Vice City Stories is a prequel to the original Vice City, predating that game's timeline by two years. it's the same unwieldly mess all over again. Vice City Stories is here, and while it involves some cool new multiplayer games, as well as improved graphics, an all-new story and soundtrack, and even some 'new' mechanics such as boats and swimming. Perhaps it was the insanely high sales (for a PSP title), or all of the praise LCS got simply due to its technical prowess, but Rockstar has seen fit to attempt to recreate history. All right, then, lesson learned, yes? Rockstar would surely take steps to ensure that Vice City Stories didn't suffer the same fate as its predecessor. LCS's flaws were magnified all the more when it was ported to the PS2, and people realized that the Dual Shock made the game far more playable than it had ever been on the PSP.
Furthermore, after coming off of the technically superior San Andreas on PS2, going back to GTA3-style assets and game engine properties did not sit well with many people.
The portable console on which it ended up proved to be far too unwieldly for controlling the game. We were all in denial about it when Liberty City Stories came out last year, because having a full-on GTA on a portable console truly was a technical achievement for the ages. The Grand Theft Auto series is officially losing steam. You may want to sit down, because I'm about to drop a bombshell of immense proportions.
