Far Cry 4 Review - More like Far Cry 3.5.

By Sam Coles:

 

Far Cry 4 is so similar to Far Cry 3 that you could think that it is an expansion pack with better graphics, but it’s not the case on all of the aspects of the game what stands out with this game is the setting in the Himalayas.

 

The story to this game is that you play as Ajay Ghale who is coming back to his home country of Kyrat to fulfil his mother’s dying wish by spreading her ashes in the beautiful landscape of Kyrat. Unfortunately you get into an altercation with the local Royal Military which is under the command of the brutal dictator Pagan Min, right off the bat Pagan is a fantastic villain because unlike Vass who had habit acting like an animal who would straight up gut you if you pissed him off, Pagan plays it like a gentleman with his charming personality he can manipulate you with his words rather than brute force he comes across as charismatic which adds to his psychotic nature.

 

The visual presentation of this game is absolutely beautiful I played this on the PS4 and the visual aspect is nailed but to be honest you shouldn’t expect anything less from a Far Cry game they’re renowned for producing lush and vibrant environments. All of the subtle details help make this world feel alive such as the trees moving in the wind or the shake violently when an explosion happens, it looks organic with the individual blades of grass where you can hide with your bow and arrow or silenced sniper rifle and hunt your prey. You have many types of wildlife roaming the plains some are friendly and some are foe, it’s not the human residence you have to watch for the fauna will be hunting you to.

 

Gameplay wise it handles exactly like Far Cry 3 although it feels faster and tighter compared to its pre-equal you can do your slew of brutal stealth kills with you machete along with tight gunplay. Like the last game you have this huge open world to have fun in and you can unlock bits of the map by doing the usual Ubisoft gameplay mechanic of climbing a tower and watching a short animation of the new areas, which gets old really fast. You have many unlocks which you can obtain by hunting and take my advice before you start anything hunt for skins and craft bigger ammo belts and gun holsters because you only have one weapon slot to begin with and a pitiful amount of ammo. You have a skill tree which you can upgrade your health and different take down skills such as the awesome vehicle take down where you jump out of your car and boot out the driver of the other vehicle.

 

You have outposts that you can infiltrate like in Far Cry 3 which act as fast travel points once liberated, but it’s up to you how you want to tackle the outposts do you want to do it in a stealthy manner by using your bow, silenced sniper and machete, or do you go in like Rambo with rocket launchers and machine guns, or you can let the wildlife do the job for you by letting a tiger savagely kill your enemies. These outpost infiltrations are fun, but after a while it does get a bit monotonous because you end up following the same pattern to get it done quickly.

 

 

 

What’s new to the gameplay are subtle such as the ability to be able to shoot while you’re driving which I must say makes the game flow better because in previous games you had to stop your car, get your gun out and shoot and it did kill the flow in my opinion. You get new vehicles such as the gyrocopter which is very handy to cover the terrain in a quick amount of time and you also get to ride elephants…. Yes you read it correctly elephants and I must say that I feel like General Hannibal when I ride an elephant into battle knocking all of my enemies out of the way while fire my light machine gun at anything that moves, it makes you feel like a bad ass.

 

 

You have a vast array of weapons that you can buy, but to be honest if you’re like me and get most of the towers and out posts and do the side missions most of the weapons become free anyway so to be honest the monetary system is pretty much useless and ammo is always in constant supply, so I found that I rarely visited the trading posts because also you can craft your own medical syringes by picking green leaves.

 

 

Multiplayer is your standard team deathmatch and domination types, but you have two sides to pick you have the golden path soldiers and the Royal Armies hunters, which are a special unit that specialise in stealth and only use bows. This really adds tension if you’re on the other team because you are constantly watching you’re back because it has an atmosphere like predator.

 

The few nit-picks that I have with this game is that the animations take forever such as the healing animation is not good when you are in the middle of an intense fire fight, also the skinning animation and you’re main character getting grossed out gets old fast. You’re main character isn’t very interesting because unlike Jason Brody from Far Cry 3 Ajay doesn’t really have a decent character arc because in the first few minutes he’s just killing people with no questions asked, unlike Jason who first questions it and starts to enjoy it the further you go through the game. The radio DJ that you here when you liberate the towers gets boring because he spouts the same nonsense over and over again which make you stick to quad bikes and hang gliders to avoid the radio.

