Critical Acclaim +: Open Mic

[radiofloyd]

I liked Vice City but I never completed it. I think I gave up on some helicopter mission. I never completed anything then.

Loved San Andreas. I have both of them lined up to replay, but it will definitely be after GTA V.

Chinatown Wars was genius.

[Sly Reflex]

I remember when this game came out and people were going nuts over it. It was really highly rated.

It did bikes. Which I loved.

It did helicopters. I also loved these.

It did a kickass soundtrack. This is the best thing Vice City did.

I thought everything else about the game was awful. The missions in particular were complete ass. The islands were crappy too.

I think the main reason this game is held in such a regard is nostalgia. Both nostalgia for the 80's and for the PS2 game. Out of the GTA games it's certainly the weakest link for me. I don't even think it's that great of a game to begin with, the people that made it knew they could use the 1980's as a crutch to sell it. It had this horrific blurring shite in the game too which i think was a filter put there on purpose. I think it's main purpose was to give me a splitting headache in between giving me fits of rage due to the ridiculous difficulty spikes found within the game.

It's probably worth saving your opinions for the other GTA games, as some of them are in the list as well.

Someone pick a number between 1 and 1 less of whatever the big number was before please. Or maybe whenever a new game goes up the first person to reply should pick a number. Whatever. Just make sure there's a number posted.

[HandsomeDead]

25, and to be fair the blurring thing was a GTA3 thing too. Maybe the colour pallet made it stand out more in Vice City.

I agree with playing to nostalgia of the GTA players of the time. I remember Scarface being a big deal at the time for some reason and I reckon that link to popular culture helped. I also have a weird memory of the time of watching MTV Cribs and all the rappers had a copy of Scarface: Ja Rule, Nelly, Jadakiss, Ja Rule. Every little boy and girl wanted to be Ja Rule, hence Vice City's popularity, obviously. It's all because of Ja Rule.

And the map was pretty boring, which is weird as Vice City on the original GTA was complex as fuck.

Vice City is the only one I didn't finish because of that 'end of Scarface' mission at the end. That was an arse thanks to the crappy shootin'.

[Craymen Edge]

I've never really liked the GTA games all that much until 4, which still had a lot of things wrong with it.

All 3 of the GTA 3 games could be admired for the open cities they created, but as has already been stated, the things you could do were just mechanically badly executed. Also, as a non PS2 owning PC gamer at the time, I always felt that the versions I got to play suffered a little by being made for the PS2 first and foremost.

The best parts of all those GTA games, and the part I agree with the critical acclaim about, is the musical selection, the comical radio station bits and Rockstar's abrasive parodic sense of humour. Although I've never been particularly fond of 80's music so Vice City is probably my least favourite soundtrack of the 3.

[Manicm]

Didn't like any of the GTA series, 4 was ok but still played better games.

Anyone picked a number?? 47 unless is already gone

[HandsomeDead]

I suppose looking back the open world doesn't seem that impressive but then thinking back I remember other open world games were pretty damn bad and Vice City was certainly better than all of them. But most open world games are nearly at the same level as Rockstar ones now so earlier GTA games don't have that luxury of being the only half decent open world game anymore.

[spatular]

Surprised by the amount of GTA apathy, but completely agree with it. I liked the idea of them, and tried a few due to the hype but always gave up early on due to regularly failing missions and spending most of my time repeating the same bit to get to the start of the mission.

[Bob]

I loved it. Now it is terrible. Great story and music though.

[Cyberpunk]

I'm going to stand up proud and say I loved Vice City. I'm a massive GTA fan, and have played them all. I loved the nostalgia, the music, the little in-jokes. I was born in the seventies, and grew up in the eighties, and I watched all the stuff this game refers to as it happened. Miami Vice, Scarface, The Godfather are all in this. Pastel linen suits and guys wearing makeup. Big hair metal bands, and cops in Ferraris. It's all cheesy as hell, and I lapped it up. Yes, the map was small, and looked similar all over, but I 100%-ed this game, and have played it twice since. I even have the soundtrack CD boxset.

I played it on PC (no surprise there) and after completing it, I played GTA3. I know, weird huh. But I got them as a set, and the eighties appeal of Vice City pulled me in. Now-a-days if you have the PC version, there are loads of mods on-line to completely change the game, from how it looks, to total rebuilds. There's even a mod that lets you play Vice City, or GTA3 and San Andreas on-line.

[Sly Reflex]

I played Vice City before GTAIII too. I couldn't get on with Vice City at all though, I thought it was utter baws for the reasons I listed above.

