Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
by Rockstar Games
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Video Game Reviews of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Customer Review: A positively fun time
Summary: 5 Stars
Not too bad for a Scarface parody either....
Anywho, I'll start off this review like I started off the one for GTA3. GTA Vice is extremely violent. It is rated M for Mature. MATURE! That means that you should not let your 13 year-old kid play this.
The next section is food for thought in terms of parents and game selection. If you aren't getting this for a kid under 17, just don't worry about this.
I've been giving this a lot of thought, and it seems as though parents are letting their ignorance allow their kids to be exposed to these things. First off, it is Rockstar Games' right to free speech to enable Tommy Vercetti (the main character) to blow the bejesus out of anyone and everything with a rocket launcher. It is also an organization's right to free speech to say whatever hateful, bigoted dialogue that they want to, wherever they want to. Now, cultured and decent parents make an effort to keep their kids from hearing these hateful messages, so why don't parents make an effort to keep their kids from hearing Rockstar Games' message of sex, violence, and destruction? Because it comes in the formatat of a videogame? Technonolgy for the young? I think that philosophy is a load of garbage. Parents, honestly. If you really care to protect your kids from violent messages, you will go the distance to research the games that they are talking about. GRAND THEFT AUTO. Listen to the title. The title of the game is a crime. Doesn't that spark your interest?
Ok, the review. This game, like its predicessor GTA3, was very violent, but at the same time it still executed a decent storyline and had plenty of variation with weapons and wheels. You can get motorcycles in this game which is really cool, and the unique vehicles selection is much greater and much more accessable. Boats are very easy to get along with choppers.
I have to protest the story since it does parody Scarface. But Scarface was a tragedy, unlike this story that had a very happy ending. Yet, at the same time I must give it some brownie points, since unlike with GTA3, there is some sense of accmoplishment that comes with the end of the story. Vice City is yours. This was a very very bipolar game.
Graphically i was very unimpressed. It looked a lot better than GTA3, but this is the PS2 we're talking about here. Vice City is a second generation game and should have had much better graphics. The setting was certainly nice and bright, however a little graphical effort would have greatly enhanced the spirit of the game.
Tommy Vercetti wasn't nearly as cool as Alex.
But why am I comparing the two games so much? Vice City was unique in its own right. It got 5 stars for a reason. It was a really good game. The targeting system was flawed, however there were some great improvements. The driving is SOOOOOOOO SMOOOOOOOOTH. Like butter. It's almost scandalous. And the environments are so much less claustrophobic than the previous games. It makes sense though since Vice City is a joyous beach scene. I'm comparing again...
Anyway, the revamped gameplay that is Grand Theft Auto was very well represented in this great rendition. This game does desrve 5 stars for the simple reason that it is fun. The free-roaming nature of the game that is GTA is certainly in no way played out. Ok, last comparison. If GTA3 was Freaky Good, then Vice City qualifies as a slightly less Super Good. Both ratings get 5 stars. Vice City was very good, and if you liked GTA3, you will probably like this game too. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who will say they like Vice City more than GTA3, but this is just a matter of preference. The differences were suttle, but the game is still very great.
Keep in mind, this game is violent. But it's a good time. Kids shouldn't play it, but if you are of age, it will be well worth the many hours of game play.
5 Stars
Happy gaming!
Customer Review: Smash and grab, baby
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm having a ball playing this game. I've kind of been away from computer games for a few years--just too busy to play. Recently, I bought Halo, and then bought a few more games. GTA: Vice City is one of the new bunch. And I'm very glad I got it.
It's not perfect, no. A couple of missions, like the infamous Demolition Man, are teeth-grindingly bad--there should be a way to just accept failure on non-crucial missions, not get any reward for it, and just move on to the next mission, but I found that if I avoided completing Demolition Man long enough, eventually I ran up against a brick wall and couldn't progress, so I had to go back and do it. Since I'm playing an a notebook PC with no keypad and no joystick, I actually had to go out and buy a cheap gamepad just to complete that one mission! Pretty annoying.
But other than that, I love the game. It's a great way to get rid of a long day's frustration. And I love loading up my favorite 80s tunes into the "MP3" station so that they'll play while I drive around town, with just a little hiss of static like a real car radio. So in spite of some less-than-perfect moments, I still give it 5 stars.
By the way, this game will run fine on a 1.4G, 256MB Centrino notebook (which has a 64MB "virtual video card" that steals memory from the main RAM)--a bit slow loading, and the graphics are probably not at their best, but it runs with no real problems.
Customer Review: I Really Do Love It!
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first saw the Grand Theft Auto series advertised on TV, I thought it was ridiculous. I never really liked violence and this was everthing I was against. Well...I was wrong. My brother was playing this on his PS2 and he let me play with it to give it a try. I'm glad he did. :) I have discovered another favorite game to play. Where I do understand that this game is NOT for the younger crowd, I still reccomend getting it for the older crowd.
