GTA Trilogy: Vice City: first thoughts

 After finding a way to make The Exchange stupid easy... by going to the shoreside vale Safehouse and taking the weapons available (100 packages + firefighter mission) and looping around the hideout swiftly so the weapons would respawn and take extra ammo. With the weapons in tow, quickly heading to the dam and defeating the Colombian Cartel with the Sniper, RPG, Famethrower, AK, and M16... it's Vice City's turn.

Right now I'm "in the beginning..." since I just saved after being told to go to the hotel on Ocean Beach... I know that it sounds like "I haven't done ANYTHING" but I AM doing stuff. I finished the Pizza Boy Missions to have 150 Health, I've done some Rampages and collected 20-something packages. I'm collecting stuff for money to buy weapons and hideouts early on... Need to collect as many Almost invincible Admirals as possible. Some frustrating missions require that car.

I will not use cheat codes, but using in-game exploits that's a different story. What I'm trying to get at is that I'm tasting the game before fully playing the game. Since I can't use cheat codes, utilize a Cheating device like codebreaker or GameShark; I have to do things the hard way... I'm trying to make things less hard for me.

Musically the game hurt me... We have no Michael Jackson!! No Ozzy Osbourne... No Kate Bush!! No Lionel Ritchie... No Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force, but the most noticeable one for me was Irakere's Añunga Ñunga!!

Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat

Herbie Hancock - Rockit

Irakere - Añunga Ñunga

Kate Bush - Wow

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon

Tyrone Brunson - The Smurf

These are the songs officially removed due to licensing issues. I know that there are only eight songs but their absence Robs a little bit of the whole Vice City experience. 

Driving a cab through Little Havana as you complete the Taxi Missions is not the same without Añunga Ñunga .

Cruising on a Deluxo at twilight near Escobar International Airport while listening to Lionel Ritchie Running with the Night.

At least I still have A Flock of Seagulls...

The game obviously feels more polished than GTA3. We still haven't reached the San Andreas levels, which are the Pinnacle of 3D era of Grand Theft Auto, but there is a reasonable difference between Vice City and 3. Once I beat the game or reach the final mission I shall do the full review of the game. Let's hope the game isn't as merciless as GTA3... I need to save the Nearly invincible Admirals for Death Row...