 

Overall I found that I really enjoyed Far Cry 4, is it Far Cry 3.5? Yeah a little bit but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because it fixes the minor problems from the last games and improves upon the framework. I would highly recommend this game if you want a long game to get you through Christmas despite the flaws.

Batman Arkham Knight Gameplay Trailer Ace Chemicals.

 

 

Trailer source:

MKIceAndFire 

 

 

By Sam Coles:

 

So it’s been a while since we’ve seen anything about the latest Batman game from Rocksteady Arkham Knight, the last time we saw anything substantial was E3 2014 which was an impressive demo.

 

We get a new gameplay trailer in the form of the “Ace Chemicals infiltration” which shows of Bat’s moves and skill set to take down the goons of Gotham city such as the standard slew of sneak attacks and brutal hand to hand combat which looks to be bone crushingly satisfying. Also we got to see the more action from the Batmobile which looks as if you can upgrade the vehicle with different gadgets to help you get a round.

Batman Arkham Knight releases on the 2^nd of June 2015 on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Grand Theft Auto V PS4 Review - One Year Later in Los Santos

 

By Sam Coles:

 

One year later after the release of Grand Theft Auto V we get to take a trip back to Los Santos on the new and shiny Xbox One and PS4 I’ll be focusing on the PS4 version of the game and let’s say that the game is now packed with even more detail than before, not to say that the game wasn’t beautiful to begin with on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

 

So if you have been living under a rock or haven’t played it here is the basic gist of the story. You play as three characters Franklin who lives in the ghettos of Los Santos, Michael a retired bank robber and finally you have the amoral psychotic Trevor who takes lots of meth and is hell bent on making money through robbery. Michael ends up going back into bank robbing because he owes Mexican Cartel leader money after he pulls down his house with a truck.

 

 

 

The environments have been given an over hall and are densely populated compared to the last gen counterpart you’ll see more flora and fauna with elements such as there being separate blades of grass in the parks in the middle of the city to the long grass and flowers in the wilderness in the surrounding state of San Andreas. There is even added wildlife in the city such as cats and dogs wondering around these little added details make the world of  GTA V feel more alive than it already does.

 

 

 

So what else is new with the current gen version of the game besides a texture update, well you get more cars, guns and a new first person mode which you can play the entirety of the game in this first person mode. This really changes the dynamic of the game and you can witness Los Santos from a different perspective and makes you tackle missions with different strategies. Take note though that it is very difficult to drive in first person but you can change it to third person when you’re in a car and it will switch back when you get out of the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can now play with up to 30 players in one game on GTA Online but you may be met with some resistance with a full server which is understandable because of the sheer number in this massive open world. Unfortunately the multiplayer is still problematic and players are reporting that they couldn’t transfer their character which has been fixed and I can’t seem to find a full game, most of them seem to have fewer than 10 players each session that I’ve played.

 

Overall it’s the same game that you played last year with a shiny coat of paint, but it still has the same problematic multiplayer because I couldn’t get into a game with no more than 5-7 players, not the 30 player experience that I hoped for. Is it worth buying again if you played it last year? I would say no in my opinion but if you have a new gen console and you somehow missed the game then I would get this version as it is the definitive version.

 

Battlefield 4 Final Stand DLC Available on Premium.

By Sam Coles:

Did you know Battlefield 4 is still relevant apparently because a new DLC has become available for you guys who have paid a lot of money for the premium package. Final Stand includes a hovertank, snowmobiles, rail gun, remote high speed flying drone and new levolution moments in the maps that change up the gameplay. You also get access to new maps called On Giants of Karelia, Hammerhead, Hangar 21, and Operation Whiteout for the epic conclusion of the multiplayer of Battlefield 4 (if it works).

Assassin's Creed: Unity dropping to Unplayable Frame Rates.

By Sam Coles:

The damn has finally collapsed with Assassin’s Creed Unity as the standard for the latest AC game unfortunately has gone down not visually that aspect has been nailed to a certain extent. The main problem that gamers and critics a like are having is the fact the game is running at an abysmal frame rate, players are reporting that the game is running at 20 or hell on the PS4 version sub 20 frames per second.

Unfortunately this isn’t the first problem that Ubisoft have had this year Watch Dogs it was a good game, but was released with horrendous bugs and glitches especially on the PC version. The Crew’s Beta was bug ridden and glitched mess and don’t say “it’s a beta what do you expect” the game is out in three weeks these problems should be ironed out by now.

