Was this game made to be frustrating?
Story: 2/10
The only character I like in the game is Phil Collins, that's it. I don't give a hoot about Vic, Louise, Lance, Ricardo, etc. The story does not do enough for us to care. The story feels less compelling and none of the cutscenes are good. I tried to like some of the characters, but it was hopeless, I simply don't like them. The story doesn't even feel like it was inspired by anything.
Graphics: 7/10
I thought the graphics was nice. There are a lot of pop-ins and aliasing going on, but once you get pass that, the game seems alright. Sure its not the prettiest game, but the lighting and draw distance have improved from Vice City.
Sounds: 7/10
The sounds and music was pretty good as well. Like every GTA games, I found some songs I like on the radio, and the talk shows were great. The sounds did match the weapons well, especially the MP5 and M249. So the sounds wasn't so bad, if you exclude the voice acting.
Gameplay: 1/10
At the beginning, the difficulty was easy. I had difficulty with the "Boomshine" mission, but I managed to pass it. That is until my PS2 froze on me right when I was about to save it. As I continue on playing the game, the experience fell from enjoyable to just unbearable. At first I thought, "maybe they rushed the missions and story?" but during the mission where you drive the hovercraft, I couldn't take it. I really want to know, "did Rockstar made this game to be frustrating?" Poor vehicle handling (esp. the hovercraft), playing a crane game with a helicopter, golfing, racing course with a jet-ski (not fun as it sounds, believe me)? What is this? I was not only bored, but more frustrated that if you fail a long mission, you have to do the whole mission again. The game even seems to go against you at times. The traffic sometime swerve left then right again, the police only attack you and ignore the other gang's malicious gunfire, pedestrian's are dumb to run right through a gun fight, your character sometimes aim at pedestrians even when the enemy is in front of him, sometimes the gun won't fire even when there's still bullets in the magazine, etc. This game is either bugged to the brim, or it was coded by a rebellious programmer.
Conclusion
VCS had almost all the formula right, except the missions and story are terrible. I've played GTA 2, 3, VC, SA, and some 4, and I can simply say that out of all those, VCS is the worst experience I had. I don't recommend this game at all. Unless you have a thing for pain, this game will either bore you or frustrate you.