Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A dream come true for Vice City fans, 9 April 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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".
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, but..., 1 Jun 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Great GTA Game!, 4 Sep 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I was over the moon when I first heard that Rockstar were going to be making 'Vice City Stories' for the PSP because Vice City was, in my view, one of the best locations/islands in the GTA series. I loved San Andreas as well, but Vice City was more colourful and I've got so many fond memories playing the original 'Vice City' on the PS2.
Vice City Stories is a sort of prequel to the original Vice City game with the events in this new game taking place 2 years before the original which was set in 1986. Vice City Stories is set in 1984.
But as for the game itself, wow where do I start. Ok, no GTA could ever scale the massive map we saw in San Andreas on the PS2, but bearing in mind Vice City Stories is a PSP game, it is among one of the biggest games ever to hit the handheld console. You could complain that this port to the PS2 could have had featured more missions or perhaps an extra island, but that would only ruin the game so I'm glad Rockstar didn't do that. Overall though the port to the PS2 is very good and the graphics and the gameplay haven't changed a bit from the PSP version, not that I've noticed anyway.
But as for the game, there have been a number of improvements from the previous GTA games. Among the changes are the ability to now grab and physically attack people using hand to hand combat, swim in the water (although only for a limited time) and take over enemy territory, something which was explored in GTA San Andreas.
The missions in Vice City Stories are somewhat bigger than the missions in the last PSP game 'Liberty City Stories' and some of the missions are as big as those in the GTA games on the PS2. Some of the missions are tough, like in any GTA game I suppose and the odd few are very annoying but GTA wouldn't be GTA without them kind of missions.
All in all, Vice City Stories is the best PSP GTA game to date and among one of the best GTA games to hit the PS2 as well.
All we need now to complete the 'Stories' series is for Rockstar to respond with a 'San Andreas Stories'.
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