These sort of frame rate issues are not universal with all parts of the game just certain scenes which the main one being when there are 1000’s of NPC’s on the screen and so the PS4 and Xbox One has trouble comprehending what’s on screen.

Lets wait and see what happens with this game and hope that this gets fixed fast and lets also hope that we don’t get half a job from FarCry 4 when it drops next week, but looking at these problems it looks to be the hardware and not the software. This is not the "Next Gen" experience we hoped for with Assassin's Creed.

Grand Theft Auto V: The Official PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Launch Trailer

By Sam Coles:

Grand Theft Auto V launches for the PS4 and Xbox One next week so Rockstar have given us an lanuch trailer showing off more of what the current gen machines can do to the already beautiful city of Los Santos with high detail textures, further draw distance and much much more. The question is what console are you getting this game on out of the new generation.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Review - Something New and Interesting for a Stale Formula.





 

 

By Sam Coles:

 

Over the years I think a lot of gamers have felt the fatigue of the Call of Duty series because they come out annually with little to no change, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the latest game in the series Advanced Warfare from the guys at Sledgehammer Games in conjunction with High Moon and Raven Software.

 

The campaign’s story is that you play as Private Jack Mitchell played by Troy Baker who seems to be in every game at the moment, but I digress. You first start out in the marines pushing back the North Koreans out of Sol South Korea and then you are then injured and are given a second chance by the PMC Atlas. The president and ceo Johnathan Irons played by Kevin Spacey hires you and gives you advanced prosthetics so you can fight for his army. Yeah the story isn’t special and the twists you can see from a mile off, but it’s presented so well with its direction and graphics with the facial animation which are fantastic that it will hook you.

The campaign took me around 7 hours to finish and that was even on the veteran difficulty and it wasn’t particularly hard but that maybe because I upgraded my exo to the max by the end of it that I was able to with stand a lot of gun fire and sprint fast. That isn’t say that you won’t go up against tougher enemies because you will you’ll get soldiers in harder armour and other mercs in mech suits that are equipped with mini-guns and missiles, let’s just say that the campaign gets more intense in the later stages. In the campaign you’ll do little challenges that will award you with skill points you can upgrade certain elements for your exo such as increase reloading speed or sprint etc. but unfortunately it’s a bit bare bones and except for the reloading I don’t really notice the upgrades in practise.

 

The graphics are amazing especially on the current gen machines (PS4, Xbox One) they are nearly bridging on photorealistic and you can tell who the actors are and you will recognise some of them especially Kevin Spacey he has been put in the game fully. The production value from the graphics and voice actors are high it’s paced like a blockbuster movie. The game runs at a native 1080p on the PS4 and runs at 60 frames per second for the most part it does stutter in some cutscenes, but in gameplay I’ve not noticed any notable frame rate drops it performs really well most of the time.

 

Gameplay is similar to other COD games especially in the campaign but you have the added exo-suit but unfortunately it is used in the scripted events in the campaign which Call of Duty is known for. In multiplayer on the other hand the exo-suit comes into to its own because instead of camping in corners and sniping in this game, players will be running around the map dodging shots and out smarting you in gunfights. It makes it immediately fresh compared to the stilted gameplay of the other games it has feeling of the old school shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament where it’s all about map control and not your loadout.

 

 

The multiplayer still has the standard slew of perks and different equipment although there are some interesting weapons as the game is set from 2054 onwards so get a laser heavy weapon and a portable rail gun as a pistol which is a one shot kill (mostly), The variable grenades are interesting where you get 3 or 4 grenades in one which can range from stun, EMP and frag. You can get different exo abilities which can vary from silent footsteps, a shield or speeding up your run speed which all run on a battery which regenerate over time. Pick 10 system returns from Black Ops 2 in the form of Pick 13 where you can equip 13 weapons, perks and abilties which is always usefula and a great way to plan the perfect loadout

 

 

You can customise the look of avatar for the online mode where you can give him or her ostentatious exo-suits which you can unlock more through loot drops. Loot drops are new to the series these are similar to free to play games such as Warface or Blacklight Retribution, but like those game you’ll have a time limit to use the special weapons and clothing items. On the other hand though these drops have special abilities such as your first few bullets may do more damage, but take a penalty maybe with slower fire rate with the first few shots, let’s just say if you can keep them it would make the game unbalanced.

