Hey all. I'm new to all this, and this will be my first post here. Today, I got bored and decided to write a comparison between two great games I have gotten really into in the past two months. As the title says, I am comparing Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Hopefully you guys will comment on this post. Anyways, let me get down to the meat. The first aspect of the games I will be comparing is storyline. NOTE: all outcomes of each section will be highlighted as bold text.
In LCS (I will start abbreviating for less of a hassle), you play as Toni Cipriani, a family friend of your boss. As this is the first GTA game I have played/borrowed, I know essentially nothing about the history, but apparently this storyline does not really affect the rest of the series, a sort of sidestep. Altogether though, I thought the storyline a bit lacking, in of the fact that nothing really happens, although I cannot be the complete All-knowing about this, as I never finished the last two missions. But I can safely say that there is no amount of redemption that could make up for the lack of a good story. However, in VCS, there is a bit more emotion and quite a bit more story as you play Vic Vance, our half-tagonist, hating drugs in every possible manner, but completing every mission without the slightest bit of resistance. You quickly will forget this though, and concentrate on the intelligent plot that develops in this game. The ending is actually pretty well thought out, though once again, I have been told that this does nothing for the criminally insane GTA universe. One of the things that I enjoyed particularly is the relation between the two game's characters, such as Remi, a "confused" actor/actress/director, who becomes the DJ for the station Flashback FM in LCS. The outcome: Story-wise, I think that VCS is the clear cut winner. There is simply more to it, and the characters are more enjoyable and seem more real, albeit it seems odd that you accomplish every task for the lazies in both cities that are your bosses.
Next up: Missions. LCS:In LCS, there are some good missions, and some of them are very, very fun. However, they feel lacking, and kind of boring. They involve a lot of tasks that seem pointless and unrelated. Often, missions from one holder to the next seem completely unrelated.However, in VCS, the missions are linked and are much more diversified. They also take advantage of all three forms of transportation, including land, water and air, whereas LCS's land and to a much lesser extent, water. Of course, there were some of you GTA hacker brilliants that found ways to jack one of the heli's in the game, but this only comes through glitches, or what is not supposed to be. Because of the utilization of VCS's vehicles and its ironic set of missions (you'll see what I mean by the time you reach the East Side), it wins the trophy in this division too.
Content is up next. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one agreeing with me at this point, but I firmly believe that vehicles take up as much as 60% of these two games. I am not saying that running around shooting up the place isn't fun, because you really decide how much enjoyment you get out of a sandbox game, but if you don't care about the vehicles, then you're really missing about half the game. In LCS, you really concentrate on land, which is just fine, and is actually very fun. There is much fun to be had here, as of all the "Up CP" missions, by which I mean the "up-on-the-control-pad missions", but that's a little wordy. The main ones are Vigilante, Ambulance, and Firefighter missions, which are really fun. They really branch out though, as far reaching as shooting from the back of a moped to RC racing, though which I found quickly to be a hellish mini game, founded out of the deep bowels of the earth, ready to devour my mind and force me to send my PSP hurtling through my screen window, down two floors and only to be crushed by a passing gang of Greasers. The turning is far too sensitive, and the competition is unforgiving to a ridiculous level. Where it really shines is its racing, what I loved. However, once again LCS is trumped by VCS, which packs a bazillion number of races, Up CP missions, and various odd jobs, including controlling your major Mob Empire. You have six business to choose from (Protection Racket, Loan Shark, Prostitution, Drugs, Smuggling, and Robbery), but if you really want to know the inner workings, just read a review or guide or something. All I can say is that doing all the side missions for these empire sites is quite a mouthful, but is somewhat manageable, considering that they are fairly short, and they start exactly from where you left them off. This is a brilliant new feature added to VCS, allowing you to reach checkpoints every five levels, so that if you lose, you pick up from where you left off. These allow the levels to become much MUCH more manageable, allowing you to complete those Up CP missions easier. Also, with the addition of more races, this adds another level of fun for the game. In a quick comparison, the Sanchez time trials of VCS are once again owned by the brute force of Sanchez, Quad, and BMX time trials, equaling 14 more total trials to complete than the 10 of LCS (8 in each category). All-in-all, there are simply more races, side missions, and Up CP missions to do.
Coming in forth place, I will discuss the vehicle/locomotion differences between the two. I can say right off the bat that VCS beats LCS once again because of the fact that it incorporates more boats, helicopters, and even a couple planes. This right here adds a couple thousand more brownie points to the ego that I have been slowly building for VCS. Swimming is one skill I thank Holy Lord Jesus for because of the fact that Toni seems to have never learned, seeing that his feeble body quickly disintegrates when it hits water or because of the fact that his father gave him swirlies as a child and he never recovered. Maybe it's because in '84, they just knew how to keep upright and swim to shore holding 2000 pounds in gun-weight. The planes are just a dream to fly, and the cars are absolutely delicious, if that adjective even works there. It simply makes the game better because of the fact that you can shoot down people with an infinite number of rockets, or pile drive their puny bodies into the earth with an impact of a thousand Mexican bulls caused by a mounted mini-gun on the head of your chopper, sending their bodies into a spiraling pain of obliteration as they watch bits of their bodies fly up around them in a torrent of unending... but I digress. It's fun. Believe me.
As a whopping fifth subject, I will talk about the radio, which is really actually two smaller sub-categories. Firstly is Humor. I can safely say that LCS is funnier. They put more thought into the radio stations, and although the music is sub-par, there is some pretty funny stuff on the stations, especially LCFR. Not to say that the humor in VCS isn't funny, it just isn't as funny. Music is another matter. VCS wins because of the fact that the songs are better selected, and there are more of them. The music also cycles less, which adds for more variety. However, on both games there are the highlight tracks that make perfect for driving at supersonic speeds, taking down 50 cops at once, or doing a massive maneuver over a gaping chasm in my bike of choice, the PCJ-600. It simply owns in both games. Anyways, it's really a trade off. Both things take up on-air time, and the two games really even out here, because one makes up for the other.
One minor thing that is really just an issue between both games istexture popping. Graphics go from crappy to great and back more in VCS, But it's still pretty bad in LCS.
Lastly, the environment. I prefer the tall buildings and gridlocked look of LCS, but VCS is just as enjoyable with its highly interactive environment. This is really a matter of preference though. LCS is essentially more tightly knit and maneuverable, with a gridlock pattern. In VCS, the streets are more winding and out of order, but with a more lazy sunday drive attitude. They still made up for it though, adding two streets that are large and run parallel with the entire town, one on each side. It makes it easier to get to sites, but still maintains a comfortable level of cheeseballness.
All points totaled up, I'd say that Vice City Stories clearly wins the competition. Liberty City Stories was basically released to see what kind of experience could be made of Grand Theft Auto on a current day handheld. It is certainly more than competent, but Vice City Stories just improved on everything that Liberty City Stories was, making it a rather smashing sequel. In conclusion, I really see no need to buy Liberty City Stories instead of Vice, unless you are hellbent on getting the absolute most out of Manhattan murder. Aside from that, and the fact that it rains roughly three times as much in Liberty City as Vice, I really suggest Vice City Stories.
Not-So-Legal Stuff: I essentially made this guide because of my enjoyment over the last couple months of LCS/VCS, and because I really didn't see any proper guides anywhere on this big wide web about which is better. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this guide as much as I enjoyed the hour that I wasted on it (in case you're wondering, I didn't enjoy it very much). Because this IS a forum, feel free to rate it, and tell me if you want anything else covered. Thanks for reading!
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