Toni Cipriani is back in Liberty City.

Wondering why the 'Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories' for the PS2 is being offered at a budget price? Wonder no longer. Compared to the direct to the other PS2 'GTA' releases, the 'Liberty Cities' PSP port just doesn't come close to living up to the series' standards.

'Liberty City Stories', originally produced for the PSP and blown-up for the PS2, marks the return of smart mouthed wiseguy Toni Cipriani to the 'GTA' fold. After being in hiding, Cipriani is back and he couldn't have picked a worse time to show his ugly mug in Liberty City again. There's a nasty gang war going on for control of the city and of course, Cipriani finds himself caught up in all of the carnage once again. Even Cipriani's dear old mom becomes involved, much to his dismay. Doesn't this guy ever learn? Geeze, cut the apron strings already, dude.

You know the deal by now. As Cipriani, you acquire new bosses, they give you missions, you complete them and when you are totally bored out of your skull, you shoot up the city for fun until the cops rub you out.

As a casual fan myself, that's what I find wrong with 'GTA' though. Nothing radically different has been introduced to enhance the experience for quite awhile. The once revolutionary series is in a debilitating rut. Playing 'Liberty City Stories', I found myself slogging through one mission after another with no real sense of urgency, as I knew that just more of the same was waiting for me around the next turn. I experienced a strange feeling of déjà vu as if I had played many of the missions before just under different circumstances or settings. Been there, done that and now doing it all again? Sigh. That ain't no fun.

One of the things I have admired about the 'GTA' series is its biting sense of humour. The 'Liberty City' storyline does have its cheap laughs but they aren't frequent or witty enough unlike the other sequels. The plot is flat and sluggish. The characters and the events aren't that compelling. The missions seem recycled. All of these combine to snuff out any momentum the game might have achieved.

To cap it all off, the game looks lousy. The porting process has not been kind to the product. Much of the detail in the cars and other objects is non-existent. The lighting especially during foggy weather or a sunrise is atrocious to the point that the screen comes close to whiting out on you. This effect makes it next to impossible to drive with any sort of accuracy, as you cannot make out the area around or ahead of you. While this happens infrequently, it is darn irritating and stands as a further reminder why the budget price exists.

Except for die-hard GTA fans who don't own a PSP, I wouldn't recommend 'Liberty Cities' to anyone, even those who have never given the GTA a series a shot. Those folks would be better off playing any of the previous instalments. In an age of next-gen consoles and powerful gaming PCs, the kinds of porting flaws like those in 'Liberty Cities' stand out like never before and the final product is certainly not worthy of the RockStar name.