 

The game modes aren’t terribly inventive except for a couple such as Uplink where you have to take a satellite to enemy base and throw it into the uplink, think of it as a faster pace version of Giff ball or American Football. It makes you think on your toes because once you’re in possession of the satellite you can’t use your weapons but you can turn the tables on your enemies by throwing it at them to make them catching it and you can then gun them down. In general though the game modes are the usual Team Deathmatch, domination etc. but with the added exo abilities it adds a sense of verticality and new strategy to the game.  

Overall this is the first Call of Duty game that I’ve enjoyed in years and is an excellent first attempted from the guys at Sledgehammer Games for their first standalone COD game, if you have a PS4, Xbox One or PC give this game ago I have played it on the last gen and it does not perform as well and the graphics (obviously) are not as well optimised. If you’re looking to play on your current gen machine give this game a go because it may surprise you.

Retro Sundays: Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

By Sam Coles:

Sonic the Hedgehog made his debut in 1990 on the 16 bit system known as the Sega Megadrive or Genesis if you are from the US. It was different to what we have seen compared to Nes at the time because the Snes wasn’t out at the time. Sonic had attitude and could speed around the level with his lightning fast running through the colourful worlds. It’s sequel in 1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 added a sidekick called Tails the two tailed fox.

Like all the Sonic games you are trying to stop Doctor Robotnik from taking over the world and turning all the animals into robots of war. You’ll traverse lots of worlds and zones as you collect rings and chaos emeralds. 

What I love immediately with this game are the graphics they’re really beautiful and considering that this game came out 22 years ago it still holds up today with the colourful plains Emeralds Hill zone to the flashing lights of Casino Night zone. The levels are all varied and it never gets boring when you’re playing through the game because it’s different in each zone with new obstacles. 

Through out your sprint through the levels you’ll be collecting rings, like Mario when you get 100 you’ll gain an extra life, but unlike Mario it doesn’t reset to zero because you need a certain amount to access the bonus stages at the checkpoints. Bonus stages will transport you in a 3D style view from behind Sonic and Tails where you have several rounds to collect rings and if you are successful you’ll collect a chaos emerald which if you collect them all you can turn into “Super Sonic” where you turn yellow and you can run at ridiculous speeds.

The only problem that I have with this game is the boss battles with Robotnik because they’re not very exciting because he is very predictable with his attacks and you’ll get the pattern in about a second.

Overall Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a fun game and will give you something to do if you want to burn sometime very quickly. This game is very cheap today and is very easy to find on the Sega Megadrive, The Sonic Mega Collection on PS2 and the Megadrive collection Xbox 360 and PS3.

Grand Theft Auto Online Xbox One and PS4 Screenshots.

By Sam Coles:

We are nearly there for the release of Grand Theft Auto V on the PS4 and Xbox One so Rockstar have rolled out some new screenshots but not for the singleplayer but for the multiplayer. The Landscape seems to look more detailed compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3 version and it looks as there is more traffic in the online mode because that was a major problem in the online that there would be no traffic at all. Check out the screens below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon Age: Inquisition Gameplay Features – Choice & Consequence

 

By Sam Coles:

The finally gameplay video that introduces us to the world of the latest instalment of Bioware’s epic fantasy RPG. The trailer introduces to the social elements of the game with NPCs and your party members, this rang from what gender you are, what race you are such as if you are a human you’ll be welcomed to most places but on the other hand if you are elf you maybe meet with resistance. Party members are very important in this instalment and if you do something that your party member disagrees with then he or she may leave your party.

Dragon Age Inquisition release on the 21^st of Novemeber on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.

Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask is Coming to 3DS 2015

By Sam Coles:

So after so many years from demanding fans my favourite Zelda game Majora’s Mask is getting the remake treatment for 3DS in a similar vain to the Ocarina of Time version on the 3DS. The game has been given a massive graphical overhaul from its N64 counterpart. The dark and gritty game will be hitting 3DS in spring 2015.

Grand Theft Auto V: PS3 to PS4 Trailer.

By Sam Coles:

The power of the PS4 is really shown through this latest trailer from the guys at Rockstar Games where you see the transition from the PS3 to the PS4 and the beauty that you’ll witness in this trailer is truly awe inspiring. New wildlife from dolphins to hammer head sharks, to the subtle differences where the trees sway in the wind with the added flora to the environments of the lush forests of San Andreas. You’ll see denser traffic along with better reflections and high end detail on vehicles.

Grand Theft Auto V will be released on PS4 and Xbox One on the 18th of November and later on PC on the 27th.

