A Story of Disappointment - Grand Theft Auto: VCS

Could it be, after all these years, that Grand Theft Auto has finally made a turn for the worse? After three outstanding and generation defining console games and one excellent portable title, it seems that the fire has burnt out at Rockstar Games with the half-hearted, unenjoyable latest, Vice City Stories, now appearing on PS2 after it bombed horribly on PSP (likely because everyone figured it would hit PS2 anyway). Sure, it's still the same old GTA, with the same kind of gameplay, which has aged well enough, but a wishy-washy plot that loses the charm and frequent tongue-in-cheek moments, along with that same old gameplay that grows tiresome no matter if it's aged well – the law of diminishing returns. Sure for 20 bucks it's not bad, but this is the first time in years that a Grand Theft Auto game has been completely irrelevant. The Grand Theft Auto IV trailer says “things will be different” - it better be or this formerly important franchise will be the latest in a line of flameouts.


What's it about?
An unwilling participant...

Vice City Stories takes place 2 years before the adventures of Tommy Vercetti. This time the star is military man Vic Vance, the brother of Vice City slimeball Lance Vance. When Vic arrives at the local base, he finds out that his superior is a corrupt addict (of many things), and thus is led down a path of crime, despite his frequent protests – all because he needs the money for a sick brother since his coked-out mother wastes all their own cash on the cocaine. Right off the bat, the game suffers with this generic and dull plot – Vic is constantly trying to not pull crooked acts, yet does them anyway like a puppet. He's a completely unlikable character and that is problemo uno with the game...if the main character sucks, why bother? As time goes on Vic meets even more surly people, all whom lack that satirical edge the games were previously known for. There's some comic relief from Phil Cassidy (played by Gary Busey) and a weirdo movie director (who was also the DJ on Flashback FM in Liberty City Stories), but that's about it. It simply lacks the Grand Theft Auto charm.


What does it play like?
If you've played the series before, you know

There's no attempt to reinvent the wheel here - Vice City Stories plays exactly like its predecessors. The missions play out in familiar fashion – drive here, do this, kill this, blow up this, etc. By now the formula is pretty evident. All the usual side-missions return, like driving a taxi around, playing cop, putting out fires, and a sort of car collecting job, but now including boats. The game plays like you'd expect, and that familiarity is nice but the same problems still appear – targeting can be weird, the car physics are floaty, and both death and arrests are crippling for those who don't like to reload after a screw up since you have to completely replay a mission. After playing The Godfather, with its frequent mission checkpoints, nothing less is really acceptable and the lack of a retry doesn't cut it anymore. All told, since this is the 5th GTA in the PS2 generation, the lack of updates and modernization doesn't cut it anymore. It worked on PSP the first time around because of the achievement of getting the experience on a portable, but now it's time to deliver and Rockstar didn't. It really doesn't help that the game doesn't begin on the same island as Vice City did, but instead on the less interesting 'downtown' district, and takes forever to unlock that superior island.

That said, Vice City Stories does have some new stuff, along with the return of old favorites. After being absent in Liberty City Stories, the ability to fly helicopters is back, as is the ability to swim. Rejoice! But what VCS does have to stand out a bit is Empire Mode. It's hard to not tell that it's influenced by The Godfather and its warehouse/hub takeover missions, but it's done up in GTA style. Once the game opens up Empire building, Vic can visit businesses (more like rackets) owned by rivals, start a fight, and ultimately topple the rivals and gain the property as your own for various “unsavory” businesses like protection rackets, prostitution, extortion, loan sharking, etc. The catch is that toppling enemy businesses raises a “hate” meter, and they occasionally will attack your sites out of revenge. It functions like the gang turf in San Andreas, where if you leave it be, bad things can happen, unless you just reload your save which turns off the threat. Each business type has side-quests tailored to the type – a prostitution racket has Vic delivering his “employees” to her John, and occasionally killing them when they run off before paying, clearing showing that Vic doesn't understand the “pay before you play” rule. All in all it's a nice addition to the formula and is really what saves the game from total disappointment.

Though VCS doesn't live up to the past, it's not a really bad game, per se. It's just that the dull, mean-spirited plot, boring new characters (returning faces like Lance and Diaz get the job done), and lack of ambition make the game less interesting than it could have been. I would rather play Grand Theft Auto III again than play another round of this, as that game has all the plot, charm, humor, and parody that VCS almost completely lacks. If you can make it past the uncomfortable cinematics that set up missions for Marty Williams without getting a bit disturbed by its lack of humor, you might be set but all that really delivers the tone the entire game has – dark, lacking wit, and thus erasing all that makes most stories in this franchise fun. Where VCS fails the most is the bad “first impressions” syndrome – if someone who has never played a GTA game before picks this game up, it'll just make them wonder what the fuss is about.


How does it present itself?
Rockstar never forgets its style

Those of us who double-dipped on Liberty City Stories likely remember the muddy, stuttery graphics that showed how awful a port to PS2 from PSP can be, what with the changes in hardware and screens (the LCD on PSP makes everything brighter). VCS on the other hand has actually been optimized for PS2 and thus looks pretty good. It's very similar to Vice City, which shouldn't come as a surprise since there's only a two year storyline gap between them. Like Vice City, this game features an amazing soundtrack that makes up for whatever the hell made up the LCS tracklist. Plenty of hair metal, lots of cheesy pop music, early hip-hop, Latin-flavored tunes, you name it. And I loved it. Really one of the best things about playing the game is driving around and listening to the tunes, it's the one place that really shines. Alas aside from some major stars appearing or returning names, the voice acting is decent at best, under par from what you'd expect from a Grand Theft Auto game.


Closing Argument
It's time to reinvent the wheel

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is not a bad game in the scheme of things...it's just not up to the level of what we've come to expect from the franchise. Clearly the game is a cash-in to aid next-generation development, but aside from Empire Mode, the game feels uninspired and lacks the easygoing vibe of the previous PS2 games. Some die-hards will find a lot to enjoy – I was able to make my $20 purchase worthwhile – but those tiring of the series won't be brought back here. Vice City Stories goes to show that even the most devoted will tire of the same formula after a while, and clearly there needs to be some new flavors or GTA IV will be irrelevant later this year. The competition is catching up and if Rockstar continues to rest on their laurels, the copycats will win with more ambition and smarter game design. Obviously 20 bucks isn't a lot to pay for a huge game, but even then know that while it's still GTA, it's decidedly GTA: Lite.