GTA3 Vice City Quick Impressions
As GTA3 Vice City seems to be taking its sweet time to be released down under, I’m posting some quick impressions as we’ve had it for nearly a week here in the UK.
When I first heard about Rockstar going for an 80’s theme I must say I had my doubts. When the classic PC driving game Interstate 76 went all 80’s for their sequel it turned out to be a severe dissappointment for me, ruining what was a solid franchise. I feared the same for GTA, but I’m glad to say I was wrong.
As usual I’m not organised enough to write a monty-style essay, so here’s some quick and unresearched notes on things I’ve noticed in Vice City…
- the soundtrack is simply awesome. It’s a huge improvement to actually enjoy listening to most of the radio that you hear in the game. With a phenomenal 7 CD’s worth of music, with everything 80’s from Thomas Dolby to Foreigner, Yes, Corey Hart and Michael Jackson, I am constantly hearing nostalgic tracks that I haven’t heard for nearly 20 years. It really is a new experience just cruising around and listening to the radio in Vice City.
- car physics and handling is much improved. Riding motorcycles in great fun once you get the hang of it and makes my favourite part of GTA - driving around doing crazy stunts - even better. One tantalising thing my housemate just discovered is a driveable car carrier… which serves as a mobile ramp for jumps.
- on the negative side, the meager financial rewards you receive when starting out can be a bit dissappointing. It sucks to do a huge jump off a building with a triple 360 on a scooter and get 20 bucks for it. The payout for early missions is equally paltry. I’m assuming this will improve the further I get into the game though, and the huge new variety of weapons to buy will make the wait worthwhile.
- the level of detail in GTA3 was always impressive, but now with a larger city and so many buildings to explore Vice City is gargantuan in scope. You can spend hours just checking out things in one area of the city.
Anyway, there’s hundreds of reviews out there if you really want more detail, but my personal take is that Vice City is simply better in all regards… definitely worth getting if you enjoyed GTA3, and especially worth checking out if you are old enough to remember end enjoy 80’s music.
posted by bruce · at 4:43 pm · filed under First Impressions
If only it was coming out on the Gamecube.. :( It sounds a lot mroe tame then the predeccesor and it has passed OFLC. So who knows.. Perhaps Rockstar will throw it on GCN.. I’m going out to buy SMugglers Run for GCN this week.. As it has been reviewed very well.