Gran Turismo 3 - PS2 Review

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(More customer reviews)At the time of its release this was perhaps the most realistic driving game around. Having already played the first two Gran Turismo games, this was just another step towards racing simulator perfection on the console. The game can be endlessly complex or as simple as you want it to be with any number of tuning and upgrade options. This game is only bested by Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2. Anyone who is a fan of race simulation games and owns a PS2 should already own this game and if not I suggest you buy it and waste a whole lot of time trying to achieve 100% completion as this is truly an achievement. Be warned, this game introduces endurance races which will take several hours to complete. Only the hardest of the hardened racers should even attempt these races. I wasted a whole chunk of my childhood playing this game and I can say with confidence that I do not regret it.

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Product Description:
You've never seen anything this suped up. Viciously fast. Gran Turismo 3 keeps getting better and faster. Designed for gameplay on Sony Playstation 2 game systems.

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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Review

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(More customer reviews)I don't even know where to begin to tell you about GTA: Vice City. Do I begin with telling you how great the graphics are? Or do I tell you how much stuff there is to do here? Or do I tell you how freakin' entertaining the whole thing is? There is so much to cover with this game that it would take me more than my 1,000 word limit to tell you everything, so you will have to settle for this:
I will break it down in categories.
GRAPHICS - The game is gorgeous. Remember how cool GTA3's Liberty City was? Well Vice City is better - and prettier. You've got the sun shining, you've got the beach, you've got beautiful blue water, and you've got bright city lights at night. Oh yeah, and palm trees. These graphics will make you wish you were in Miami.
SOUND/MUSIC - The game's sound is great. The music...well, I'm not a huge 80s music fan, so I could live without most of the radio stations. I loved how in GTA3 all of the music was original, and I loved every one of the stations. However, every time I get into a car in Vice City, I usually find myself changing the station to KChat or the public radio. But hey, if you love Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams, Run DMC or even Ozzy Osbourne, you're in luck because their songs are all featured in the game, along with a ton of others.
GAMEPLAY/REPLAYABILITY - So what do you feel like doing? Do you feel like making the big bucks? Then follow the blip on your radar to the nearest head mission. Do you want to make a small amount of cash but try for a record (and get rewards, as well)? Then you can choose from the following: Ambulance missions, fire truck missions and vigilante missions go a little way to help you redeem your bad self, while giving you some quick cash. Other things you can do is deliver pizzas, drive a taxi, and deliver "ice cream" (this is only after you purchase the Ice Cream factory). Plus, there are tons of Rampage missions scattered all over the city. Once you make enough cash, you can start purchasing different properties around the city, which is convenient because every place you purchase gives you an extra saving area (whereas GTA3 only had 3 - one in each part of the city). Another thing you can do to make some cash is to participate in assorted events at The Stadium. For anyone who wants to know how to do this, go to the stadium when the game clock is close to 20:00. When the clock reaches that time, the Stadium's doors will open up and when you enter the building, you are entered in whatever contest is going on that particular day. As for the main missions, there are a whole lot of them. I have noticed, at least so far, that these missions are a tad easier than the ones in GTA3. But I'm not complaining, since I never have finished GTA3 because I got so annoyed with it. Hopefully I will be able to finish this one, but I can guarantee that to get up to the full 100% is going to be mighty difficult, even if you finish all of the main missions. This is because there is just so much to do in this game. The replayability is extremely high, seeing as though the game is so open-ended. If you keep failing at a mission, you can just take some time off and do whatever your little bad boy heart pleases. This way, you can still play the game and accomplish stuff, even when you're stuck on the main story. And by the way, the game's cut scenes are some of the best I have ever seen - or heard. The "acting" is superb - maybe because they got a real actor (Ray Liotta) to do the voice of the main character.
Okay, so what am I forgetting? Probably a lot. I will submit my review and then something else will come to mind that I will feel I should have added. But I've gone on for too long, so I will just wrap it up by saying this: I was hesitant to spend the big bucks on this game; I figured I would wait a few months for the price to drop. I based this hesitation on the fact that I own GTA3 and am extremely annoyed with it. But I was in a money spending mood, so I bought it regardless. I am so glad I did. This game is worth every cent you have to pay for it. It will provide you with hours and hours of enjoyment, and you will most likely become an addict. I know I have. In fact, I'm surprised I was able to tear myself away from it long enough to write this review.

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Welcome to the 1980'sProduct InformationThe phenomenon that started on the PC with a commitment to expansivenon-linear gameplay irreverent humor and unparalleled action has gone on tobecome a household name worldwide. Welcome to Vice City a huge urbansprawl stretching from the beach to the swamps and the glitz to the ghetto atown brimming with delights and degradation.Having just made it back onto the streets of Liberty City after a longstrength inside Tommy Vercetti is sent to Vice City by his old boss SonnyForelli. But all does not go smoothly upon his arrival in the glamoroushedonistic metropolis of Vice City Tommy is set up and loses everything.Sonny want his money back but the biker gangs Cuban gangsters and corruptpoliticians stand in his way. Most of Vice City seems to want Tommydead. His only answer is to fight back and take over the city himself.Product FeaturesExpanded ControlsPlay in mouse-look 3rd person view or classic Grand Theft Autoconsole. Plus integrated support for all major gamepads and joysticks.Optimized GraphicsPushed to the limit to take advantage of the latest PC hardware. Withmassive viewable distances texture resolutions bumped up from 32-colors to32-bit color with billions of shades and game resolution to scale as high asyour monitor can support.Player SkinsMuster your artistic prowess to create your own player skin. Add toTommy's 80's couture wardrobe or create a whole new original spin on thecharacter itself.Enhanced AudioEAX 3.0 audio immerses you in the sounds in the city and a new MP3 radiostation lets you broadcast your own music over Vice City's airwaves.ReplayAt any given time watch a replay of the last 30 seconds of the game andmail your unbelievable gameplay sequences to friends to watch.Windows RequirementsWindows 98 98SE Me 200 Pro with S

