Grand Theft Auto Double Pack

"I ran so far away....."

Several ways to have a new system succeed is to make a game that will make people buy that system. Mario World did with the SNES, Sonic with the Genesis, Mario on the NES, and Mario 64 on the N64. To make their new Playstation 2 succeed, Sony needed that blockbuster game. It came in 2001, and Grand Theft Auto 3 blew away gamers everywhere. One year later in 2002, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released and sold even better than the third installment. Now Sony had decided to bundle both of those games together in the Grand Theft Auto Double Pack.

The gameplay in a Grand Theft Auto Game (GTA) is pretty simple. You go around and complete specific missions in order to advance the game along. There are also numerous side missions to do as well such as taxi cab missions, rampages, and collecting hidden packages. Of course you can simply just walk around and beat up people in the game just for fun. Basically you can do anything, and can spend hours doing nothing, but it will still be a blast. Of course the basic idea is to steal cars, hence the title. These games are geared toward the older gamer, so they are both pretty hard.

The stories are different, but are both mob related. In GTA3, your character has no name, and doesn't talk either. He has just escaped from prison during a transport. He begins to do lowly jobs for the mafia, but in the end he double crosses everyone. The setting is in Liberty City, and version of New York. In GTA Vice City, Tommy Vercetti has just been released from prison, and his former boss sends him to Vice City for a fresh start. Vice City is basically a version of Miami in the mid 1980's. However a drug deal goes bad and now Tommy must find a way to pay Sonny, his boss, back his money.

The graphics are pretty nice. GTA3 has simple dark backgrounds, but it works depicting a run down city controlled by the mob. In Vice City, there is much more detail in each environment. Everything is much brighter and more colorful. Also a nice coat of neon also seems to be applied as well. The music comes in the form of your radio in your car. GTA3 has decent music, but Vice City blows it away. I mean seriously, Vice City had several albums made and released. All of the music in Vice City is from the 80's. From Laura Branigan's "Self Control", to A Flock of Seagulls "I Ran So Far Away", the music is exceptional. Clearly the 80's had awesome music. Sometimes I found myself just sitting in my car just to hear a certain song on the radio. Even better there is so much variety. To rock, to love songs, to pop music, it's all there.

How about replay value? Of course its there. With a game that you can do anything, and with each game packed with over 150 hours of stuff to do, these games will definitely be very time consuming and worthwhile.

In conclusion, two games that are basically 10/10 in every gamer's opinion, that are packaged together for $30, is a steal. While I do think GTA3 is good, I've never finished it. Vice City on the other hand is a classic. It's one of the most complete games ever created. I even believe its better than San Andreas. Everything in Vice City is perfect, but one thing that is the most impressive is the celebrity cast. Ray Liotta doing Tommy Vercetti was a fine idea, and Ray does an amazing job. Also Burt Reynolds, Jenna Jameson, Lawrence Taylor, and Ms. Cleo are included as well. Yes the cast list is unbelievable. My favorite guest star is Dennis Hopper. He did a great job on the hit show "24" playing Victor Drazen and his sarcastic, humorous voice is classic, and it is in Vice City as well. Basically I liked Vice City better than GTA3, but both are 10/10's in my book. This collection should not be missed by anyone.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/05