GTA: Vice City does things GTA4 didn't do. The full list is far too extensive, but the crucial elements are as such: 1.) You can ride motorcycles (four different kinds, a high-powered street bike, a chopper, a scooter and a dirt bike) all over the city. They all handle remarkably well: Some are incredibly fast, and others handle traffic better than others. And you can pull off Stunt Jumps with them, adjusting the bikes in mid-air, thanks to a city specially designed with ramps, jumps and surfaces designed for launching you into the air. 2.) You can pilot helicopters through the skies, lifting up above everything and landing down on whatever permits a vehicle of that size. Vice City is designed as two large, mostly symmetrical thumb-like islands, enclosing at least three smaller islands, providing channels of water in which to skipper boats. 3.) Yes, Rockstar expanded the use of boats, and just like the acquisition of cars, motorcycles and helicopters, players can now acquire a quiver of water-ready vessels to ride.

Just as the city has expanded on the outside to include more waterways and more rooftops (you'll be surprised to see the lines of rooftop jumps designed for you Stunt Jump artists our there), it's also expanded internally. 4.) Lead character Tommy Vercetti opens doors and then walks inside them; and after a short load time of five to 10 seconds, he's inside, be it a strip club, mansion, dance club, movie studio, apartment, hotel, what have you. Missions take place inside buildings, sometimes using a combination of both inside and outside structures. Inside, the camera work isn't perfect. In fact, it grows quite aggravating; and for the most part the architecture isn't stunning either, but the idea of levels taking place inside is a natural extension of the game, and it work out well enough.
Last year's onslaught of AAA games had us staggering with delight -- and exhaustion -- when the year finally came to a close. In comparison, this year's lineup of games, well, it initially looked stunning, before the delays anyway. But now it's clear what 2002 is all about. Like a co-worker of mine said a few weeks ago, there's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and there's everything else. The biggest, most anticipated game of 2002 is upon us, and a large population of the gaming public has come to a halt as Rockstar North has slaved away to finish its second massive blockbuster just one year after GTA San lit the videogame world on fire. And now it's here. It's finally here.

So how is it? How does the sequel, prequel, or next iteration of the series (whatever you want to call it) play? It's a spectacular piece of videogame technology and design, a large-scale operation that no other action games can come close to replicating, at least so far. It's still wonderfully designed with a luxurious open mission structure, it's enormous, stylishly draped with '80s regalia, adorned with mature themes, and on and on, and it's as fun, if not more fun than last year's effort. But it's nowhere near the wake-up call surprise

Grand Theft Auto III was. It no longer shocks me with its ambitious gameplay design or the sharp hilarious radio sociopolitical commentary, or the deliberate presentation of mature and stylish themes that its predecessor did. Sure, it's still got all those qualities; but I now expect them from the Grand Theft Auto series. Over the last year a little of that sheen, that surprising magic, has worn off. Now that I'm back on planet Earth, it's time to take a closer look at the good, the bad, and the ugly in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

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