Too be fair, I guess I should also praise the PS2 games that I enjoyed as much as a berate those that I didn’t (Grand Theft Auto III:Vice City). A few weeks ago, I’d ordered three games along with my used PS2: GTA III: Vice City, Metal Gear Solid 2, and God of War. GTA III: Vice City was horrid. I played Metal Gear Solid 2 for about 20 minutes before putting it down entirely (this was after the 10 minute intro sequence).

God of War surprised the hell out of me. What a fantastic adventure! I can’t wait to run out and try God of War 2, and the new sequel on the Xbox360.

What sets God of War apart from most of the other 3rd person action adventures I’ve played like Tomb Raider, Max Payne, etc. is it’s cinematic quality. The character design and animation are superb. The engine boasts a fantastic example of how game control should work, and the plethora of wild, acrobatic and seamlessly integrated attack moves made the whole experience a blast. The music was great, giving the game a rushing score of thundering drums and symphonic crescendos akin to movies like Gladiator or Lord of the Rings. To top it off, gratuitous nudity was used somewhat tastefully. I’d liken this to watching the movie 300. Boobs, but just the right amount of boobs, and not for the sake of boobs, just boobs!

I hear that the Xbox 360’s new sequel is a little too much like the original PS2, but I don’t think I’d mind it that much. I can only hope they add just as many “Making of…” special features as they did for the original PS 2 version. What delicious icing on the cake that was!

Yesterday was my last sick day. I still wasn’t up to par to dive back into development on MageQuest, in that I was still coughing up gobs of phlegm and it just generally sucked to be awake. So I thought I drown my misery in the PlayStation 2 I finally bought about a month ago. Yes, that’s not a typo. I waited this long to get a PS2. Who knows how long it will be until I cave in to a PS3. (Might be sooner though, I hear Blue-ray may be winning out against HD-DVD.) I figure if I’m going to start taking game development seriously, then maybe I should at least get some perspective on some of the best titles in the industry.

Take for instance, Grands Theft Auto III: Vice City, which scored 95 out of a hundred on Metacritic.com. I’ve already played around with GTA III, and GTA III: San Andreas didn’t have nearly as much appeal. What can I say, it was the 80’s music that drew me in, and for God’s sake, it was the 80’s music that was the reason I didn’t just stop playing the game outright.

Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City SUCKS!

That’s a shame, because I remember playing the original Grand Theft Auto III back in 2001 and having such a good time. But, now that I think of it, the only time I played GTA III was when my friend Matt brought over his PS2 and we’d spend the evening getting drunk and terrorizing pedestrians and freeways.

When you actually sit down and try and finish the game, the frustration sets in and sticks like spoiled compost. The controls are horrible. Trying to aim any sort to weapon is a chore. If it isn’t an auto-aiming gun, then trying to draw a bead on a moving target is an exercise in frustrating overcorrection. The automatic swiveling camera angles don’t help at all either, especially when it decides to throw itself behind a row of shrubs and leave me in a frantic game of “Dodge oncoming traffic with your sense of smell.”

The game is buggy. I remember spending hours on a single level wondering what in the hell I was doing wrong, when after a quick restart it turned out that the game was glitched into it’s difficulty, and completing the frustrating mission was easier than some of the first levels. Argh! Grenades would constantly fall through the floor of the map into oblivion. It’s frustrating to hurl one into the path of an incoming automobile, only to HEAR the explosion from somewhere in the distance before getting run down and having to start the mission all over again.

The game is a bit too long, and at times unclear in stating the next plan of attack. I remember many hours of wandering around aimlessly, trying to find the next checkpoint in the story, wondering what I hadn’t accomplished. I eventually had to go online for an answer, and the minute that happens it’s usually a bad sign on how much patience I have left. Beating the game was almost mind numbingly frustrating. Trying to fend off a hundred swarming computer opponents with deadly pinpoint accuracy while you meander about with a dodgy camera, over-responsive aiming, and a giant bullseye strapped to your chest is downright maddening.

In the end, I should have just shelved the game. But, unfortunately, my pride got in the way and I forced myself to see it through to the credits. In retrospect, I wonder if the main reason why this game obtained such a gross amount of popularity was because of its sensational subject matter. It seems like it may have blinded gamers to the real issue at hand. When you take GTA III:VC out of context of a free roaming world of discretionary violence, you’ll find a sub-par, 3rd person adventure that could have used a little more work on engine development.