The Evil Within – More frustrating than terrifying?

 

By Mina Summers:

 

Twitter: @KamikoKid

Facebook: Kamiko Kid Gaming

Youtube: Kamiko Kid 

 

Pros:

·         Classic survival horror gameplay

·         Can be very scary and unsettling

·         Fractured narrative keeps you on edge

Cons:

·         Hideously  frustrating

·         Poor performances and patchy visuals

·         Assorted technical issues

·         Cheesy dialogue

·         Completely ridiculous storyline

 

The Evil Within isn’t everyone’s most anticipated title, but for the most ardent fans of Resident Evil it’s a massive deal. Bethesda’s horror game is directed by Shinji Mikami, who first created Resident Evil. In short, this is the man who invented the modern survival horror game in 1996, then came back to reinvent it nine years later. Can he do it again another nine years on?

To raise excitement levels further, The Evil Within is widely seen as a spiritual successor to Resident Evil, taking survival horror back to the good old days before the second-rate Resident Evil 5 and the wildly incoherent Resident Evil 6 that all but wrecked the series. The Evil Within has been seen as a return to slow-burning tension and lurking fear after those more action-oriented titles.

SOME OF THE STORY

Shinji Mikami’s latest blood-drenched action horror, throws you straight into the action. While investigating the scene of a gruesome mass murder at Beacon Mental Hospital, Detective Sebastian Castellanos, his partner Joseph Oda and “rookie” Detective Julie Kidman encounter a malevolent and powerful force. After seeing the slaughter of his fellow officers by a man wearing a white hood and covered in burn scars, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. After awakening you’ll be given the task of escaping the hospital alive. I won’t tell you more for fear of spoiling The Evil Within’s many curveballs, but it soon becomes clear that all is not what it seems.

 

Along the way we get a tour of horror idioms, ranging from slasher movies and the torture porn of Saw to the creepy hospital corridors and rusting barbed wire of Silent Hill. Nor is Mikami averse to rifling through his own back catalogue. The over-the-shoulder viewpoint and general controls stink of Resident Evil 5 – basically Resident Evil 4 but with movement while you’re shooting.

 

GAMEPLAY

The big idea with Resident Evil 4 was to mix survival horror with action. Here, it’s to mix survival horror action with stealth. You’ll spend a lot of time sneaking around in The Evil Within, trying your best to sneak past or behind enemies and dispatch them quietly with sneak attacks. You can spend hours in some chapters scoping out the area, investigating houses and doing your best to put some weaponry together.

 

In the early stages of the game you’re pitifully weak, consigned to hiding under beads and in lockers in order to survive. Running away can also be a good option, but Castellanos seems to suffer from some respiratory malady, to the point that after two or three seconds of sprinting he has to stop and take a few deep breaths.

The enemies meanwhile, are not so weedy. Even the most basic zombie monster takes two shots to the head or more to go down. Melee attacks aren’t so much last resort as an utter waste of time. Bigger boss enemies soak up damage like a luxury, super-sized sponge. The combination of Sebastian’s all too human weaknesses and the toughness of the enemies can make for a fiendishly challenging proposition.

Life never gets any easier for our hero, as he plunges into an ever-evolving nightmare spread out among poorly lit mansions, insane asylums and forests while caught in plot that will leave psychiatrists and biochemists scratching their heads.

This unnerving dark ride combined with a “Hostel” group of enemies (disfigured humanoid creeps looking to butcher for pleasure) infects 15 chapters of action as a player is immersed in roughly a 20-hour killing spree.

TOOLS AND GEAR

Sebastian eventually carries a pistol, shotgun, crossbow (with constructible bolts that explode, freeze and poison), matches to burn bodies, and grenades. He is always short of health and ammunition, as he spends an inordinate amount of time crouching in the face of unimaginable horror.

 

The player learns quickly the delicate choice between fighting off difficult-to-kill, mutated humans (often wielding weapons), and simply hiding or running away after watching Sebastian get brutally murdered over and over again. It’s a game that challenges the gamer to the point of insurmountable frustration even while set on a “medium” difficulty mode.

SCARE RATING

There are a few jump-out-of-your-seat scares within some beautifully constructed environments, but The Evil Within ultimately takes its cue from Resident Evil 4, and is more about the slaughter. I was hoping more for the scare here rather than shock. Those looking for these types of grisly encounters — absolutely not for the squeamish or anyone under the age of 17 — simply need turn off the lights and get ready for a blood-soaked journey into a virtual hell. Specifically, the player can see characters stumbling upon a field of zombies and getting ripped apart, sliding down a chute filled with entrails and lined with blades, being eaten alive, blowing off parts of enemies’ heads, skewering creatures with harpoon bolts and routinely being electrocuted to upgrade skills.

