1e review!

[Insanity Prawn Boy]

1e review VCS!

PSM geeft als eerste een review van VCS. Ze hebben het spel een 9.5 gegeven!

You know, we liked last year's Grand theft auto; Liberty city stories, quite a bit. It was a full fledged GTA on a handheld and that in itself was a stunning achievment . Still we couldn't help but feel that it could have been so much more. After all, the franchize has evolved sibstancially since GTAIII, but these changes weren't reflected in the PSP game. Of course we chalked this up to the fact that, well, it was on the technically inferior PSP. Then along comes Vice City Stories a game that exceeds all our expectations. To be honest , we were expecting another game along the same lines as LCS - that is to say a stripped down GTA only set in Vice City instead of Libert City. That wouldn't be a terrible game by any means, just a little underwhelming. Luckily, there's so much more to VCS that just that. Yes, it lacks some of the stuff introduced in San Andreas but it's still leaps and bounds beyond LCS, and it sets the bar even higher for what we expect from the PSP.

Welcome Back to Vice City

Perhaps it's the fact so many of us on the PSM staff grew up in the 80's, but we have a fondess for Vice City. The 80's music, the 80's style, the 80's everything - it's a wonderful mash-up of the eras stereotypes, paying homage to films like Scarface and TV shows like Miami Vice. So it goes without saying we were more than happy to make a return trip to Vice City, and it's pretty much like we remembered it.

Well, mostly. This is Vice City before Tommy Vercetti showed up on the scene. It's Vice City when an ex-soldier named Victor (Vic) Vance wants to make a little money for his drug addicted mother and his brother, Lance (yes, the same Lance Vance from the original Vice City). Vic has one rule, however, no drugs. He won't use 'em, and he doesn't want to have anyting to do with 'em. But in coke-fueled city, it's hard not to get involved, and Vic finds himself stuck in situations that he never wanted to get in.

Vic's a very interesting character, especially for a GTA protaganist. He isn't some up-and-coming kingpin. He's not already connected to organised crime.

He's just a guy that wansts to help out his family any way that he can. You could take the cynical view and say that Vic's nothing more than a hypocrite (he does end up killing quite a few people throughout his adventures). Or you could say that Vic's a victim (no pun intended) of circumstance, that he's really a good guy put into a bad situation. Either way, he's different than the other GTA leads, and he's a much more compelling man than LCS' main man, Toni Ciprian.

New and Improved

Story and characters aside, the game itself has undergone notable changes, not the least of which are the improved graphics. The game looks better than LCS with better character detail (characters have individual fingers, better lip-synching) and a better draw distance. This latter point could be slightly improved but it's impressive nonetheless especially for a portable game such as this.

Other refinements include better missions (they're longer and more enjoyable) more multiplayer modes (see "GTA Central" on page 45), new vehicles (like Jetskis), flyable aircraft (helicopters are just as usful as ever), the ability to swim (though only for a limited time (you'll drown if you try to swim for too long) and less zealous cops (which makes the game more fun overall). Oh, and like San Andreas, you can recruit some soldiers to help you out (not on story missions though), which is a nice touch.

One of the complaints we had with LCS was that there was no reall hollywood voice talent in the game. The voice acting itself was good, but the lack of famous actors really made it feel more like a budget GTA, and it was jarring that there was a different voice actor for an established character like Toni Cipriani. VCS has more well-known voice talent (Gary Busey, Danny Trejo, Luis Guzmen, and more) and the returning characters like Lance Vance, have the original voice actors reprising their roles. Also as much as we liked the soundtrack in LCS it didn't hook us nearly as much as the VCS soundtrack - which is due in no small part to our afformentioned affinity for everything 80's.

Building an Empire

Among all these changes is the addition of an entirely new feature for the GTA series. Empire Building. You can roll around Vice City to various businesses, take out the gangs controlling them, buy the lots for yourself, and then build your own business by choosing one of six business types (Protection Racket, Loan Shark, Prostitution, Drug smuggling and Robbery). You get money for every business you own, and you can make more money by doing missions for each type of business. Naturally, the gangs you oust won't be too happy, so you've got to be careful - rival gangs could attack you when you least expect it.

