Vice City Stories

Even though Vice City Stories (VCS) was well received for the PlayStation Portable, the transition to the PS2 hasn’t been a pleasant one. Sure it’s a Grand Theft Auto game and offers everything you’ve come to expect from a GTA game, but after playing San Andreas, the last great GTA game for the PS2, Vice City Stories for the PS2 feels like a tremendous step down and is beyond disappointing.

Part of this disappointment stems from the fact that this game looks downright hideous after games like Gears of War, Lost Planet and Fight Night Round 3. And even if you weren’t used to next generation visuals the game still looks uglier than most PS2 games out there since Rockstar have blindly ported the PSP version to the big screen.

The other part comes from the fact that even though this was a GTA game it still wasn’t fun to play. For starters, the protagonist of this game is perhaps the most boring lead to grace a Grand Theft Auto game ever; even the mute from GTA III was better than this whining little “look at me I’m a good guy forced to do bad things” bitch. I mean come on, you give us Tommy “the badass” Vercetti and Carl “gangsta” Johnson and then we have this turd who keeps trying to win the crowd’s sympathy but fails miserably; seriously dude if you need the money just STFU, sell those drugs, and do some while you’re at it too; it’ll ease your pain.

Other than the above mentioned points, the game plays out like any other GTA game; only the story isn’t as entertaining like previous games. VCS takes place a couple of years before the events of Vice City and puts you in the morally confused boots of Vic Vance, brother of Lance Vance Dance (Vice City). Vic starts the game off as a soldier who’s forced to partake in shady operations since he needs the money to help his sick brother out but pretty soon, the illegal odd jobs he performs for his drug and hooker loving sergeant gets him expelled from the army after which he takes to the streets and does what it takes to survive.
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Since this game plays out like any other GTA game, I won’t bother describing game mechanics since we’ve all been there done that at some point in time which basically means you’ll undertake missions from amusing characters, steal vehicles, kill tons of people, ferry hookers all over the place and indulge in a lot of wanton mayhem and thanks to the not-so-crappy controls that plagued the PS2 port of Liberty City, it’s not a very painful experience. Besides the main storyline, you’ll have tons of side missions to choose from, and new to VCS (for both the PSP and the PS2) is the addition of the new Empire System. How this works is that you’ll have the option of snatching every gang’s business from them by killing all gang members outside a particular building/business and once that’s done all you have to do is walk into the place, smash it up and buy it off. After that, that “acquired” business doubles up as a save point and generates a certain amount of revenue for you. This entire concept would have rocked had it been introduced in Vice City but after playing games like The Godfather, it feels pretty outdated.

After playing San Andreas, nearly every aspect of VCS feels like a step backward; no more eating or exercising or impressing the ladies, although if it’s any consolation Vice Vance can swim. The vast expanses of San Andreas are replaced by the narrow lanes of Vice City and like I’ve said a thousand times by now, the game is butt ugly. On the bright side the game has retained the charm of the eighties and everything from cars to buildings to weirdly dressed people to music have been recreated authentically just like in its elder brother. Radio stations, one of the main highlights of any GTA game is awesome in this game as well and packs a healthy variety of tunes to satiate the nostalgia within.

At the end of it all, I wouldn’t really suggest this game; if it’s free roaming action you crave you could play Crackdown or Saint’s Row or The Godfather and if you don’t own a next gen console, you still have stellar titles like God of War 2, Burnout Dominator and Manhunt 2 to keep you glued to your PS2 for a while.