snoogans86's Full Review: Grand Theft Auto (GTA): Vice City for PlayStation ...
Intro:
Grand Theft Auto III is arguably one of the greatest games ever made. With its freedom to do what you want, intriguing story, intense missions, and mature content it captured Americans dollars as the best-selling PS2 game and possibly the best-selling game ever. The announcement of Vice City was of course expected, but kind of came as a shocker that it would be released in October. Not to mention the fact that it took place in the 80's. Now the game with the most hype surrounding it than any other game comes under judgement. Does it live up to the hype?
The Good:
Where to start? I seem to start with graphics all the time, so here's the good about the graphics. The car models have improved and so has the size of the city. It's huge. Not to mention the characters and such have all had a little touching up. The most noticeable improvement is this shine on all the cars. They all seem to be reflecting light from the sun and it comes off realistically and it looks really cool. The water also has been improved, which isn't saying much (the water in GTA3 is atrocious) but this water actually looks decent. The soundtrack is also amazing. The are 80 songs on this soundtrack, and they're all famous 80's songs with one or two original tracks (by rock group Love Fist). Not to mention many of GTA3's more popular characters now host radio stations, i.e. Lazlow on VRock and Fernando on Emotion 98.3. They also now have two talk radio stations that are both interesting in their own ways. VCPR starring Maurice Chavez with Pressing Issues is very Chatterbox-esque and will appeal more to the GTA3 Lazlow fans, while K-Chat is your shallow talk radio with a ditzy host talking to celebs. I swear your sides will be splitting listening to Amy (host of K-Chat) interviewing Thor. It's brilliant. The commercials are equally funny. Just as GTA3 set a standard in commercial comedy, Vice City continues the tradition. My personal favorite is the one for Giggle Cream with a cheesy mouth-instrumental theme song and the abrupt punchline "Giggle Cream! It makes dessert funny." Finally, the gameplay. This is where the game shines above the competition. Jacking cars, motorcycles, helicopters, boats, and planes has never been so fun (as if just that wasn't fun enough). The physics have been meticulously programmed so that each vehicle handles differently and realistically. The missions vary greatly and are all very interesting with only a few exceptions. In GTA3 after a while you realized you were basically doing the same missions over again with varying themes, this game, no two missions feel the same. One mission you're watching over a drug deal, the next your protecting your boats from enemy boats, and another your holding up a bank. This game has so much replayability it's unbelievable. I can sum this game up in 3 letters: WOW!
The Bad:
Ok, here are my gripes with the game. For one, the graphics are not all that impressive. In fact they're rather generic. I mean, they're not average by PS2 standards, but not outstanding either. On other systems, they're worse looking games look a little better than this. This is just the limitations of the PS2 though and can't be faulted by Rockstar North. They're pushing that PS2 to it's limit. Another PS2 related gripe is the framerate. This game runs at a usually steady 30 fps (30?) and drops when there's too much going on. Mind you, the drops are never so bad that they affect gameplay too much, but they are noticeable. Although if you never noticed them in GTA3 then you probably won't notice them here. Also, the opening load time is almost 2x longer than GTA3's loading time. Not to mention although the movie from one huge area to another is rather quick, the inside areas (which are very small in comparison) take almost 10-15 seconds to load. My final gripe is just the fact that there is only one plane in the game. ONE PLANE!? I mean at least it's got wings now but the only plane you get to use is the Skimmer (not counting the RC Baron) which lands in the water. While there are 4 types of helicopter. They could've at least made a land-based version of the Skimmer. Also, the game's progression is rather unbalanced. One minute you're doing a super-easy mission, the next you're doing Messing With The Man (which is the hardest most frustrating moment in video game history, I have never thrown my controller harder in my life.)
The Final Verdict:
This game is awesome. Awesome x10. It's GTA3x10 AND THEN SOME! It's amazing. It's compelling video game entertainment and it's recommended for anyone old enough to play M-rated games.
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