Personal Reviews of Vice City: The Definitive Edition

[Kirsty]

Personal Reviews of Vice City: The Definitive Edition

 

Although we've only just reached launch day, we'd like to give everyone the opportunity to share your detailed opinions (whatever they are, don't hold back!) in the form of a review post. Think of this as the GTAF metacritic and everyone reading is still deciding whether to play or not.

 

Post your first impressions, reviews, and personal scores out of 100. Use whatever format you like but put some effort in; what would you want to know before playing? 

 

This topic isn't for replies or debates so they will automatically be hidden - you can post your review only. If you want to change it, either edit your original post or make one further post with an update.

 

We'd like to feature some reviews in the near future for an article on GTANet.com. Cheers 

[Algonquin Assassin]

I was one of the lucky ones to play it on PS5 when it launched at midnight yesterday and all I can say my first impressions have been very positive.

 

I just love how everything and fresh the game looks whilst still maintaining its classic charm.

 

One of the first things I did was go around checking if things were still in place and so far it seems like they are. For me it’s been like a duck to water and I feel at home already.

 

So in saying that I’d give it a 95/100. It only loses %5 because of a few minor bugs/glitches I’ve encountered and some of the changes to the menu options like not being able to turn off the HUD, auto save etc.

 

Long story short. I love it.

 

 

[MrBreak16]

Overall I am not impressed.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - The Definitive Edition is pretty much just a copy of the 10th Anniversary mobile release with new graphics, textures, models and controls.

The game is plagued with glitches, issues and questionable design choices. The menu sounds come straight from GTA San Andreas, which feels lazy and makes no sense considering that the original game had its own menu sounds. The wasted and busted screens are just cheap stock images. Many characters have weird character models, some of which end up looking worse than the original models from the original versions. Some minor things in the open world have been changed for the worse or downright removed from the game.

Grove Street Games lazily implemented textures and models from Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V, which sometimes even breaks the fact that they take place in separate universes. Driving and shooting pretty much feels the same as the original games, and the car handling somehow is worse. It's very easy to oversteer and flip over cars now and they blow up ridiculously fast.

But apart from that, there has surprisingly been improvements to characters' AI: They now react when you aim a gun at them, as opposed to the original versions where everyone (even the cops) didn't care about Tommy pointing a loaded gun at them. The game also suffers from poppins and Grove Street Games somehow managed to mess up the fidelity and performance modes. This is honesly not a very good remaster and it it feels like it was made by incompetent amateurs. There are many other things that I haven't mentioned, but I don't want to go over them because it would take a long time and I think you pretty much get the point by now. 

Edited November 12, 2021 by MrBreak16

[Ducard]

Started the DE with VC because it was my first GTA and it's been so long since I played it properly. Played for a couple of hours up to demolition man. Did some mucking about in free-roam as well as some paramedics on the side.  I'm playing on PC with a 1050ti. 

 

Honestly? I'm having fun with it.

 

That being said, I'm going to try and write down what I hope is a fairly objective take on the DE. I've seen people being overtly harsh on it and I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people are saying. 

 

First, I'll start with the positives:

 

- The visuals are gorgeous. I love the art style and I'm so glad they kept the original tone of the games rather than going with a full blown GTA V style "remake". Visual wise, this is a proper remaster. I know there might be better looking mods out there but I feel GSG hit the nail on the head when it comes to keeping the original atmosphere of the game while still upgrading visuals.

 

- The character models actually look good imo. Especially in cutscenes, they feel a lot more "alive". As I said in the other thread, I really dig the DE look of Tommy and he feels so much more badass and "real". 

 

- Vehicle handling does feel better imo. Vehicles have more weight to them, motorbikes especially. It's a lot better than the vehicle handling in many open world titles. (I'm looking at you Just Cause/Sleeping Dogs)

 

- More pedestrian variety, always a good thing. 

 

- The interiors look gorgeous. All the little details and props added really make them more alive and vibrant and its something you can notice only if you play the game. Malibu Club is a beauty. 

