20 Mind-Blowing Things You Didn't Know About Grand Theft Auto 3

13. The Original Graphical Style Was More Cartoonish

GTA 3 20 Years
Rockstar

When you think of GTA 3's Liberty City, you think of fog, rain and darkness. It's a grungy, dilapidated place which really doesn't look like a nice place to live at all.

However, the original plan for GTA 3's graphical style was very different. Leaked shots of an early build of GTA 3 showcase that during development, the original design of the city was much more 'cartoonish'.

You can see in the image above how the city is brighter, the cars are more colourful and everything pops with a cartoon aesthetic. Claude and 8-Ball also appear to be rendered in a more cartoonish fashion too.

For the recent Definitive Edition, it appears Rockstar actually went back to their roots and embraced this more cartoony look. Whether that's for better or worse is a completely different conversation altogether.

 
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Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.