Vice City: A little disappointed

Cafe Society
1

It’s a lot of fun but the missions don’t seem to well thought out. I’ve been completing most of them on the first try and they seem to consist of little other than car chases and shoot outs.

I know, I know, that’s a big part of the game. But GTA3 made you think stuff through and plan the best way to complete a mission.

I just got Diego’s estate after a brief shoot-out using an automatic high-powered rifle with about half a dozen guys. C’mon, I didn’t have a scratch on me. :o

Is VC just an interim release while they work on a really awesome GTA 4?

2

::gasp::

Blasphemer!

I take it you haven’t raced Hillary yet.

Wait for it.

3

Clinton?!?! You mean there’s a presidential race in this game???

:smiley:

4

you used a rifle! you might as well used cheat codes. I just use a golf club on all my missions even the boat races i turn off the boat engine and use my golf club as a oar and i still win

5

I was sort of disappointed in it as well, heres why:

  1. Turn your back on car and is disappears. This was in GTA3, and it still pisses me off.

  2. If you drive a taxi, the majority of cars you see are taxis. Again in GTA3, very annoying.

  3. The airport. When I first got there, I parked a car on the runway and waited for a plan to hit it… and guess what, just like GTA3 the planes aren’t solid! They go right through you!

  4. Planes and helicopters have height limits, so you can’t fly to the top of all the buildings. I wanted to ram the blimp!

  5. You can skip the mission briefings, but once into the mission you can’t skip the cut scenes.

6

If those are your only complaints, you must have loved the game :smiley:

7

I find that leaving the door open usually makes the car stay where it is. I have sometimes gone away and forgotten about a car, come back later and it’s still been there! I think the issue here is limited memory. Remember that the game has to keep track of many differents objects, so sometimes your car will disappear simply because the game has run out of storage. That’s my theory anyway.

Considering the size and complexity of the playing area, it has to be expected that there is a height limit for helicopters. Imagine trying to track and draw possibly hundreds of pedestrians and vehicles all within the large and very complex 3D model of Vice City. The higher the helicopter flies, the more difficult this becomes.

Some things that particularly impressed me:

  1. The helicopters. The way the helicopters fly is very realistic feeling, IMO. Even the sound effects are excellent.

  2. The boats. Frustrating as they are to control, I thought the boats were very realistic also. Even the water effects are excellent.

  3. The cars and bikes. I think they did a great job on getting the various cars / trucks to handle in such individual ways. The cars drive better in this game than in some other “dedicated” driving games I have seen. Everything about the way the bikes ride is excellent, including the sound effects. I never tire of ripping up Ocean drive in a PCJ 600 and pulling a wheelie at 90 mph, dodging traffic as I go!

Overall, I’m very impressed with the game. Considering how many different sub games and side missions there are, and considering the size and complexity of the game, I think Rockstar did a very good job.

A slight hijack: Would anyone recommend I buy GTA 3, or is it too similar to Vice City? Is there enough new and different stuff in it to make it worth buying?

8

GTA3 will frustrate you after playing Vice City, simply because the graphics are lousy. They look good if you don’t move; once you move they’re grubby and choppy. It’s actually more taxing on your system than Vice City.

Also, you aren’t played by Ray Liotta. Or anyone else; your character never speaks.

9

I bought Vice City, and then after beating it bought GTA3… I’d recommend it. Liberty City is very different than Vice City, and IMO, more enjoyable.

10

This is one mission every seems to find really hard! I didn’t find it too difficult - I must be in a minority! I just ran alongside him and forced him off the road near the start. Once you get into the lead he finds it very difficult to catch up.

11

I also had very little trouble with Hillary. Also, I enjoyed Liberty City after completing Vice City 100%. I’ve now completed both games at 100% and can’t wait for the next one.

12

Thanks guys, I’m convinced! I’ll be buying GTA 3 as soon as I’ve got 100% in Vice City. Should only be another 3 months… :slight_smile:

13

Only if your video card sucks. My GeForce3 Ti200 (down to $60 now) plays the game flawlessly in high resolution.

I found many of the later missions in GTA3 to be more challenging than Vice City. In fact, I still haven’t beaten GTA3. Also, while I haven’t actually counted, it seemed like GTA3 had more missions overall than Vice City. I may be wrong about that, but it’s the impression I got.

One game that often gets overlooked in threads like this is Mafia. It’s similar to the GTA games, but it’s more plot driven and not quite as open-ended. It’s built on the GTA engine, so the controls are very accurate and familiar.

It takes place in the 1930s, so you get to steal and drive all kinds of funky old cars (some of which have trouble getting past 40 MPH). Oh, and that’s another good thing. Unlike GTA, the cars actually have speedometers.

The cops in Mafia are much more strict, too. They’ll pull you over for speeding and running red lights. If this happens and you don’t have a weapon in your hand when you get out of the car to greet the cop, he’ll just give you a ticket and send you on your way.

Another great feature is that if you kill a couple of cops on an otherwise deserted street, the rest of the police force doesn’t magically realize that fact and come after you like they do in GTA.

And then there’s the graphics! Mafia is breathtaking. It really puts the GTA games to shame. From the scenery to the expressions and details on the characters’ faces, it really is a work of art. Due to this, my video card lags ever so slightly at certain points. It doesn’t happen too often, though, and I don’t exactly have a top-of-the-line card.

