GTA Double Pack (Xbox)

This double KO combo comes packaged together at a single full-price game price point. That’s probably just as well, for although I have no fear in saying that these games are among the best you could ever play, they are showing their age just a bit. The XBox versions of both games are effectively identical to the previous incarnations, save for some XBox specific tweaks.

The game runs nicely at the XBox’s default resolution, which is a vast improvement over its PS2 cousin. In addition, the draw distance is much higher and more in line with the PC version’s maximum setting (although the level of detail at distance seems a bit lower). Add to this some enhanced detail and enhanced flashy lighting effects and the XBox double-pack has some definite arguments in its favour.

Controls have also been tweaked slightly for the XBox, with the analogue shoulder-buttons giving that extra precision for acceleration and breaking. In car control definitely favours a joypad, although I still feel that the PC’s mouse and keyboard combo can’t be beaten for on foot scenarios. The XBox, as with the PS2, uses an automatic targeting system which requires you to cycle through the various targets. This is fine against a small number of enemies, but when things heat up it can be quite jarring as the camera snaps from one target to the next. Both games make only minimal use of the rumble feature, if you even remember to switch it on. Mostly you just get gentle vibrations if you drive off-road or hit something, so nothing too exciting. My main criticism control-wise is that you can’t manually configure the buttons at all. Not that the default controls are in any way bad, but I would have liked to make some minor changes.

Both Grand Theft Auto games sit very comfortably on the XBox and it’s a shame that neither had been released sooner. The frame-rate is good and consistent, and the detail and effects look very nice even today – easily destroying the PS2 version and certainly giving the PC a run for its money. If you’ve never played either game then you’ll be hard pushed to find a better value deal if you’re out shopping for new XBox software. If you really are from another planet, then read on and find out just what makes these games so good anyway.

Grand Theft Auto III is only the best selling video game ever, and not without reason. It combines cars, guns and a depraved yet universal sense of humour into an open-ended game containing fast-paced missions, secret power-ups and unlockable features. With a crazy story full of even crazier characters, it propels you from one ultra-violent situation to the next.

Taking place in the corrupt metropolis of Liberty City, you put on the shoes of a small-time thug who has just found unexpected freedom from the clutches of justice. Along with fellow escapee and explosives expert 8-ball, your first goal is to drive to a hide-out in a newly ‘acquired’ car. And that’s it. You’re free to go. Although your best bet would be to head off to the hideout, you really don’t have to. Liberty City is a living, breathing place, and you’re able to just cruise around, explore and listen to any of the nine radio stations.

To begin with you’ll only have access to just over a third of the play area – wouldn’t want to spoil it all at once, after all – but that’s enough. At first the city can seem huge and easy to get lost in. Thankfully a map is available with icons showing you where you can go to initiate any of the main missions. As you perform missions you can gradually unlock new features and other missions, and eventually new areas of the game.

In general the missions are driving based, requiring you to do some simple courier stuff, often against a timer, or to perform hits. While driving is fun, it’s the ultra-violence that GTA3 is best remembered for. Such missions include forcing cars off the road, planting bombs or just plain gunning people down. As you progress you gain access to an impressive arsenal, from assault rifles and RPGs to Molotov cocktails and even a tank. Subtlety is not an option.

You’re free to cause as much havoc as you like so long as you are prepared to run the gauntlet for your actions. Basically the more crimes you commit, the higher your wanted level becomes. At first this might mean that cops may try to stop you if they see you, but gradually they will begin actively looking for you, eventually calling in SWAT teams, the FBI and even the Army – if you survive that long.

If you get caught or ‘wasted’ then it’s not game over, but you will lose all of your weapons and some of your money. If the heat is on then the side streets and rooftops are your best bet. These not only offer cover but are a source of some of the many hidden bonuses, including weapons, power-ups and rampage missions. Rampage missions, as the name suggests, require you to go on a killing spree, usually of the form ‘kill X amount of Ys in Z seconds’. Success will give you a vital cash boost and a bribe to get the cops off of your back, but if failure hasn’t already resulted in your incapacitation then you’ll need to evade the law more than ever and hope to find a respray shop.

Without any real fear of dying, Grand Theft Auto III tends towards fast, furious and incredibly fun action. Even a failed mission can be reattempted, so if you decide to just lose the plot – as is often the temptation – then the game won’t punish you for it.
Unless you’re not morally flexible, then there’s very little complaint to be levelled against the game. Not only does it offer you a lot of freedom, but it offers you a large space in which to be free. Even after you’ve completed the dozens of missions, explored the whole city and collected all of the bonuses, Grand Theft Auto III still offers a great vehicle for stress relief, if you’ll pardon the pun. Liberty City still buzzes around you and civilians still go about their business and shout colourful insults if you happen to get in their way. There are several hours worth of music and chat on the radio stations and the cars are always fun to just drive. If you happen to ‘jack an emergency vehicle then there’s also the option of performing vigilante missions, putting out fires or picking up increasing numbers of patients and getting them to the hospital without them falling out of the ambulance.

From head-to-toe Grand Theft Auto III boasts high production values and this is nicely rounded off by the inclusion of well known movie actors during the mission cut-scenes – including The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano, as well as Michael Madsen and Kyle MacLachlan, to name a few. These values are both inherited and expanded on in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, with the likes of Ray Liotta, Tom Sizemore, Burt Reynolds and Dennis Hopper all adding their talent.

The year is 1986. The city is Vice City – a wacky alternate reality version of Miami. This time around we don’t just play a nameless criminal, but ex-con mobster Tommy Vercetti, recently released from the Liberty City slammer and looking to escape his past.
Most things about Vice City are just like GTA3, except a little better; a little more refined. The basic structure is the same. You’re assigned various dodgy missions that you can perform in car and on foot, and these drive the story forward, open up new features and pretty much make you a lot of enemies. This time the game is considerably more cinematic, which is helped by the fact that your character now has a voice as well as a face. It’s also helped by the new radio stations that feature licensed music from the period, including the likes of Michael Jackson and Bryan Adams.

The cars are pretty much retro counterparts to the ones featured in GTA3, although handling is not noticeably different. New to the streets of Vice City are bikes and mopeds. These come into their own on Vice City ’s wide open roads, where you can pull off wheelies, long distance jumps and the easy-to-learn hard-to-master art of crashing out and looking like a wally. Just mail me for tips. Also new in the vehicle department is another type of chopper. The helicopter, that is. Although GTA3 had a very crude craft that could almost be called a plane, it never had anything like this. The control for these aircraft is simple and they’re great fun to zoom around in. Later in the game you can even find one with mounted weaponry, which can be used in vigilante mode, making Bad Boys II look like Finding Nemo.

Another major addition to Vice City is that of buildings. Well, obviously GTA3 has buildings, but few that you could actually go in and none-at-all that you could buy. There are two types of property to be purchased in Vice City. Businesses – which can be anything from a money-printing press to a strip-club – offer you a cash boost, providing that you remember to go around and collect it each day. Homes and apartments give you a place to save your game and store cars and weapons.

As well as the addition of new weapons, including the chainsaw and ammo-hungry chain gun, Vice City even offers a custom tailored wardrobe including pastel-suit, aloha shirt and a fetching boiler-suit and ice hockey mask combo. Again, the game’s production values are pretty much impeccable, from the music and acting to the architecture and graphical touches such as sunlight-glare reflecting off of the cars. The sense of 80’s excess is well captured and frankly there isn’t a better driving/shooting game available.

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