First of all, I haven't really tried playing Grand Theft Auto III, so if anything I say is good or new in this review is also in GTA III, you know why. I have the PC version of the game, so if something I say is a good feature and you don't have it on your console version of the game, yep, once again, you already know the reason. The game is pretty good, but has much too few features compared to how far it has gotten(time-wise as well as compared to the technological achievements within the field of video games) since the release of the first Grand Theft Auto(which is basically the only game in the series that I have played). If you hit water, you still drown(if you are far enough out, of course), no matter what water it is. No swimming, no getting out of the car in the nick of time to get the less than two meters back onto the shore... you just die. And saving can only take place at designated locations, which you'll only get more of when you get further in the game. Sorry, but a game that is this darned difficult should offer saving at all times. You can shoot out the front window of any car, but it's rarely possible to shoot the driver, which really renders this an utterly useless feature. Also, to my knowledge, it's impossible to shoot out any of the other windows; that's just laziness, if you ask me. You can shoot any car to pieces, but there's not one particular 'zone' you can aim for... you just shoot all over the car, and it'll explode once it has taken enough bullets. Once again, lazy. How about giving us a little zone to aim for, near the engine, for instance, that when hit once or twice will cause the car to explode. You can shoot out the tires, and this is one of the features that are really cool. If the cops are on your tail, if you can feel the heat breathing down your neck, just pull out a fast and/or accurate gun, aim for one of the tires in the nearest cop car, and watch them skid off the road. For maximum enjoyment, take out two or more tires and engage in a high-speed chase through town. They won't be able to drive properly. Like the original GTA, it's very entertaining to go nuts and get as many cops to chase you as possible. This time, you get SWAT, FBI, even the military after you. I'm not kidding, we're talking tanks and armed choppers. I don't believe there is anything quite as satisfying in this game as shooting down a chopper with one well-placed shot from the bazooka. The weapons are pretty good, but I think it sucks that you are often forced to change a weapon when you take on a mission, and you have to get your weapons back by buying them somewhere or finding it in town somewhere. Why not give the player an armory accessible through all of the safe-houses? The way you have to work your way through most of the city for so many of the benefits seems like a lame way of getting the player to be on the move a lot(it's a game of fast cars which lets you drive as fast as the car can go... finding ways of encouraging players to drive around a lot really shouldn't be that tough a feat). The story is pretty good, but much of it is dull and bland. The voice acting is all good. I thoroughly enjoyed running around as a character voiced by Ray Liotta(and the in-jokes were a nice touch). The missions are good, at times... at other times, they are overly hard and frustrating. There were at least two missions that I had to cheat my way through... and believe me, I *hate* cheating. I was just so tired of losing constantly, I gave up and gave in. All in all, the game is fairly entertaining, but it just lacks too many features. The MP3 Player 'radio station' is nice, but it doesn't add enough. How about a properly integrated MP3 Player in the game, where you can listen to that specific track you want to listen to? Shooting whilst driving is fun, but why only allow one class of weapon(the SMG, or Sub Machine Gun) to be used for it? And there's no way to aim or predict where the shots will go. I'm not saying you should have perfect aim whilst driving at high speeds and using one hand to steer, but just a hint of a control feature would be nice. Also, you can only fire to either side, and, if on a bike, forward. How about a feature where the car is either driven for you, and you can shoot anywhere you want out of the side window, or you drive it whilst someone(maybe the helper could be hired? Money are easy enough to come by in the game) else shoots, a la Enter the Matrix. I'm by no means a car guy, yet I very much enjoyed those parts of that game, in spite of how widely recognized the fact of them being less than perfectly done(or even completed all the way) is. The humor, mostly, did just not work for me. It felt more about throwing stereotypes and "offensive" material at the gamer than actually being entertaining. Like someone with no talent trying to do South Park style comedy. I recommend this to fans of car/action games, but definitely not to fans of shooting games(as the shooting sucks hard, compared to just about every other game that involves shooting, if not for completely sure). Just don't expect to be that entertained, as the game is, unfortunately, not unlike Postal 2 and a few other recent games, geared more towards being as politically incorrect as possible, rather than entertain. 7/10
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
(2002 Video Game)
Too few features, could have been better, but fairly entertaining overall
6 November 2004