the FIRST VICE CITY Review!!

The new official Aussie PS2 magazine just gave its review, I still havnt brought it but it got a

9 Graphics
10 Gameplay (duh)
10 Sound
10 Longlivity (duh again)

overall 10

I might get the magazine tomorow so ill
try to type in the highlights, (its a 6 page review)

or someone else go get it

 

Maybe everybody is too busy playing it to give us their reviews.

 

The new EGM (December issue, my friend's has Lance Vance on the cover) gave GTA: Vice three perfect scores (10).

Can you say "Game of the Year"?

 

No surprises there. 4 more days!

 

Sounds good to me...

 

4 more days??? (i hear the AUS one is being modified.. bummer. Im getting mine import then

 

I'm gonna fake my own death so I can play this game non-stop all throughout November.

 

Any more reviews yet? I wouldn't be surprised at all if VC gets a bunch of "game of the year" awards. It sounds like it's twice as good as GTA3, which received many such accolades. It's a little funny that the GTA series is so acclaimed now. I remember the first three (yes, three) PSX ones got mixed reviews.

 

I've heard sites can't publish reviews until the game comes out. Don't quote me on that, though.

 

Entertainment Weekly, known as being pretty asenine when reviewing anything, gave the game an "A".

 

I get my copy monday night at 10pm.... 2 hours early somehow, funcoland must be breakin the rules, or have some special permission, as it dont come out till the next day, or 12am

 

The strategy guide has already hit the streets in some areas. Some people over at Gamefaqs who bought the guide were giving out some information. Random information I've gleaned:

Note: This might be considered SPOILER material.
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There will be ice cream and pizza delivery missions, but no SWAT missions. Fifty-eight story missions (21 "core" missions). About 70 cars/trucks/cycles (doesn't include boats or planes). Thirty-two weapons (including a camera used to take incriminating photos and an explosive you can blow up from a distance with a detonator). Over 30 unique jumps and rampages. Police and firetruck missions apparently will work like GTA3's ambulence missions (I've got a bad feeling about this).

 

What? The polic missions were always so much fun.

BTW, any new reviews?

 

Some reviews (from gouranga.com):

OPM (AU) - (November 2002) - (10/10)
OPM (UK) - (December 2002) - (10/10)
OPM (US) - (December 2002) - (5/5)
EGM (US) - (December 2002) - (10/10)
GamesMaster (UK) - (December 2002) - (97%)
FHM - (December 2002) - (4/4)

EDIT: Just as a sidenote, Rockstar almost always manages to get some dirty humor into every storefront in the game.

 

IGN PS2: 9.7

Presentation: 9.3
Graphics: 8.6
Sound: 9.8
Gameplay: 9.6
Lasting Appeal: 9.5

 

I got the game tonight. The first thing I noticed was how different it looks from GTA3, but I've already started getting used to it. The controls are a bit clunky like in GTA3, and I really don't see any of the supposed improvements to melee combat. That's not to say that there aren't new types of melee weapons, because there are plenty. One oddity is that people seem rather difficult to kill. You can slice a person several times with a katana and they'll still be standing. It's also a lot harder to kick people when they're down for some reason than in GTA3. That and the controls are really my only complaints so far.

For the first hour or so I just cruised around, getting into trouble. The cops are tough in this game. REAL tough. They'll yank you out of your car and bust you much faster in this game, and it seems harder to get your wanted level down. I went into a shopping mall and discovered a handy katana, but the security guards didn't like me chopping up shoppers. The guards were everywhere, so in the future I'll think twice about going on a killing spree in there.

I encountered a number of cool rampages. One of my favorites has got to be the chainsaw rampage. It's every bit as bloody as you might expect. Of course, when I started the rampage I already had cops on my trail, so it wasn't long before they spoiled everything and took me out. Another rampage involved a really powerful pistol that kills people in one shot. I kept finding "off-road" type missions accidentally all over the place, as well as RC missions. The RC missions are mostly races, and they're pretty difficult.

Surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of the game so far has been cruising around on a little scooter. I'm not sure why, it's just cool to drive about in that little thing. You can take it just about everywhere, which makes it ideal for hidden package finding. Driving a car just seems unwieldy in comparison.

I haven't tried any missions yet, since I'm still pre-occupied sightseeing. I managed to collect ten hidden packages and got some body armor. I found some buyable properties, but I didn't have enough cash. Cash is pretty hard to come by.

Well, those are my initial impressions.

 

I played a little more and managed to complete all of the pizza delivery missions, which are surprisingly fun. I just love those scooters. Completing all levels of odd-job missions (which work like GTA3's ambulence missions) net you various rewards. The pizza mission raises your maximum health to 150 plus $5000, for instance.

Normally I don't really care about popular music, but I have to say this game's soundtrack is great. Hearing familiar songs on the radio while you're delivering pizzas adds a lot to the immersion factor.

Is VC better than GTA3? Too early to say, but for now I'm leaning towards "yes." It should be noted, however, that VC isn't such a vast improvement that you'll have no use for GTA3 anymore.

 

I don't know how many of you get TechTV (it's not a regular cable channel) but extended play only gave it a 3/5. They stated, and I agree, that it is a great game, but not nearly as polished as GTA3. If you run down stairs to fast you lose life, the guns don't always fire when you want them to, and I have been shot through a wall more than a few times. Its still a great game but its bugs can be annoying. We can only hope they fix some of these bugs before the PC release.

 

Um, I remember all of those bugs being in GTA3. Granted, GTA3 and GTAVC have their fair share of flaws, but they're negligible given the fact that the games are such a blast to play.