[HandsomeDead]

I played them in order and it didn't change my experience.

Actually, I just played them at a friends first as I didn't have a PS2 at the time but picked up that double pack that eventually came to Xbox, and even though I didn't like it I still convinced myself that it's good 'cos everyone says it is and went on to buy San Andreas and complete it, despite a certain part of my brain telling me I'm not having a good time.

[Sly Reflex]

I got the double pack as well. It came in a nice shiny sleeve.

[Sly Reflex]

I'm really glad I wasn't on my own with the Vice City hating there. I seem to be the only person that really dislikes some games. It really wasn't worth all the fuss.

Anyway. Someone picked a number. I cannot remember which one, but I do remember the game was Guitar Hero 2. Talk to us about Guitar Hero 2!

[radiofloyd]

As I was saying to Sly, it saddens me to see lists of the greatest PS2 games without Guitar Hero 1. GH2 is an incredible game, and everyone knows it fixed GH1's hammer-on and pull-off system...but experiences are more than mechanics. The set lists meant everything in those games because you were going to be playing each song over and over, on your own, trying to improve your score. It was an intense single-player experience.

I slightly give the edge to GH1 - (a) because of a fondness for the set list (although both games had brilliant songs, and bonus tracks) and ( because it was the game where I learned the ropes, where I struggled from easy to expert. I'll never forget playing the first few notes of I Love Rock and Roll in Easy.

I'm really glad to have been a part of Scorehero in those early days before the community exploded somewhere between Guitar Hero 2 and 3. It was a great community that gave me a love for the game that I might never have had other wise. My old scores are still preserved:

GH1

GH2

Some of those scores were in the top 100 when I entered them! Ah - two of my favourite games of all time. My proudest moment was probably that XStream FC, just for the sheer ridiculousness of it.

[spatular]

guitar hero is so awesome definitely deserves any hype. i think i like 1 and 2 equally, 2 was probably slightly superior for me, but as above ^ the process of getting better at it was a great experience. (i may like rock band slightly more because of the massive list of dlc songs and drumming).

nice work on the scoring radiofloyd, those links don't work for me, but being in the top 100 is bad ass!

[radiofloyd]

guitar hero is so awesome definitely deserves any hype. i think i like 1 and 2 equally, 2 was probably slightly superior for me, but as above ^ the process of getting better at it was a great experience. (i may like rock band slightly more because of the massive list of dlc songs and drumming).

nice work on the scoring radiofloyd, those links don't work for me, but being in the top 100 is bad ass!

Ah I fixed them - I was in the "my scores" section, now you should be able to see them. Far outside the top 100 now!

[HandsomeDead]

Guitar Hero was one of the games that made me finally get a PS2 as I loved the sound of it at preview stages.

But Gee Haych Two was where it was at. They got that hammer on/pull off mechanic nailed and the set list was that little bit stronger. Harmonix just nailed it with those arrangements with GH2, though I think they got even better with the Rock Band games, but here they were still great fun and satisfying to pull off playing on the harder difficulties.

I think the guitar controller made it that bit more exciting, kinda in the same way I didn't play fighting games as much when my arcade stick broke. I just liked that dumb event of getting an over-sized plastic thing and playing a game with it; strapping that hing on, you know?

I dunno, I find it really hard to articulate why I like these games. Most games I can given the time and inclination but maybe the appeal is somewhat primal and is just a super advanced tap to the music challenge that you find yourself doing regardless on a desk while bored. I dunno, but I love it and miss it since it has somewhat disappeared now. All I have is a bit of DJ Hero these days, and while that is loads of fun I do miss that mini plastic guitar (and the Rock Band drums even more).

But overall, Guitar Hero 2 was Harmonix nailing peripheral based rhythm action for the first time, and they will nail it a few times after that.

EDIT: I suppose I can't not mention all the awesome Dad Rock it introduced me to, too. My iPod would be much less embarrassing but more boring without it. I can't imagine my life without Rush sitting next to Richard Hawley.

[Sly Reflex]

I cannot really disagree with DC. For music peripheral games this was where the training wheels came off of Harmonix games and started riding around shouting "Dad, look at me dad! I'm awesome!" while Harmonix was like, "Yes Son, you are awesome."

[Manicm]

Didn't play this, but did like the wii version of a later GH, got me drum kit, immense party fun but was limited and tbh didn't last long.

[Uncle Dokuro]

Did not play GH due to the lack of gorillias playing kongos and monkeys playing maracas.