Grand Theft Auto Double Pack

I remember reading an article about RockStar games loyalty to the PS2.  In it, RockStar stated that the GTA series would be exclusively for PS2 owners.  Apparently, this little agreement had a time limit, and ran out.  Now, Microsoft is aiming to profit off of arguably the two biggest console games in history, Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.  In order to compensate for the prolonged release on XBOX, Microsoft is putting the two together for the price of $49.99.  Each game is exactly the same as the original PS2 classics, but they do have a few extra features exclusively for the XBOX double pack including faster loading time, cleaner graphics, and the ability to listen to your own custom soundtracks on the GTA radio.  It’s interesting to think that in the early days of the XBOX, I decided to put my money toward a PS2 instead.  This was primarily due to the GTA series and the potential that it could bring to my eyes and hands.  First, let’s take a look at each title separately.

GTA III

I was a fan of the original GTA, but I always thought that a bird’s eye view was meant for strategy, not a shoot-em up, jack-em-up, gangster game.  When I heard that RockStar was developing GTA 3, I knew they had a hit on their hands.  That was more than 2 years ago, and its still kicking!  Now, Microsoft has done several things to make it even better.

After a bank heist, your character is betrayed by his girlfriend for the loot and shot.  Luckily, you survive.  However, you still take the fall for the bank robbery and get sentenced to jail.  Jail doesn’t sound good to you so during a chaotic attack against your prison guards escorting you via van, you escape.  You befriend another escapee, 8-ball.  He will become a revisited character throughout the game.  Now, you must work in the darkest parts of Liberty City, meeting some not so friendly characters who would rather put you in a body bag than look at you.  With your street instinct and the desire for revenge, its time for a little payback.

GTA III has a fairly simple control scheme.  Stealing cars and beating up police officers can be done with the press of a button.  Your selection of weapons and accessories you carry is quite impressive.  Each weapon has its own purpose, from brass knuckles to keep things quiet but deadly to launchers that can take down those annoying helicopters.  But who do you use these weapons against?  Everyone!  Though the real point of the game comes from the missions and jobs you are given from local crime bosses and gangs, the controversial capability to kill bystanders and innocent civilians becomes its own twisted game.  There are several gangs in Liberty City, which you must learn to deal with accordingly.  Regardless on where your loyalties lie, always watch your back.  You’ll never know when a friend becomes an enemy.

But the main attraction of GTA III is the cars.  The plethora of choices available to you was astonishing in 2001 and still remarkable today.  Though I preferred borrowing police cars just to rub it in the cops’ faces even more, feel free to take any vehicle you fancy.  Your actions in Liberty City aren’t as free as you think, and if you get too law-unfriendly, you will have a progressive number of law enforcers on your bumper.

The size of Liberty City is very large, adding to the reality of the game.  However, with the power of the XBOX, the graphics are surprisingly lacking of its potential.  It’s almost a direct port from the PS2 Version (Beware the Clawed hands!).  I also found numerous amounts of bugs in the game because of cleaner environments.  I never noticed that if you look away from some vehicles and glimpse back, they start over on their continuous cycle bringing a creepy feeling of déjà vu.  The graphics are still very nice, but it’s obvious that little attention was spent on fixing it up.

And the sound, ah the sound!  Before GTA III, I would tune out most soundtracks from video games and play my own music with it.  Now, I turn the music up!  Though Vice City’s collection brings a sense of nostalgia for the 80’s, the 9 radio stations available give you the sense that you really are driving an automobile.  The Sound FX are also pleasant on the ears.  Though I doubt any of you will experience the use of these guns in real life, the sound of tires screeching and bullets flying is hard to compare to any other game.

Despite the huge amount of opposition GTA III received from anti-violence groups nationwide, millions of copies have been purchased all over the world.  Microsoft hopes to continue this tradition with the XBOX logo.  Though the hype may be gone, it’s as solid as ever.

GTA VICE CITY

And then there was Vice City.  I purchased the game on a rainy day and played it through the rough weather.  I had never been so immersed in a video game before Vice City and I could fathom the possibilities of a future GTA title after this one.

Vice City finds its home in Florida, evident in the Hawaiian t-shirt your character, Tommy Vercetti, wears and the rollerblading bikini girls replacing the women who find comfort in wearing trench coats in LC.  Tommy Vercetti has just gotten out of prison. But even after the 15-year sentence, he is still hungry for his past life and sets up a job to sell some cocaine for some gentlemen, the Forellis.  But just like the old slogan “Don’t sell drugs without erasing your tracks”, Tommy’s deal goes sour.  He has no money, no drugs, and a big debt.  Now, he must go through Vice City, taking back what is rightfully his while getting revenge.  The city is his for the taking.  This game takes place in the 1980’s, so RockStar did a nice job at recreating the time period post-disco.

