Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

"Not as fun as the original"

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is the port of the PSP game. While better than, Liberty City Stories, VCS is plagued with glitches and a feeling of "been there, done that."

Graphics: 7/10

The original Vice City was stunning to look at with the neon soaked buildings and overall look. Vice City Stories, on the other hand, has been taken several notches down and just doesn't look as good. It's not as shiny, and just looks pale.

Gameplay: 7/10

Typically, GTA games have so much to do that it would normally elicit a full 10/10 from just about anyone. While VCS has that overwhelming ability to do just about any side mission you could ever want, several things bring the score down.

First, remember those highway races you could partake in in the past GTA games, and how fun they were? Well, they return but instead of being fun and smooth, the game can slow down so badly that you can easily crash when it comes back to the normal framerate. This even happens when not much is happening and you're just running down the road on foot! The game has even frozen up on me, but that's a rare occurance.

Second, is the hidden packages. This time they're 99 balloons and they're usually floating around in the air. Looking up in the air just to pop some balloons just isn't as fun as finding gang tags or kilos of coke from the past games.

Third, the empire missions. You get to take over gang businesses and claim them as your own. However, once you do you will automatically be attacked on sight by that rival gang. Remember how in GTA3 after Salvatore Leon backstabs you and his bodyguards shot at you on sight how much of a pain that was? Well it's the same thing here, only worse because there are tons of businesses scattered throughout the city.

There are new side missions as well as some old returning ones with new looks. Things like vigilante and fire truck missions have been expanded from 12 levels to 15 but instead of doing it all in one shot their are checkpoints every 5 levels, which is a great addition. Even better, they included helicopter fire and rescue missions which are even more fun than the basic ambulance and fire trucks. There is even a new Vice Sights mission that has you taking tourists around the city in a helicopter which has you trying to keep their fun level up as you go to each destination.

Story: 6/10

The story takes place in 1984, 2 years before the events of Vice City. You play as Vic Vance, the brother of Lance Vance from the original. Vic is in the Army but gets betrayed by his superior officer and is promptly kicked out. Vic then spends his time doing business with crooked characters a good guy like Vic would never associate himself with. Rockstar is famous for making really interesting characters you would take missions from but here, most of them are just plain annoying or unlikeable. Some of these people include a hick who beats his wife and a gay movie producer who is so over the top ridiculous I had to skip mission cutscenes just so I wouldn't have to hear him.

Rent or Buy

Typically I spend about 50-100 hours on the GTA games but with the glitches and "been there" vibe, at 20 hours I'm just about done with this one. At $20 I would recommend buying it. Any more than that and it wouldn't be worthwhile.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/07