Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Revision as of 00:38, 2 August 2006 by Gboyers (talk | contribs) (→‎Details: 9th scan)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
File:VCS Boxart.jpg
Vice City Stories Cover
DeveloperRockstar Leeds
PublisherRockstar Games
Release datesUnited States 17th October 2006
Europe 20th October 2006
PlatformPlaystation Portable
ProtagonistVic Vance
LocationVice City
Year1984


Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is an upcoming game for the Playstation Portable, it will be the second Grand Theft Auto game to appear on the handheld console. The game is being developed by Rockstar Leeds, and published and released by Rockstar Games. Take-Two Interactive announced the release dates would be October, 17th in the United States, and October 20th In the United Kingdom and rest of Europe. Suggested retail prices are $49.99 for the USA, and £34.99 in the UK.

As the title suggests, the game will be set in Vice City, as was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and will feature a brand new storyline, according to a press release by Take-Two Interactive.

Details

On 1st August 2006, Gamepro Australia magazine published an article giving us the first detailed information on Vice City Stories, through an interview with Rockstar. The scans from that article are below, provided by JarJar from GTAForums.

  • Vic Vance will be the main character (playable protagonist). Vic is a 28 year old marine in peak physical condition.
  • VCS is set in 1984 and is "much" bigger than Vice City
  • Lots of familiar buildings that we see just entering development.
  • Animations have been improved massively from the other GTA games. It is now much more realistic and the character's emotions are are more true.
  • New Vehicles - Jetskis for example, are in the game.
  • Helicopters are flyable (unlike LCS)
  • Improved realistic bike handling
  • Vic does have the ability to swim.
  • The game will feature a multiplayer mode similar to that in LCS.
  • New weather effects including hurricanes
  • Less "A-B" missions, more unique style of gameplay
  • There is a new theme park on Ocean Beach - the star attraction of which is "Chunder Wheel" - a giant wheel which you can ride in first person view!
  • New water effects, shower the streets with spray from your jetski.
  • Vice City's radio stations will return with new songs
  • New loading system which means only slight pauses before missions
  • Trip Skips are back! (The little taxi that takes you back to the location of your last mission after you die)
  • NO Character and Vehicle Customization
  • NO Wall Climbing
  • NO seamless integration of interior and exterior areas (as seen in LCS)


File:VCS Scan1.jpg
First page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan2.jpg
Second page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan3.jpg
Third page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan4.jpg
Fourth page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan5.jpg
Fifth page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan6.jpg
Sixth page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan7.jpg
Seventh page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan8.jpg
Eighth page of the Gamepro article
File:VCS Scan9.jpg
Ninth page of the Gamepro article


Rumours

The following rumours and predictions are from before the above article was published, so may now be irrelevant.

  • A PS2 version hasn't been officially announced, but is likely to be released following the trend of Liberty City Stories.

Characters

After the release of the cover art, much speculation has spread. The woman leaning on the Infernus strongly resembles Laura Shrub, the wife of Alex Shrub, who can be seen on page 4 of the Vice City manual. This was discovered by saintdave on GTAForums. Colonel Juan García Cortez is thought to be one of the men standing on the boat, along with right hand man Gonzales. The close-up appears to be Umberto Robina, noticed by adamcs at GTAVice. The biker was originally thought to be "Big" Mitch Baker, however, on closer inspection it would appear that he more closely resembles the NPC biker gang member in Vice City.

Setting

Vice City is obviously the city being used in the game, however it is unknown if any physical changes will be made to the landscape. It is likely small changes will be made, similar in size to the ones made to Liberty City in Liberty City Stories. The year the game takes place in is currently unknown. Chris at The GTA Place was the first to point out that Laura Shrub appears to be leaning on an Infernus, which itself looks to be modeled on a Lamborghini Countach. Two notable versions of this particular car were made, one on 1978, the other in 1982. This would suggest a late 70's or early 80's setting, a theory also supported by the bright clothes worn by the characters on the cover art. Also, Liberty City Stories was set six years before the older GTAIII, so VCS may be set around 1980, six years before Vice City, which was set in 1986.

As of yet there hasn't been a GTA game set in the 70's, which gives more reasoning behind this thought.