Games packed with murder, stealing and destruction

Advertiser Staff

• Game Maker: By Rock Star Games

• The Synopsis: In bleak Liberty City, players steal cars, plant bombs, deliver drugs and carry out contract hits to move up the mob ranks. Grand Theft Auto III features a cast of hundreds, more than 50 vehicles, from sports cars and ice-cream trucks to boats and buses, and "some of the seediest characters in video-game history," its makers say.

• The Company Line: "The game represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment. For the first time, players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, and let loose in a fully realized 3-dimensional city, in which anything can happen and probably will."

• The Critic: "Crime does pay." (gamerankings.com)

• The Player: "It's not for everybody, but it's a lot of fun." (Lloyd Hara, 24)

• The Skinny: A top seller for PlayStation 2, it comes out in a PC-play version this year.

• The Rating: "Mature" for blood, violence and strong language.

• Game Maker: Rock Star Games

• The Synopsis: In a graffiti-marked urban landscape, players "enlist in the freedom movement to topple the tyrannical corporation. Freedom agents' duties may include: Eliminate (i.e., kill) corporation enforcers. Execute assassinations before targets flee to safety. Steal sensitive items and documents from the corporation and return them to freedom agents at the safe house. Escort freedom agents as they commute through hostile public areas ... Destroy key corporation sites ... "

• The Critics: "Without question, State of Emergency is one of the most violent games to come along in a great while." (gamespot.com) "Smash up everything and everyone." (gamerankings.com) "Bottom line: Much gore, total bore." (Washington Post)

• The Player: "It's really intense. It gets your heart going." (Christopher Chiang, 17)

• The Skinny: State of Emergency premiered at the top of the PlayStation 2 sales charts in February.

• The Rating: "Mature" for intense violence.

• Game maker: Sony Computer Entertainment

• The Synopsis: Participants play in a tournament (i.e., battle) from within a car.

• The Company Line: "A deadly battle of twisted metal ... Tons of weapons and combo attacks make for more creative kills."

• The Critic: "Imagine this: seven cars firing their missiles at you from every direction while a Ferris wheel rolls down a hill and lightning continually striking you while you're trying to regain health as a semi-truck rams you every which way; it's pretty intense, and madness could possibly be the right word for it." (gamerankings.com)

• The Player: "Fun." (DeAngelo Lee, 6)

• The Skinny: The game's theme song is "Paint it Black," by the Rolling Stones, which plays during the credits.

• The rating: "Mature" for violence.