Author Topic: Anotha GTA:VC review  (Read 165 times)

Jome

Anotha GTA:VC review
« on: October 31, 2002, 09:00:28 PM »

Spectrum Holobyte’s Vette!. GameTek’s Quarantine. Reflections’ Driver series. Microsoft’s Midtown Madness series. SCI’s Carmageddon. DMA Design’s Grand Theft Auto series. All games which appealed to the freedom-loving wheelman inside me, some offering greater degrees of freedom than others. Still, there was something missing. I always wanted to truly feel like I was in a living, breathing city. Full of people for me to interact with as I chose. When the third title in the Grand Theft Auto series hit the PS2 last year, I knew that the technology had finally caught up with the dream. Grand Theft Auto 3 annihilated everything in its path, set new sales records and established the market for Mature-rated games in the new millennium. So how in the name of all that’s holy can Rockstar follow up on their juggernaut? I mean, if you’re going to throw together a sequel in less than a year’s development time, why not just add some new vehicles and weapons, change the music around a bit, slap a “4” after it and figure out creative new ways to spend your royalties? Like maybe purchasing Brazil?

That’s not the Rockstar way, apparently. Resting on their laurels is exactly what hasn’t occurred in the grand sequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. A whole new city, with production values far above the majority of titles available on the market. A massive title that’s crafted with such obvious care and love for the genre it singlehandedly created, as well as respect for the target audience, that you can’t help but marvel that it hasn’t been done before. Then you realize – many publishers wouldn’t take the chance on the controversy inherent in Vice City, and it’s that fear and lack of innovation that makes it obvious why it hasn’t been done before. Rockstar thankfully doesn’t give a damn about spinning hedgehogs and chubby plumbers – the gaming industry has grown up over the last 25 years and needs mature titles to complete the spectrum and provide entertainment that speaks to us as adults, not children. Vice City continues that grand tradition and does so in such a exemplary manner as to make life very difficult indeed for any clones in the works from other companies.

How to describe Vice City? Take the drab gray concrete slabs from GTA 3’s Liberty City and throw them out the window. Vice City as a backdrop is colorful and neon-bright, a sun-kissed metropolis on the edge of the ocean. This beautiful curtain has a nasty side, covering a stinking underbelly of corruption and crime that surpasses that of its neighbour to the north. Vice City is graced by a group of characters that breathe, live and eat the vicious cocaine culture of 1980s Miami, and there is literally no one that you can trust in this town. Who are you? Tommy Vercetti, out of jail after 15 years and rewarded by the mob for keeping your mouth shut by getting shipped down to Vice City to lay the groundwork for a criminal takeover. After a drug deal goes extremely bad, Tommy has no drugs, no money, and no excuses for a very pissed off mob lieutenant. Now it’s up to you to figure out just who screwed you over and how, then make the bastards pay with their lives and livelihoods.

Now, revenge tales are a dime a dozen in the entertainment software industry. It’s a credit to the script that Rockstar has provided that the storyline stays compelling, always stringing you along as a willing accomplice hoping to find out what happens next and who did this to your character. No cheesy moments. No crappy voice acting. Just solid fundamental spadework in the writing department and some truly standout lines delivered by a range of talent that rivals a Hollywood flick. While GTA 3 boasted an excellent lineup of voice actors in its stable, Vice City has taken it to the next level while giving a voice to the game’s protagonist for the first time. To be completely honest, I had serious misgivings when informed that the main character would have a voice in Vice City. In order to identify fully with the GTA 3 character as myself, it was easier to imagine what I would say during certain scenarios as opposed to having the game say my lines for me. Suspension of belief would be made more difficult hearing an actual voice for the (anti)hero. Or so I thought.

I’ve never been so glad to be so wrong. Ray Liotta provides a standout performance as the voice of Tommy Vercetti, and from the first line you know that you’re getting as professional a representation of a main character as you’ve ever heard in a game. His trademark soft growl fits perfectly, and having a character with a voice adds the bonus of response and repartee with other characters in the game, as opposed to just taking orders and nodding. Vice City really feels like an action movie with you in control, and some of the lines delivered are just hilarious, especially after just being handed an assignment. The rest of the cast is no slouch either, with notable names such as Luis Guzman, Philip Michael Thomas (!), Dennis Hopper, Lawrence Taylor and others. Even porn whore Jenna Jamison makes a aural cameo appearance. The writing is snappy and doesn’t drag, keeping you focused and drawn into the story. As twists and turns develop, it’s hard to keep track of just what is the truth – just like any good film.

