 Genre: Action/Shooter Once again we return to the 1980s, full of bright colors, tight shirts and very distinctive music. You play as Vic Vance, a guy who joined the army to pay for his brother’s medical bills. But soon he gets asked to do some shifty errands for his superior officer Martinez, unwillingly accepts, gets set up, and is kicked out of the army. While Vic supposedly has some morals and refuses to work with drugs, he doesn’t seem to mind massacring a bikie gang or breaking the law in other ways. The formula for the story just doesn’t work. It’s just not possible to sympathize with Vic when he is just the same criminal as in the other GTA games. Although the story sucks and never really goes anywhere, the game does not. Everything over the previous game, Liberty City Stories, has been improved (apart from the plot of course). Missions are now longer, multi-tiered and much more interesting. But you won’t know it until you’ve played quite a few missions into the game. The graphics have been improved a lot, with much higher polygon counts on all objects and much better textures and animation then in the previous outing. Unfortunately, pop-up is still a problem, especially with a fast vehicle, but isn’t too bad unless it gets you stuck in a fence. Still, the game is a great technical achievement and puts many PSP games to shame. The radio channels are fantastic with great music from the 80s and some funny dialogue as usual. Controls still suffer from the same problems as previous GTA games. Melee combat is plain stupid and Vic has a very hard time targeting enemies at point blank range. The only way around this is to run away, turn around and start shooting. For such a technically impressive game, the combat in GTA: VCS feels like games dating back almost ten years ago. Vic can also buy properties and turn them into brothels, protection rackets and more. Owning these properties ensures a constant flow of cash for you to use on weapons or upgrading your properties. Vic can also swim for a limited amount of time and can fly choppers over Vice City, which is a cool feature. Multiplayer is also much more refined and is a lot more fun with plenty of modes available. However, you’ll need at least four players to enjoy these modes in the expansive environment. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a longer game to complete and improves in the audio and visual department. The 80s feel is great too and feels has a nicer feel then Liberty City Stories. Unfortunately, nothing else has changed and all the same annoying and frustrating game mechanics are still prevalent. For all its faults, it is still a great game and will provide many hours of entertainment. GTA also seems to be losing some of its charm and seems a bit tired. Maybe it’s time to make the player an undercover cop or something new?   |
| PSP-Spot Score (out of ten) Graphics: 9.0 Sound: 9.0 Controls: 7.9 Gameplay: 8.6 Overall: 8.7 Buy it at Play-Asia.com - Your One-Stop-Shop for Asian Entertainment |