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| Reviewer | Platform | Publisher | Developer | Players | Screenshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darryl Neale | PlayStation 2 | Rockstar | Rockstar North | 1 | Here |
| Requirements | Buy from Amazon.co.uk | ||||
| At the time of writing, we did not have a requirements section. | Click here to buy Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. | ||||
Well, the long-awaited review is here! This is one of the reviews that got kind of delayed, but here it is, hopefully with all the information on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City you will ever need!
I will start by answering a question I asked myself before buying the game; how does it compare to Grand Theft Auto III? The answer is Very Well! Vice City clearly has a lot more in terms of game features that were not present in the previous game, including several new vehicles, including golf buggies, bikes, and helicopters, as well as new weapons like the katana and the more moves to fight with when weapons aren't available to you.
The game at first seems very buggy, and I still find myself running into the odd problem during play, but you do get used to them and after all, any game this size has to have some bugs! The "errors" in the game can be helpful though like when you can't seem to fall off a motorbike!
Well, that's enough of the general ramblings; let me get on with some of the key features in the game.
The game is, rather unsurprisingly, set in, erm, Vice City! Where you rather casually steal cars and kill people in order to gain money and complete the all-important missions.
The Missions? The Missions! You (Tommy Vicetti) start out working from a small apartment, doing your first few jobs for your lawyer. Once these have been completed you then find yourself with lots of blips on your map offering you things to do, from anonymous telephone calls to meeting gang leaders in Little Haiti. After a few nights of hit and runs and killing off rival gangs, you find that you're working for yourself, and you take over Diaz's nice little operation along with inheriting his mansion. Two more missions and you start getting revenue from the mansion which comes in handy for buying property which you are now allowed to do. I found that there were few missions for such a big game, where you can only obtain "30% Complete" when you finish all the missions.
The property around the map is un-buyable; so to speak, until you have completed your missions from your new mansion, which you get after you kill Diaz. Then you can buy the strip club or even "Cherry Poppers"; the ice cream firm, both of which increase your revenue.
The sole object of the game is to completely run the city, but don't buy everything you see at the start of the game, because as more things become available you'll find that you're short of cash! (I know I did!) And a few nights driving round exploring never go a miss, as there are lots of goodies around the map as well as 100 hidden packages to find.
Once you've finished the missions though, the game doesn't stop as you can do a whole range of things including, vigilante, paramedic, taxi driver, and fire brigade missions. You can practically drop somebody off in a fire, put them out, take them to the hospital for treatment, and then kill them in a police car! (Although I haven't tried it).
There are many cars in the game, as well as different types of motorbikes, vans, lorries, helicopters and other crazy things, but you have to be careful about what you steal. Some cars are very slow at reversing, and some have terrible acceleration, which gives the cops a chance to drag you out of the car. Motorbikes are bad for getaways as you can be shot off them, and helicopters blow up easily and are hard to get out of, as they need to land first.
| Graphics | Great detail and character models, but lack an overall shine | 9/10 |
|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | Highly enjoyable, and easy to navigate, although there are a few annoying bugs | 9/10 |
| Value | At the time of writing, we did not have a value for money ranking. | 0/10 |
| Lifespan | Endless fun! | 10/10 |
| Audio | The licensed genuine 80s tracks are music to my ears! | 9/10 |
| Overall | Not a massive leap over GTA3, but still an excellent game in its own right. Fab! | 9/10 |
Click here to buy Grand Theft Auto: Vice City from Amazon.co.uk.
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