 

- I've seen a few complaints about bugs in the GPS system but it works quite well for me. (so far)

 

- The game now actually has Xbox 360 controller support and it's well implemented.

 

- From what I've seen, the game is mod-friendly. This is a positive because given Rockstar's recent stance on the modding community I feared they'd make the DE unmoddable. The fact that it is means there is plenty more room for enhancement for PC players.

 

- The game actually performs well for me. As I said, I'm running on a 1050ti and I'm able to play on 1080p mostly ultra with a few settings set to high/medium and it runs good. Then again, I've not been someone who expects a 60+ FPS experience all of the time.

 

Now, onto the negatives:

 

- The driving camera "centering" when you try to move it annoys me. It's a minor thing for people but it bugs me. I know the OG Vice City had this problem as well but it still annoys me they haven't fixed it.

 

- The sudden pop in of vehicles and pedestrians is weird. Even if its a remaster, this is still essentially a new engine and its weird that this issue still persists. Hoping a mod/patch fixes this.

 

- The controls for the RC helicopter in demolition man are still awful in mouse and keyboard. Thank god it's only one mission.

 

- Speaking of rains, the rain effect could be improved as well although I think it looks decent still, atleast on my end. Looks a lot better compared to some other screenshots I saw.

 

- No user radio stations. This might be my biggest con of them all. I understand the removed songs were never going to come back (officially, anyway I'm sure mods will fix that) but I'm baffled as to why they took out the user radio stations. I was hoping I could add some of my favorite removed tracks in the DE. 

 

- No photo mode/ability to turn of HUD. Another big peeve of mine. The game looks visually stunning and its a shame we can't take clean pictures of it. Considering both GTA V and RDR2 had it, it's weird they don't have it now. Even more weird they don't have an option to turn of the HUD or mini-map. It's a simple feature and there really is no excuse for not adding it in. 

 

Final thoughts:

 

I don't know whether it's because I haven't played these games in so long but I genuinely am having a blast playing through it. The visuals alone make me stop and stare in awe. It does help that I kept my expectations low and that I haven't encountered any major bugs yet. Nonetheless, I think the DE deserves some love!

 

Is it worth the hefty price tag? No, it's certainly overpriced it has it's fair share of issues but its one of the better remasters on the market. If you enjoyed the OG games and want to revisit them, VC DE is certainly worth a look if you can find it cheap or on sale. Hopefully some patches and mods can iron out the bugs and glitches.

[StarJet905]

Not much of a review but more like a collection of random thoughts about VC DE:

Just finished all the named missions in VC DE on Switch, handheld.

It was a lot of fun, despite the performance issues on Switch.

 

VC was my first 3D GTA but it's been a while since I played it. And this for the most part, was just as I remembered it, down to the annoying quirks like being thrown across the road if your car hits an edge of another.

Even on Switch, the graphical improvements legitimately improve the experience quite a bit. Some people may find it easy to get carried away by nostalgia, but I think I can say for sure now that the DE looks better than the original overall.
The new controls work very well. They're not like a carbon copy of modern GTA but get very close. This however does not really change the underlying game which hasn't aged quite that well. Not a big deal for people who have played this game back in its heyday, but newer players may struggle.

Maybe I was just lucky, or the Switch version has improvements that the PC version does not, but I got no noticeable glitches outside one time Tommy's head looked like he had a bald patch, and the helicopters' rotors being too slow (which luckily does not affect flying it). Phil's crate breaking mission worked as it should, and even the Top Fun van had the correct decals both times I saw it. I could finish all the named missions without any glitches getting in the way.
The "checkpoint" system does not actually appear to be a checkpoint system. Somewhat similar to modern GTAs, it'll take you back to the start of the mission, which is convenient, but never once did I actually encounter a mid-mission checkpoint in any of the missions I failed. But perhaps this is for the best.

Some missions may have been made easier. Eg. The Driver was doable first try. But perhaps I was lucky? I don't know.

There is a potential issue with vehicle damage. Vehicles get damaged very easily and catch fire and explode very fast. Much faster than I remember in the original game. This affected a few missions such as Death Row, where taking Lance in the Sentinel was pretty much impossible. (Luckily the Trashmaster method works for this.)