I don't have a PS2 and I don't know if I'll ever get one. I'm getting a Gaming PC in a few months and I can't wait to start my collection of Grand Theft Autos! :)
Customer Review: Awesome Game! But it has some flaws. (Four and a half stars)
Summary: 4 Stars
This is by FAR my favorite game that I have EVER played. Next to like Halo 2 but anyway. This game is even more awesome if you have plenty of cheats. You can get a ton of different weapons from brass knuckles of RPGs and miniguns(my two favorite guns). I'm only 12 but this is still a great game. You can buy a lot of different properties which I reccomend because then you have more places where you can save which is good if, like me, you are trying to sneak in as much time as you can. BUT, WHY CAN'T TOMMY SWIM?!?!?!?!That's what pisses me off about this game! All of this water and I cant swim in any of it unless I'm walking and it is less than 2 feet deep!! And all these stupid checkpoint missions. Like "Checkpiont Charlie" at the Boatyard. If you miss one of the jumps by the docks its completely over! There is no way to save your self. And I wish that you could save while in a mission. Like right before you go to kill Lance the trader and Sonny. Truly it's a great game even though it is a little lengthy and has some bad missions.Customer Review: Vice City Still Rocks and Tommy Vercetti Still Cool in 2005!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a mature game, definitely not for kids.
You are Tommy Vercetti, fiercely, good-looking guy, just released from Liberty City prison after 15 years. You were in the slammer because instead of making a deal with the D.A. for a lighter sentence, you chose not to squeal on your mob bosses. In return, the mob (located up north in Liberty City) "gifted" you with a suitcase full of cash so you can start a business of your own down south, in Vice City. Truth was, the mob's wary of you and wanted you as far away from them as possible. They planned to bump you off once you succeeded in Vice City and take over your business.
So much for mob loyalty.
You get a suitcase chuck-full of cash from Sonny Forelli, your boss with instructions to make a drug deal in some Vice City dockyard. And so you go down south a small-time bad guy, with no money of your own, no guns, and no goons.
You went to the docks to complete the deal, but as you know in Murphy's Law, if something can screw up, somebody will screw it up! And screw up it did! In the docks, all hell broke loose as the SWAT ambushed and killed some of the dealers and you barely escaped with your life. But the bigger problem was that you lost the drugs and money, Sonny Forelli's money! Sonny was naturally livid with anger and after threatening you, he promised to give you a break for old time's sake (he won't kill you yet) provided you get his money back. There's a corpse hanging by a meat hook in his room as he told you this over the phone.
This is where the introductory video cut-scenes stops and where the fun really starts! You get to control Tommy now as you make money by doing various missons described elsewhere in other reviews. At first you thought you were just getting money to pay Sonny at the same time making a name for yourself as a psychotic killer and drug dealer. Then you wised up. In the final showdown with Sonny Forelli you will learn his true intentions. But don;t be in a hurry to finish the main storyline. There's lots to do besides and these other side missions will kind of lose their thrill if you already reached the end of the main story. (Yep, the game will not end with the final showdown. The game would still be open!)
CONS:
1. At times the PC version isn't so helpful in giving you tips to control vehicles. One notorious example was the "Demolition Man" mission where you get to fly a remote controlled chopper. It took me a long time to finish it because the game hints never said that you can move the chooper using keys 9 and 6! Like the other reviewer, I only learned about it in the Net.
2. Likewise, the mission "Dildo Dodo" involved flying a sea plane which at first I couldn't take off because the game hints didn't say I could control the pitch with keys 9 and 6!
3. Too short, hehehe. This game is so exciting that I found the main stryline missions too short. They should add more!
PROS:
1. Freedom. It's amazing how the developers of this game provided the player with enormous freedom to do as he pleases. Go on the storyline mission and advance into the game's main plot. Forget storyline mission and go on a rampage instead. Forget rampage and go on street races (six of them); forget street races go on vehicle stunts. Be a good boy and do vigilante and ambulance missions. Or see how fast you can take passengers in taxi missions. And so on and so forth...!
2. You get to race vehicles, fly a sea plane and six choppers including the Hunter, Vice City's equivalent of the Apache attack helicopter!
3. Motorcycle and 4-wheel car stunts.
4. Absolutely hilarious spoofs in the radio!
5. The violence you will be doing in this game is just so ridiculous, it's so entertaining!
6. The game runs on older, very modest PC systems specs without any problem. Not once did the game hang my P3, 900Mhz pc with 128MB video and 512MB SDRAM.
7. Cinematic view! Press V several times and watch your chopper fly from various camera angles! So cool!
8. Your main character Tommy Vercetti is perhaps the coolest bad guy around. From the dialogues in the cut scenes you'll learn he's a smart leader, kind to his friends and brutal to his enemies. He is never rattled by his enemies, nor scared by Sonny's constant threats. He thinks and keeps his word. He dotes on the women, like when he offered Mercedes a role in an adult film which the latter accepted as long as its cheap and sleazy, heheh.
This game's a keeper. Two, three years later, I know I will still enjoy this game!