Grand Theft Auto Double Pack

"The Grand Theft Auto games have landed on Xbox ready to steal your car, run over the neighbours and thrash your mailbox."

The Grand Theft Auto games have landed on Xbox ready to steal your car, run over the neighbours and thrash your mailbox.
In GTA III, you are a convict who was double crossed by your girlfriend during a theft. As a result, you were arrested. On your way to the prison, your transport is ambushed by a gang, allowing you to escape. After laying low and a change of clothes, you are employed by the local gang to carry out some jobs. But, you must be careful as there are other gangs who are not particularly overjoyed with your new alliance.
In Vice City, you take on the role of Mr. Tommy Vercetti, voiced by Ray Lliota, as he tries to find out who ambushed a drug deal he was overseeing. He now has to waste the culprit and find the stolen cash. That is easier said than done when he is in a city full of gangland scum.

GTA III places you in Liberty City while Vice City obviously places you in Vice City. Both are huge cities full of rides to steal, girls to ride and guns to play with. See a car you like? Then just run up to it and kick the current driver out and its all yours. Be careful though, as any cops in the vicinity who happen to spot this act will deem you worthy of some red hot justice. Sure, you could kill the cops if you wish but that will only cause your wanted rating to increase meaning S.W.A.T teams and others will soon be all over your ass. It is not like you are defenceless though as there are many weapons for you to pick up such as pistols, sniper rifles, Uzi's and more. Of course, you will also need some spending money, so you can work for some of the gang bosses, carrying out minor jobs for them. Complete a mission and you gain some green to spend as you like.

GTA III is set in 2003, so you can expect to find modern clothes and cars littered throughout the city. Liberty City allows you to drive anywhere and do almost anything. Liberty City is miles long with lots of interesting sites to see and people to kill. At first, you are restricted to one part of the city but once you carry out some jobs for your bosses, you unlock more of the city. In Liberty City, the only vehicles on offer are cars and trucks but you can expect to find some sweet rides in this game, so it isn't too bad. Radio stations are available in Liberty City such as Head Radio which plays pop music to Double Cleff FM which plays classical music to Chatterbox which is a talk show hosted by Lazlo.

GTA: Vice City is set in the 1980's. This means that you can expect to find 80's style clothes and cars around the city. But, underneath all that 80's gloss, this is a GTA game which means that you can expect to go anywhere and do anything. Vice City is a huge city that is miles long. At first, you can only explore a certain part but after completing a few jobs for the local gang hoods, you will be free to explore the whole city. As I mentioned, you are able to steal any vehicle you see. And these are pretty sweet rides at that. From sports cars to convertibles, you're spoiled for choice. Radio stations are also present in Vice City. This being the 80's and all, you can expect to hear a lot of 80's classics.

Both games also allows you to play your own custom soundtracks that you have stored on your hard drive which is an excellent feature. There is nothing better than cruising the streets listening to your favourite songs.

The goals of the missions in both games are basically the same, mainly requiring you to either kill someone or steal something. The nice thing about the missions is that the difficulty of each varies. Not every mission will be more difficult than the previous mission. For example, one mission requires you to steal a Tank from a military convoy while the next mission may simply require you to steal a car.

Graphically, the games do not take full use of the Xbox. However, it is easy to forgive the graphics given that you have two massive cities to explore. The only real graphical flaw is that there is a lot of pop-up. This can be frustrating when you are speeding along and a car suddenly appears out of nowhere causing you to crash, ruining your cars paint job.

Sound-wise, the voice-overs in both games are very well done. In GTA III, your character never speaks but in Vice City, Tommy Vercetti is voiced by Ray Lliota. The radio stations in GTA III and Vice City are excellent. Not all play music though as K-Chat, VCPR and Chatterbox are talk shows that provide very funny entertainment.

Both games do have some flaws, unfortunately. Aside from the pop-up, the targeting system is frustrating during missions where you must eliminate a target. Rather than giving you control, the lock on feature instead locks onto the nearest target which can be incredibly frustrating when it locks onto a pedestrian instead of the target. You can switch between targets but by the time you get the crosshair on the target you want, most of your health will be gone, especially if you're surrounded by a gang of thugs with guns. Expect to die frequently as a result.

There is more to do in these games than what I have mentioned but it would be impossible to mention all of it so I shall simply allow you to discover it for yourself. Both games are an amazing achievement that you really should pick up. Despite some minor flaws, overall the experience of these GTA games is second to none.

Overall Score ~ 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/05