 

Performance issues appear to be less egregious in handheld, but the game still crashed three times during my playthrough, and the frame rate dipping in situations such as when there are a lot of cars on screen is definitely noticeable.

These issues are a sad blemish on an otherwise fun romp, and your own tolerance level will play a big part in how this affects you.

Other than that, what can I say? It's just good old Vice City. If you enjoyed that, and you're going into this with an open mind, odds are you will find a lot to love here. In terms of remasters (not counting stuff that are built from ground up but strangely marketed as remasters such as Spyro) this is at the very top in terms of the visual improvements done to these very old games.
For the die hard fans here, I'd say wait for a sale, and Switch buyers are advised to go handheld only and to first check out some handheld gameplay video on YouTube first. (Definitely do not buy on PC)

...Or so I want to say. But you can't buy VC individually, and I haven't played the other two yet. Hopefully, they're around the same ballpark. Will post something about those too once I've played them.
 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by StarJet905

[7bbbbbbb]

GTA: VC is the first game i've ever played, maybe that's why i have so many complains with it, at first glance is very impressive, but, there is a lot of details that are missing or they've changed to bad, for example: The banshe, infernus and deluxo had unique rims, but now they're missing, like that are a ton of details that are lost.

That's just a tiny bit of the overall problems that this Trilogy have, the more importante ones are performance, character models and bugs.

I can't describe how bad i feel, how Take-Two did that to the fans and the legacy of this games?. 

This proyect is so complex and obviously can go wrong in so many aspects, but, for that reason this game need time and effort to make a "Definitive" version of it and i don't think that GroveStreet Games will ever have the time and care to fix all the little errors and details missing that this game, and the others have.

Edited November 17, 2021 by 7bbbbbbb

[CHER0KEE]

Well I am having a fun and amazing playthrough. Its nostalgic, very much cos these are my childhood games and I enjoy them in new colors. So I didn't find any bugs until now and character models seem okay to me. But the FPS is not consistent and it keeps stuttering. So that was my review, 9/10

[Geisterfaust]

I've only played VC on my mate's PS5 while visiting, but it was enough for me to be even more sure that I'm not going to buy this bundle than when the thing was announced. My initial position is based on my preference not to revisit the games I've played when I was young and to preserve memories and original experience, but after playing VC for around an hour and watching my mate play for good 40 minutes more it was clear that the game is not finished. It's not Cyberpunk level of glitches, but original from 2003 was much more stable and that's something you should keep in mind. If playing the game for an hour could lead to some mission-failing glitches, something is definitely not right.

 

Graphics is hit and miss: skin textures are ridiculous, outfit quality on peds is inconsistent, light is okay but why neon lights are being on during daylight? Somehow, there's very annoying pop in too.

 

Gameplay. Seeing the weapon wheel from Max Payne 3 I was impressed. Not for a long time though, shooting shotguns and anything bigger than SMG is only possible while your character is not moving and judging how broken our character's body behaves while doing so, it's probably for the best. Car handling is worse than original and there was some kind of damage multiplier so the cars were really easy to damage.

 

TL;DR: Not worth $60 in its current state. The idea of this remaster was to make classic games more accessible and modern system friendly. Neither was done properly and comprehensibly. Game feels unfinished and it's unstable, much more unstable than originals. What is the point of remaster if it works worse on consoles than original game on PC while being run on unsupported os and with third party fps patches? None. If you have classical PC versions, mod them and play them. If you're on console... Well, still mod them and play them because you can easily play originals on any 5-6 years old iGPU, probably older. 10 years old dedicated GPU will do too, 6670 that was laying around my old Russian apartment did just fine in SA with 70+ fps. And yeah, originals are made by actual Rockstar games and they preserve the original atmosphere.

[boomboom5950]

I loved my playthrough with the game, its just as awesome as i remember. 

I knew what to expect, i wasnt expecting any gameplay overhauls or changes in mission design, so the final product i was really happy with.

