GTA: Vice City Stories - Final Impressions

I polished off GTA: VCS over the break. All in all it was a fine addition to the GTA Series - nothing particularly new or ground breaking but solid with a few moments of brilliance and fun. The Remi/Phil Collins mission thread was probably the best that I've played in quite some time. Remi is an insane German transexual director with a serious coke habit. Phil Collins is Phil Collins. It's pretty awesome.

The "empire building" was definitely a step in the right direction though far from perfect. It consisted of assaulting a rival gang's establishment - blasting the hell out of everyone and everything then purchasing the property. Defending it basically consists of running all over hell and high water - at times hectic - a good trick I found was to constantly drive either a VCPD vehicle or a cab and trigger a mission with R3 to cancel the attack. Cheap trick but handy. The allied gang members are pretty much useless still except as bullet magnets. The added fact that you can't bring back-up on missions is a hassle at times. Not perfect but fun nonetheless.

The story is meh but then again GTA stories are pretty much meh and they don't need to be. At the core the stories are fine and the supporting characters are great. Ken Rosenberg is one of my favorites. Sure he's a carbon copy of Sean Penn's David Kleinfeld - look it up - but it works. It's always great to run across Phil Cassidy - voiced by Gary Busey - the boom shine swilling gun merchant. Once the story gets running in GTA: VCS the story basically boils down to "Time to yell at Lance and then go kill some people." - Thanks to Bart for that observation.

What it comes down to is this: If you're a GTA fan in need of a fix spend the $20. It's fun and worth playing through and seeing the changes in gameplay that will be tinkered with and probably end up in GTA IV. If you're not a fan of the GTA series then there's no need to pick this up. If you've never played any of the series just pick up the original GTA: Vice City or GTA: San Andreas. Now those are impressive games.

GTA: Vice City Stories - First Impressions

You fine folks all know how much I love the GTA series in particular GTA: Vice City. I don't have to rehash my Rockstar fanboy ranting.

GTA: VCS is potentially awesome. I'm only a few hours into the game and haven't gotten any heavy duty game time in but so far so good. I hit a brick wall mission last night but I blame being drunk more than the difficulty of the mission. Oddly enough it was a forklift mission...do not operate heavy machinery...huh maybe that's why I kept dying.

It's really nice to be back in Vice City. Everything isn't as the same as I thought as it was going to be. The game begins on VC's western island and it's pretty undeveloped. Sunshine Autos is a complete dump. Parts of town are still under construction. It's pretty cool actually. The radio stations are still one of the best parts of the game. Many of the familiar DJs from GTA: VC are either interns or co-hosts. The music is a mix of familiar, b-sides, and some "who the hell are they bands" i.e. Japan, Scandal, Krokus. V-Rock has a giant block of metal hits: Dokken, Scorpions, Dio, KISS, Quiet Riot, Accept, and more! Check out the full listing.

The story so far is a bit different. Vincent Vance - Lance Vance's older brother - is booted out of the Army and from there has to support his family. I like Vince Vance because so far he's a good guy. GTA protagonists aren't exactly the nicest guys and it's nice to have a change of pace. Now I don't think he'll be saving any puppies or acting in a Coke commercial anytime soon but still he's all right.

All in all after a few hours of play I am fairly pleased and looking forward to put some real time into this. Apparently Rockstar has been recording my ranting because in GTA: VCS there's Empire Building. I'm not sure how it works but I think you take over businesses, adapt them to what you want, build them up, defend them, and all that good stuff.

I'll post again when I've got some gameplay under my belt or if anything awesome happens.

God of War II & other upcoming releases.

God of War was a pretty solid game that had a few RL rage inducing platformer moments. It also had some great moments of bloody fun - i.e. ripping the wings off harpies. Good stuff - if you haven't picked it up I recommend it.

God of War II has been getting some heavy duty praise from most of the review sites. Sounds like they've also made improvments to the storyline *cough* 'bout time *cough* and generally made it all kinds of snickity-snackity fun. Look for it around 03-16-07.

On March 6th the PS2 port of GTA: VCS or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for you non-gaming types. This marks the fifth GTA for the PS2 and I can understand how people are getting tired of the formula. Personally I am still a fan and will continue to pick up the games but even I am getting bored with the lack of story and inclusion of pointless and nearly impossible side missions or missions that are just aggravating. Wow, that sounds like fun - why do I keep playing?

Simple, I like the GTA-verse. I like the characters, the radio stations, the cars, the roaming around, the bizarre inside jokes, the game mechanics, and I still have fun playing Rockstar Games. Hell I even enjoy driving around GTA: VC just listening to the radio.

I'm looking forward to GTA:VCS because I enjoy GTA: VC so much. I want to see what changes they've made to the city, what's on the radio, who's up and coming - GTA: VCS takes place in 1984 two years before GTA: VC - and what mechanics they've incorporated from their newer games. Once I play it through I'll let you guys know what I think.