I like it!

I was looking for Grand Theft Auto 3 on Amazon to complete my collection and I ran into Vice City Stories and Liberty City Stories. Of course, I had to order all three. I played Vice City Stories and it was awesome. Not better than the original Vice City though. And I left Liberty City Stories in the packaging to save just for the collection.

Please keep in mind that this is an adaption from the PSP version, so don't expect another massive game like San Andreas.

I never thought that I would say this about anything Grand Theft Auto, but I learned to really dislike this game. The reason being is the fact that it is so glitchy. The slightest bump from anything will knock you down for a few seconds, which is a guaranteed death or bust if the cops are after you. The other most noticeable thing is the hand to hand fighting is horrible. You can't be too close or the person you are fighting will beat you to death.

It's obvious that the graphics are too much for the PS2. You can tell that right away when you get in a car and floor it. You get nothing but pop up graphics and scenery that has not loaded all of the way. Or the way you will not hear pedestrian or voices form the main character if there are cars driving by because the sound of the city and the cars overload the game.

Another thing that is fun about the GTA series are using cheat codes when not doing missions. Most people know that you never use them when doing the story line because you cheat yourself and they can have strange side effects on your game save. Forget about using them in this one. You will get instant weirdness. Rampages become disabled, meaning you can do a rampage, but you will not pass it. The graphics will become even worse, and occasionally cops will pull up trying to bust you, only to get out of their car and walk away. Don't even lie and say you never use cheat codes.

I say, rent it.

Vice City Stories felt good to play. It has all the trappings you'd expect from a free-roaming vehicle-driven GTA crime-fest. But for some reason, despite being a game I enjoyed, VCS never quite hit that peak of gameplay euphoria. This was definitely not for lack of content.

The main story revolves around Victor Vance, the brother of Lance Vance, a prominent character in the original Vice City. While Vic mixes well with the criminal element, he has a strong distaste for drugs, and makes note of this many times. After being set up and left to fend for himself in Vice City, he and Lance begin getting more and more involved in the seedy underside of Vice City. During the course of the game, you'll run into many familiar faces from the previous Vice City, but most feel like cameos. The main plot never gets too deep or involved with any one person other than Lance, but is still satisfying.

There are an astounding number of optional side-missions to tackle, possibly more than any other GTA. Completing them usually awards you with a new outfit, ability or perk. Some are very time-consuming (many of the air missions), simple (taxi driver) or frustrating (fire and ambulance). Thankfully, none of them are are overly difficult, as has been the case in the past. Most are still quite fun diversions. Of note is the import/export garage where you bring the stolen cars you've collected for money. The list is very VERY short compared to other GTA games, which disappointed me a little as this is usually my favorite side-mission.
For the obsessive compulsive players, there are still hidden items to be found, as well as unique jumps and rampages. There is a good mix of easy to find and truly hidden places for each.
In Vice City Stories Vic can build up his own empire by taking over rival locations and converting the properties into a hotspot for one of 6 different types of criminal activity. Each type has it's own side-missions to complete.

The music on the radio stations goes from good to great, and the voice acting is top-notch. I would have liked more environmental noises, like gulls calling by the shore or the whine of jet engines at the airport. These were notably missing in VCS. When you're not in a vehicle listening to your choice of tunes, Vice City can sometimes be a very quiet place.

The most notable improvement from previous GTA titles is the map. You can access a menu that allows you to turn on/off location displays for the hidden items, jumps, rampages, etc. that you've already collected. Finally you can track down these items without looking in the same spot over and over.
The graphics have been touched up from the PSP version, and look as you'd expect from a GTA game on the PS2. There are some very rare problems with frame-rate when there are too many things going on at once, and textures/buildings not loading fast enough when you're speeding down the road at Mach 5.
The city itself is as vibrant and enjoyable as ever. For those who have played the first Vice City, there are a lot of fun and interesting changes in the cityscape and it's inhabitants. For example, Sunshine Autos, which is a very modern and sleek car lot in Vice City, occupies a small junky looking lot next door in Stories... but a construction site beside the lot has a big signboard announcing the "new" Sunshine Autos coming soon with a concept sketch of the project which is exactly as it appears in Vice City. There are now jetskis on the water and a small handful of new vehicles as well.

Vice City Stories is a solid GTA game but does feel a little light-handed in terms of difficulty. Missions and gunfights are never terribly tough and a suit of body armor (easily located) assures you will live through 95% of problems you might face. Police response is also very light. The fiercest resistance you will likely encounter is aggressive police cruisers at a 2-star (low) wanted level. At higher levels, you will bump into a few lousy roadblocks or fast-moving ATF/FBI vehicles that invariably flip themselves nothing to be too concerned about. This takes away from the fun of a crime spree when the "punishment" is so lax. As long as you're not looking for a real challenge, the game is still quite fun.

Getting the most out of Vice City Stories means immersing yourself in all the little things to do. Since they make up about 40% of the total completion percentage of the game, you have to enjoy these somewhat menial chores to get the full amount of enjoyment possible from VCS. But considering the budget price, variety and wealth of substantial activities, and sandbox nature of the game, it's easy to recommend Vice City Stories to anyone looking to kill time and have fun doing it.