The Heat is On (Your @ss) In Vice City !

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great voice acting, new capabilities and scenarios, outrageous fun!

Cons: none, really!

The Bottom Line: 
A fantastic follow up to Grand Theft Auto III!

Author's Review
Woo hoo! Grand Theft Auto Vice City has arrived! Adam has been waiting for this new release for ages, and we were able to play it for the first time last night. Here’s my review—I’ll probably be updating from time to time as we progress in the game.

The Story

You are Tommy Vercetti (voice acting by Ray Liotta), and you’ve just finished a rather long prison stint. Your “boss” Sonny decides to send you to Vice City (not called Miami, but we all know it is), with a suitcase full of cash to work out a rather large cocaine deal with the South American contingency. Everything goes horribly, horribly wrong, and as the only survivor of a deal gone bad, you’re in trouble. Sonny wants his money- pronto, and you’ve got to find it. Along the way you’re given a number of side assignments, and when you finish each one you’re given cash and sometimes some information. Everyone is doing “favors” for everyone else, and you’re along for the ride. Ken Rosenberg is your lawyer “friend” who helps you to work your way through the city- he’s pretty coked-up most of the time, and can be a bit funny.

At first, you are running missions for others, but you will eventually take control of the city yourself. The missions are different than in GTAIII, because they are more involved. Other than pulling a job, you may need to go to the Pay and Spray to dupe police before and/or after, and you may need a change of clothes, as well! Some of the missions involve tailing someone without killing them, killing someone and making it look like an accident, just plain killing someone, planting explosives, acting as a sniper from a moving helicopter, and backing someone up during a drug deal. You'll also race dirtbikes and speedboats, and go undercover.

Vice City Looks

The look of the city itself is spectacular! This game takes place in the 80’s, and it is well apparent from the look of the game. A number of the cars, bikes and scooters in the game are painted a hot pink, bright blue or turquoise, a la 80’s. The clothes fit, and so do the facades of the buildings. I should note that Adam thinks that the streets are less distinguishable than they were in GTAIII, making it a little trickier to maneuver without the help of a map.

The pedestrians on the streets are dressed in 80’s garb, and are far more interactive than they have been in prior versions. If you set your target on a crowd, they all respond differently to having a gun pointed at them. One man yells “Hey man, I don’t wanna die!” while a girl shrieks “Oh no! This means I won’t, like, go to my prom!” Funny stuff. Of course you can kill whoever you’d like anyhow, and steal their money. We haven’t located any prostitutes, only 80’s chicks who look like hookers, but in fact are not. I’m sure there are hookers lurking somewhere, though!

The weather in Vice City changes as it did in GTAIII, but there is a new and annoying feature- if it is raining, and you’re driving your hot-pink corvette (of course it isn’t called a Vette in the game, but many of the cars have obvious inspirations behind them), you’ll see rain pouring down, and the car will skid. The irritation factor? For the first time, raindrops appear on the screen itself. It’s as though they are trying to create an effect of rain splattering the camera that is following the car/bike/whatever, but it doesn’t really look like rain. Rather, it looks as though small amoeba-like aliens have invaded and are clinging to your screen. Weird and frustrating. The same effect happens with blood if you kill someone in a particularly violent manner, such as a chainsaw. You might enjoy the effect- I find it annoying!

The cars look great, the headlights and taillights look like lights. As you drive along the coast, there is a fantastic graphic of a very large “Moon over Miami,” and from time to time the sun will be in your eyes, making it very hard to see.

The look of your character changes, as you can now change clothes, and you do- often! If you’re assigned to attack someone on a golf course, you show up wearing red plaid pants and a sweater vest. For a party on a yacht, you’ll be wearing a suit, and to start a riot you’re dressed as a union worker. You can’t pick and choose what you wear, you have to go to Rafael’s, the clothing store to start off with, and you’ll come out wearing whatever outfit you need. Eventually you'll get the Vercetti outfit, which is a pinstriped suit and a pink shirt- very 80's chic!


Vice City Sounds

To begin with, I have to say that the voice acting is superb! It is without a doubt some of the best I have heard. Also "starring" as voice actors in this game are: Gary Busey (Point Break, The Firm), Luis Guzman (Traffic), Lawrence Taylor (Former NFL Linebacker), David Paymer(City Slickers, American President), and Danny Trejo (Desperado, Con Air, Replacement Killers).

The videos are well done, and look like the game does, rather than having a video with much better graphics than the game itself. The videos are also short, which I for one appreciate!

How can I not include the radio stations in this review?! Well they are fantastic, although Adam and I have been walking around singing “Video Killed the Radio Star,” “She Sells Sanctuary,” and “Sister Christian” for the last few days! There are two talk stations, K Chat and Vice City Public Radio.
Other Stations, hosts and a small sampling of songs are:

V-Rock hosted by Laslow, who plays: Twisted Sister -I Wanna Rock, Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight, and Judas Priest -You've Got Another Thing Comin'.

WAVE 103 hosted by Adam, who plays: A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (So far Away), Romeo Void - Never Say Never, and Nena - 99 Luftballons (this is one of my favorites!)

Radio Espantoso hosted by Pepe, who plays: Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra - Mambu Mucho Mambo, Beny More - Maracaibo Oriental, and Deodato -Super Strut.

