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GTA: Vice City Stories Review
Jon Wilcox
04/11/2006
TVG takes to the pre-Yuppie streets of Vice City, in the follow-up to the biggest PSP title ever...
Having released not only the biggest PSP title of 2005, but also the biggest PSP title ever with Liberty City Stories, Rockstar Games turns its attentions to Vice City after a four-year gap with promises of improvements and advancements across the board. Although a grand achievement considering its destined platform, there were a number of criticisms levelled towards Liberty City Stories, including a significant devolution of gameplay compared to the previous GTA release (2004's San Andreas on PlayStation2). Since then, Rockstar's handheld specialists at Leeds have gone back to the drawing board in an attempt to push the Sony's portable system to the limit.
Set in 1984, two years before Tommy Vercetti's antics in GTA: Vice City, players follow the story of Victor Vance (brother of Vice City double-crosser, Lance) and his fall from US Army Corporal to major criminal. A reluctant felon, unlike other GTA protagonists, Vance's path to Vice City's underworld underbelly becomes increasingly steeper when his brother eventually arrives at Escobar International Airport...
Right off the bat, it's clear that Rockstar Leeds has taken at least one of the key criticisms made about Liberty City Stories onboard; minutes after corrupt army Sergeant Martinez gives Victor his first assignment, Vance finds himself on a boat as it's blown up by criminals. Landing in the water, he becomes only the second GTA character to learn one of the more valuable lessons in life - the ability to swim. Nevertheless, the skill isn't as clear-cut as it was for CJ Johnson in San Andreas; Victor can only spend a limited about of time in the water before he runs out of stamina and becomes fish food. The implication of Vance's ability to swim is as important as it was in San Andreas, opening up that extra bit of gameworld. Swimming isn't the only new pastime in 1984 Vice City however, with Rockstar bringing Jet skis to a lengthened list of vehicles available to ride, drive, and fly. Improved water effects, including wakes behind boats and ebbing waves, continue to add that little bit more to the polished, beautiful, briny, making it the most impressive-looking water in any GTA title to date. Vice City Stories also marks the first time that gameplay takes to the air on the handheld, with the addition of biplanes and Apache-style helicopters in the skies above. Dropping the altimeter that featured in San Andreas, flying is strictly a low-altitude experience in Vice City; it's really quite difficult to rise above some of the taller buildings in the city, that said, it continues to be as fun as it was over Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas, back in 2004.
Vice City Stories, for the most part, follows the same format that Grand Theft Auto has been exceptionally accomplished at doing for the past five years; delivering an open-world that tempts you into not only completing the wealth of non-linear story missions, but also exploring the streets and seas that make up the Miami-inspired metropolis. Differing from Liberty City Stories however, are the lengths of the missions, which last longer and are now on par with the franchise's home console counterparts. Most take place across at least two different stages, making gameplay feel a lot less rushed and compact than it did last year. There's also a greater amount of variety in the missions doled out to Vic compared to last year's effort, such as a forklift mission to rescue crates of moonshine liquor from a burning building; photographing evidence of Sgt. Martinez' collusion with a DEA agent; or coming first in any number of races taking place along the city's roads. Furthermore, with Vic's role in a zombie flick shot in the city's Mall, and acting as a stuntman in various commercials, there are missions that push that little bit beyond what we've seen before in a GTA title and it makes for a much more rounded experience. For all of the story missions however, the most significant addition to the gameplay (yes even more than Victor's swimming ability) is Empire Building.
A cross between Vice City's ability to buy property, and San Andreas' rather short gang wars feature, Empire Building is a major crux of this second 'Stories' instalment. In it, players are able to purchase various buildings dotted across the city, expanding the Vance Brothers criminal empire. Aside from the odd one or two buildings, most purchases take place after the removal of the previous occupants through force. Whereas a turf war was started in San Andreas by killing a few enemy gang members, it's the destruction of a gang vehicle outside of the building that 'kicks it all off' this time around. Obviously, that gets the attention of the gang members inside, who then have to be dealt with before Vic ventures inside his prospective new property and destroys the last few objects left inside by the gang. Since he's setting up a criminal empire, Vic isn't about to open up a butchers or bakers; six choices, ranging from Prostitution and Loan Sharking, through to Robbery and Protection Rackets, are available to choose from, which can then be broken down further into various sizes. High-rolling businesses will cost more to start up, but will bring in greater returns. Empire Building is also the key means to earning large chunks of money in the game, with 'Pay Day' coming daily at 4pm sharp. As Vic opens more buildings however, he'll also find himself coming under attack from the rival gangs, forcing urgent protection of his assets before they receive too much damage. It's a really solid idea that's generally well executed, and really conveys the idea of how much of a growing force both Vic and Lance become throughout the course of the game.
