Review: GTA: Vice City Stories (PS2)

Where previous GTA titles have cast the player in the role of a two-dimensional morally-ambiguous career criminal, VCS tries to add some depth and dynamism to Vic's character by turning him into a reluctant crook. Trying to earn enough money to support his sick brother; Vic, an honest soldier is lured into Vice City's criminal underworld by a corrupt C.O. promising a quick buck. However, Vic's apparently strong morals crumble by the second mission, where you are ordered to gun down members of an opposing gang and happily do so with no qualms. Remember, multiple murders are fine but drugs are bad.

However, despite these short lived attempts to find some moral fibre, VCS soon reverts to type and becomes little more than GTA by numbers. Vic is quickly reduced to the role of stereotypical, wise-cracking crook, working his way to the top of the criminal underworld. As ever, missions begin with a dodgy cut-scene where a hideously cliched villain lays out your task. As ever, you drive/run/ride to your appointed destination and chase someone/shoot someone/collect something or a combination of all the foregoing to pass the mission. And it just feels so hollow, so mundane. As if all the joy has been sucked out of VCS and the game is asking to you follow a routine you know inside out, and you might as well be tying your shoelaces. 

Gamestyle suspects that Vice City itself is part of the problem. They say familiarity breeds contempt and nowhere is that more true than here. Vice City was the favourite GTA title of many players: refining on GTA III, providing a great sense of place, time and story and consequently a great many gamers know its layout more than they know their way to the biscuit tin. Despite, Vic's story starting on the 'poor' side of Vice City there is virtually nothing new to experience. Around almost every corner lurks a familiar landmark that serves to remind you of Tommy Vercetti's more enjoyable escapades. Vice City's street plan now seems desperately small and is arguably the weakest map of all the GTA titles to appear on the PS2, being based around a handful of extended boulevards, which have aged badly when compared to Liberty City.

There also comes a time when Gamestyle simply has to say that we have had enough of GTA's side missions, and that time is now. Whilst ferrying people round in an ambulance, or a taxi, or putting out fires was quite fun the first time and mildly entertaining the second time, five games down the line this tedium is well past its sell by date. Take out this artificial padding and VCS's length drops quite sharply. 

In an attempt to re-invigorate VCS's tired gameplay, Rockstar have thrown in an Empire building mode. Triggered when a certain point in the game is reached, Vic is allowed to start building his own criminal empire. Playing like a cross between the gang warfare and business ownership in GTA San Andreas, control of various sites scattered around Vice City must be wrested from rival gangs before Vic can invest some money and open his own business on the site. There are six types of nefarious business that Vic can start and the player must choose which one to run from each site. There is an element of strategy to this selection, start at protection racket amongst a group of shops and watch profits increase. Various sub-missions can also be launched from each controlled site to improve your overall 'reputation' in relation to that type of criminal activity and further boost profits. However, the actually taking of business sites presents no difficulty at all if you take plenty of ammo and armour; establish a few sites and you'll soon have more money than you know what to do with, making building new sites even easier still; and worst of all, the reputation enhancing missions are repetitive beyond belief as well as being far too easy.

VCS has also been victim of a lazy port. The graphics are shoddy, with poor animation with incredibly flat textures. The camera is irritating and the targeting system is broken, which can present immense difficulties when involved in a gun fight. VCS also features the most retarded free-aiming system ever, requiring R1 to be held down and L3 to be pressed to activate it. Ridiculous. Was it really too much effort to import the system used in San Andreas? Further, VCS also presents very little challenge to GTA veterans, save for when the targeting system lets you down, so the game won't even take you that long to beat.

Yet, despite all these gripes, Gamestyle keeps coming back to VCS for more. Why? Of course the aural accompaniments are sublime, with perhaps the finest soundtrack to a game since, well, Vice City itself. The interplay between Vic and his more infamous brother Lance is extremely well-handled and funny and amongst the tedium of the missions, the odd gem shines out; Gamestyle has fond memories of chasing a car spilling money from its boot, only for pedestrians to join the chase in an attempt to grab their own slice of the cash.

But, when the soundtrack of a game is the best thing about it by quite some margin, it shows that it is time for a serious overhaul. Gamestyle only hopes that Rockstar can return GTA to its former glories when the fourth instalment arrives. The odd moments of joy don't warrant sitting through the rest of the tedium and broken mechanics for. This cash cow has been well and truly milked. 

Rating: 5 / 10

Words by Andy Lucas