The Evil Within has enough moments to make for an irresistible Halloween treat but relies too often on bloody kills to satisfy. Unfortunately, for this gamer who loves scares, Sebastian’s survival offers little resemblance to the days when Mr. Mikami’s original Resident Evil chilled a player’s bones.

MY VERDICT

The Evil Within is a good game, even if it feels a little old-fashioned with its claustrophobic over-the-shoulder camera that artificially makes it difficult for you to see enemies. It remains endlessly surprising and inventive from beginning until end, it rewards exploration, and apart from some moments of frustration (probably caused by the camera) it stayed fun all the way through for 14-19 hours of gameplay. However the technical problems, poor storytelling (welcome back to the ’90s folks!), lack of satisfying level progression and the gradual ditching of stealth in favour of shooting drags it down. Some people will hate it completely, but I’m not one of those. If you like the idea of Resident Evil 4 crossed half-and-half with Silent Hill then The Evil Within is the game for you.

3 ½ / 5 STARS !

Grand Theft Auto V Goes First Person.

By Sam Coles:

Grand Theft Auto V hits the PS4 and Xbox One in two weeks and a new trailer showing off the stunning city of Los Santos on the current machines keeps getting better and better. The trailer in question comes with a twist; the long speculated first person mode for GTA V has finally come to life which is exclusively to the current gen machines and PC. At first I thought the mode was going to be clunky with the Euphoria engine but it actually functions like a decent first person shooter with elements such aiming down sights etc.

This stems from a fan made mod from GTA IV on the PC where some made it so you can play the entirety of GTA IV in the first person, the mod was clunky and it could have done with some tweaking but was a vision of the future with the next instalment.

Grand Theft Auto V hits the PS4 and Xbox One on 18^th of November and hits the 27^th of January on the PC.

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Retro Sundays: Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories (PS2).

By Sam Coles:

I’m starting a new segment called “Retro Sundays”. Why Sunday you ask? Honestly it’s because I use to play all sorts of games on a Sunday especially on a rainy one, from old to new because I have the time to relax and play games for a long period.

Let’s start with a game that I don’t think gets enough appreciation and that’s probably because it was on the ill-fated PSP originally and I’m of course talking about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

You step in the shoes of Victor Vance you may recognise the surname of this character if you played the original Vice City back in 2002 and that’s because he is the older brother of Lance Vance. What I like about this character is that when you start off he is not a criminal he is an honest man trying to start a career in the army until he gets involved with a corrupt sergeant who is delves in drugs and illegal fire arms trades.

 

The gameplay is very similar to the original Vice City game, but also borrows elements from San Andreas such as being to recruit followers if you have taken over a business and also your followers can do drive bys out the window of the car. The only problem I have with the game is the aiming is unpredictable in a gunfight and you’ll end up aiming at a random pedestrian rather than the person who is trying to kill you.

 

Unlike some games in the series you must take over businesses from enemy gangs to help you gain income, how you do this is that you must start some commotion by blowing up their cars or killing their fellow gang members outside and you‘ll start an attack. What you have to do is that you must defeat all the members outside the business and then enter the premises and take out the remaining members.

 

After you have cleared up the place you can then shape what you want your racket to be from drugs to prostitution, but be careful the enemy gangs will fight back and attack your rackets and try and take them back, so you must defend them. This feature kind of reminds me of the Godfather games where you had to do the same thing by intimidating shop keepers for money. Each racket adds to your weekly income that you accumulate from business and this happens every in game week.

 

Graphically its looks pretty good for something that was ported from the PSP and yeah it does look dated but what do you expect for a game that was released on the PSP and then PS2 so it’s understandable. It still looks nice with the little details from the sun setting over the blue sea on Washington Beach as you cruise along with some 80’s metal, to the reflections on your car and on the road when it rains which is really impressive for the hardware.   

Overall Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories is still an enjoyable game and I would recommend if you have a PS2 or PSP if you are willing to look past the frame rate issues on the handheld. It’s very cheap and easy to find these days so if you have a bit of change in your pocket I would recommend buying it I picked it up for £3.99 in my independent video game shop.