Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK

Not only is this the greatest game on PSP, it also leaves a large percentage of the PS2 back catalogue looking ordinary. But it right now. [Dec 2006, p.76]

Play UK

Better than "Liberty City Stories" in every single way, Vice City Stories is an astonishing achievement and one of the best games of the year on any system. [Issue #147, p.66]

PSM Magazine

Then along comes Vice City Stories, a game that exceeds all our expectations. [Dec. 2006, p.68]

PGNx Media

Vice City Stories won’t make you a believer in the franchise if you didn’t understand why people play Grand Theft Auto so avidly. However, for the millions of us that do, having a new story and an excuse to spend more time in Vice City is more than enough.

GameZone

If "Liberty City Stories" was the reason you should buy a PSP, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is the reason you need a PSP.

Gaming Nexus

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories doesn’t attempt to reinvent the formula, but it does offer you a fantastic action/adventure game full of memorable characters, fun missions and great music.

PSM3 Magazine UK

While Vice City Stories is just as important a chapter in the GTA saga as any, it's another re-tread of the ageing GTA3 game engine. The missions feel familiar and so do the driving and the save system - they're all remnants of a six-year-old game, after all. Upstart "Scarface" feels fresher...But this is top-drawer entertainment. [Dec 2006, p.68]

Computer and Video Games

Obviously more attuned with the PSP hardware, Rockstar has topped last year's excellent "Liberty City Stories" with a GTA sporting as many thrills, action and now-famous witty dialogue as the series has ever seen.

Games Radar (in-house)

Vice City Stories is topped off with killer ad-hoc multiplayer for up to six people, which lets you tear it up on foot or in cars, helicopters and boats across 10 different modes. While these matches tend to get choppy, they'll keep you playing long after you've finished the game's lengthy storyline - as will all the hidden nooks, unlockable vehicles and dozens of optional tasks scattered around the city.

IGN

Essentially more of the same, for better or for worse. It's a nice leap over what we saw in last year's release of Liberty City Stories, but it still feels "safe" by many standards.

1UP

It's a shame Rockstar chose not to fix obvious flaws that have been called out repeatedly, but the weight of the total experience more than counterbalances this disappointment, making PSP owners, however briefly, the envy of those in the portable war.

Extreme Gamer

Like all the Grand Theft Auto experiences, Vice City Stories offers fun gameplay, an excellent story with hours of enjoyment wrapped up on a little UMD.

AceGamez

While Vice City Stories may strike you as being formulaic and unoriginal, know that the similarities are merely skin deep; dig a little deeper and you'll discover an experience with the kind of production values, Rockstar-gloss and utter playability that the GTA titles are reputed for.

GameTrailers

The mediocre plot, and control limitations keep it from being the groundbreaking experience it always is on the bigger systems.

Jolt Online Gaming UK

Okay, so there’s nothing majorly new here, but if this isn’t a game to showcase the PSP and spur on other developers, we just don’t know what is.

Sydney Morning Herald

The loading times on the PSP may test your patience, but this is a game entertaining enough to make it worth the wait.

Boomtown

Vice City Stories is an amazing game, and one I would wholeheartedly recommend, (a lot of work has gone into it, despite the fact that the city has undergone few changes from the original) but I hope that for the upcoming (if you can wait a year) "GTA IV" we see enough of a change to refresh the genre and franchise, because the games are great, but starting to seem quite samey.

TotalPlayStation

I chuckled a little less, partly because the game does have a little more of a bite to it (the change in political climate probably has something to do with it), but I still enjoyed the portable version of Vice City every bit as much as the PS2 version.

3DAvenue

Stunning graphics, awesome soundtrack and top notch story combine to make this one of the year’s must have titles and not just for the PSP.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

Like last year's game, VCS impresses like few other games on the PSP. [Jan. 2007, p.90]

Pelit (Finland)

An entertaining digital playground/action-adventure. Do whatever you want, whenever you want, as long as it is something criminal. [Jan 2007]

Pure Magazine UK

Some minor issues inherent in all GTA games don't really spoil another slice of ciminal mayhem.

GameBrink

Another GTA added on to and upgraded. If you like GTA then you will like this game. If you’re tired of the series then maybe you should sit this one out.

Cheat Code Central

If you’re not expecting a total overhaul to the GTA franchise with Vice City Stories, you won’t be disappointed. The story may be different but not so the gameplay. It’s familiar territory for all of us, but one that definitely begging to be revisited.

