The Mayhem is back: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Author's Rating:

Pros: It is GTA bigger, better and badder than ever.

Cons: A few minor niggles persist. Deja Vu may apply to some.

The Bottom Line: 
Indulge in a couple of rounds with your wildest illegal dreams, cos the kingpin of being bad is back: ladies and gentlemen, Vice City.

Author's Review
So, I’m reviewing something other than a music album. Yeah this is versatility from me, enjoy it while lasts ;-) However, my subject in question is a worthy one. I won’t bother with an introduction to the legendary, the infamous, the classic Grand Theft Auto. Every person who is vaguely sane and/or insane with possession of a PS2 has played GTA III, quite simply the best, longest, most consistently violent and enjoyable game on the PS2. It is the best selling PS2 game by a long, long way, outshining heavy hitters like Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo. Some achivement, huh? Devoloped by Rockstar North, a Scottish company based in Dundee, the annoying irony of the whole thing is that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,the follow-up to III, was released in the US before the UK. Damn. Anyway, now I have had it for a week or so, is it really bigger and better than its predecessor? You'd be surprised...


- A Life of Crime -

Set within the recognisable era of the 1980's ('86 to be precise), you hit the streets intent on total domination as foul-mouthed thug Tommy Vercetti, having just been released from a 15 year stint in jail. ‘Business’ hasn’t been too good back home in Liberty City (of course the home of III) and your friendly local Mafia boss has sent you down to Vice City, or Miami, as we know it, to take care of a small job like a multi-million drugs exchange. Unfortunately, your meeting is rather rudely attempted by some vicious fellow thugs who kill everyone, nick the money not to mention the drugs, leaving you to leg it from the crime scene in your lawyer pal’s car. And there we have it: uno problemo hombre. And soon enough, Tommy has his angry boss on his back demanding his money back… or some heads are gonna roll. The action kicks in right about here as Tommy begins working for the local criminal organisations in a bid to first pay off his boss with an eye on the vacant local crime Kingpin spot.


- Gameplay -

The first thing that hits you is “Damn… am I playing the same game?”. Yes, the initial integration into the Vice City world is strangely familiar to any III veterans. Control is handled by exactly the same buttons as previous experienced, the tasks are classic GTA simplicity: Go to Point A, perform action, go to Point B, mission ends and it just feels rather similar to anything before. The same open-ended, non-linear style to the game has wisely remained precisely the same – you can journey around the first island as much as you want picking up missions from differing crime bosses, some of which are plot-related, others are not. Of course this is all intended. The tedious simplicity of the very early missions soon evaporates and a set of complex, thrilling missions evolve that take an age to complete. Fancy yourself for a life of crime? Rest assured any of your wildest dreams are satisfied with Vice City as Tommy Vecetti proceeds to wage a one-man war on Vice City.

Yeeeeeesiiiiireee this is classic Grand Theft Auto mayhem in its finest hour. A bit fed up of the missions that have you dying 700 times in that vein attempt to fine-tune that precise bank robbery before leading the cops on a frantic cross-town chase with a shoot-out concluding things? Well, run free, child, run free. Indulge yourself in messy gunfights with civilians, local gangs, and/or various members of law enforcement officials. As usual, the naughtier you are, the higher the cops’ response to you is. 1 star on your “Wanted Level”, the defining indices that shows quite how much of an evil kinda guy you are, gains you the local patrol car, 2 or 3 stars the cops push up their efforts, 4 or 5 gets you the pleasure of Rendez-vous-ing (is that a word?) with local SWAT and FBI teams, and certain death is then guaranteed if you make it to 6 as Martial Law is ordered and the army come after yo’ criminal a--. The cops have this time stepped up their efforts all round – they will abseil out of helicopters, lay down ‘stingers’, team up with each other (annoying, very annoying), and generally become much more of a nuisance to even the most hardened GTA vet.

There is the usual huge range of mini-missions to undertake – racing remote controlled cars, finding hidden packages and unique jumps etc etc, always for a substantial cash reward. You can even purchase property (clubs, bars etc) – which adds something of a strategic element as you jostle for control of the city’s streets. One fundamental flaw for many people with III was its lack of playable indoor areas, you were mainly restricted to the outdoors. Vice City attempts to solve this by adding several new, large indoor playable areas (malls, police stations, etc). The sheer size of Vice City (this muhfuhaa is 2 ½ times the size of Liberty City) means there are endless possibilities. With thousands of inhabitants interacting with each other, hundreds of side-alleys and secrets to explore, and so much damn area to stretch yourself in it truly seems like you’ve placed within a living, breathing city. Which is a good thing.

Of course, you can’t live out your Mafioso dreams without tools. The tools of mass destruction afforded to you in Vice City are virtually the same as found in previous incarnations. A quick rolecall includes the new recruits: a couple of increased strength shotguns, uzi’s, and best of all, the coolly named melee weapons. Some new complexities are found in the hand-held assassin category. Fulfil those Wu-Tang Clan fantasies with the cool Katana, or maybe try to be Eminem with a hand-held chainsaaw, or replicate some kind of Jungle-exploration fantasies with the Machete. Other more comedic additions include golfclubs, notably. Ok, so the targeting system of the game is a bit too simplistic and clumsy for those Unreal or Soldier of Fortune fans (no accuracy at all), but can you really complain when you stand and watch legions of cops falling beneath you as your chaingun slowly winds down? I thought not.