The idea of Empire Building is also taken one step further with the implementation of gathering reputation in each of the different business types. Adding that Rockstar renowned layer of depth to the gameplay, Vic has to go out and prove that he's skilled in various crimes including pimping (where he has to drop off and collect his 'hoes') and repossessing goods from people unable to pay their debts. These 'odd jobs' are little more than crime-ridden versions of Vigilante, Taxi, or Paramedic missions however, and can all too soon become a tad samey and a bit of a chore; worse still, the missions are reminiscent of Saint's Row side-missions - perhaps a cursory nod of respect towards Volition's Xbox 360 effort?
Of course, Vice City's various divisions of law enforcement from street cops and plain-clothed police, through to SWAT and FBI, still patrol the streets, but what's noticeable is their general ferocity towards Vic. Still operating the trusty and familiar star-system of notoriety, securing just two stars will bring the flashing lights down on you with a level of spite and venom that's never seen before. Getting five stars pretty much has cop cars flying from all directions in a bid to bring you down. Implementing such a strong response from the forces does make for a greater challenge, especially when you're in the middle of a mission, but it's something that may annoy some gamers who just want to get on with the job in hand.
As with the water, Leeds has made some significant improvements to the lighting and day/night cycle in the game, with picture postcard sunsets sitting on top of the lot. Combat has also evolved a bit, with the introduction of grabs, throws, and neck breaks, which like swimming can be explained by Vic's military training. It's typical of the way in which Rockstar seem to be pushing small advancements forward in the series, whilst at the same time sticking to a largely textbook format. For example, Vice City Stories is the first instalment since the advent of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001 not to have one hundred hidden packages to collect; they're simply not there! Try as you might, the final bastions of gameplay of any GTA title do not make an appearance in Vice City Stories. In many ways, such decisions appear to hint at the direction Rockstar is taking the franchise on home consoles, and it really wouldn't be a surprise if hidden packages didn't feature in GTA IV next year. The masters of compression and portable gaming for Rockstar, have also managed to improve draw distances too, so that players can now get a better sense of scale of the city - especially in the air. Whether the improvement has been a product of Leeds taking to the skies, we don't know; nevertheless it's a real welcome, and a further testament to the skills that the development team enjoys "oo'p north".
In another departure from its predecessor, Vice City Stories features a wealth of licensed songs from the age, something that really sold the idea of the 1980s time-period in the original Vice City outing. Phil Collins (who also makes a cameo appearance in the game), Blondie, Marvin Gaye, and Foreigner, are just some of the names that feature across the cities various radio stations, once again managing to bring that 1980s vibe to the world. Music has been integral to GTA since licensed music appeared in a broad scale in the original Vice City, so after a disappointing omission (save for a few short tracks) in Liberty City Stories, it's great to have them back this time around. The game also marks a return to the franchise for Philip Michael Thomas, who reprises his role as Lance Vance, and Gary Busey as Phil Cassidy; British actor Timothy Spall also makes an appearance voicing Barry Mickelthwaite.
Like its predecessor, Vice City Stories comes with a number of multiplayer gametypes that played through the PSP's Wi-Fi capabilities. Whilst the range of gametypes increases to ten, the fact that it still requires an Ad Hoc connection and not Infrastructure mode continues to be a disappointment. At a time when even Sony are resigning themselves to lower than expected sales of the portable system, it's going to be a rare occurrence when eight PSP owners (each with their own copy of Vice City Stories) get together to battle it out in a game of Empire Takedown or VIP RIP. Whilst all of the gametypes can in theory be played with only two gamers, the fact is that's it doesn't make for the sort of experience created when a small group plays. For instance, Tanks for the Memories, which sees players rush to the location of a tank and stay alive in it for a certain duration of time, is virtually unplayable when there're just two of you. Due to the high-powered killing capabilities of the tank, the first player to make it inside its metal belly will usually win; the second player stands pretty much no chance of playing catch up...it's more like "Tanks, I'll Remember This Victory." Infrastructure gameplay is one of the last weaknesses that the 'Stories' series has now, so let's hope that it's something looked at in the near future.
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