Gameplay
Vice City Stories is structured similarly to other releases from the Grand Theft Auto series.
The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand to hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, airplanes, helicopters, jetskis, and motorcycles.
The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain areas and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and create havoc (e.g. drive-by shootings, robberies, etc). However, doing so can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities. The more chaos caused, the stronger the response: police will handle minor infractions, whereas undercover cops, SWAT teams, the FBI, and the military respond to higher wanted levels.
The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, but have been moderately upgraded and enhanced compared to previous titles. A new addition to the game is "Beach Patrol", in which Victor must deal with bikers on the beach by beach buggy (by ramming or shooting to knock them off their bikes) or throwing life preservers to drowning swimmers by boat or by taking a paramedic around to injured people on the beach.
One of the key gameplay elements in Vice City Stories is "empire building." New to the GTA series, it borrows a few ideas from Vice City's "properties" and San Andreas' "gang wars" systems. In order to make money, the player must open and operate various businesses on property taken over from enemy gangs. The businesses include protection racket, loan shark, prostitution, drugs, smuggling or robbery.
For Vice City Stories, the combat system was overhauled to feature more depth than ever before. The targeting mechanism has been tweaked to "intelligently target"; enemies posing a threat or attacking the player will be targeted over pedestrians. The biggest changes concern the hand-to-hand combat system, as players can now perform grappling moves and throws, and stand on top of enemies lying on the ground.
Players are able to bribe policemen or hospital staff when "Wasted" (killed) or "Busted" (arrested) in order to keep weapons that ordinarily would have been lost. The cost of the bribe is $2000.
The standard hidden package system returns in the form of 99 red balloons scattered around the city. This is a reference to Nena's 1984 hit "99 Luftballons", which was featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Improvements to the graphics since the release of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories include new animations, faster load times, a longer draw distance, reductions in clumping of pedestrians and vehicles, more complex explosions, and increases in the density of objects, vehicles, and NPCs.
Weapons
The weapons in Vice City Stories are essentially identical to those in Liberty City Stories, with the exception of a few changed weapon models and names (such as the Tec-9 being replaced with a weapon model of the Scorpion, but it is still the same weapon in function.) which were changed to fit the period (such as the M4 Rifle replaced with the M16 because the M4 did not exist in 1984). Another noticeable change is the pistol (originally the Colt .45), which now has a different model, a Beretta M9. The AK-47 also replaces the Ruger Mini-14 from the original Vice City. However, the weapons remain the same as their Liberty City Stories counterparts. There is also a new version of the rocket launcher, modeled after the M72 LAW, which now includes a centerpoint-crosshair for easier aiming. Some weapons such as the land mines and tear gas were removed from the game and can only be obtained with cheat devices. Also when the player pops all 99 red balloons, an M249 machine gun will become available at every safehouse, this is the only way to obtain this gun, except from the one that can be found at the Prawn Island movie studio.
Multiplayer
Like the game's predecessor, the PSP version of Vice City Stories features a multiplayer mode, for up to 6 players through WiFi ad-hoc mode (local area). The game features 10 different modes of wireless multiplayer gaming, which incorporate the use of automobiles, aircraft, and water-based vehicles. Various pedestrian and character models from the single player mode are available as player avatars. Rockstar decided not to include these modes in the PS2 version.
Source Wikipedia
Some screens
