Here is a review by The IB, This game happens to be on Grand Theft Auto Vice City. GTA Vice City was released on October 27th, 2002 for the PlayStation 2 (as well on other consoles and was released on mobile devices 10 years later in 2012), this game is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III (set 15 years before the events of GTA III). This game alone has added a whole lot newer feature that we haven’t seen in GTA III. GTA Vice City was set in the 1980’s in a Miami-based city called “Vice City. This game has also seen an introduction of a lot of things in the game (which I will mention in the Depth). This game right here is the first that has introduced a lot more content that we haven’t seen in GTA III, including more vehicles, more properties, and a bunch of other goodies in the game, although this game hasn’t seen as a whole lot of controversy than any other GTA game has. This game and future games has kept adding in more features but keeps the main concept of GTA, doing missions, stealing cars and killing others, anyways, onto the review.

Graphics..

This game is only the 2nd game in the GTA series to be feature in a more 3D format, and I think between GTA III and GTA Vice City, we have seen a huge upgrade when it comes to the graphics. Like I have seen the difference that GTA III had. Sure, if you look at the game from today’s view, it might look bad, but if you’re a gamer back in 2002, these graphics are quite amazing, and if you know me, as long the graphics don’t affect the gameplay, so the graphics are really no big deal at all. If you add the matter of fact, Rockstar only worked on this game for a year after GTA III has been released and seen at all the things that Rockstar has left out when it some to the graphic part of the game, and note, Rockstar had a limited about of stuff when they were making GTA III and they first used the game engine for the PS1 at the time and never really thought about the PS2 until it was announced, and Rockstar had to keep working on GTA III so the project can be completed, that was the problem with that game, but in GTA Vice City, Rockstar really had no problems with this issue and just went ahead and work on the game fully with no problems, so, I think to my point of view is on why the graphics in Vice City was a little higher quality than we seen in III. Not just the setting graphics, but the environment graphics as well, have a little bit more better quality with the sky and the weather has also make the game slightly more realistic (although a lot of this still needs a lot more improved, but we have seen these improvements in the next game in the GTA series). Other than all of that, I still think the graphics are quite amazing though, that is what I do have to say.

For the graphics, I will give this game a 9 out of 10, I think the graphics in this game are a little bit more of an upgrade from GTA III, and it’s only been a year since it’s released that we have seen GTA Vice City released. I think when it comes to the GTA series as of this point for the graphics, I do got to favor this game over GTA III. So, this is why I gave this part a “9”.

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Sound/Music..

For the sound effects, nothing much has really changed from GTA III, although the sound quality has changed quite a bit though, like for an example, the gunfire all sounds a little clearer and sharper than ever before, aiming for a little more realism than in GTA III. Also, the vehicle sound effects have also seen a little bit of an upgrade as well, to make it sound more realistic. For the voices, It’s really nothing too different from GTA III, although it does give it a little bit more of a 1980’s Southern Floridian accent which is a fit for this game because Vice City is after all based on Miami in 1980, so, what is a better fit than having those voices.

As for the music, it has a better selection of music for the player to listen to. It mostly brings all the sounds from bands that were famous in the 1980’s such as Slayer, Ozzy, Michael Jackson, Kool & The Gang, Run D.M.C., and just name a few. And adding songs make in the 1980’s into a game that was set in the 1980’s. I think what is better appropriate than having those songs fit right into the game’s setting. For me, since my favorite genre happens to be rock, I always listen to V-Rock on this game. A lot of users got their own taste in what music they like, that’s what is great about GTA, you can select the music you like.

For the sound effects and the music, I have to give this a perfect 10 out of 10, the reason why, this game has brought a lot more updates to their sound department, and also brought a lot of great sounds from the 1980’s and prior, I think both amazing feature earns this game a “10” in the sound effects and the music.

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Addiction Level..

For the Addiction Level, this is slightly more addictive than GTA III and that game was also addicting as well, although this isn’t as a big game compared to GTA III, but it still is popular to a lot of gamers, but after the release of Rockstar’s next GTA game (San Andreas), this game hasn’t really picked up its popularity again, but I still think to my personal view, it is still a highly addicting game none the less. Although the land is a little bit bigger than GTA III’s Liberty City, but the island is made up of 2 giant islands and two small islands, and you have to so a certain amount of tasks in the eastern half of Vice City until you unlock the two small islands and you have to so a few more tasks in those two small islands until you can unlock the western half (in Vice City Stories, it’s the other way around). Once you unlock all these areas, you have a slightly bigger area to explore in and a lot of gamers out there loves to explore around in a video game, I am one of those guys, so that is why I am quite addicted to this game.

With that all said, I’m going to give this game a perfect 10 out of 10, the reason why this one game right here gets a 10, well, you can be playing this game a whole lot and kind of what I said in GTA III, you can do a whole lot of things, no matter if you want to do those missions or just want to goof off, no matter the feat, you will be hooked onto this game, that’s why this game gets a “10”.

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The Storyline..

