Grand Theft Auto, Vice City

In Grand Theft Auto, Vice City, you are put in the role of Tommy Vercetti an-ex Mafia employee who was doing time but escapes while in transit to another prison.

You start out in Vice City with little or no money, the huge terrain of buildings canals, rivers, skyscrapers, beaches, islands slowly unwind as you progress through the game. The overall aim is to take over the city. This general objective is taken care of mostly via the main story script, but there are many sub-threads that I will describe later that inter-weave with the main plot, this in my opinion offers unseen levels of flexibility in how you approach and complete the game, and adds so much longevity to gameplay, as it can constantly adapt to your needs/moods etc. Benn doing a mission for two hours to no avail? Wanna jump in your sports car and go run down a load of pedestrians, then get out beat someone up, go shoot a few cops? Hold up the local shopping mall? You can do exactly what you want to do when you want to do it (It is only when you are in the middle of a specific objective, that you need to either complete or fail it in order to unlock the ability to save down the game or visit your properties etc). (OK admittedly this game is not for minors, or any unsafe or easily influenced member of society, and I would rate the age limit as only 16years+ to play this game, however I am not the censoring body!!)

There are tons of different things to do you can either follow the main story script, take on other mission threads from individuals you meet along the way, take on various jobs to earn cash, explore the area on/in bikes, cars, jeeps, planes, helicopters or speedboats. Though stealing some vehicles will get you into more trouble than others ie, a fire engine!! However getting into some of these non-public vehicles will trigger the "Vechile Missions", and not all will get you too much trouble, ie the pizza delivery moped, or stealing a taxi. You can also go off finding the hidden packages (find all 100 to unlock all the available cheats) or take on the "jumps challenge", the "Stunts Challenge", the "Rampage Challenges" offering various levels of berserked slaughtering of various social groups in different locations using different weapons, ie Take out 25 people in the shopping mall with a sniper rifle in two minutes. You can even just go around beating people up, getting chased by the police, and just be a general pest to society.

Even just cruising around in a recently "acquired" vehicle, listening to the radio, is fantastic. On this note I should add that the music is one of the best features and really does keep you playing and palying and plaaying. You have either a tape option (to load your own pre-recorded CD tracks done via the x-box dashboard prior to loading the game) which I never bothered with. Or listen to the various tunes on the airwaves - these are GREAT and really do make the game head and shoulders above anything else you will play, it just makes it very conducive, and adds so much longevity to the gameplayers interest to keep on playing. Anyone who is in their twenties to thirties, should recognise a lot of the songs, its real retro Miami Vice style kind of music. To name a few, fat Larry's Band - Act Like you know, Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, Jan Hammer's Miami Vice's Theme tune, Luther Vandross' Give Me the Reason. The false adverts inbetween on some channels get a little annoying due to stupidty/repitiveness but its live-able.

Back to getting chased by the cops (sorry this review is hard to write, because the game is just one huge intrertwined story - it is almost like living another life!!) so anyway...The attention you receive from the police is rated from 1 to 5 stars. 1 is not that bad and will have police chasing you only if they are in certain range of you, this would be simply for minor offences, beating up on someone or stealing a regular car, or knocking someone over. (I know - not very "minor" but hey this is Vice City!!) but the AI of the cops is not that great - and it also depends on luck and timing, as to whether you get caught. More major offences like going berserk in a shopping mall killing everyone in sight will get you more stars, 3 means the cops are all out, 4 means the FBI join in and 5 stars gets the military on your back as well. Trust me anything more than 3 stars - and you really are writing your own death certificate. That said there are specific icons scattered around that will bring this down by 1 star for each icon you collect. You can also take cars to the the Pay 'n Spray shops, and mostly this will get the heat off your back - but not always.

It is a great game and the stats page lists absolutley everything you have done - and is real geek heaven for stat-lovers.

A "MUST" for any X-box owner. Just let all your friends and family that you won't be around much for the next few weeks or months, as it is very consuming. Can't wait for San Andreas, but I would still get Vice City and not just wait for SA.

Infact since I have written this reviiew I am getting a taste back for playing it and might just re-play it, it truly is one of if not the best X-box game, second only to Halo of course - but then thats another story/review!!

Thanks for reading my review

(it was my first one, hope it is of use)

Grand Theft Auto Vice City has to be my favourite incarnation of the GTA series on the XBox. I've played it on both the XBox and the PS2 and let me tell you the XBox version is something special. You just can't beat stealing a car causing havoc and leading the police on a little goose chase over jumps and into walls. The weapons on this game are also amazing. Make sure you get the double pack with GTA III and keep an eye out for GTA San Andreas. I know we've had to wait longer than the PS2 boys but it's gonna be worth it!