While transport by foot in GTA is intimate, its faults are blaringly exposed when you step into one of GTA’s huge number of vehicles. Numbering over 150, your arsenal includes huge trucks, quad-bikes, helicopters, motorbikes, aeroplanes, boats… geez I could be here for the next year. Of course, there is the car, which come in many shapes and many sizes – enveloping practically every different type of car you could possibly imagine, and then there’s the wide variety of motorbikes (from Harley’s to scooters to super bikes). DAMN these are fun, with insane two-wheeled motion handling and liabilities. This is arguably the best addition here, maybe tying with the ability to bale out of cars at the last mo with a quick press of triangle…. a quick, relatively painless way to shake off your pursuers and avoid a swim while they foolishly drive off the end of the pier you just feinted to kamikaze off. Nothing handles particularly realistically, which of course makes everything better/faster and allows for repeated manic attempts at that latest “Insane Stunt Bonus” or “Unique Jump” with little punishment.


- Graphics -

Vice City has had a few seemingly minor, yet surprisingly substantial changes to its beauty. Textures have been smoothed out everywhere, the frame-rate has been upped by a few notches and fancy lighting effects have been added in everywhere. Considering the gigantic scale of the city, the graphics are basically phenomenal. Consider the fact that you only have to endure minimal loading screens to access a massive world which has taken a nightmarish amount of complex programming to create, and it is a great accomplishment for Rockstar to have made it as nice as it is. Everything has a cartoony feel to it – the pedestrians have an amazing amount of detail (with variety - from bikinis to dodgy Hawaiilan shirts to biker outfits), the buildings are chunky and solid, and the cars are both of the above. The lighting added is phenomenal – the brightest lens flare effect I’ve seen in a PS2 game yet is the real winner, bright neon illuminating the strip at night, and numerous other minor cosmetic efforts add real atmosphere to the game. With a great revolving 24hr clock (of course scaled down) including night, day, sunset, sunrise etc etc with differing weather conditions (though most of the time its sunny), and hilarious satirical bilboards/adverts Rockstar have succeeded in creating a living, breathing city that makes you feel totally immersed in 1980's Miami.


- Sound -

If you like music, you’ll love Vice City’s soundtrack. Probably the largest collection of licensed and original music has been put forward for this beeyatch, ranging all over the place. Name a popular artist from the 80’s, and they’re on there, Michael Jackson, Run DMC, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Kool and the Gang, Lionel Ritchie and Megadeth are just SOME of the famous names contributing. Of course, this is all presented through the guise of the in-car radio stations, which will give you a wide and never-ending range of things to nod ya head to. Add the trademark satirical talkshows and adverts (one of GTA’s best features) and we have pure gold.

Aside from this, things are handled as professionally as you could expect. An all-star guest list are used for the numerous characters found through the game – Goodfellas star Ray Liotta drops a wonderfully scummy performance as Tommy, with other notables including Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Tom Sizemore and porn star Jenna Jameson all adding authenticity to their characters. Add the huge list of funny comments from angry/happy/sad pedestrians (over 9,000 in total), a whole album’s worth of gunshots, police sirens and various sound-effects... and we have an entirely realistic, atmospheric setting.


- Faults -

Vice City has tried and to a degree, succeeded, in ironing out its predecessors’ faults. The amazingly clunky old targeting system has been overhauled, and replaced with a slightly prettier modified version of the same thing that gives you more chance for headshots etc instead of the plain simple body shots. There remain still a few of these minor, minor details that are not perfect (like losing ALL your money and guns when you die or occasionally clumsy controls) which can occasionally lend an unpolished feel to the game. However, they are not really major faults.


- Overall -

While Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is not a staggeringly different game to its previous incarnation on the PS2, I find I’m already uttering the cliché that has already sprung up about this game. It’s bigger, badder and better. With bigger levels, more cars, more weapons, more missions, more ca… oh you get the message. ‘Tis simple: if GTA III has burnt you out, wait a couple of months to get this, but get it. Because no-matter how similar it is, it is still Grand Theft Auto. If you have ever liked it, you will love it even more, with more ways to act like your mother wouldn’t approve. As a result it is still the PS2’s best game, and a must-buy.

Oh yeah, I forget the moral bit. As we all know, GTA isn't a kiddies game, there is a lot of gore and violence (not to mention bad language etc), so this should be kept the hell away from 'lil Eric. However, if your kid knows about GTA then he is probably sufficiently mentally stable to play it, so it is fine. Does that suffice?


- Breakdown -

Graphics – 9/10
Gameplay – 9.5/10
Sound – 10/10
Replay value – 9/10
Lifespan – 9.5/10

Overall - 9/10