You can also tell that a decent bit of work went into Mafia’s plot. I mean, it’s not The Godfather or anything, but it definitely kept me quite interested - much moreso than what passes for plotlines in the GTA games.

The atmosphere of the game is amazing, too. Details, details, details! Soft (but not annoying) '30s music plays in the cars. The designs of the buildings and businesses seem very accurate for the time (at least to this non-architect). When I turn off the lights and play, it’s a wonderfully immersive experience. It’s truly one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Sorry for the Mafia hijack. I didn’t mean for it to be that long, but geez, I could go off on the wonders of that game for hours.

14

GTA3 is worth the buy if only to listen to the radio stations. im currently in love with Lazlo and Maurice Chavez.

15

I think you’re correct … in the context of the PS2, anyway. If Rockstar had thrown some effort at the PC conversion, I’m sure they could’ve improved the aggressive car removal. After all, a typical PC is vastly more powerful than the PS2.

And anyway, helicopters do have a height limit - OK, it’s something like 6000m, but who’s quibbling? Maybe VC is full of Very Tall Erections ™.

I think the extra drawing with increased height might not be a major problem because items below a certain size can just be omitted. At least, when flying the copters I don’t notice any significant slowdown.

I think the RC 'copters feel great, but the full size chaps somehow feel less ‘realistic’. But what would I know, having never flown a 'copter? Controls are tricky with both RCs and the real deal, though.

Yeah, these seem good - but I not sure of the realism of being able to handbrake turn a boat!

Bikes rock! Although they don’t behave like real m/cs, it’s still a good, and playable two-wheeled effort from the Rockstar boys.

**

I think it’s worth getting, as long as you’re paying well below the full retail price. IMHO the GTA3 map is better, more effort seems to have gone into its design. In GTA-VC, there seems to be an excess of large, empty spaces, as if the designers ran out of funky things to drop in place. Mission-wise, GTA3 has some good 'uns - though generally easier then GTA-VC, maybe? Not that I’ve finished VC yet, not actually reached the dreaded Hilary mission yet…

BfT (29% and counting in VC)

16

quote:

A slight hijack: Would anyone recommend I buy GTA 3, or is it too similar to Vice City? Is there enough new and different stuff in it to make it worth buying?

I think it is worth it if you can get it at a discount, but if you are into trying to complete the game 100%, then make sure you read up on the “Purple Nines Glitch.” I think it only occurs on PS2, and it prohibits you from finishing the game 100% on subsequent tries after you beat it once. The only fix is to erase the whole GTA3 block from your memory card.

17

Mafia sounds cool, neutron star. Thanks for the recommendation.

18

Mafia and GTA3 are different types of games. Most simplistic, GTA3 is a really good driver with some shooter elements. Mafia is almost entirely a shooter, with some driver elements.

Mafia has some really nice detail and color, and for the most part hangs together really well. There’s a truly unfortunate racing mission early on in the game that makes VC’s optional Hillary race look reasonable in comparison–it’s telling that there’s a cheat built into the track for it. But it’s smooth sailing past that point–until the final phases of the game, which just scream “rush job”, to the point where the final mission’s scripting is fubared beyond belief.

Also, there’s a few missions where you’re saddled with “allies”, which missions you’ll replay the most of any of them, because they’re utterly rock-stupid. There’s one that takes place in a parking garage, in which they insist on running directly into the cross-fire between yourself and all the enemies.

And the driving in Mafia is, overall, pretty dull–car chases that top out at fifty just don’t grab the same way for me personally. They’re mostly in there as a way to move you between on-foot shooting rampages–but the shooting rampages are knuckle-biting affairs of enough intensity that it makes up for the chugging cars. Pretty much the reverse of GTA3, where the car races make up for the more ho-hum shootin’ stuff bits.

Varying mileages, etc.

The sad thing is, I’m seriously contemplating getting VC for the PC, along with one of those converters that let you plug the ps2 controller into a usb port. Must control budget of death.

19

FTR, the parking garage is one of the levels included in the Mafia Demo. I didn’t have any particular problems with my sidekicks. The only reason I haven’t bought the game is that I’ve got a backlog of other ones that I need to finish first.

Anyway, try the demo before you buy.

20

Actually, I loved the way they handled drivng in Mafia. They brought realism to the experience in a way that GTA never did. You have a speedometer and a gas gauge. You can actually run out of gas in Mafia.

Cops care about minor traffic offenses. If you rack up three speeding tickets on a mission, you get busted. Also, unlike GTA3/VC, 99% of the cars aren’t unlocked and ready for the taking. You have a buddy that teaches you how to pick the locks of individual car models, and it takes a few seconds to do so and get in the car. Also, you actually have to start the car! That’s right. You don’t just jump in, push the UP button, and tear off. You hear the engine start and it takes a second or two to get going - unless, of course, you clicked the wrong button and accidently got in the backseat of the car instead. Then you’re not going anywhere.

IIRC, there is an option to skip the race in Mafia. I didn’t see what was so bad about it, though. I won the race on my second try.

I think it’s just a different kind of challenge. Most of the cars go faster than 50, but can be very hard to control at those high speeds. The trick is trying to get away from the cops, but not spinning out and crashing all the time due to the (intentionally) poor controls that many of the cars have. Yeah, I guess that’s not really some peoples’ cup of tea, but I think it’s fun.