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 | Title : Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Author : Rockstar Games
Release Date : 20021031
Binding : CD-ROM
Regular Price : $
Amazon.com Price : $
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Editorial Reviews :
How big is this game? Even publicists for other games end up talking about Vice City when they call our office, babbling in the same helplessly intoxicated way that afflicts everyone who plays it. The achievement of Vice City (which, as everyone knows by now, is set in the 1980s and offers an all-new, Miami Vice-inspired story) is not only that it manages to live up to an absurd level of expectation, but that it takes the game places that fans of its predecessor Grand Theft Auto 3 never dreamed of, and that it achieves this astonishing level of innovation without losing anything that made GTA3 the bestselling PS2 game of all time.
After a brilliant homage to the era of the Commodore 64 in the opening credits, the first thing you'll notice is the improved graphics, which are smoother and more detailed, and--with effects like neon lights reflected on rain-slick streets, and intense Florida sunlight--have a lush, tropical look that immediately gives you a strong sense of place. The architecture is more fabulous by tenfold, with art deco buildings, high-rise hotels, and believably seedy back alleys. The control scheme is essentially the same as in GTA3, but the cars handle much better, and in pedestrian mode there is a new crouch move. You will have access to fast, great-handling cars right away, as opposed to GTA3 which made you unlock the second island before you could get your hands on any respectable wheels. This game has such riches to offer that there is no need to be chintzy with the vehicles.
Cops are more vigilant this time--minor offenses like whacking innocent bystanders will more often than not get you a two-star wanted level--and are harder to elude (though they still can't seem to climb stairs or negotiate sharp turns). So while free-roaming exploration is as fun as ever, there is more incentive to perform the missions instead of randomly raising hell. Not that that's a bad thing: even lazy criminals like myself (in GTA3, I would rather toss hand grenades into traffic than follow orders from some rude Mafia boss) will be quickly caught up in the vivid characters and hilarious, fascinating story, in which you play an acid-washed-jeans-wearing thug named Tommy Vercetti. Where in GTA3 missions were blocky, schematic affairs only nominally connected to the story, this time tasks move the story briskly along and deftly blend cinematics and game action. For example, there is a scene of a character throwing Tommy a gun, at which point you are suddenly thrown back into the action and must make an instant decision about whom to trust and what to do.
There are more, and more detailed, indoor environments, including a hotel, police station, and mall (a slight downside to this is that some of the more elaborate indoor environments require load times). The layout of the city, with tons of backyards, narrow alleys, and fire escapes, encourages creativity when eluding pursuit, as does greater access to rooftops. Get your motorcycle up the fire escape and a whole new world of action is possible, including... well, use your imagination.
This overview barely scratches the surface of the Vice City experience, its colorful explosion of music, clothes, combat, and brilliant voice acting, not to mention the plot twist midway through the game that changes the very nature of the game itself. Though it was the outrageous, amoral violence that got all the press, the essential genius of GTA3 was its intoxicating blend of script and open-ended action. In Vice City this is--to use a cliché that is for once apropos--taken to a whole new level.
Buyer Reviews :
Right before writing this review, I read a news story about a teenager who attempted to steal more than 100 cars and said he got the idea from 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.' And I couldn't help but think, 'Here we go again.'
Last year, Rockstar released their groundbreaking 'Grand Theft Auto 3,' a far more realistic sequel to their cartoony, cult GTA series. Defying convention (and the ratings system), GTA3 became one of the best-selling video games ever, introducing gamers to levels of atrocity and violence usually reserved for war crimes tribunals. Vice City is the update to that game, and while GTA3 was a genre-buster, Vice City perfects the formula, retaining all the good aspects of the old game while tweaking most of the problems and adding enough new things to keep gamers coming back for more.
Set in a Miami-like tropical town in the 1980s, Vice City captures the feel of Hawaiian shirts, fast cars, and faster women. The player is Tommy Vercetti, a gangster down from Liberty City who just got out of jail and came to Vice City to set up operations for his organized crime syndicate. His first deal goes bad, and he's left with the clothes on his back and the ambition to get the people who wronged him - and whatever guns, cars, swords, explosives, and people he can use along the way.
This game has much more of a 'plot' than GTA3, but still manages to retain the open-ended feel of the first two in the series, as there are always two or three missions for the player to choose from. Rockstar also fixed some of the physics problems with cars, meaning the player can take corners faster and not have to worry about rolling over ten times. The music, always a great part, has been expanded twentyfold - there are literally a hundred songs, many of them semi-obscure but fun 80s tunes (a few are original), across the radio stations. The player can still be a vigilante or a firefighter, but pizza boy has been added as well, and a dozen or so properties are available for purchase, many of them with their own missions. There are 35 weapons to choose from, including a katana, a chainsaw, a .357, and a improved sniper rifle. The airport has airplanes to fly, and there are helicopters for speed and precision. Also, the military base has a nice secret if you find 100 hidden packages - the Hunter, a gunship with unlimited chaingun and missile ammo. Nice! In fact, there is almost no reason NOT to buy this game - the only problem I've ever found with it is that sometimes, when you die on a mission, if you allow your character to be reincarnated at the hospital, then the game will (sometimes) crash. But that's small potatoes.
I need to stress, yet again, that this is not a game for children. I'm not living in some fantasy-world where kids will never play games like this, but parents, if you're going to get this to stick in a stocking, PLEASE understand what your kids will be playing. Sit down and watch them play it. Talk to them about the difference between fantasy and reality. Please. It's only a matter of time before enough dumb teenagers steal enough cars and blame enough video games before us adults won't be able to make up our own minds about playing them - because some well-meaning government official will make it illegal.
Enjoy, but be warned.
Final Grade: A+
(by Jason N. Mical)
Features/Technical Specs :
* Follow-up to Grand Theft Auto 3
* All-new game
* Set in the 80s
* Power, glamour, and corruption
* More freedom of movement than ever before
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