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| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full Review: | ||
| After the massive success of Grand Theft Auto 3, Rockstar Games have moved to Miami to create GTA: Vice City, a bigger, better and much, much brighter version of its predecessor. With women, sun, and money everywhere, this city is waiting to be owned. As Tommy Vercetti, its your mission to take over the area, to own everything, to be a part of every deal, and every job. | ||
| Gameplay | ||||||||||||||||||
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The amount of things to try out in Vice City is astounding. At first, its tempting to just jump in the nearest car and drive crazily down the wrong side of the road. This could last for hours, jumping from car to car, evading the cops whenever they spot you "borrowing" another vehicle, and generally causing mayhem, but this doesn't even scratch the surface of the game. On your travels, you may encounter a hidden package, of which there are one hundred, each fiendishly well hidden. You may manage a unique jump over a carefully placed ramp, or complete a rampage by destroying gang members, but even then, you won't have seen even five percent of what the game has to offer.
The main part of the game lies in the missions involving Tommy Vercetti regaining the money lost in a failed drugs deal. Along the way, he is able to work for several druglords, gangsters and other criminal organisations. Assasinations, drug runs, boat trips, infiltration, roadrage, and many other chaotic activities are all involved in the missions.
Cruising along in a Cheetah, listening to Amy on KChat talking to Mr Zoo, running over pedestrians that stray to close, sometimes hearing them shout abuse if they are lucky enough to escape your wheels, its all part of the GTA experience. However, there are some tiny little flaws that appear from time to time. They are nothing major, and shouldn't detract from the gaming experience, but its possible to notice the slightly loose controls of the cars. Compared to Gran Turismo, the handling isn't very realistic. The other point is that the aiming system for weapons, though massively improved since GTA3, is still a little hit and miss. Both these things however can be accounted for after you play the game for a while. Before long, the handling will feel right, and you won't notice a bit, and the targeting system will feel similarly correct. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Graphics | ||
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Miami is huge, and so is the game. To drive from one corner of the map to another can take as much as fifteen minutes, even ignroing traffic signals. Even then, thats only a straight line, so there are literally hundreds of small streets, alleys and other indents to explore along the way. With 100 hidden packages scattered around the map, it soon becomes obvious why they are so hard to find, as there are literally millions of possible hiding places.
All the buildings, cars, trees and other objects are quite lovely, and really glow in the sunlight. Later at night they maintain a shiny clean look, but also a more moody feel that gives action after dark a more sinister feel. Its perfect Miami though, and were it not for all the insane missions and rampages you take on, it would really appeal as a place to go and live or visit. Character models, and there are lots of them, are of decent quality. They might not be Solid Snake, but each one is nicely constructed, particularly those that feature in the main storyline. Of course, the playable character Tommy Vercetti is top notch, with excellent facial expressions and animations. This is really conveyed well during all the cut scenes, each of which gives you a greater insight into the world of crime in Miami. | ||
| Sound | ||
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The most impressive part of the sound package is the fantastic 80s music. 8 hours of superb tracks, all put together across the radio stations, mixed in with some hilarious adverts and presenter commentary. There's something for everyone, with rock music, pop, spanish music, chat and much more. The 9 radio stations each have a unique feel, and its a real pleasure to listen to them as you cruise around the streets, or take part in a mission.
To add to the sound perfection, the pedestrians comments, numbering in the hundreds, are all quite excellent. Varying according to which part of the island you are on, you might pull a guy out of a car to hear him swear violently and try to get revenge if perhaps you were in gang territory, or on the other hand the owner may run away screaming if you're touring through a more tourist friendly area. To finish off, the engine noises (in particular the motorbikes) are excellent, and as you play the game for longer, you'll begin to recognise many vehicles simply by the noise of their engine. The helicopters and planes have convincing sounds effects also, and every mode of transport has an impressive array of crashing and scraping noises depending on what objects they hit. The only thing missing is the sound of thunder, but considering its never stormy, that's not a problem. | ||
| Overall | ||
| This game is huge, and should not be missed. There is so much to do, it could take a lifetime to complete. Play this game, enjoy this game, become this game. | ||
| Score | ||||
| Gameplay Every style of play you can think of, by the bucket load. | 9.7 | |||
| Graphics Huge islands with tonnes of cars and people. | 9.4 | |||
| Lastability All 100 packages without a guide? Years... | 9.8 | |||
| Sound 8 hours worth of top 80s music, and great voice acting | 9.8 | |||
| Overall The game has everything. Its the experience of the year. | 9.7 | |||
| Alternatively: | ||
| You could also check out Grand Theft Auto 3, for more chaos and mayhem. The game has had less time to for tweaking than Vice City as it was released more than a year earlier, however, it was the game that started the GTA magic on PS2, and should be more affordable. | ||