Grand Theft Auto: Vice City StoriesYet again RockStar impresses many and pull another gem from their bag of gems with this PSP game.
You play Victor Vance. A soldier who gets kicked out of the army and put on the streets. In an attempt to make money to pay for his sick brothers hospital bills he starts getting involved with the wrong crowd and doing things he would otherwise never even think about doing.
GRAPHICS [3.9] The first thing anyone notices about a game are the graphics. If you've ever played a GTA game you'd know what to expect. Due the sheer size of the game and the small size of the UMD the graphics suffer somewhat. Popups are frequent in VCS, even more then ever before. Expect to crash into an invisible wall or tree and then watch as it suddenly appears. This kind of thing happens quite often especially when driving a fast vehicle. It's not a major fault as you tend to get used to it and be cautious when driving fast however it is something that can get annoying when on a high speed chase during a mission. The Cut-Scenes are nothing special either, but hey..it's GTA so who cares right?
GAMEPLAY [4.9] This is where VCS exceeds. As with all GTA games the gameplay is tremendous. Controls have been cleverly designed for the PSP. All functions from it's PS2 predecessors have been included here. For example while driving the R button is handbrake and the L button is used to change view. Hold it then push the nub to the left/right or down to look in those direction. Press O at the same time to do a drive-by. Changing stations is now the right and left directional buttons and on foot they are used to change weapon. It would have been nice to able to change weapons while on the run, it is possible and I've done it many times but it's awkward as your thumb is pushing the nub forward while you try to press the directional button with your index finger. Not easy to do. Looking behind you while on foot is simply a case of pressing both shoulder buttons at the same time.
REPLAY VALUE [5.0] The average gamer might only get 20 hours of playing by completing the missions however if (like me) you like to get as much play out of the game as possible then you should try for 100%. This will add more then 30 hours gameplay and leave you satisfied. There's also a Multiplayer feature where 2 PSPs can connect and play side by side in Vice City. I have yet to try it but it definitely adds to the replay value of the game.
SOUND & MUSIC[4.5] It's the 80s so the brilliant songs on the radio stations make a welcome return. They include DMC, Phil Collins & Blondie. R* seem to have thrown caution to the wind this time on the Radio Stations and decided to include some really vulgar commercials, language and skits. The F-Word is used an awful lot especially on Fresh FM. If you're sensitive to foul language I suggest tuning to Emotion every time you get in a car. Alhough even Emotion is no longer a save haven. As I already mentioned the Commercials can be a tad extreme to the sensitive ear. For example there's a commercial encouraging a little boy to smoke, another tells a little girl to look down the barrel of a gun and pull the trigger and then there's Little Lacy Surprise, a commercial advertising sexy lingerie for little girls. Not forgetting my personal favorite..a commercial for Chewing Gum, but I won't tell you what that's about. I'll let you hear it for yourself. VCPR has gotten worse too. I don't mean in terms of bad language I just mean the content in general. The Time Traveller Skit is funny the first time but it goes on way too long and therefor it seems to be playing everytime you tune to VCPR.
The reason why this section gets a lower score then what I would have liked to give is not due to the Radio Content. In fact I welcome the F-Word and vulgar and risky commercials. I wish there was more. It's because of the terrible glitch R* testers must've overlooked in their report. When driving at speed the radio freezes momentarily. It stops for about a second or 2 then carries on. At first I thought it was just a bad copy that I got or perhaps some scratches on the disc. However after browsing the forum I've come to realise that it occurs on every VCS game out there. It's not a scratch. It's a bug/glitch. That is simply unacceptable and therefor the score was effected. Otherwise I would've given it the maximum 5.
MISSIONS [4.0] The early missions are nothing special however as you progress you'll start to see completely original and fun missions. They might not be extremely long or difficult but they will be fun.
Then of course there are the Side Missions and Extra stuff that you can do. VCS is packed with other missions that are not part of the main story. The Turismo races make a welcome return as do the PCJ races. It's just way to much to mention here but they will test you and keep you busy for a long time.
NEW STUFF [5.0] We all like new things and VCS doesn't disappoint. We finally get to fly on the PSP. Yep, R* have included a ton of helicopters and planes for us to use. Some also come with there own set of extra missions such as the Paramedic Helcopter or the Hunter. Another commonly talked about new addition is the JetSki. Think of it as the PCJ for the water. It's fast, easy to control and makes the ocean a less boring place to be. Speaking of the ocean we now have the ability to swim unlike in LCS. No more getting wasted after accidentally falling into the water. You can now just swim back to shore. In the beginning swimming is limited to a certain amount of time but if you complete Beach Patrol you can swim forever.
Perhaps less of a big deal to some but I sure love it is the New Map Feature. If you hold X on the Map Screen you can now toggle the collectables on and off. It will show you exactly which collectables you've done so far (thankfully it doesn't show which you haven't done, that's for you to find on your own). This means that if you're not sure whether or not you got a certain collectable you can look on the map screen. It saves time and is a very welcome addition.
Another welcome and usefull new feature is the ability to buy your weapons back after getting Wasted or Busted. This means no more loading the game after getting killed because you've lost that all important Rocket Launcher. For just $2000 you can buy your inventory back. Cool.
The last new thing that springs to mind are the Businesses. Those who have played SA might be familiar to the concept. In SA it was Turf well in VCS it's Businesses. There are 3 gangs who own many businesses throughout VC. You can wipe them out by attacking their business and claim it for yourself. Then you can start up your own business. Businesses include Prostitution, Loan Shark, Drugs, Robbery and a few more but I won't tell you them all. When you've started a business you can do missions for that type of business. Once you've completed them all your ranking in that business gets maxed out. This means that you'll earn more money on a daily bases. It's a great addition and a wonderfull way to kill a few hours.
OVERALL [4.2] VCS is excellent. It might not be an par with it's Big Brother Vice City on the PS2 but it's great fun nonetheless. Yes, it does suffer a bit from the odd glitch here and there but what game doesn't? Personally I was amazed at all the stuff they managed to cram onto the UMD. If you have a PSP you should have VCS. It's as simple as that. Giving this game a 5.0 would be unfair. The maximum score goes to a Perfect game and VCS is far form perfect. My overall score is not an average of each sections score as there are other factors that contribute to the score then those mentioned in this review.
i could not of said it better myself. i hate typing and im a really slow typer. if that waz not the case then i would of put that same thing down word - to - word. if i did not of already bought the game. that would be all i need 4 conviceing to buy the game neoPM me
i could mot of said it better myself. im a really slow typer and i hate it, but if that waz not the case then i wouldm of put that down word - to - word. if i had not of already bought the game then, just with that i would buy it. p.s i would rate it 4.9
i couldn't agree more with the graphics. the driving really fast part as affected my gameplay a little and us really. but considering the size of the UMD and all of GTA on it, its kinda amazing how they put so much in one tiny CD. bravo rockstar, bravo.
neoPM me