Customer Reviews:
 A dream come true for Vice City fans April 9, 2007
Paul Dodd
24 out of 24 found this review helpful
Have you ever read seen a film that was so good you wished you'd never seen it so you could have the pleasure of seeing it again for the first time? Well for anyone who loved Vice City and was then disappointed with the setting and style of San Andreas then this is heaven because it gives you the chance to replay vice city all over again but in a completely different way. Think of it as the original GTA: Vice City but with all new characters, new scripts and songs on the radio, new vehicles, new missions and lots of new game play styles.
The game map is similar to the original VC but with a few additions such as a fairground by ocean beach and a few carefully placed ramps for those high speed stunts. The most impressive aspect of the game for me is the sheer depth of game play because you're now able to not just buy property but to develop it into businesses of different styles such as protection rackets, arms dealers etc and also decide on the size and scale of the business. Gone are the annoying trips around the map to collect your money as you're now paid each day at 4pm by the wonder of direct debit (this is 1984 remember!)
The music is brilliant with some new stations and old ones like flash returning with colossal hits from the 80s such as Laura Brannigans "Gloria" and Blondies "Heart of Glass". Some of the new radio ads are so funny you'll have to pause the game until you stop laughing at them. Another great musical feature is Phil Collins! Yes that's right, he must be a big fan of the game because he's in here as a character complete with a voiceover and is even involved in the missions. Him and his manager "Barry the Brummy" add a touch of realism to the game by bringing in real stars to Vice City, I hope this is a trend that continues in future games.
As for missions, they're much more involved than ever before. There must be about 100+ story missions ranging from playing golf to filming stunt scenes in movies. There're literally dozens of hidden missions including a new PCJ route, a golf cart race, buggy racing, street racing, helicopter races etc.
So with all this there must be a downside, right? Admittedly the graphics aren't quite as sharp as the original VC because this was converted over from the PSP and while it's a little disappointing they didn't take time to fix this for the PS2 you can hardly complain for a game costing less than 15. That's the only slight drawback there is and it's such a tiny point you'd hardly notice. I suggest anyone with a PS2, it also runs fine on a PS3, grabs this and it will more than keep you going until October when GTA 4 is released. As the guy in the Ammu-nation says "Buy it, hold it, love it".
 Its GTA March 4, 2007
michael myers
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories is an enjoyable video game. If you don't have a Sony PSP and you are a fan of the Grand Theft Auto Series, you may want to pick up a PSP to play this game. Vice City Stories is an extension of the 2002 hit game Grand Theft Auto Vice City. The game takes place two years before the original Vice City with different lead characters. This time around you will be playing as Victor Vance. Vance is a military man, frustrated with his career looking to make a little extra cash. Surprisingly it's his supervisor Martinez who hooks him into making a little cash on the side via crime.
If you played and enjoyed Grand Theft Auto Vice City, you should like this game. Afterall, there is no place like home. The map is not identical to the first game but it's very similar. Some of the businesses you remember from the PS2 game have not yet been built but there are a lot of new businesses and the roads are slightly different in some area. There is also much more time spent on the military base near the airport, as your first save house is Vic's barracks on the base. For this game you start out on what is known as the second island. When driving along you hear the familiar message about bridges closed. Road blocks block access to the other island, but you can access Starfish Island from the beginning of the game.
The first few missions are simple enough. The main character Vic can swim for a short amount of time and the first mission has him swimming to shore and then delivering a package. The next mission you will be paying a visit to Phil Cassidy (a character from Grand Theft Auto Vice City), and helping him with some problem some people.
Rockstar Games did not push the Grand Theft Auto series further with Vice City Stories, so don't look for a lot of new features that didn't appear in San Andreas, the most recent game in the series. GTA Vice City Stories is basically a new adventure in a familiar setting.
The game looks gorgeous and quite cinematic on the PSP system. The soundtrack is awesome with all of the previous stations returning and a few new ones. The vehicle handling is awesome. I had a few issues with targeting as far as shooting but I got better with that. Playing the game you rely on the left analog pad a lot. On the PSP the pad is not raised off of the system. This caused my thumb to get sore a lot quicker than it ever did than when I played a game on the PS2.
