The graphics in Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are quite different with Vice City being based in the 80's and GTA 3 in the present day. The VC graphics and general camera have been improved from GTA 3 which has a terrible camera during fight scenes and can be forced though walls and the floor in the most annoying situations. The cars and civilians are brilliantly designed and put into the game. The buildings around you are well designed and each one looks unique and adds character to the two games worlds.

Sound

The sound in these games are amazing and I’m not exaggerating - both games have several unique radio stations each with their own presenters and timetables that play certain music at different times of the day. There are chat radio stations, music stations, rebel stations which don’t have any adverts, but the adverts on the radio have to be one if not the funniest part of this game, hearing a radio advert to buy a monkey never gets too boring. Every line for every mission has been recorded and played to you, the lip sink is sometimes a bit off but it’s not a huge problem, but one of the very few faults in these games. The sound of each different gun in the two games adds a sense of realism and makes you feel you’re really being shot at by a rebel gang or the police. Each of the cars' engines sound different and also change as the cars get damaged. The police, fire truck and ambulance vehicles all have different sirens. During a police chase a huge part of it is hearing the cars wheels screech against the pavement as you squeeze though traffic and corners, hearing the police car sirens getting ever closer to your vehicles as it getting more and more damaged. You’re hearing the ambulance sirens behind you healing your victims that you’ve hit in your police chase. And that’s just one example of typical GTA chase sounds.

Gameplay

The gameplay in both GTA 3 and Vice City is extremely varied and there must be over 100 missions in each games for you to complete if you include things like finding all 100 hidden packages (100 in each game), doing the taxi, police, fireman and hospital missions, the normal game missions and much, much more. The gameplay is mostly driving based, but this game is not only for hardcore driving game fans. I myself am not a driving game fan, but I enjoy this game immensely. The missions are varied and range from driving someone from point A to B, to defending an allies' yatch as he escapes the French government.

The AI in these games is absolutely brilliant - the way the police chase you, the way the people on the streets walk or run when they see a fire fight brewing, how the police notice you pointing your gun at a random person at the street and run over to arrest you and save the pedestrian.

Instead of doing the regular missions you could also collect the hidden packages (which are very well hidden) or try to expose GTA 3 and Vice City’s hidden secrets.

Story

Vice City: You play Tommy Vercetti, a criminal just released from prison after a bank job went wrong. Tommy got a fifteen year sentence but now has paid his debt to society and is now back on the streets, the mob boss you were working for when the bank job went wrong now wants big money and his drugs back, you have to work your way up the criminal ladder and find out what happened to the money and the drugs.

GTA 3: You play as an unnamed character, in a police transit van being taken across town, the van is attack and you manage to escape. Once again you have to work your way up the criminal ladder and work out what happened the day the police transit van was attacked.

Summary