The good stuff keeps rolling right along in the music department. GTA 3 had the best gaming soundtrack of 2001 and Vice City takes that effort up several notches. Since the story is set during the 1980s, all of the tracks are classic anthems that had me thinking back to high school immediately. New wave, soul, disco, Cuban jazz, hip hop – everyone from Laura Branigan to Judas Priest to Rick James to Flock of Seagulls is present and accounted for. Unfortunately, there is no Kid ‘n Play to be found and normally a faux pas like this would result in an immediate failing grade…but the rest of the songlist is so well done that I’ll let it slide this time. You haven’t lived until you’ve taken an insane jump while the strains of “Billie Jean” blast through your speaker system.

Speaking of insane jumps, there are even more vehicles to fly through the air with. Motorcycles make a welcome return to the GTA universe, boats, helicopters, and tons of cars and trucks, many of them obvious predecessors to their Liberty City counterparts. While there aren’t any real-world licensing agreements in place here, you can easily recognize which manufacturers Rockstar is paying homage to (or ripping off, depending on your point of view) – Lamborghini, Porsche, GMC, Harley-Davidson…I even saw a Honda CRV lookalike on the streets of Vice City, which brought a smile to my face.

The graphics in Vice City are an improvement over GTA 3. The neon trail effect really gives Miami – whoops, Vice City – it’s trademark glow, although you can turn it off if it suits you. The amount of horizon draw-in has been lessened and the polygon count increased. Animations and characters models have been sharpened and improved, with several new animations in the new title such as bailing out of moving cars, and crouching down to avoid gunfire. Your character can now enter the interiors of certain buildings, which adds a whole new aspect to the gameplay and enriches the experience to a level that GTA 3 didn’t reach. Melee weapons can be used to smash vehicles and scare their occupants, and you can shoot out tires or through windows to permanently disable the drivers. The damage inflicted is modeled quite well, making it a treat to watch. Vice City is an absolutely gorgeous looking town, and the weather effects are implemented nicely. Hurricanes send huge drops of rain and serious winds whipping across the screen, but when the sun comes out and hits Washington Beach, you can almost feel the heat emanating from the screen. The graphics aren’t the most detailed to be found on the PS2 platform – just thinking about having NFS: HP2-calibre cars in this backdrop nearly made me faint – but it still looks very good, especially considering the amount of geometry that’s being pushed around.

I’ve deliberately shied away from revealing many of the secrets that Vice City holds. Spoilers are a drag no matter what, and in a game such as this one that depends on the unfolding storyline to hold it together, telling you what happens even in the first 10 missions could seriously impair your enjoyment of the title if you haven’t purchased it yet. There are some great secrets to be found, however, and successfully completing side missions can open up new opportunities, such as the ability to purchase property and businesses. More than that, however, I refuse to say. Trust me, you’ll thank me later on.

That which made GTA 3 the 2001 Game of the Year across most gaming lists is still here in Vice City – the degree of complete freedom to do whatever you want in a fully populated urban area. Stealing cars, chasing down criminals, assisting the police, shooting pedestrians, putting out fires, delivering pizzas, flying helicopters, walking around doing absolutely nothing – it’s all up to you. Vice City is a game unabashedly made for mature audiences and doesn’t talk down to you or minimize the consequences of your actions. Commit crimes, and the police will come after you in ever-increasing waves. Anger certain criminal factions and you’ll be hard pressed to go through certain sections of town without being attacked. Crime might pay in Vice City, but it also has serious repercussions. Vice City makes the point without hitting gamers over the head with the morality stick, and trusts that we understand that, in the end, this is a game, not a murder simulator or lifestyle choice.

So all this gushing means that Vice City is the perfect game, right? Well, no, there’s still trouble in paradise. The camera work that was supposed to iron out issues from GTA 3 hasn’t been taken care of – more often than not you’ll find yourself shooting at folks you can’t even see until the camera has been repositioned. Framerates take a hit when there are a lot of vehicles around, especially when being chased by large numbers of cops. Police officers still don’t chase you up the stairs, which is a shame seeing as how other AI issues have been cleaned up. The graphics, while quite good, could still be better in comparison to other titles – I would have loved to see what Rockstar North could have accomplished using the Xbox, for example. Did I mention that there’s no Kid ‘n Play on the soundtrack? For shame, sirs!

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City puts the word sequel to shame. Rockstar Games has really taken the time to put together a game that not only fits in perfectly in the GTA universe, but ups the ante for itself and others as well. It would have been all too easy to make a few minor upgrades and still have a best-selling product, but instead they pushed themselves to really take it to the next page. Full marks to Rockstar North and Rockstar Games for not worrying about the so-called controversy from hand-wringing parents, bed-wetting leftists and opportunistic politicians, and supplying mature gamers with a title that was crafted especially for them. In an industry where all too often publishers take the easy way out, Vice City stands as an example of what the next chapter in a series should provide, and earns full marks doing so.

By the way, Rockstar North has the greatest development company intro sequence ever created. Hands down.

Score: A-