Emotion 98.3 hosted by Fernando Martinez who plays: Toto-Africa, Night Ranger- Sister Christian, and Kate Bush- Wow.

Wildstyle Pirate Radio hosted by Mr. Magic, who plays: Run DMC - Rock Box, Mantronix-Bassline, and Grandmaster Flash-The Message.

Fever 105 hosted by Oliver "Ladykiller" Biscuit, who plays: Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness, and Rick James -Getto Life.

Flash FM hosted by Toni, who plays: Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart, Laura Branigan -Self Control, and Michael Jackson - Bille Jean.

Unlike previous versions of the game, these are real songs by the original artists! If you like the radio stations, Rockstar is releasing cd compilations for each of the stations. I think the cds are about $14 each, or $60 or so for the complete set. Sweet!

I must also mention the commercials! My favorite from GTAII was the “Pet’s in a Box” one! (“Pets. Delivered overnight. To your house. In a box” or something like that). Wee my new favorite is for Musty Pines. “Do you have old people cluttering up your house?” Well you can pack them off to Musty Pines, which is famous for their Monday night medication swapping happy hour. They guarantee your loved one will only live for three months, and then you can start spending their money! That’s the only one I’m going to tell you about, you’ll have to listen to the rest on your own!



Stealing

I couldn’t possibly write this review without mentioning the stealing possibilities! There are a number of cars you can steal, just as in previous versions. In order to steal a car, you can stand in front of one on the street, and when it stops you can get in, throw the driver out and take off. You can also steal parked cars or even police cars. A new element added to Vice City, is the addition of scooters, dirtbikes, and motorcycles! The motorcycles are harder to control, but a lot of fun. There are two kinds of motorcycles- a sportsbike, and a Harley- inspired bike. On the sportsbike you can also pop wheelies, pull up your rear tires by braking fast, and stand up. On the Chopper you can stand up. The motorcycles take a little more getting used to, and are an easy way to die quickly from multiple crashes. It seems that the bikes don’t get as easily damaged as the cars do, and we haven’t had a bike explode yet. For those readers who are unfamiliar with the game, when you’re driving a car, you’ll probably do some crashing. The damage you do is seen in the car, as doors and hoods fly off. Your engine will start smoking, which is a good indication that you aren’t far from a nice fire and eventual explosion. If your car is on fire, you have to get out and run away—the explosion will hurt you!

We also stole a golf cart for a particularly funny scene! From what we understand, we’ll be able to steal boats, helicopters and planes, but we’re not quite there yet. We did work on a mission where we had to use a remote control helicopter, and that was very tricky!


Driving/Moving Around

The cars in this Vice City seem a little trickier to control than in GTAIII. The steering is looser, and it is easier to lose control of the car. Motorcycles add an additional challenge, but are a lot of fun and very fast when you get the hang of them. Sucks if you’re stuck on a scooter! You can do drive-bys in this game, and in some mini-challenges you’ll do just that, killing 50 gang members in 2 minutes for $50. The circle button is used for drive-bys and the triangle is used to jump out of a moving vehicle. Other controls remain the same. The X button accelerates the car, and the Square is the brakes. If you’re not moving, then the square button will reverse the car. R1 is the handbrake, and crucial for tight turns!

When you are on foot the controls are also pretty similar to GTAIII. One difference is that you can now crouch down. Other than that, the controls are pretty basic, using the control sticks to move and look around, the triangle to get into or out of a vehicle, the X button to run, the square to jump and the circle to use a weapon.

General Mayhem

There is a whole new level of mayhem in Vice City. In GTAIII, you had your guns and your fists. In this version of the game, you can go to the hardware store and buy weapons such as screwdrivers, hammers, and machetes. As you progress, you’ll be given weapons such as golf clubs and chainsaws. Good times.

The beauty of a weapon like a hammer or baseball bat is that you can now smash cars up, and watch them fall to bits as you do. You can also use the tools on people to kill them for their money.

Another new addition is the ability to crouch, which helps you hide, and shoot. Perhaps my favorite new addition is the ability to shoot tires to disable a moving car (watch out, the cops will pull this move often, when you’re on the run!), and to be able to jump out of a moving vehicle, which can be quite interesting once you get the hang of how to do it properly. You can also enter buildings, a la State of Emergency ( a game I really wasn’t impressed with so I hate to use the comparison), and cause chaos in a number of new locations, such as a shopping mall, hotel and strip club.

Another nice option is armor. In this game, you gan buy/acquire bullet proof vests. When you're wearing one, a separate, gray colored counter of 100 shows up next to your life counter, and the gray counter needs to hit 0 before your life begins to go down!


Overall

So far the game has been a lot of fun! The graphics are fantastic, the story works, the missions are interesting and diverse, and the mayhem is extreme!
This is the part of my review where I warn those not familiar with the game that this is a game meant for adults. In this game you murder people for fun and money, sleep with prostitutes, and steal cars. There is swearing in the game. You’ve been warned, so think about your kid’s maturity/responsibility level before running out and buying this for him/her. Adam says: Overall anybody that enjoyed GTA should definitely buy this, it has enough that's new to add enjoyment to an already brilliant game engine. It's very story-based this time, the cops are tougher, the weaponry choices are wider, the city is still not all unlocked until you progress further through the game! Enjoy!