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> Results: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
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ESRB Content Descriptors Say:
Blood and Gore : GamerDad found that beating someone with a baseball bat in the game is just as brutal as it sounds. Intense Violence: beatings and shootings and flamethrowers, oh my! Strong Language: GamerDad noticed that hardly a scene went by that wouldn't have been ﾑRated R' in movies based on the language alone. Strong Sexual Content: GamerDad saw everything from brothels to drug-induced affairs and more. Use of Drugs: GamerDad found that the typical drug running activities were present from start to finish. Last year's Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories did something fairly simple ﾖ it proved that there could be a large and truly excellent game made for the PSP that was not possible on any other handheld. It was also the first (and only) million seller for the system ﾖ so it seemed inevitable that Rockstar would bring out another entry to the franchise. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories has arrived and is an easy recommendation for fans of the first game ﾖ you get more interesting characters and situations, more cool vehicles to drive, and more crazy violence. You also get a soundtrack that is the absolute best thing about the game ﾖ if you are old enough to have driven a car in the mid-80's, you will feel instantly nostalgic playing this game. In fact, you might do what I did and spend a while exploring each new area by taking a leisurely drive in a convertible with the radio blaring. There are a number of nice additions in the game ﾖ you can drive a whole variety of vehicles, take on even more crazy side-missions, and finally get to enjoy the water. You will take on creating and building your own empire and protecting your territory against all challengers. There is truly a massive amount of stuff you can do beyind what is required to ﾑfinish' the game. The problem with the game is that Rockstar seems to have learned little from criticisms of the previous game ﾖ the controls are still problematic in many vehicles, and the load times seem longer and come way too often. You are doing many of the same things as in the first game and will often have to repeat missions because of the controls rather than the difficulty. And since there are no checkpoints, repeating typically involves lots of driving around and sitting through cutscenes before actually embarking on the mission. The overall experience falls short of the excellence of Liberty City Stories because of the controls and more frequent die-and-retry nature of the missions. It is a very good game that is ultimately disappointing because the shortcomings are even more glaring in the light of some other solid releases in the past year. Hopefully for the seemingly inevitable San Andreas Stories they will work on the controls and mission structure as much as the atmosphere and music.  
So where do I start ... well, the very basis of the game has you taking on shady deals and killing loads of people in order to raise money to buy medicine for his sick brother. From there you escalate to racketeering, prostitution and extortion ... as well as a rampant string of murder and mayhem. Perhaps the only thing missing is rampant nudity ﾖ but it doesn't matter, since everything else about this game suggests that it is an adult experience and NOT for kids or young teens.
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