You?re totally outside the law, able to get away with any crime and face no consequences for your actions. Such is the premise of Rockstar Games? “Grand Theft Auto III,” for the PlayStation 2.

In the game, you take on the role of a nameless thug from crime-ridden Liberty City, betrayed and left for dead by his ambitious criminal girlfriend. Freed by luck and circumstance during a breakout orchestrated by another gang for one of its members, your character hooks up with a local car dealer and explosives expert, 8-Ball. 8-Ball introduces him to a local Mafia member who sets him up on his first job, and later introduces him to more powerful figures in the local Mob.

The mission objectives are varied and challenging, ranging from jailbreaks and deliveries to chauffeuring duties, assassinations and many more, all of which you?ll be paid for. Eventually, your character will move on to jobs for the Japanese Yakuza crime syndicate and a corrupt media mogul among other, less notable figures. Crime is a dangerous business, and not all of your previous employers will survive your advancement.

The real meat of this game, however, isn?t in the missions, which also serve to drive the story along, but in the environment of Liberty City and all the things to do there. The devil?s in the details, as the saying goes, and this game focuses on the little things almost to a fault. Liberty City is vast and detailed, with sprawling industrial and business zones, suburbs, docks, an airport and hundreds of vehicles, pedestrians and gang members; if you walk or drive around long enough, you?ll eventually end up in the middle of a shootout between the various warring gangs that roam the city.

True to the game?s title, you can steal just about any vehicle, either by walking into the middle of traffic and yanking a hapless motorist from his car or by just climbing into a vehicle parked in a lot. Station wagons, sedans, limousines, luxury and sports cars, garbage trucks, minivans, SUVs, police cars, SWAT vans, boats, semi trucks; if it?s on the streets or in the water, you can take it and drive it. .

The police, however, won?t stand idly by while you commit crimes. While low-end violations like driving on the wrong side of the road or ramming other cars off bridges won?t even get a glance in your direction from the local authorities, running over, beating or shooting a dozen or so pedestrians or crashing hard into a police car will definitely get them on your tail.

The law?s response to your actions has six levels of severity. At the lowest, police cars will go after you if they see you, but won?t chase you very hard if you?re trying to get away. As you cause more havoc, the measures employed to stop you get more drastic; cop cars fly out of nowhere to ram you into buildings, blockades spring up across roads and the army will be brought in to put a stop to your mayhem.

If you?re busted or your health meter drops to zero, you?ll find yourself in front of the police station or hospital minus your weapons and some money, and having failed any mission you were attempting at the time. That?s it; no jail time, court date, crippling injuries, nothing. Your on-screen avatar is practically invulnerable to the laws, both physical and judiciary, of the real world, and that?s part of what makes the game such a blast.

There are also nine radio stations to listen to while driving stolen cars. These include rock, reggae, techno, rap, classical, 1980s and talk-radio stations, among others, each with their own short and repetitive play list of songs, just like real radio. The songs are all original, well-produced and offer a good variety of music to listen to. Each station is hosted by its own uniquely annoying disk jockey, also just like real radio.

The game deserves credit for not glorifying the drug trade in any way, and actually stepping out against it in a few places. Despite the harsh content of the game, with its rampant crime, prostitution and violence, there is never a mission in which your character is required to run drugs; the only missions you?ll ever take involving the local drug cartel are attacks against it.

One last note: do not let children play this game. Don?t let your kids play it, don?t let your friends? kids play it, don?t let any kids play it, if you have any influence at all over what they put in their game console. “Grand Theft Auto III” earned its “Mature” rating, and should not be played by anyone unable to handle such gritty content. This game isn?t just morally bankrupt; it never even had an account.

It sure is a lot of fun, though.