Overall, GTA Vice City Stories is everything you loved about GTA Vice City in a portable system with a great soundtrack and a new storyline. I had absolutely no complaints with the game. I love the free roaming that GTA Vice City Stories provided in no time I was wandering around finding hidden body armor. I will say that the game is much better than Liberty City Stories, a lot of improvements have been made. This game will provide you with hours of fun.
Fun, but... June 2, 2007
Me123 (Glasgow)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Again, Rockstar have decided to release a PSP game onto the PS2. Their previous attempt at this; "GTA Liberty City Stories", was, in my opinion, not great. Was this any better?
It most definately was! The storyline is much more engaging than previously; this time you start as a corporal in the army. You're on the other side of the island to begin with (yes, the bridges are all closed yet again! Another hurricane is on it's way...) and it's two years before the action of Vice City (the original game) takes place.
The creators have decided to make the difference in time a feature of the game yet again. The car showroom is under construction, for example. They have also improved some of the geography, for example by inserting a road leading from the car showroom to the airport.
However, the game can be quite shocking. One of the early storylines is centred around domestic abuse (a brave choice) and some of the content on talk radio shows are even more horrific than before. Of course, the game is rated 18 so the content is expected.
The big problem I have with this game is the "missions". They are very uninspired, and merely repeats of missions in San Andreas. Probably the first example of this is the mission "Boomshine". The whole series does now feel very tired, but that could be because the Rockstar team chose to reuse this location; perhaps GTA4 will be another "new dawn" for the series?
So, the game is rather tired, however some new ideas come to the fore, such as the taxi driver missions. Here, they have introduced "follow that car!" type games and multiple journeys with a single passenger.
The exhaustion does not stop this game from being fun, however, and it is as addicting as ever. It's a shame that it wasn't more imaginative, but this game will still provide hours of entertainment.
An extension of Vice City March 30, 2007
APJ (Bristol, England)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I thought the in GTA: Vice City Stories was boring. It is essentially about Victor and Lance Vance setting up a drugs business. This means that many of the missions involve collecting drug shipments or stopping rival dealers. This is despite Vic insisting he hates being involved in drugs and violence!
Some of the GTA: San Andreas gameplay is used. Vic can swim for a limited time and recruit gang members. You can also grab victims and perform several moves for an easy kill. You cannot crouch this time, but I never found that useful anyway.
The weapons are basically the same as in GTA: Vice City, with the addition of binoculars and lack of flamethrowers. The vehicles are the same too, with the odd jet ski or BMX bike lying around. I was disappointed that you can only fly helicopters, seaplanes and bi-planes and not the larger planes of San Andreas.
As well as the cab service featured in VC and GTA: Liberty City Stories, you can pay a cash bribe to get your weapons back when you have been killed or arrested. San Andreas' 'Trip Skip' feature is also back and allows you to skip driving sections when retrying a mission.
Property development is worse than in VC. Obtaining a property is fun, where you wipe out gang members and smash things up. The development of it is boring. You choose from a couple of businesses and do a series of extremely repetitive missions in return for daily cash earnings. The good thing is that you get the money straight away and will soon not have to worry about saving up for ammunition. Often gangs will attack your businesses, much like the territory wars in San Andreas.
With the exception of the North Point Mall and Ammunation stores, you cannot enter any of the buildings that you could in VC. You can go inside small stores, which can be robbed, and your business premises, but these interiors lack variety in their design.
There is no Pizza Boy side mission but new ones include working as a coastguard and flying an air ambulance. It is helpful that once you get to a certain level, you will continue from that place in later attempts at the mission. Overall I didn't find them too challenging though.
If you are deciding which of the two PSP ports to buy, it depends whether you like playing missions or the free-roaming. LCS has poor grapics,yet better missions and VCS has the better side-activities. Both games on the PS2 are without the multiplayer games from the PSP originals.
Great, but not without flaws March 15, 2007
Mr. A. Mcgregor (Devon, UK)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Vice City Stories on the PS2 is an interesting take on the original Vice City. Everything is here; the free game play, mini-missions, boats helicopters, and this time the character can swim too. There are some problems though. The graphics don't seem as clear as before (presumably this is because the game has been adapted from the PSP version). The other very annoying thing is the aiming, which seems very clumsy and makes life harder than maybe it should.
Overall though, this is worth buying, especially seen as GTA 4 isn't out until October.
|