Sure other games have had you aquire properties, The Godfather and Scarface games being recent examples. VCS gives you more freedom, however, allowing you to choose what kind of business you want to build and allowing you to "level up" the business type so you can make more money. Empire building is not a necessary addition to the game franchise, but it's a welcome one.

The More Things Change

As you can see, VCS didn't get a "perfect" score. Don't get us wrong it's a great game - but it has issues. Like every 3D GTA there are some graphical glitches including some carried over from LCS. Motorcylce rider ith really long arms. The arms seem to be stuck in the ground, and they stretch as the motorcycle drives down the road. Fortunately, it happens very rarely, and it doesn't affect the gameplay, but it's an odd sight regardless. The game is also on the shorter side, clocking in with a story more of under 15 hours. But like we say every time we review these games, you're not really done with a GTA game if you only play through the story mode.

Problem that actually do affect gameplay are the target-lock and AI issues - both of which hampered prior GTAs. The target-lock is slightly better than LCS, but you still ocasionally find yourself targeting random pedestrians instead of the guys shooting you. The AI is a weirder issue. It's never exceptionally smart but it can cause strange things to happen, such as bad guys getting stuck running into walls while trying to chase you down. Allies will also move right into your line of fire as you're shooting, which can lead to mission failure. We can live with it, although we'd also like to see it fixed.

The Best PSP Game

To say that VCS is the best PSP game we've played so far wouldn't be too much hyperbole - it's just that good. It's miles better than LCS. Improving on almost every complaint we had about that game. We'll go out on a limb and say it's one of our favourite games in the entire series. The fact that it's portable is just icing on the cake.

bron scans: gamespot

bron tekst: gta forums

Bewerkt: 22 oktober 2006 door Insanity Prawn Boy

[Damos]

Ik heb de review gezien en ik ben het ook wel met ze eens. Het is een verbeterd spel als je kijkt naar Lcs. De vortuigen zijn goed zoals de jetski. En ik denk dat de storyline beter word dan die van Lcs. Ook vind ik het mooi dat die gangsters op de auto's zitten. De gangs hebben volgens mij een hele ander look gekregen dan die van vice city. De hoofdrolspeler bevalt me wel.

Greets Damos

[SummerBase]

Ik had hem ook al gezien, maar vanwege de opening van 'het' is het me gister even ontgaan dat ik er ook nog een artikel over moet schrijven. Dat doe ik zo dan even, maar het is nu wel even leuk om er over te discuseren uiteraard. Als eerste: De mogelijkheden, her verhaal de personages het slaat allemaal direct aan. Natuurlijk hebben we nog niet echt de impressie van de personages kunnen voelen, maar alleen als je in de trailers al kunt zien hoe de personages op elkaar reageren, dan geeft me dat al een fijn gevoel.'

De mogelijkheden breiden zich constant uit en dat brengt Vice City Stories in een stadium met mogelijkheden waarvan je van zou kunnen dromen op een handheld (PSP - PlayStation Portable). Empire Building, golfen, Multiplayer, 99 Red Baloons en nog een aantal standaard dingen paseren het spel. De personages vindt ik ook zo mooi omdat ze zo goed op elkaar reageren en dan niet in de zin van ze praten goed met elkaar maar de gebaren in de mond en het lichaam. Tevens vindt ik de verschillende kleding van Victor (Vic) Vance erg leuk. Het lijkt me echt een levende stad omdat je niet telkens dezelfde kleding ziet en ook niet dezelfde dingen, maar wees gerust over 12 dagen (3 November) zullen de meesten het spel veilig in de hand sluiten. En als dat niet het geval is dan is dat heel erg jammer.

[BigM]

Het cijfer dat ze voor die review Vind ik zeer goed ik wist dat het een fantastic game .. zal worden maar het is leuker als je het ook van de echte kenners hoort

Het word echt een top game en daar gaat iedereen op drie november achterkomen

peace

[Rayman800]

Toch wel k*t dat ik (nog) geen psp heb.

[Insanity Prawn Boy]

De scans staan nu hier ook op een betere resolutie.