Game Almighty

This game is a ton of fun, and feels like a definite improvement to some of GTA’s core elements. Rather than just smush a GTA game onto the PSP, it seems like some thought was put into this one specifically to make it a great handheld game.

AtomicGamer

Either way, if you enjoyed most GTA games but felt like Liberty City Stories was just missing a few too many features, then you'll really get into GTA Vice City Stories.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

The whole of what's here still stuns in the uncompromising GTA way, putting it--with sister game "Liberty City Stories"--leagues above anything else on the PSP. [Jan. 2007, p.108]

Game Over Online

One can’t help but have the feeling that the series needs something new. The Empire system in this game adds a little bit, but it’s nothing revolutionary, and only provides a distraction from the same old gameplay. This “same old gameplay”, though, is darn good.

GamingExcellence

What VCS does to make things a bit more interesting when off the beaten path of the core story missions is to introduce a new gameplay dynamic in the form of an Empire building system.

Game Informer

While Rockstar Leeds has taken steps to improve the targeting, there are far too many times when large-scale conflicts play out like an absolute mess. Also, if you’ve played all the GTA games, you’ll recognize too many of the same old mission types that we’ve done dozens of times in the past (I’m seriously never giving a hooker a ride again).

PALGN

One of the best games on the PSP. It's a step up from Vice City and little enhancements make the game a thoroughly enjoyable portable title.

Games Master UK

A superb technical achievement, but it's GTA's quirks and cranks that linger longer. [Christmas 2006, p.74]

GameSpot

Vice City Stories is more like a sidestep for the GTA franchise--it's a great deal of typical GTA fun, but doesn't really move the series forward in any meaningful way.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

A playground of totally '80s excess worth revisiting, especially with such ballsy satirists at the cigarette boat's helm.

Total Video Games

Vice City Stories is a much richer and well-rounded experience than its predecessor, though the addition of Wi-Fi Infrastructure mode is something that the series is crying out for.

GameSpy

The driving is fine, made just a bit more difficult with the PSP's analog nub, but the shooting is very problematic thanks to the twitchy and unreliable lock-on system the series has become famous for.

GameDaily

While some of the missions frustrate thanks to the clunky GTA controls, the game's sense of style, the 100-plus-song soundtrack and knee-slapping sense of humor make Vice City Stories a nice place to (re)visit.

Eurogamer

While this particular GTA game wouldn't inspire me to sit in my bedroom at night trying to make animated squish graphics to put on the top of my website, it's still happily one of the best games on the PSP, and well worth looking into if you still haven't hit your GTA ceiling.

VideoGamer

An impressive PSP game and a considerable improvement over the first GTA outing on the system.

DailyGame

A fun, action-packed extension of Rockstar's lauded series that deserves play. Even though it possesses graphical shortcomings and tried-and-true gameplay, it's still enjoyable and worth picking up.

Pocket Gamer UK

An improvement over its predecessor in almost every area and as such the new lord of free-roaming gangster simulations – there's nothing to match it on PSP. But the narrative feels a little undercooked.

Modojo

Vice City Stories could have used some story clean-up and some tweaking to make the lock-on system work better for the user. As is, however, it's a good piece of 80's fun wrapped around an already solid engine.

G4 TV

The game makes no attempt to advance the gameplay or design of the series—it’s simply a smaller version of the original "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."

games(TM)

Vice City Stories, for all its frustration and lack of genuine originality is a sterling piece of work. If this is Grand Theft Auto III's swansong, then it could not have received a more fitting send-off. [Christmas 2006, p.102]

Game Revolution

As you cruise around the city lights, it’s hard not to look forward to a "San Andreas Stories," but in the meantime running drugs and running over pedestrians in Miami is one more crime spree you won’t want to miss.

GamePro

The game is gritty and dull to a fault and it doesn't have the same sense of humor that made the past titles so entertaining. What humor there is tends to be painfully blunt - the first four hours are like one long un-funny redneck joke, for example.

Play.tm

The familiarity of Vice City Stories also breeds a clawing sense of stagnancy, and the lack of a second analogue stick - while patched - does leave a rent in the application of the gameplay control.

Worth Playing

It’s hard to rate this game, as it is meaty, contains a gameplay formula that people are used to (despite its lumps), and contains just enough good to counter the bad.

Edge Magazine

For those who favour Vice City above all else from GTA's back catalogue, it's the perfect 80's revival: a chance to live in the past, and love it. [Christmas 2006, p.80]

Times Online

The pressure of following in the footsteps of one of the console’s greatest successes seems to have removed any sense of humour from the game.