GTA3 for the PC (1 Viewer)

[MikeAlletto]

Anyone get this yet? I saw it at best buy and compusa this afternoon. I've already got the PS2 version so I'm not going to buy the PC one, but just wondered how it was.

Wish I could get the PC version at a discount price though so I don't have to buy it twice, I would love to play it in higher resolutions on my PC...

 

[Mark Evans]

I'm also interested in knowing how this functions on "low-end" machines. My poor aged P3-450 with its "mere" 32MB GeForce 2 and 320MB RAM is pushing the bottom requirements for... everything, so if anybody's playing this on a similar system and not wanting to throw their comps through the window, I'd like to hear about it

 

[Bjoern Roy]

Will post comments later.

 

[Kami]

Mark, it will run like pure crap on that setup. The game needs a patch pretty badly...some people with honkin' behemoth systems are having lag troubles.
To get perfect smoothness and no slowdowns whatsoever, I have to run in 800x600. 1024x768 will run but slows down/lags in some areas.
System:
P3-700 overclocked to 933MHz
768MB SDRAM
GeForce2 GTS 32meg @ 210 core/366 memory
By the end of June I'll be upgraded to an Athlon XP 1800+ and a GeForce4 Ti 4400 128MB, along with 1GB of DDR RAM
As for the game itself, it's awesome. The graphics are indeed better than the PS2 version, plus I like the controls a lot better...especially aiming. The game seems a lot more gory too. You can also use your MP3s for custom radio stations if you want. There is big potential for user modifications so we can probably expect to see some mods for download fairly soon.
I'm also pretty sure a patch will be out soon enough to fix the current issues.

 

[Graeme Clark]

It runs quite well on my Celeron 800, GF2 MX400, 448MB RAM. Playing it at 800x600x32 and whatever it selected for everything else.

I started playing with my Gamepad, and couldn't figure out how to aim or turn while on foot, so switched to Mouse+KB which seems to work better.

Pretty fun so far, haven't really played a whole lot, but running around in a Police car is quite fun.

 

[Greg Haynes]

This is all great news. I was hoping that they wouldn't tone down the violence due to all the issues that was going around with the PS2 version.

 

[Pete_S]

1.7ghz Pentium 4, 512mb SDRAM, GeForce2 32mb (the weakest link).

The framerate is slightly choppy at anything higher than 800x600x32, but I'm pretty happy running at 800x600x16 with the draw distance way up.

I'll probably be ordering a Gainward GeForce3 64mb video card from Newegg.com for $124 to give me the resolution boost I need. Not that the game doesn't look good at 800x600... It just looks awesome at higher settings.

 

[Max Leung]

My only complaint with GTA3 on the PC is that the Trails graphical feature looks terrible. I hate the look of it, where everything goes blurry when there is motion. I turn it off (and it helps the framerate too).
Oh, and I can't play the radio in the police car. Darn!

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

We should come up with a standard review format for games on the HTF.
This isnt it, but here's my review:

Graphics:

8/10-Not revolutionary, but great

Sound:
10/10 Excellent sounds, appropriate, and the BEST part, you can listen to your OWN music while you drive. It's INCREDIBLE driving to Dirty Vegas (Mistubishi commercial where that spaz girl break dances with her seat belt) or GQ doing Disco nights, it's all there.

Gameplay:
7/10 I would rate it higher, but it runs like shit at 1024x768 on a fairly beefy machine (1.3ghz with 700 megs of RAM) 32 meg Geforce 2 GTS isnt up to the task with motion blur turned on (I agree it looks like shit anyway)

Blah Im bored of reviewing. Just go buy this game, it's fun.

 

[Rob Lutter]

How do you guys think this would run on my 1.7gHz Athlon w/ 512 RAM, and 64MB GeForce3 Ti200? Would it run nicely at 1024x768x32?

 

[Mark Evans]

Ugh, but does yours run great at 800x600 Kami? I can handle running it in 800x600 if I can get a decent framerate out of it. Can you tell I want to play this game bad? :b
I cannot accept that a PS2 can handle this game better than my computer

 

[RenoV]

My PC consists of a PII 400, 64 MB GeForce 2 MX400, and 256 MB RAM and the game is pretty playable @ 640x480x16. It gets very choppy when the entire police force is after me though I agree that a patch of some sorts is DEFINATELY needed, a faster PC wouldn't hurt either :b

 

[Kami]

How do you guys think this would run on my 1.7gHz Athlon w/ 512 RAM, and 64MB GeForce3 Ti200? Would it run nicely at 1024x768x32?

Probably, just make sure you turn off the annoying trails. One thing I've noticed is that GTA3 seems to be more dependent on video card than CPU. It's still dependent on CPU, but video card seems to make more of a difference.

Mark, yes around 60fps (perfect motion to the human eye) is all I will accept and that's why I run 800x600. I think a patch should fix some performance issues as well.
You current system will probably run 640x480 16bit color but I am betting it will still slow down in some areas. GeForce2's are kinda outdated now.

 

[Allan Petersen]

I was surprised to find this at a local shop today. I heard that the release date was a few days away.
Oh well
It runs MAGNIFICENTLY on my P3 933 with 512 MB and a GF4 TI 4600! I'm playing at 1024x768 (32 bit) with draw distance all the way up and not a slowdown in sight.
I will try turning it up further tonight.
The mouse-aiming is really nice. It could get slightly confusing on the PS2. But I think I'll hold on to that version for a while.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mark Evans]

Ooh, thanks all. I think I can handle 640x480 for a little piece of GTA3

 

[Graeme Clark]

I finished Trial by Fire, and not any Triads start shooting at me if I even get semi close to them (in car or on foot).

Any way to stop that?

---

I love you Pogo! You bounce!

 

[Pete_S]

I finished Trial by Fire, and not any Triads start shooting at me if I even get semi close to them (in car or on foot).

Just wait 'til you get on the Mafia's bad side. You'll turn a corner while driving, and in the blink of an eye your car will be blown up by a shotgun blast.

 

[NickSo]

*sigh* The anticipation of my Thunderbird 1.33GHz with Geforce2GTS to replace my pentium 166 with Monster3D is tearing me apart now with GTA3 on PC.
Ahh, MoH:AA, Castle Wolfenstein, now GTA3...

 

[Chris Bardon]

I think that there might be some serious optimizations for Geforce on the game, since I'm running a p4 1.6a overclocked to 2.13 Ghz with 512 Mb and an ATI Radeon 7500, which you'd think could run anything with full detail. I turned off the trails, but if I have the draw distance set too high I'll get some slowdown (at 1024x768x32), but not at the default setting. Allen's post seems to say that a Geforce 4 makes more difference than a faster CPU though.

 

[Graeme Clark]

Radeon 7500 isn't really all that fast of a card anymore, comparable to a GF2. Try running it at 800x600.