayed and shot by his girlfriend Catalina (voiced by Cynthia Farrell) during a bank heist in Liberty City . Claude survives, but is arrested and convicted; en route to prison, his transport is attacked by members of the Colombian Cartel , who abduct another prisoner. Claude escapes with a fellow convict, explosives expert 8-Ball ( Guru ), who introduces him to the Leone Mafia family. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical response PlayStation 2 version reception Grand Theft Auto III was released to critical acclaim. Metacritic calculated an average score of 97 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 56 reviews. It is tied with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 as the highest-rated PlayStation 2 game on the site and tied with a number of others as the sixth-highest-rated game overall. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City | Grand Theft Auto III | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 6.4/10 | — |
| Steam rating | Mostly Positive (74%, 10,072) | — |
| Critic aggregate | 79/100 | 97/100 |
| Price | Not listed | Unknown |
| Install size | — | — |
| Steam Deck | Untested | Untested |
| Released | 2010 | 2001 |
| Developer | Rockstar North / Toronto | — |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City vs Grand Theft Auto III, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityOpen-world racing gameGrand Theft Auto IIIAction-adventure gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityOpen World, Action, Automobile SimGrand Theft Auto IIINo descriptive tagsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityMetacritic 79Grand Theft Auto III ✓Metacritic 97Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City10,072 reviewsGrand Theft Auto III—Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty CityNot listedGrand Theft Auto IIIUnknownRead live from Steam and subject to change.
Grand Theft Auto III takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Grand Theft Auto III (Metacritic 97)
Where they differ
Open WorldActionAutomobile SimThird PersonMultiplayerCrime
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Grand Theft Auto III is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City and 0 for Grand Theft Auto III. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City and Grand Theft Auto III in scope?
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City has drawn 10,072 Steam reviews. Grand Theft Auto III lists little scope data.
Is Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City or Grand Theft Auto III better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City or Grand Theft Auto III?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City or Grand Theft Auto III?
Grand Theft Auto III has the higher Metacritic, 97 to 79. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.