K, I’ve been doing a replay of GTAs III, VC, and SA, as i one bought the iOS 3-pack once upon a time ago. I never had a PS 2 because my brother had one and I hated him, but I remember many hundreds of hours of running over hookers when I have a booze and coke phase about 20 years ago… and lived in Florida. It made sense, and that game was fun as fuck!
Well, I just beat it for real (actually playing the game, not just engaging in a bloodbath), and I tried to play GTA 3. Wow. That game is shit compared to VC. Storylines, gameplay, missions, etc. GTA III blows compared to VC.
I’m moving on to San Andreas, hoping it will be better.
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You are making a comparison of a groundbreaking first attempt at a new type of open world game to the later versions that improved on the model. That means the first one wasn’t trash, because you enjoyed it at the time, it just isn’t as good as what followed.
The voice acting in NES Super Mario Bros. Was absolute shit compared to Mario Odyssey…
Wait, GTA III came before VC?
Yes
Yep. Also, in case you didn’t know, they made something of a port of Vice City for the PSP, called Vice City Stories (VCS).
It’s effectively the same exact map and loosely the same game, but with a different main character and totally different missions. Some changes to the available vehicles as well.
Bonus points for VCS, they added in a BMX bicycle as an optional vehicle, and you can even do some crude bike tricks on it! 👍
It’s not as much of a port as it is a spin-off / prequel.
Sorry for being pedantic, my point is that VCS is also available on PS2, so by definition it’s not a port.
No PC version though, sadly.
It’s also available on PS2? I didn’t know that!
I actually have an OG modded PSP1001, still working by the way. Guess I’m still living in the stone ages…
Or am I? I occasionally enjoy the game under the PPSSPP emulator under Linux Mint… 👍
GTA 3 is shit compared to Vice City
Like… Duh? Vice City came later. They figured more shit out. By the time San Andreas dropped, they practically perfected the formula. Then for some reason they forgot that formula when they released 4. But their amnesia wore off with 5.
You’ll be surprised to find that GTA1 is absolute donkey ass compared to GTA3. Shit ain’t even 3D!
Well… Technically that shit was 3D. Buildings, signs, and fences had perspective. And the streets looked pretty sweet in level editors that allowed one to move the camera to ground view. If one didn’t mind seeing flat cars and flat people, because those were 2D.
Anyway, I’m just being annoyingly pedantic as an excuse to share some nostalgic memories of that game. Don’t mind me.
Games, as with all creative media, by default improve over time as people learn what makes something enjoyable. I think people tend to forget that. So I think for older games, you have to keep 2 “ratings” in your head - how was it compared to the games at the time, and how is it compared to games now?
I loved GTA3 when I played it. But that was back then. I’m not sure if I would say the same thing now, comparing it to modern games.
I get that people like to clown on all the remakes and remasters that are coming out, and for the most part, rightly so. But I also think it’s really important to encourage high quality remakes for this exact reason - when a good game ages poorly, it doesn’t feel quite right to just tell new, younger players to deal with it if they want to figure out what the hype is about
In no way am I advocating that they change the game. I appreciate your view on the matter.
“early gen” 3D - ps2 era, really didn’t age well imo. like you’re finding with GTA3
Yeah, 3 is -rough-
I loved it in its day, but it did not age well.
Even at the time I found the contortions they put themselves into to avoid your protagonist from either speaking or having a name to be equal parts sad and hilarious.
I wasn’t big on it at release, but a lot of people were. In hindsight, there was still too much of the earlier DNA in the game: a lot of people just talking at you, and otherwise mostly a focus on driving around and shooting things. It wasn’t engaging enough for someone like me that mostly played RPGs.
The move to 3D was impressive, though, and a necessary step for not just the series but a lot of games of the generation. Now that they had a big hit, they were able to take big swings by bringing in Ray Liotta and all the elements to make an amazing period piece with Vice City.
