Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto - Double Pack (Xbox)

Ever fancied being a tooled-up hoodlum, living on the wrong side of the law and mixing it up with street gangs in a war over turf, drugs and cold, hard cash? Welcome to Grand Theft Auto III. Big brother of previous outings on the PSone and PC, GTA III has gone fully 3-D to bring Liberty City to life. Any worries about graphics speed on the PS2 are quickly dispelled the first time you carjack a taxi and take off like a lunatic, mowing down the innocent and incurring the wrath of the law.

It has to be said that GTA III fully warrants its 18 certificate, dealing as it does with mob warfare, indiscriminate murder, auto crime, prostitution and more. The language gets a little "fruity" from time to time and you can't help but wince as you watch innocents get in the way of a good firefight. At the end of the day, though, this is a game and nothing more; thankfully, it's a good game, a very, very good game. --Chris Russell

There can't be a more sure-fire hit in the gaming world than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Not quite a full-blown sequel, but far more than the average lazy mission disk, it relocates the action of the previous game from the NYC-styled Liberty City to the Miami-influenced metropolis of the title. As the game starts you take control of Tommy Vercetti (voiced by Goodfellas star Ray Liotta) who gets involved in a bungled drug deal and must set himself up from scratch as a crime boss. Unlike GTA III, you're not restricted to being a small-time hood any more; the game now allows you to purchase property (porn studios, strip clubs, cab companies and so on) and run extortion rackets. This cleverly widens the scope of the game while keeping the controls and gameplay pretty much the same. Indeed, in most respects the game is very similar to its predecessor--the graphics, for example, are improved but hardly ground-breaking--though there are numerous minor additions, most notably the chance to ride motorbikes--which is particularly satisfying--and fly proper aircraft. --Harrison Wilder

"You've been betrayed and left for dead. Now you're taking revenge, unless the city gets you first. Mob bosses need a favour, crooked cops need help and street gangs want you dead. You'll have to rob, steal and kill just to stay out of serious trouble."
"Anything can happen out there."

This is one of the two brilliant games in this double pack, and is set, of course, in New York. You have a mass load of freedom and can kill anyone in the street; therefore this game is an 18. But obviously this game isn't about killing random people with a variety of weapons; you can hijack mostly any car and go about for a drive.
This is the game engine was the first to convert GTA into 3D and was so popular that it wasn't just used for only GTA III and Vice City, but San Andreas also.
This GTA has a good storyline, but doesn't have the freedom of Vice City, therefore I shall not review this game in much detail and will skip ahead to Vice City, and after you have read Vice City's review, you will just have to bear in mind that GTA III is similar just set in a different darker location, with worse graphics, but with a subway.

GTA: Vice City

"Vice city, a huge urban sprawl stretching from the beach to the swamps and glitz to the ghetto, a town brimming with delights and degradation"
Vice city, is of course, based on Miami, and this game has inspired the Grand Theft Auto series to expand, with San Andreas already out, and another GTA being created as you read this.
The freedom you get in this game is mainly, what made it so popular, the range of vehicles you can drive/pilot, also the amount of firearms and other weapons (with amazingly different types to try out on random civilians from Aks and uzis to screwdrivers and hammers), and finally the amount of properties you can purchase all add up to make this perfect 10 out of 10 game what it is.
You get hours of fun also from the missions set for Tommy Vercetti, the main character you control, which is all part of a brilliant storyline, the missions range from dropping off a women at a strip club, to destroying a building with a toy helicopter, also many missions included killing many people.
Vice City is huge for a video game, even if San Andreas is six times as big, and there is a noticeable difference in the islands. The first island, which includes Ocean Beach, Vice point, Washington Beach and Leaf Links, is the tourist island, including many hotels, night clubs, strip clubs, shops, etc, it even has a mall, and a golf course! Prawn Island has a film studio which you can purchase, Starfish Island is a rich island, with many mansions, and the last island, has an army base, airport, docks, a tatty Cuban gangster area called Little Haiti (which looks a bit like where your first home is in San Andreas), but north of Haiti lays downtown, with many skyscrapers, and a unattractive beach, but downtown also has the Hyman Memorial Stadium, the place where there is many races, and a dirt track.
The cars on offer, range from saloons, to sport cars, to super cars, jeeps, home-use trucks and SUVs, vans, service vehicles, limos, but a new instalment to the GTA world is motorbikes, including the legend called a PCJ-600 (based on a Ducati apparently, this bike is so popular it returns in San Andreas) and a Sanchez (a dirt bike), and a freeway and angel (both based on Harley-Davidson bikes). There are also two planes including a sea skimmer (a plane that can land on the sea) and many types helicopters, with range from normal helicopters to Army helicopters, here are a few:

Maverick/Police Maverick (both are normal looking helicopters, the only change with the police version is the paint job)
News Maverick (which handles very differently to the other
Sea Sparrow (which comes with a machine gun attached)
Hunter (apache helicopter, with twin rocket launchers, and a Minigun.