None of the bugs were fixed from the originals, which i dont really mind. No gamebreaking glitches happened in my playthrough and its good for speedrunners.

Weapon and radio wheels are great but need some more refinements imo (tell us the name and artists, display the ammo on the weapon like gta v etc.)

Graphics and visuals are perfect for a remaster, clear night and day difference i just wish some of the buildings were 3D instead of the same textured blocks like the original. Even the character models in this game arent horrible, i cant think of one that was exceptionally bad.

Map detail is great, especially the north point mall. Even though there are a few timeline errors (toy cars from 1992 in the mall), the passion was there, just the team behind this was too small and too restricted on time.

In terms of performance, i locked my game at 60fps to avoid bugs and to play at a consistent frame time, there are a few slowdowns but zero crashes which im thankful for.

I cant wait to see what kind of mods we can expect to see a year or two down the line, big potential. 

Overall if someone were to ask me which version of VC to get i would tell them to get the definitive, sure it has its bugs but so do the originals. It plays better, looks better and is more appealing for the average player, as oppose to fighting with the game to get it working and dealing with the terrible controls of the original. 

Some hate for this is alright but I think its getting too much hate, im really happy with this. But is it worth $80? Nah. Maybe half that price.

 

[ChumCrumpet]

I haven't finished the game yet. It's fun. But I mean... it's just Vice City, you know?

 

Don't get me wrong, it does look beautiful. Mostly. But outside of the graphical upgrade it doesn't differentiate between the original game. Maybe it might just be down to my own expectation, I guess no one was really sure what the DE was going to be and I think that is another large downfall. Some people were expecting it to be completely remade from the ground up, some thought it'd be on RAGE, a lot of different theories were floating around, so putting all the bugs and screwed up launch aside, I think that didn't really help.

 

That's really all that sticks to my mind when playing it. I'm just playing Vice City. Don't get me wrong, I love Vice City, but the graphical upgrade, while mostly nice, doesn't really justify this release in my eyes.

[ViceBoy69]

I think i will do it game by game

GTA3 looks good been brought a little more uptodate without losing the original game, Claude is one of my favourite protagonists glad to see he still looks good.

I like the new trees and grass it gives the game more life, the cars on the otherhand look like crap but i can live with them, understand what they tried to do.

 

ViceCity Again impressed it looks how i always thought it should, in some ways its a different game, better buildings, cars look great, better peds, just a shame about the graphic glitches.

They need to go back and fix the framerate and the cars sinking into the road and tilting, rain is still not perfect but getting there, overall i really do like it.

SanAndreas  never liked CJ so have never finished the game, this remaster is terrible the game looks like SH*T  what is with the black wire frame coming through the characters and cars, CJ looks like he has webs stuck on his feet.

[Indovercetti]

Vice City Definitive Edition Mod Review:

 

I think the best part about the game is the graphic environment.
The game overall looks better than what mods can do in the classic GTA

 

It was a nostalgia to play the game again,

thanks to Rockstar Games & Independent modders 

 

Talking about the not so good part

The sand plateau near the starfish island bridge

ugly models of the player and other important characters

building's texture are just stretched

Tommy can't swim or climb

No custom radio station or load your own skin

FPS problem regardless of a damn good pc

 

[Mister Pink]

I recently purchased the Definitive Edition. 

 

Vice City is dear to my heart. The game has inspired me I'm sure no developer of the game could ever imagine. From the use of neon pink and cyan colour scheme, my favourite colour combination to many of the classic hits on it's soundtrack as well as the game's humour. I'm a huge fan of crime-genre films and Vice City just has so many references to them, I just adore it. 

 

Vice City: DE looks great. It's not this remaster of updating the graphics some of us had hoped - based on speculation from viewing graphics mods. It wasn't about remaking it to look like it was made more recently. But morelike keeping true to the original look but also modernising that experience. Sounds easy but it's probably easier said than done. The experience for me is just like playing the original. All the driving physics and ingrained in my brain so I took to this like butter to bread. Some of the best things I enjoy is the new sky. Sunsets and sunrises are very beautiful. I wish there was a proper photo mode. The way I see it is, that it looks like the original with mild modern improvements just to bring it up to basic standards but now in 4K and 60fps. I personally play in performance mode which I believe is about 60fps. 

