When Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP, I eagerly proclaimed it as "the best 'console style' portable game yet". Now nearly 8 months later that same exact game is available on the PlayStation 2 with a hard-to-ignore budget price of $19.99. Although a little something gets lost in translation from the small to big screen, LCS is nearly as good as it was on the PSP, and is undoubtedly a solid entry in the GTA timeline.

The story of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories takes place 3 years before the events of Grand Theft Auto 3. We find that our main character Toni Cipriani has returned from laying low for the past 4 years after taking out a rival mob boss for the Leone crime family. Having welcomed him back with open arms, the Don Salvatore Leone is putting Toni to back work under the watchful eye of Vincenzo Cilli, one of his most trusted capos.

Grand Theft Auto: liberty City Stories for the PS2 is practically identical to the portable version in every way, except, well, it's no longer portable. Rockstar has also removed all traces of the multiplayer mode as well as the custom soundtrack feature found in the PSP version. What you do get, however, is a slightly smoother running game, more refined controls, and the ability to play on your big screen TV.

Visually, the game looks a bit strange as compared to other GTA titles on the PS2. LCS appears upscaled from a lower resolution, and it very well may be, seeing as that the game is probably utilizing many of the PSP version's assets. It still looks more than good enough, though if you are expecting a San Andreas level of detail, you may be disappointed. The game looks crisper on the small PSP screen, though on a TV, you don't have to deal with the distracting motion trails caused by the PSP's LCD screen (unless you have an older LCD TV screen, of course).

As with all Grand Theft Auto titles, the audio is fantastic. The game has the typical mix of amusing and sarcastic, witty radio bits, along with licensed and original tunes from the time period. The voice work and writing is top notch as well.

The PS2 controller's more precise analog stick definitely smoothes out the gameplay somewhat, and the second analog stick for camera control is far more convenient than the PSP's implementation. If you have grown accustomed to the gameplay features or control scheme of GTA: San Andreas, then playing Liberty City Stories will feel like a step backwards. It can definitely take a few missions to "unlearn" previous habits. Speaking of missions, Rockstar designed the various missions in Liberty City Stories for quicker, portable-style play. The scheme generally still works fine on the PlayStation 2 version as well.

I have to say, I'm still partial to the PSP version since it was the platform the game was designed around to begin with. And of course, a big part of the reason I also loved the original was because it was "portable", a fact that the anti-PSP brigade seems to conveniently overlook. But for $19.99, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an absolute steal, and there's no way a non-PSP owning GTA fan (or bored summer gamer) should pass it up.

1. It's Grand Theft Auto!
2. Retails for only $19.99

1. It's still a port of an 8 month old game
2. Stripped down features