The Story of this game is that you work for the Forelli crime Family and the family don named Sonny Forelli has sent you down to Vice City to make a drug deal which all went wrong in an ambush of gunfire, and Tommy (who is the protagonist in this game) has told Sonny that the deal has went wrong, Sonny has went into furious rage demanding to either getting the drugs back or the money back and a couple of times Sonny has kept harassing you for the money or the drugs numerous of times during the entire storyline, but once you meet a guy named Ricardo Diaz, he first tried to help you out until you and Lance discovered that he was the one behind the ambush and demand that you get revenge on him and you manage to do so and you end up taking his mansion, and once you get the mansion, you discovered the Sonny is paying a visit to Tommy and you realize that you’re running out of time, so in a desperation, you try to get as much property as you can and buy the Print Works so you can be able to print counterfeit money to fool Sonny, but when he arrives, Lance ended up telling him the truth about Tommy and the counterfeit money, and tells Sonny about the real cash and you have to end up killing both Sonny and Lance, and after you do, then you have nothing more to worry about and you can live your life as a free man.

So, for the Storyline, I have to give the story a perfect 10 out of 10. I think the story is really unique in its own way, it gives out a desperation story after a deal that has went wrong and you follow a partner that later stabs you in the back near the end and you have to end up taking him and another guy out and don’t have to worry about anymore issues. This is why this game gets a “10”

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Depth..

The Depth has a twice the amount of stuff than we seen in GTA III,  this game alone seen the introduction of motorcycles, a more selection of boats, helicopters, more weapons, property to buy, and buying clothes, so, this game has added a whole lot of interesting stuff. As for the weapons, you have a huge list of weaponry to try out and GTA Vice City alone has had the most weapons in a single GTA game until Grand Theft Auto V (which was released in 2013), so a record that was held for 11 years. And it’s not just more weapons in the game that made this game better; it’s also buying property for the first time in this series (which we also see again in GTA San Andreas and GTA V). If you don’t manage to buy property, you still manage to have 2 properties automatically unlocked without purchase (Ocean View Hotel and Vercetti Estate) and you must buy at least 5 Assets properties and Print Works on order to compete the final mission of the game which I never really done because I have stop playing it before this happened. But after those properties are optional to own, but I still would manage to buy them all though. The biggest thing I also like in this game that wasn’t in GTA III was flying in a helicopter, which does make your travels much faster than driving a car to your destination. Also, this is the first game that you can be able  to wear different outfits, but you only have like a full set of clothing (you really can’t pick a certain shirt, a certain pants and all of that until Rockstar’s next game), but still, I think having a whole lot more things in the game than we seen in GTA III, that makes a difference. Nothing really much else to say about the Depth other than that it has a whole lot of stuff.

For the Depth, I have to give the game a perfect 10 out of 10, the reason why, I think adding a few more things into the game to give the player a lot more interesting features, and a little more freedom to do on what they like to do like more vehicles to steal (not just limited to cars), a lot more weapons to use, and a lot of other things, this is why this game gets a “10”

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Difficulty / Gameplay..

As for the difficulty, it’s about the same as Grand Theft Auto III’s Difficulty but slightly easier, it is easy at start but they can be some hard parts of the game. Like in other GTA games, this game also has a starting mission where you mostly just drive to the Ocean View Hotel and that’s mostly it. But with all the missions, they can be easy missions and hard missions, they are really aren’t in order, because one mission can be easy and the next mission can be really hard to complete, and like GTA III, some missions has taken be multiple tries to beat. But all and all, I think the missions in the game aren’t really that bad though.

As for the Gameplay, I think the controls a little smoother than we have seen in GTA III, even know this game was made 12 years ago. But the game does follow the same format that GTA III has followed. Just like GTA III, the controls in GTA Vice City also seem a little obsolete because of the newer controls that were in GTA IV and later games, and if you manage to switch from those games and end up playing GTA Vice City, the controls can be quite confusing to figure out (because you have to hold “X” to accelerate rather than “R2” in GTA IV and later). So, yeah, the controls are a little confusing today, but back in 2002, the controls are very simple, it just takes some re-adjusting to get used to those controls.

For the Difficulty and the Gameplay, I have to give the game an 8 out of 10, the reason for this score, the game is still quite hard, although it is slightly easier than GTA III with some points that can be flat out hard to beat though. And as for the Gameplay, I think the controls are a little more smooth and accurate to the controls than we seen in GTA III. I think if you want an easier game, this would be the game to pick over GTA III.

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Overall..

Overall, I have to say that with GTA Vice City, it has brought a whole lot new stuff that we haven’t seen added in back in GTA III or any other GTA games for that matter like you can be able to fly in this game which is the first time ever (although they were going to do this in GTA III, but it was scrapped due to September 11th). But as for everything else, I think this game as amazing Graphics and Sound Effects which give it more of that 1980’s feel to the game because after all, the game is set in 1986, so, what better to fit that year in with things in the 1980’s. As for the Difficulty and the Gameplay, I think it’s much simpler than we had in GTA III, both on how hard the missions are and how good the controls are which seen quite an improvement with the controls and the difficulty. And the thing I like is the vast amount of stuff you can explore in with 2 giant islands and 2 small islands, there isn’t really any limitation on what you can explore with, well, you do need to first unlock 2 of those small islands and then unlock the other giant island, but with little difficulty, this can be done really quick.

For my final thoughts on this game, this game has provide quite a bit of entertainment for the gamer, and it features has given the interested into gamers that both played this series, new to the series, or gamers that wants to play past games for the pure enjoyment from a decade ago, no matter on who you are, I think you will play out enjoy this game.

For the final score, I will give this game a 9.2 out of 10, it is an amazing game, I do got to say that, this game has got a whole lot of ups with a few downs as well which some of them being upgraded in the next GTA game. So, really, all and all, this is mostly the reason why I have given this game a score of “9.2” It’s got a lot of stuff in it, but missing a couple of things which was solved in GTA SA.