| GTA Vice City Stories review |
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A port of an adaptation, an adaptation of an original. It’d be fair to suspect that GTA’s core standards haven’t remained intact throughout this string of photocopying. And essentially, Vice City Stories does play like a second copy of the original Vice City; the central dynamics, charm and humour are still legible, but you have to squint your eyes and ignore the rough edges to find them.
Immediately, you can’t avoid the watered-down graphics and untidy animation. Under the scrutiny of your larger, house-bound television, the once-luscious looks of Vice City now appear tired and barren. And even though a fierce golden sunset flooding the city is as striking a sight as ever, there’s no denying that the game, as a whole, looks underwhelming.
Since Vice City Stories carbon-copies the old Vice City map, your memories of a playscape with great scale and presentable detail are shattered with every glitch, ropey texture and pop-up you encounter. Textures and objects never quite catch up as you zip through the city at high speed. Occasionally, this is a mere annoyance, and forgivable considering that the GTA games have never been graphical showpieces, and that the driving itself is always a joy. But during time-critical missions (of which there are many), dead ends that appeared to be clear from a distance can be quite maddening.
And playing as the dishonourably-discharged ‘anti-hero’ Vic Vance, the animation takes a dramatic leap backwards. A running jab, in particular, may be the most disjointed 3D animation you’ll have ever come across. As pedantic as it might sound to single this out, it genuinely looks like Vic’s arms are in control themselves, and this abysmal and truly irritating motion never lets you forget you’re playing a game throughout your violent crusade.
Of course, it'd be naïve to think that this budget title would make a sincere attempt at improving GTA’s dated control system, but it’s not unreasonable to hope that it wouldn’t take – yet another – backwards step. But gone is the liberating freedom to climb fences and ledges, gone is the undervalued ability to duck and sneak, and gone is San Andreas’ free-aiming system with the right analogue stick. The PSP version may have an excuse in the fact that it only has a single analogue nub, but this port has wasted the opportunity of spreading the controls onto the DualShock.
Worse still, not only has Vice City Stories' narrative eschewed GTA's hitherto failsafe process of observing classic gangsta movies, but it has hastily scrambled together - as the title suggests - one of its own. As well voice acted as they are, barely do any of Vice City’s locales create a memorable story to follow. The temptation to skip an ugly cut-scene has never been so powerful. Your protagonist Vic Vance is undoubtedly the most out-of-place anti-hero in the entire collection. His continuous high-horse whinging about the crimes you control him to commit is a sure-fire way of divorcing player and character.
But being a GTA game, the main campaign is complemented with a time-consuming sidequest. Collecting rare vehicles makes a welcome return, as does a series of inviting stunts dotted around the map. But, to accompany the series’ fixation with the American Dream, Vice City Stories has included the option to build your own business empire, ranging from high-rolling prostitution rackets, to small protection firms.
Each day your empire earnings are deposited into your account, and with the ever-increasing importance of balancing the books (you can bribe back the weapons the police have confiscated, for example), seeing your bank balance grow on a daily basis never fails to raise a smile. Sadly, while this prison-rules-entrepreneurism offers attractive rewards, the process is remarkably repetitive. To expand business, you have to travel within a cognatic collection of gruesomely dull shop interiors, smashing the place up or rescuing it from rival gangs who also want a piece of the repetitive pie.
But Vice City Stories saves itself with what the GTA series is perhaps most admired for: driving. Here, the team at Rockstar Leeds and North have once again effortlessly recreated the empowering freedom of racing through towns, car parks, alleyways and back gardens. The controls are noticeably tighter than ever before, and the whole experience is better for it; weaving between lanes of oncoming traffic without a bump is now an obtainable – even breezy – pleasure. Skidding around even the tightest of corners to cut precious distance from the over-zealous police force has never felt so satisfying.
And it’s a testament to the lasting power of GTA’s core attraction; a play dynamic that appears to be as timeless as Tetris. From nippy motorbikes to thuggish military trucks, from fragile sports cars to solid SWAT vans, there’s a timeless joy in negotiating the roads with the plethora of vehicles GTA has always been keen to offer. And, of course, you’ll still notice the difference of driving each one within seconds.
Every clone since Vice City has managed to replicate that 'gritty' urban atmosphere, the clichéd gang warfare, the scale of its towns and cities. But none have equalled the simple thrill of joyriding throughout a city you know like the back of your hand. Stumbling across a rare vehicle to pinch is still a pleasure, crawling out of an overturned car as flames rise from the engine is as tense as it's always been.
As lacklustre as Vice City Stories is, there’s no denying that it effectively replicates the core genius of the GTA series in a way no other sandbox action title can. Presumably the last GTA on the PS2, you’ll leave it thinking that it was a missed opportunity rather than a poor experience.
The fact that this – manifestly – is a PSP title at heart is no excuse. The original portable game, along with Liberty City Stories, cut its corners in every way possible to squeeze onto a UMD disk. And while that feat in itself may be admirable, its setbacks were tolerated due to the fact that you could stick Vice City in your pocket.
Now that both ports are measured against majestic heights of those three big-hitters, culminating with San Andrea’s gargantuan maps, generous customisation and layers of much-needed polish, it’s hard to stomach such a tightfisted game from a series that has given so much. |
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System: Sony PlayStation 2
Genre: Action
Developer: Rockstar Leeds / North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Players: 1
Version: European
Reviewed: Aug 2007
Writer: Rob Crossley
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Pros:
- It sounds and feels like a GTA game.
- (Apologetic) budget price.
- Tighter and even more reliable vehicle control.
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Cons:
- No noticeable effort made on progressing the series.
- Technically and graphically inferior to Vice City.
- PSP’s multiplayer option excluded.
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GTA Vice City Stories Video: 7.7MB
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