Grand Theft Auto - Vice City Review

Good Points
Great fun.
Keeps your boyfriend happy for hours.
Great humour.
Even beginners to PS2 games can have fun.

Bad Points
Not good for little ones - too violent.
Some of the missions are a bit difficult and one or two are tedious.

General Comments
Grand Theft Auto - Vice City - Please note - this is a non-game-playing girlfriend's review, so please don't tell me off for patronising women. I know lots really rock at games - but I can't and lots of my mates can't! But I do watch a lot of games being played.



This has got to be my most favourite PlayStation game ever. It is great fun to watch. My boyfriend, like my son, can play games (PC & PS) for England (bless them, they never grow up do they? They just get bigger!) So I have endured, sorry, watched loads of different games over the past few years.



Diablo was rather pretty to watch, but I never did understand it. Then GTA VC arrived on the scene, on the telly indoors and from the first I was enthralled. There is so much to do and see and listen to.



The game starts with the player being Tommy Vercetti, arriving in Vice City, which seems to be loosely based on scenes from Miami Vice. Press the little triangle button on the keypad and a map pops on to the screen and shows where Tommy should go to receive details of his missions. Some of these missions are really hard for your average girlfriend even to attempt, like where a group of gang members have to be shot from a distance with a sniper rifle. Cue lots of yelling "...left, left!! NO left, not right!!" etc., from my lovely fella as I shoot wildly in the air yet again. But some missions look pretty easy.



The main missions are all based on a storyline where Tommy has to basically rule the gangland side of Vice City, but there are lots of other smaller missions: taxi missions where you find and deliver fares, fire engine missions, ambulance missions, etc.; every mission will earn money which can be used to buy weapons from Ammunation. When a building has been bought and the missions relevant to it completed, it will generate income on a daily basis. A lot of theft of vehicles is required; my favourite is stealing a motorbike. To steal any vehicle you press the top triangle button and Tommy will haul the driver out and hop in, but he just punches the bikers backwards with a very satisfying sound and then jumps on.



The map function is really useful (GTA 3 did not have an on-screen one) and shows where missions, certain buildings, Ammunations and Pay n Sprays are. Pay n Sprays are very useful as no matter what you are doing you car will take a battering as a lot of the other drivers seem to have no road sense. A quick trip inside, a few dollars out of your bank account and you are on your way with not only shiny mended car but also no wanted level. Handy if the cops are after you! The only vehicles that can't be Paid n Sprayed are all official ones, e.g., Army, Police and ambulances.



The game is quite hard to complete to 100%, as some of the parts are very difficult. In the stadium there are three races that have to be won or completed in a certain time and not one of them is easy. I have never attempted any of them, as I can't even manage to get a taxi fare dropped off before the timer runs out. Also at the firing range you have to get a scarily high score.



As I said, this game is great fun to watch, not least because of the great graphics, but also because it has humour and superb radio stations, all with some of the greatest 80's hits; Blondie, Human League and the like. Another completely wonderful thing is the fact that it is amazingly open-ended; when my chap pops off to take a comfort break I can have a little play. Oh, happy hours of driving around and shooting people for no reason, or riding a motor bike into the mall and shooting out shop windows - a definite stress reliever! I have even been allowed to help towards to coveted 100% by stealing a few cars that are required by one of the garages and by collecting some of the hidden packages. One tip - try and get a list of the hidden packages and do them in order or it gets confusing as to which ones you have still to acquire, the same is true for the unique stunts.



Yes, the game is gory, yes it is violent - that is why it has an ESRB rating on Amazon as Mature for ages 17 and older 18, but it is so silly and funny that it doesn't seem real. Having said that I wouldn't recommend it for younger children as the humour would go over their heads and the bit where Tommy leaves bloody footprints after shooting someone could be a bit yucky. Not to mention the way heads explode if you get someone with a direct hit, although I gather the goriness can be turned down.



The humour in all the radio stations is typically British and I often wonder just how many of the jokes any Americans playing the game will get. On the K-chat radio station a lovely airhead called Amy consistently gets the wrong end of the stick with her guests and seems more interested in her hair and her love life. The L1 button will change stations and it is worth listening to them all as they each have their own style and quirks. Most musical tastes (from the 80's) are catered for and the music is available on special Vice City CDs from places like Game. The characters Tommy interacts with are amusing too - one looks and sounds a dead ringer for Jamie Oliver and the lawyer is just like Sean Penn in Carlito's Way.



This game is not only good for girlfriends, but seems to be enjoyed by big boys too as my fella is now halfway through it for the fourth time! Oh by the way, when you do get 100%, Tommy gets a T-shirt, emblazoned with: I completed Vice City and all I got was this lousy T-shirt?! So, girls, if you are bored with watching all those shooting and driving games, go out and buy this shooting and driving game for your chap - you'll at least have something fun to watch for a change and you can play it too!



Personally I can't wait until GTA San Andreas comes out now - then I'll get some peace from the two men in my life - every time they see each other they swap magazines of screen shots sigh!