The worst thing a video game can be is worthless.
When “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories” was released for Sony's handheld PSP, it was a welcome addition to the system's arsenal of games. By transposing a new tale of gratuitous street sins onto the Miami setting of PlayStation 2's “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” Rockstar Games made PSP owners feel special. They gave them their own game.
Now that game has been adapted to the PlayStation 2. And aside from stirring up sissy fits from PSP owners who don't feel like sharing their property, “Vice City Stories” presents another problem as a PlayStation 2 game: It's been done before.
“Vice City Stories” is, like “Vice City,” a bloody love letter to the Miami of Don Johnson and Tony Montana set to a soundtrack of hyper-synthed '80s music by artists like Roxy Music and Phil Collins. Pastels are in full effect, and the orange hues of the beach vistas are oversaturated to the point of being painful on the eyes.
Players are set on the mean, coke-stained streets of 1984 Miami as Vic Vance, a good-hearted ex-soldier whose desire to protect his mentally disabled brother pushes him to a vicious life of drug-running and violence.
Vic's non-stop nagging grows tiresome as he tells his crooked commanding officer that he's no criminal, yet without question he guns down gang members and picks up prostitutes. Without altering the gameplay to suit Vic's concerns as a good-hearted mercenary, he is less fun a protagonist than the greedy thugs of past “Grand Theft Auto” games.
The gameplay is generally the same as it was in “Vice City,” with a few gleaming improvements. The hand-to-hand combat system now gives players the ability to grab foes and block against attacks. And unlike Tommy Vercetti, the scoundrel star of “Vice City,” Vic can swim in the area's many aqueous settings.
These improvements upon “Vice City” are nullified by the graphic quality of the game, which falls several notches. The rate at which the frames of the game flash on screen - framerate - often falls short of sustaining the fluidity in “Vice City.” Many colors bleed into each other and nighttime scenes are bereft of sharpness.
The conversion of the PSP game was apparently made without much effort to maximize the performance of the PlayStation 2's hardware.
On its own merits, “Vice City Stories” makes for a lively romp through '80s Miami by giving the gamer all the goods of the “Grand Theft Auto” series. As Vic Vance, players are free to make infinite kinds of mischief in a massive time capsule with a pulse.
They can savor the pleasure of hijacking cars, careening into the air on BMX bikes and just cruising around town listening to Iron Maiden. But one game already did that, and it not only felt fresher but looked better.
Staff writer David Wilcox reviews video games for The Citizen. He can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
“Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories”
Score: B-
Parental rating: Mature for blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs
Manufacturer: Rockstar Games
Platform: PlayStation 2, PSP
Retail price: $19.99
Features: 1 player
Life span: 40 hours
The final boss: “Vice City Stories” brings the felonious fun by letting players rampage through Miami without mercy, but the blood looked a bit redder and the pastels brighter in the first “Vice City” game
Now that game has been adapted to the PlayStation 2. And aside from stirring up sissy fits from PSP owners who don't feel like sharing their property, “Vice City Stories” presents another problem as a PlayStation 2 game: It's been done before.
“Vice City Stories” is, like “Vice City,” a bloody love letter to the Miami of Don Johnson and Tony Montana set to a soundtrack of hyper-synthed '80s music by artists like Roxy Music and Phil Collins. Pastels are in full effect, and the orange hues of the beach vistas are oversaturated to the point of being painful on the eyes.
Players are set on the mean, coke-stained streets of 1984 Miami as Vic Vance, a good-hearted ex-soldier whose desire to protect his mentally disabled brother pushes him to a vicious life of drug-running and violence.
Vic's non-stop nagging grows tiresome as he tells his crooked commanding officer that he's no criminal, yet without question he guns down gang members and picks up prostitutes. Without altering the gameplay to suit Vic's concerns as a good-hearted mercenary, he is less fun a protagonist than the greedy thugs of past “Grand Theft Auto” games.
The gameplay is generally the same as it was in “Vice City,” with a few gleaming improvements. The hand-to-hand combat system now gives players the ability to grab foes and block against attacks. And unlike Tommy Vercetti, the scoundrel star of “Vice City,” Vic can swim in the area's many aqueous settings.
These improvements upon “Vice City” are nullified by the graphic quality of the game, which falls several notches. The rate at which the frames of the game flash on screen - framerate - often falls short of sustaining the fluidity in “Vice City.” Many colors bleed into each other and nighttime scenes are bereft of sharpness.
The conversion of the PSP game was apparently made without much effort to maximize the performance of the PlayStation 2's hardware.
On its own merits, “Vice City Stories” makes for a lively romp through '80s Miami by giving the gamer all the goods of the “Grand Theft Auto” series. As Vic Vance, players are free to make infinite kinds of mischief in a massive time capsule with a pulse.
They can savor the pleasure of hijacking cars, careening into the air on BMX bikes and just cruising around town listening to Iron Maiden. But one game already did that, and it not only felt fresher but looked better.
Staff writer David Wilcox reviews video games for The Citizen. He can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
“Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories”
Score: B-
Parental rating: Mature for blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs
Manufacturer: Rockstar Games
Platform: PlayStation 2, PSP
Retail price: $19.99
Features: 1 player
Life span: 40 hours
The final boss: “Vice City Stories” brings the felonious fun by letting players rampage through Miami without mercy, but the blood looked a bit redder and the pastels brighter in the first “Vice City” game
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