Two amazing games in one package? Count me in.
Grand Theft Auto III
This free roaming crime game combines the play of a driving game, a 3D adventure, and war game all into one neat bundle. Set in gritty Liberty City in the late 1990s, players assume the role of an unnamed thug who is doublecrossed by his female partner in crime at the game's outset. The revenge story plays out as you rise to power by climbing the ladder of criminal success; beginning missions involve delivering a person or package while later missions involve the assassination of key individuals in Liberty's crime scene. While the game's title might lead you to believe that GTAIII is all about driving, you'd be wrong. Much of the game is spent on foot. It is possible to literally spend hours exploring Liberty City's nooks and crannies, and still not see everything the game has to offer. During missions, most of your combat is handled on foot. You'll start out only being able to deliver a knuckle sandwich, but weapons make themselves available as you progress, from the lowly baseball bat to the devastating rocket launcher. Usually, a trusty pistol will do the job up close, and a sniper rifle is great for offing people from a distance. The combat is pretty basic: hold down the aim button and then let loose with the fire button, repeat as necessary. Usually, killing people (whether during a mission or just to wreak general havoc) will cause your "wanted" level to raise, which brings the police after you. At this point, it's probably a good idea to flee the scene in a car, so luckily for you, you can jack almost any car you see, so long as its doors aren't locked. A good chunk of time is spent driving during the game, but thanks to the vast array of cars found in GTAIII, driving never gets boring. You can drive a vehicle however you like, whether it's trying to cause traffic pileups, doing driveby shootings, or driving on the sidewalk to mow down pedestrians. Vehicles range from the fast sportscars to slower minvans to plodding buses, and even a tank. Each of the cars drive differently, so while you can swerve around corners at high speeds in your Banshee convertible, attempting the same thing in an ambulance will cause your ride to tip over. Also, to help make driving even more enjoyable, nine radio stations are in place for your listening pleasure while you drive, ranging from a reggae channel to an all talk station, each of which is roughly 30 to 45 minutes in length. However, on foot or in a vehicle, one of the main draws to GTAIII is that you're not tied to the storyline; it is possible not only to do missions out of order, but to complete side missions and minigames as well. Ironically, some of these side missions involve being a do gooder for a short while, whether you're rescuing injured pedestrians in an ambulance, extinguishing fires in a firetruck, or taking out perps in a cop car. It has been argued that GTAIII's taxi driver minigame has more depth than Sega's Crazy Taxi series, but that's debatable. Another sidequest involves finding the 100 hidden packages scattered throughout Liberty City, some of which are cleverly hidden (tip: look underneath the broken bridge in Shoreside Vale). Successfully completing these minigames will reward you with bonuses such as health, police bribes, and weapons at your three hideouts. To balance out the good karma, rampages are also present, giving an objective attached to a short time requirement, such as the rooftop sniper rifle objective of "pop 30 heads in two minutes", where only headshots count towards completing the rampage. GTAIII's got just the right blend of exploration, driving, violence, tongue-in-cheek humor, and varied objectives to keep most gamers busy for quite some time. It would probably be possible to blow through the game's story missions fairly fast, but that only comprises about 35% of what's available in GTAIII, missing the rest of the game really would be a crime.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Arguably the most anticipated title of 2002, VC took the GTAIII formula and expanded upon it. Set in a fictional 1980's Florida, you assume the role of Tommy Vercetti, a mobster recently released from jail. After being involved in a drug deal gone terribly wrong, your goal is to establish a stranglehold on Vice City's crime circuit. Vice City features more voice actors as well as a licensed soundtrack featuring many past hits from the 80s, including songs from Judas Priest, Flock of Seagulls, and Foreigner. Everything found in GTAIII is present in VC, but with ever more options. Many cars are present, but VC also throws motorcycles into the mix, as well as helicopters. Motorcycles allow you to zip around the city quickly, and are the ride of choice for several missions and unique jumps, but when you take to the skies in a helicopter for the first time and see Vice City from the air, you really realize how huge the city actually is. The map is so large, exploring on foot could take twice as long when compared to GTAIII. Also, the helicopters allows you to land on top of buildings, giving you almost too many places to test out that trusty sniper rifle. Another new feature is the ability to dive from moving cars. In GTAIII, the car had to be stopped before you could exit. Now, it is possible to dive out of a bus and send it sailing down the road into the people waiting at the bus stop. Evil? Perhaps, but it's also strangely amusing. To add to the destructive fun, more weapons are also available, so many that the weapons have been divided into types, and you can only carry one of each type. For instance, you can either carry the brass knuckles or the baseball bat, but not both. While some PS2 players complained that this was a flaw, the new system keeps the weapons balanced; also, you're given the option to replace a weapon, rather than being forced to automatically pick it up and replace the weapon you're currently using if you don't want to. New weapons include a katana (good for beheading), a minigun that can blow up cars almost as quickly as the rocket launcher, a screwdriver, and a hammer which makes a "clank" noise when it hits a person. One weapon lost on the way to the Xbox was the tear gas grenades found on the PS2 VC, but it wasn't a particularly vicious or useful weapon, so it's no real loss. The gameplay is largely unchanged from GTAIII, so it makes picking up VC a snap. The missions play out similarly, and the "good karma" sidequests are in place, as well as collecting hidden packages and completing rampages. VC could take two to three times as long to complete as GTAIII, so between both games in the Double Pack, you'll definitely get your money's worth.
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+ Two amazing games in one package
+ Simply stunning
- Nothing bad about this game (s)