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Perhaps the most striking feature to me, though, about VCS is its punishing difficulty. If you're brand new to the GTA canon – and where exactly have you been? – then this may not be the best title to introduce yourself. While the earliest of missions are pretty simple for series vets, even the most grizzled can and will be frustrated by the almost crushing toughness of many of the missions. Move past the initial introductory setpieces, and you should plan on plenty of retries. One suggestion that has saved me from more aggravation than I could possibly stand is to save my game after every single mission with full health and a chestful of body armor. Anything else and you're just asking for trouble.
Difficulty aside, the biggest gameplay change from any of the previous titles is the concept of empire building. After a few hours of the story arc, Vic has a chance to start amassing a crime kingdom spanning all sorts of rackets. While the missions associated with creating your fiefdoms are not nearly as interesting or inspired as the main storyline, they serve a significant purpose in that controlling vast swaths of territory will earn Vic boatloads of cash that will come in mighty handy as the game moves forward.
My absolute favorite part of the original Vice City – I still remember being completely awed by it – is flying in helicopters. Thankfully, flying returns in VCS (sadly, it was nowhere in Liberty City Stories). Not only is it a fast and beautiful way to get around town, but in many ways it's easier and less dangerous than driving, since the well-known driving controls make spin-outs and assorted car crashes pretty easy to come by if you're not being careful.
A few of the glitches and bugs that existed in the handheld version are fixed in the PS2 game, which is a nice touch. The so-called PSP “garage glitch”, which would have your stashed ride disappear after game saves even when you pulled it into the supposed safe haven for vehicles, is gone. No matter what, your car will still be waiting for you when you go to pick it up. Also, there's no soundtrack “skipping” like there was on Sony's portable. Neither of these problems seriously affected my enjoyment of the game on the small screen, but there's no doubt that it's nice that they haven't made their way into this version.
One of the main differences between the handheld and full-screen version is that the PS2 title has no multiplayer component. As they did with the original PSP-to-PS2 Stories port, Rockstar decided to remove it. Why? Who knows – it certainly would be a welcome addition to the console versions of the games. In reality, though, I have a feeling that it was an underutilized feature, which probably went a long way in the decision to pull it out of bother games.
With all the hoopla surrounding the newest, next-generation version of the GTA series, it's almost (but not quite) a little disappointing to have Vice City Stories be the game of the franchise to take the last bow on the PS2. Considering the numbers of hours I have logged in the streets of Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas, perhaps I would have preferred to have the PSP version be the final memory of the game. However, once you get by the lagging visuals, the compelling characters, superb music, varying mission types, searing wit, and supreme challenge will likely suck you right back in. If nothing else, it's still GTA, and makes for a nice six-month diversion until October, when IV drops and likely changes the world – again.
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