The control setup is just like GTA III.  You have a wide variety of weapons at your disposal and you can use anyone for target practice.  You can steal all the cars you can, but there are many additions to the mix of boring vans and vehicles.  Taking a ride in a motorcycle and scooter is awesome enough (Be mindful not to throw yourself off of them), but throwing in simple to fly airplanes and helicopters takes the cake.  The vehicles are all based on real cars from the 80’s era, adding to the realism.  And there are the little things (like Tommy carrying a cell phone the size of a loaf of bread) that makes the gamer realize how far we have come since the days of Pong.  Keep your eyes out for cops.  This time, they have become wiser and faster!  Don’t assume that the helicopters are shining the searchlight for you to give them a little dance, they fire their own guns and swat members will climb down them to teach you a little lesson in “DARE”.

Just like GTA III, you must perform a bunch of odd jobs to make cash, friends, and enemies.  But in the long run, the only person Tommy can count on his himself.  With the right vehicle, you can become a vigilante and take the law into your own hands, taxi people (Crazy Taxi bows in comparison) across VC, and deliver pizza.  Of course, if they don’t give you a good tip, you can rob them.  Though the ultimate goal in the game is to find your cocaine, purchasing prime real estate is just as cool.  Bossing people around as if you own the place (which you eventually will), money soon comes to you in the thousands versus pocketing 50 dollars from a beaten roller skater.  There are so many extra features in the game; the manual could easily be a best selling 400-page novel!

Graphically, Vice City is nicer than GTA III.  But XBOX still uses the old capabilities of the PS2 to display graphics that could be so much better.  When I immediately inserted the game into my XBOX and PS2, I thought that my consoles were broken as an awkward blur motion effect trailed all moving characters and objects.  Simply changing that in your options setting will take care of that nasty 80’s graphics attempt.  The character models are quite impressive with an attention to detail in the face and body.  VC also allows gamers to walk inside buildings, so when you’re robbing the local hardware store, the cops will keep their distance from the outside.  Animation can get a little weird at times, but for the size of the map without load times at each corner, you can’t complain.

Vice City tops GTA III and dominates the rest.  There are 9 radio stations that you can tune into and listen.  These songs are all from the 1980’s, from Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean to Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark At The Moon.  I’m curious how much RockStar had to pay for the use of these many songs.  Whatever the case, the music was so popular, RockStar released a music collection of all the songs available in the game.  This time, the main character speaks!  Ray Liotta plays Tommy Vercetti, but the list of celebrity voices includes Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Gary Busey, and Jenna Jameson.  With these big stars, the voice acting makes Vice City as real as it can be.  The sound FX are superb and complement the audio nicely.

 
GTA III was awesome, but Vice City blew me away.  I will never give up my copy of Vice City because even when you beat it, the game is still there.  The XBOX GTA Double Pack is a must have for non-PS2 owners who are looking for another game for their “Microsoft Machine.”  Even for those who have a PS2 will prefer purchasing the XBOX version because of the improvement in detail and content.  For $49.99, it's a collection that will entertain you until your XBOX console runs out of life (though the system can still be used as a very snazzy drink holder).  There is a reason that it carries the Mature Rating, but in that ESRB rating, you'll find two of the best games ever developed. Of course, parents should consider holding back on purchasing this pack for children under the age of 17. It'll give them another thing to look forward to along with the holy grail of entering adulthood, a driver's license.

Gameplay: 9.4
Its hard to compare GTA III and VC to any other game.  Others attempt to recreate what RockStar has done but ultimately falls short.

Graphics: 9.0
The claw is back!!!!!  Microsoft could have pushed the graphics to the limits, but its still quite impressive.

Sound: 9.8
Unlike any other game you've experienced.  I'm not a fan of 80's music, but I just couldn't stop myself from buying the CD collection.

Difficulty: Medium
You will notice a gradual difficulty progression.

Concept: 10
Drugs, money, sex, cars, cops, weapons, explosions. Who could ask for anything more?

Overall: 9.5
GTA Double Pack is a perfect addition to an XBOX gamer, whether you have the PS2 version or not.  With the additional features, cleaner graphics, and slick $49.99 price, it makes the perfect stocking stuffer this holiday season.