All of these vehicles come with a brilliant collection of soundtracks from the 80's, these are put into groups, and put onto a radio, including rock (VROCK), pop (FLASH FM) etc. These radio stations don't just play songs, but are also the main way that rockstar used to input great jokes.

All in all this game is of exceptional quality, and will keep you entertained for hours, another classic from Rockstar.
"Vice city, a huge urban sprawl stretching from the beach to the swamps and glitz to the ghetto, a town brimming with delights and degradation"
Vice city, is of course, based on Miami, and this game has inspired the Grand Theft Auto series to expand, with San Andreas already out, and another GTA being created as you read this.
The freedom you get in this game is mainly, what made it so popular, the range of vehicles you can drive/pilot, also the amount of firearms and other weapons (with amazingly different types to try out on random civilians from Aks and uzis to screwdrivers and hammers), and finally the amount of properties you can purchase all add up to make this perfect 10 out of 10 game what it is.
You get hours of fun also from the missions set for Tommy Vercetti, the main character you control, which is all part of a brilliant storyline, the missions range from dropping off a women at a strip club, to destroying a building with a toy helicopter, also many missions included killing many people.
Vice City is huge for a video game, even if San Andreas is six times as big, and there is a noticeable difference in the islands. The first island, which includes Ocean Beach, Vice point, Washington Beach and Leaf Links, is the tourist island, including many hotels, night clubs, strip clubs, shops, etc, it even has a mall, and a golf course! Prawn Island has a film studio which you can purchase, Starfish Island is a rich island, with many mansions, and the last island, has an army base, airport, docks, a tatty Cuban gangster area called Little Haiti (which looks a bit like where your first home is in San Andreas), but north of Haiti lays downtown, with many skyscrapers, and a unattractive beach, but downtown also has the Hyman Memorial Stadium, the place where there is many races, and a dirt track.
The cars on offer, range from saloons, to sport cars, to super cars, jeeps, home-use trucks and SUVs, vans, service vehicles, limos, but a new instalment to the GTA world is motorbikes, including the legend called a PCJ-600 (based on a Ducati apparently, this bike is so popular it returns in San Andreas) and a Sanchez (a dirt bike), and a freeway and angel (both based on Harley-Davidson bikes). There are also two planes including a sea skimmer (a plane that can land on the sea) and many types helicopters, with range from normal helicopters to Army helicopters, here are a few:

Maverick/Police Maverick (both are normal looking helicopters, the only change with the police version is the paint job)
News Maverick (which handles very differently to the other
Sea Sparrow (which comes with a machine gun attached)
Hunter (apache helicopter, with twin rocket launchers, and a Minigun.

All of these vehicles come with a brilliant collection of soundtracks from the 80's, these are put into groups, and put onto a radio, including rock (VROCK), pop (FLASH FM) etc. These radio stations don't just play songs, but are also the main way that rockstar used to input great jokes.

All in all this game is of exceptional quality, and will keep you entertained for hours, another classic from Rockstar.


Fine games but a disappointing conversion.   September 8, 2004
10 out of 24 found this review helpful

I bought this pack to replace my PS2 versions of the games which become scratched over time and I was expecting them to be superior to the original PS2 versions. However, the Xbox's controller is just not set up to handle these games as well as the dualshock does - the trigger can't seem to handle steady accelerations well and the drive by system is a mess. The graphics are clearer but suffer from reduced frame rates in Vice City, especially when flying a helicopter low over water, and the lighting seems grainier than the PS2 version. I've also had trouble with the custom music freezing and stopping any radio station from playing, which is a moot point as I'd rather turn the music volume off and play the songs on my PC anyway.

All in all, I'd say that if you own a PS2 and an Xbox, go for the PS2 version - a slight improvement in graphics and loading times aren't worth the poor controls and glitches. If you only own an Xbox then, despite it's flaws, this double pack will make a great addition to your games collection.


1 in my 5 top games   September 1, 2004
jk (my own world)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful

this game is one of the greatest ever made it has opened a new world of gaming where you don't need to do missions if u dont want to rules do not apply to anything you do, this is about what no other game has done before but what they are now going to do. this is all about freedom and that is one of the main reasons i love this game (apart from the cars, killing, extremely funny, guns, helicopters, planes and of coure lets not forget the all famous JAINSAW)