 

Some criticisms I have is that the cronies that hang out at my mansion don't have the same clothing. Other things people mentioned, I didn't notice. But the "Hey Mario" guys seem to look different and I miss their old look. Overrall, I'm having a ball with the game. I'm glad I waited for it to on sale. Got the collection for €29.99. I would have bought it day one had I not heard of the initial critcisms, most of which I believe are fixed now. 

 

This play of Vice City is actually one of my favourite experiences of it. Full of nostalgia, full of gaming joy. I even noticed new things or things that I just completely forgot.  I played the original when it came out and I believe it was the first GTA I completed ( the followin year probably in 2003). This DE reminded me how Vice City is actually one of my favourite games. It's really quite genius. There is nothing quite like it. 

 

Some screens from Series X. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MaddenedGhost]

14 hours ago, Mister Pink said:

I recently purchased the Definitive Edition. 

 

Vice City is dear to my heart. The game has inspired me I'm sure no developer of the game could ever imagine. From the use of neon pink and cyan colour scheme, my favourite colour combination to many of the classic hits on it's soundtrack as well as the game's humour. I'm a huge fan of crime-genre films and Vice City just has so many references to them, I just adore it. 

 

Vice City: DE looks great. It's not this remaster of updating the graphics some of us had hoped - based on speculation from viewing graphics mods. It wasn't about remaking it to look like it was made more recently. But morelike keeping true to the original look but also modernising that experience. Sounds easy but it's probably easier said than done. The experience for me is just like playing the original. All the driving physics and ingrained in my brain so I took to this like butter to bread. Some of the best things I enjoy is the new sky. Sunsets and sunrises are very beautiful. I wish there was a proper photo mode. The way I see it is, that it looks like the original with mild modern improvements just to bring it up to basic standards but now in 4K and 60fps. I personally play in performance mode which I believe is about 60fps. 

 

Some criticisms I have is that the cronies that hang out at my mansion don't have the same clothing. Other things people mentioned, I didn't notice. But the "Hey Mario" guys seem to look different and I miss their old look. Overrall, I'm having a ball with the game. I'm glad I waited for it to on sale. Got the collection for €29.99. I would have bought it day one had I not heard of the initial critcisms, most of which I believe are fixed now. 

 

This play of Vice City is actually one of my favourite experiences of it. Full of nostalgia, full of gaming joy. I even noticed new things or things that I just completely forgot.  I played the original when it came out and I believe it was the first GTA I completed ( the followin year probably in 2003). This DE reminded me how Vice City is actually one of my favourite games. It's really quite genius. There is nothing quite like it. 

 

Some screens from Series X. 

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/zIeOsnP.jpg

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/uWiB3Jb.jpg

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/l0pks6h.jpg

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/nlua9UY.jpg

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/Sa4DYYu.jpg

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/p13ffuj.jpg

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/tidVnfe.jpg

 

/cdn-cgi/mirage/2f4a79c61b3ffdbdd4fc15a1cf9bb8ee469fe436-1662779497-1800/1280/https://i.imgur.com/5ebFGQb.jpg

Interesting, I might actually get that collection after reading this.

[Mister Pink]

On 9/10/2022 at 4:13 AM, The_Ghost said:

Interesting, I might actually get that collection after reading this.

It's still not without it's faults, however, I'm personally having a great time enjoying it. 

[Sir_Featherstone]

On 9/12/2022 at 11:45 AM, Mister Pink said:

It's still not without it's faults, however, I'm personally having a great time enjoying it. 

 

Yeah I can attest to this as well. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole trilogy, but would say VC was my favourite of the three.

[Comrade Monke]

So far I liked the definitive edition, my only real complaints is they removed Tommy's post-cutscene comment in "Jury Fury" and also they should bring back the smoke grenades and add mission replay otherwise it's good.