GTA: Liberty City Stories

[camelenchilada]

Just got done with all of the story missions. I was so addicted to it I finished the whole thing in 3 days. Really good game. Of course, not as good replay value as SA, but the story is solid and Toni Cipriani has really grown on me. He's a pretty cool character in this game. I also love the mafia feel of it all...makes me wish Salvatore wasn't killed off in GTA3.

Anyone else play this game?

[garret]

I finished playing it in April. But once I finished the missions I felt no urge to play it again. I also liked the feel of it, the mafia thing never gets old, heh. The missions were good, too. Hopefully Vice City Stories will have more replay value...

[camelenchilada]

Yeah, I can't wait for VCS. Here's the latest info on it, from Wikipedia:

GTA: Vice City Stories will take place in 1984, two years before the events that happened in GTA: Vice City. The main character will be Victor Vance, the brother of Lance Vance, who was briefly featured during the beginning of GTA: Vice City when he was gunned down during a drug deal with Tommy Vercetti. Lance Vance will also be in the game, but won't be a playable main character. Vice City Stories is said to have better animations than previous Grand Theft Auto games, and many more interiors. Vice City Stories is also said to be much bigger than Vice City. The draw distance, as well as the loading times have improved. Car and environment damage has evolved, in addition to all new cars and new weather features, Victor Vance will be able to swim, unlike Tommy Vercetti from the original Vice City. Along with the swimming ability, Jet skis have been brought to Vice City, allowing Victor Vance to swim in many different places in Vice City. The same, or very similar radio will be featured, but with new music and songs. An increase in the density of pedestrians, cars, vegetation, and miscellaneous objects will be added, testing the limits of the PSP.

Below is the complete list of information currently known. This taken from the August/September issue of Australian GamePro magazine and the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine(UK), which featured the world's first hands-on with the game, including an interview with Rockstar Games:

* There will be 70 storyline missions in the game
* The game takes place in 1984 - two years before GTA: Vice City
* Victor and Lance have grown up poor and you start off in a trailer park - a new section in Vice City made for VCS
* Due to mobile phones not being a common thing in 1984, Victor will be making use of a pager to receive text messages (This feature was also in GTA III)
* Lance Vance, Victor's Brother, is a ''drug addicted wreck''
* Phil Cassidy has been seen in the Vice City Stories load up titles
* Vice City Stories will feature more characters, mostly being new to the series
* The animations are more life-like and are "a step-up from previous titles in the series"
* New animations which give both the lead characters and pedestrians a whole new degree of humanity
* Time-contextual NPC behaviour is now included, which indicates major events, like hurricanes, may be part of the storyline
* A multiplayer feature similar to the PSP version of LCS is in the game
* There are said to be some ''innovations'' in the multiplayer mode.
* VCS is said to be "much, much bigger than Vice City"
* There are new or altered locations and buildings
* Some landmarks are half-built or yet to be refurbished to their state circa 1986
* Vice City will have a new surrounding area
* There are more poor neighborhoods (slums) in the game
* The Magazine confirmed that Leaf Links will be in the game
* The game will feature golf caddies, which further suggests that the Leaf Links golf course has not been removed from Vice City
* There are all new vehicles and weapons
* You can fly helicopters and the sea plane again
* Helicopter missions would be a common thing in the later part of the game
* A Hermes with flames has been seen, indicating that the Cuban gang may return.
* Bikes handle better than before
* Players can now take to the waters of Vice City with jet skis
* You can swim in the game
* The silenced pistol returns
* Silenced SMGs have been seen
* A new type of rocket launcher
* New weather effects that could include hurricanes
* The water of VCS is now much more realistic, behaving more like a real ocean with upgraded tide and current handling
* The water physics have been overhauled and handle very differently than land physics
* Radio stations from Vice City make a return
* Rockstar Custom Tracks will be reappearing, allowing you to play your own music once again as a radio station
* More interiors than its predecessors
* There is also no more seamless exterior-to-interior gameplay as seen in LCS (there will be a slight loading time)
* A new addition in Vice City is a Ferris Wheel, which you can ride in first-person view
* Trip skips make a return (If you die or get busted a taxi will take you back to the location where you received the mission from)
* Binoculars are in the game
* Draw distance has been improved and is said to be better than the original Vice City
* Far richer color palette that brings sunsets to all new levels of beauty, and realism
* Pop-up of map models is now minimal
* The version of the game that they saw showed pop-ups and fade-ins, but Rockstar Games assured this will be solved in the final version.
* Increased density of pedestrians, cars and objects
* Explosions not only consist of a circle of fire, but also of hissing fire jets and individual parts flying around.
* Reduction in clumping (where groups of the same people appear together) for pedestrians and vehicles
* Controls are the same as Liberty City Stories.
* The developers promise a more intelligent targeting system, which avoids you from shooting at civilians during large enemy engagements.
* Uses the same camera controls as Liberty City Stories
* The "Hunter" attack helicopter will make a return.
* Quadbikes will also be playable again.

[kupomog]

We have a thread for VCS already, so any discussion related to that should go there, thanks.

As for LCS, I'll type up my thoughts on it later. Let's just say that the music was surprisingly good and I had fun playing the game overall, though.

[Toli]

Indian music is addictive. I borrowed it off a mate a week ago and have been playing since. I'm currently up to Staunton Island and have completed aprox 25% of the game. I am very addicted to the GTA games it's been the only games I really play so I am much excited about VCS.

[Kuje]

Should I buy this game (PS2) for £17?

[MegaSvensk]

Yes, you should. It's a great game.

[conor.]

played it for psp like a year ago, great game, not really replayable, is the ps2 version extended from the psp version

[skittlebrau]

Indian music is addictive.
Hell yes it is. I listen to it quite often on my computer (since scoring the music from someone awesome enough to hook me up). Radio Del Mundo is the bestestest :dance:

Anyway, I can't give much thought on this game since I'm still only halfway done (since I've been playing several games at once, recently). So far it's surprisingly good for both being a PSP port and for being a smaller-scale GTA game. I'll maybe give more thoughts when I finish it, but I'm good for now.

And yes, Luke, just buy it. Well worth the money.

[camelenchilada]

Yeah, definitely but it. Some people don't think they did the right thing by porting it to PS2, but it's actually a lot easier to play with a real controller, a real television screen, etc