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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Score: 8.0 / 10

Rockstar has never been a company to shy away from controversy. With it’s newest game, Manhunt 2, getting essentially banned in Britain and Ireland , it seems they are more controversial than ever. Before the Manhunt 2 controversy, Rockstar released another Grand Theft Auto for the Playstation Portable, called Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Released during the holiday season of 2006, it has recently had a version ported to the Playstation 2, however it continues to sell more prominently on the Playstation portable.

Vice City Stories revolves around Victor Vance, a United States Army soldier. Victor maintains a high moral code at first; however it quickly becomes compromised when his sergeant, Jerry Martinez, orders him to traffic cocaine, among other things. However, one day, while Victor was bringing back a prostitute for Martinez, he is caught by army officials along with drugs found underneath his bed. Victor is dishonorably discharged for his actions and now he must start up on the streets of Vice City. However, with gangs, drug dealers and hookers flooding the neighborhood, it’ll take all of Victor’s resourcefulness, along with some possible help from family, to survive, not to mention get his revenge on the man who ruined his life. All this and more can be found in the newest addition in the Grand Theft Auto series.

Since Liberty City Stories, Rockstar has worked to improve on the PSP formula, which included, among other things, faster load times. They also made the missions longer, allowing gamers to get more game play out of the games. In addition, they added more multiplayer modes in order to give more opportunities for gamers to play online on their PSPs. While changing certain things, they also

 

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kept the parts of the formula that worked the same. One of the most popular things about Vice City was the fantastic soundtrack. Well, Rockstar opted to keep a similar soundtrack available for Vice City Stories along with adding some more brilliant radio personalities. It also allowed you to customize the soundtracks, a feature 

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only available in the Xbox and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto prior to the PSP series.

While Vice City Stories has some market improvements, there are also many drawbacks that hinder it. For one, if you didn’t like Vice City the first time, you’re not going to like it now. Also, they left out the ability to upgrade your stats, something seen in San Andreas, which came out after ViceCity . Some of the missions can be very frustrating, and giving very little instructions which can mislead the user. There are still problems with locking-on, especially if you’re face-to-face with you enemy. Overall, Vice City Stories does very little to push the series.

Fans of the GTA series will not be disappointed when picking up this game, especially with it’s now more reasonable $29.99 price tag. Given the “M” rating, it is not recommended for anyone under the age of 17, however if you fit the bill, it’s definitely a must-have of the Playstation Portable’s always expanding library.

- Brendan Lynch

(June 26, 2007)

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