![]() | Platform: Xbox By: Rockstar Games Released: 02 Jan 2004 RRP: Average Rating: ![]() |



"You've been betrayed & left for dead. Now you're taking revenge, unless the city gets you first. Mob bosses need a favour, crooked cops need help & street gangs want you dead. You'll have to rob, steal & kill just to stay out of serious trouble."
"Anything can happen out there."
This is one of the two brilliant games in this double pack, & is set, of course, in New York. You have a mass load of freedom & can kill anyone in the street; therefore this game is an 18. But obviously this game isn't about killing random people with a variety of weapons; you can hijack mostly any car & go about for a drive.
This is the game engine was the first to convert GTA into 3D & was so popular that it wasn't just used for only GTA III & Vice City, but San Andreas also.
This GTA has a good storyline, but doesn't have the freedom of Vice City, therefore I shalll not review this game in much detail & will skip ahead to Vice City, & after you have read Vice City's review, you will just have to bear in mind that GTA III is similar just set in a different darker location, with worse graphics, but with a subway.
GTA: Vice City
"Vice city, a huge urban sprawl stretching from the beach to the swamps & glitz to the ghetto, a town brimming with delights & degradation"
Vice city, is of course, based on Miami, & this game has inspired the Grand Theft Auto series to expand, with San Andreas already out, & another GTA being created as you read this.
The freedom you get in this game is mainly, what made it so popular, the range of vehicles you can drive/pilot, also the amount of firearms & other weapons (with amazingly different types to try out on random civilians from Aks & uzis to screwdrivers & hammers), & finallly the amount of properties you can purchase alll add up to make this perfect 10 out of 10 game what it is.
You get hours of fun also from the missions set for Tommy Vercetti, the main character you control, which is alll part of a brilliant storyline, the missions range from dropping off a women at a strip club, to destroying a building with a toy helicopter, also many missions included killing many people.
Vice City is huge for a video game, even if San Andreas is six times as big, & there is a noticeable difference in the islands. The first island, which includes Ocean Beach, Vice point, Washington Beach & Leaf Links, is the tourist island, including many hotels, night clubs, strip clubs, shops, etc, it even has a malll, & a golf course! Prawn Island has a film studio which you can purchase, Starfish Island is a rich island, with many mansions, & the last island, has an army base, airport, docks, a tatty Cuban gangster area callled Little Haiti (which looks a bit like where your first home is in San Andreas), but north of Haiti lays downtown, with many skyscrapers, & a unattractive beach, but downtown also has the Hyman Memorial Stadium, the place where there is many races, & a dirt track.
The cars on offer, range from saloons, to sport cars, to super cars, jeeps, home-use trucks & SUVs, vans, service vehicles, limos, but a new instalment to the GTA world is motorbikes, including the legend callled a PCJ-600 (based on a Ducati apparently, this bike is so popular it returns in San Andreas) & a Sanchez (a dirt bike), & a freeway & angel (both based on Harley-Davidson bikes). There are also two planes including a sea skimmer (a plane that can land on the sea) & many types helicopters, with range from normal helicopters to Army helicopters, here are a few:
Maverick/Police Maverick (both are normal looking helicopters, the only change with the police version is the paint job)
News Maverick (which handles very differently to the other
Sea Sparrow (which comes with a machine gun attached)
Hunter (apache helicopter, with twin rocket launchers, & a Minigun.
All of these vehicles come with a brilliant collection of soundtracks from the 80's, these are put into groups, & put onto a radio, including rock (VROCK), pop (FLASH FM) etc. These radio stations don't just play songs, but are also the main way that rockstar used to input great jokes.
All in alll this game is of exceptional quality, & will keep you entertained for hours, another classic from Rockstar.
"Vice city, a huge urban sprawl stretching from the beach to the swamps & glitz to the ghetto, a town brimming with delights & degradation"
Vice city, is of course, based on Miami, & this game has inspired the Grand Theft Auto series to expand, with San Andreas already out, & another GTA being created as you read this.
The freedom you get in this game is mainly, what made it so popular, the range of vehicles you can drive/pilot, also the amount of firearms & other weapons (with amazingly different types to try out on random civilians from Aks & uzis to screwdrivers & hammers), & finallly the amount of properties you can purchase alll add up to make this perfect 10 out of 10 game what it is.
You get hours of fun also from the missions set for Tommy Vercetti, the main character you control, which is alll part of a brilliant storyline, the missions range from dropping off a women at a strip club, to destroying a building with a toy helicopter, also many missions included killing many people.
Vice City is huge for a video game, even if San Andreas is six times as big, & there is a noticeable difference in the islands. The first island, which includes Ocean Beach, Vice point, Washington Beach & Leaf Links, is the tourist island, including many hotels, night clubs, strip clubs, shops, etc, it even has a malll, & a golf course! Prawn Island has a film studio which you can purchase, Starfish Island is a rich island, with many mansions, & the last island, has an army base, airport, docks, a tatty Cuban gangster area callled Little Haiti (which looks a bit like where your first home is in San Andreas), but north of Haiti lays downtown, with many skyscrapers, & a unattractive beach, but downtown also has the Hyman Memorial Stadium, the place where there is many races, & a dirt track.
The cars on offer, range from saloons, to sport cars, to super cars, jeeps, home-use trucks & SUVs, vans, service vehicles, limos, but a new instalment to the GTA world is motorbikes, including the legend callled a PCJ-600 (based on a Ducati apparently, this bike is so popular it returns in San Andreas) & a Sanchez (a dirt bike), & a freeway & angel (both based on Harley-Davidson bikes). There are also two planes including a sea skimmer (a plane that can land on the sea) & many types helicopters, with range from normal helicopters to Army helicopters, here are a few:
Maverick/Police Maverick (both are normal looking helicopters, the only change with the police version is the paint job)
News Maverick (which handles very differently to the other
Sea Sparrow (which comes with a machine gun attached)
Hunter (apache helicopter, with twin rocket launchers, & a Minigun.
All of these vehicles come with a brilliant collection of soundtracks from the 80's, these are put into groups, & put onto a radio, including rock (VROCK), pop (FLASH FM) etc. These radio stations don't just play songs, but are also the main way that rockstar used to input great jokes.
All in alll this game is of exceptional quality, & will keep you entertained for hours, another classic from Rockstar.

All in alll, I'd say that if you own a PS2 & an Xbox, go for the PS2 version - a slight improvement in graphics & loading times aren't worth the poor controls & glitches. If you only own an Xbox then, despite it's flaws, this double pack will make a great addition to your games collection.

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