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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,
quite possibly the most long-awaited game all year, and the sequel to
Grand Theft Auto 3,
a game which I played right until the end, even if I did spread it out over
several months.
It's 1986, and without being able to say "Miami Vice", they've recreated the
look with Ferraris, expensive one-colour suits or Gordon Gecko-a-likes and the music - YES, the music.
I was a child of the 80s and, at the age of 14, 1986 was a time spent playing
ZX Spectrum games like Quazatron and listening to Level 42 and
Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxygene album. Aah, those were the days, and
not a Mary Hopkins number in sight.
About the 80s music featured here, choice cuts include INXS - Kiss the Dirt,
Mr Mister - Broken Wings, Laura Brannigan - Self Control, Michael Jackson - Billie
Jean, The Outfield - Your Love... the list seems almost endless, given that a
7-CD boxset is available with all the tunes from the game on them for
£29.99.
You play Tommy Vercetti, sent to Vice City, by your old boss Sonny Forelli,
without a cent to your name. The idea is the same - complete a variety of
missions, whilst stopping to steal cop cars and play vigilante, steal a taxi
for a spot of Crazy Taxiing, or just killing people for a laugh and nicking
their money. You know the drill.
Again, their are problems with the graphics. They are slightly better than last
time, but since then we've seen what the Xbox can do and they don't compare as
well, If only the GTA series wasn't console-exclusive to the PS2 then we could
see what was really achievable. There is a nice effect when splashes and
rain 'drip down the screen', although when you knock over a fire hydrant, you
know the effect could be a lot better.
There's also the usual camera glitches, and after only a couple of hours of
gameplay I found one of those times where you're trapped and can't get out.
I dropped the girl off at the club, then went back to the lawyer for a second
time, crashed into the door from my bike, got stuck in the wall, and then I'd
fallen 'inside' the building. It's a big empty warehouse with a big black block
where the door I came through was, which must be the only bit you can
technically walk around from the other side.
This time round, the sound goes up a notch offering DTS 4.1 sound. It really
enhances the mood, although why must it ask you every time you want to load in
a saved game in this format? I've already told it I have DTS!
A few asides, on the plus side you can buy houses here, and you can now also
jump out of car while it's still on the road, instead of running out of road
and drowning when it goes too far too fast, as well as controlling motorbikes
and light aircraft.
However, a few niggles - I still wish you could save replays of your classic
action stunts, there's a longer wait between going in and out of FMV sequences
and they shouldn't have blocked off the new cities with impenetrable barries.
It was fun before to drive off the edge of a bridge into the water. Also, one
time I pressed the triangle to make him get in a car. he ran away in the
opposite direction and hid in a bush!
I've only been playing this for a couple of days, so I know there's more video
glitches to come, yet far more wonderous sights to see, and I know that the
missions will be as varied as before. In short, if you enjoyed
Grand Theft Auto 3,
get this one too.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
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Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.