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Grand Theft Auto III Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm 42 years old and really hesitated about buying a game that looked like it was designed by punks for punks. After several fascinating hours of wholly immersive gameplay however, I am so glad I put my preconceptions aside and bought this game. Or should I say 'city simulator'? GTA 3 breaks away from the first two in the series by going with a true 3-D first and third-person design. There's many camera angles that you can choose from on the fly. Drive cars, boats, and even planes, or just walk around enjoying the fantastic sights and sounds. This ambitious and extremely well-executed simulator was originally designed for a console, but the PC version is much better, with ultra-high resolution graphics, no loading once you're in the game, and removal of barriers that were in the console version. I'm still on the first of three islands. I haven't yet discovered how to get to the other two, but discovery is part of the fun here, and my anticipation is half the fun. You can accept missions from a variety of sources, or you can simply run (and drive) freely, experiencing the little dramas unfolding around you throughout the city and even taking part in these little dramas if you choose. The possibilies are endless and it's this free-form design that is what pushes this game way beyond any other. It combines the very best elements of games like 'Carmageddon', 'Thief', and yes, even 'The Sims' of all things. Beware however, there are adult themes here without doubt. Controls are super-easy and easy to customise to your liking. The game is easy to play, and easier to lose yourself in. There's practically no learning curve. By far, easily the best game I've bought in the last year, and I buy many. Every time you steal a car, you'll find there's different radio stations to choose from, with all different kinds of music, advertisements, and talk shows going on. You can switch between them or shut them off entirely. This adds a huge amount of atmosphere to the game, and you can even customize the game by importing your own MP3s to the game files! A note to the developers: In the add-on pack, please include a couple more CDs of this great radio stuff!

However, it has to be said that a 32 meg video card is the very absolute minimum you should have to run this. I've tried it on several of my systems, and on my PII 450 with a 16 meg TNT 1 card and 256 megs system ram, it ran, but very slowly; hardly playable on that system. On my self-built 1.2 ghz. Athlon with a 32 meg GeForce 2 card and 256 megs ram, the game ran fairly well at 640 X 480 and it was indeed playable with options turned down, but it became clear to me that a video card upgrade was needed. So yes, I did purchase a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 with 128 megs video ram just to play this game. And I don't regret it. I can now run the game (and all my other new games) at 1280 X 1024 with all options maxed, and it's super smooth.
Simply put, this game is very graphically intense and there's a living city with lots of pedestrians and cars and buildings and scenery to render, all of it accessible to you with no loading times, so a great video card is crucial! Your computer's CPU is also important, but not as important as your video card. I'm thinking a PIII 600 with a 32 meg video card is minumum, and that same processor with a 64 meg video card will make a dramatic difference in your enjoyment level. I've played this game roughly 10 hours thus far, and haven't yet encountered a single bug, crash, or lock-up. This game is destined to be a classic and I'm looking forward to whatever add-on packs or sequels come along.

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Liberty City U.S.A. - Welcome to America's Worst City.Product InformationCrime does pay. The hugely successful highly controversial Grand Theft Autofranchise moves into 3 dimensions in the dark and seedy underworld of LibertyCity. With the freedom to go anywhere and jack anyone Grand Theft Auto 3 putsthe dark intriguing and ruthless world of crime at your fingertips if you haveenough guts to take it.You've been betrayed and left for dead. Now you're taking revenge unless the city gets you first. Mob bosses need a favor crooked cops need help and street gangs want you dead. You'll have to rob steal and kill just to stay out of serious trouble. Anything can happen out there. Grand Theft Auto III is a sprawling epic which will show you that sometimes crime can payand sometimes it can pay you back.Product FeaturesFeaturing a fully 3-D living cityA combination of narrative driven and non-linear gameplayCompletely open environment (the game represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment)For the first time players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie and let loose in a fully 3 dimensional city in which anything can happen and probably will.Features a cast of hundreds50 plus vehicles ranging from sports cars to ice cream trucks and from boats to buses3 hours of music including opera reggae house drum and bass pop and discoA huge array of street ready weaponsSome of the seediest characters in video game historyProduct Reviews"GTA 3 so much better on PC its criminal" - PC Zone"It's the most gleefully sociopathic slice of fun since Mr De Niro asked uswhat exactly we were looking at" - Maxim"The best game in the world" - PlayRecommended Requirments700MHz Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor Windows 98/ME/2000/XP128MB RAM700MB of free hard disk space32MB D

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Gran Turismo 4 Review

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(More customer reviews)I got a chance to play GT4 at E3 in May 2003 and GT4 Prologue at the Game Developers Conf in March of 2004. I also own the GT4 Toyota Promotional package. The first thing I noticed was the improved graphic detail, especially in the scenery. Rumor has it that Polyphony Digital, in development, added too much detail and overloaded the processor. It truly should be THE game that pushes the PS2 to its graphical limits. The streets of New York City are incredibly detailed as I lost my first race while being awed by scenery. The rally course is unbelievable. Seriously, the pre-rendered graphics are indistinguishable from reality. See the movies on GameSpot dot com. The real-time game play graphics while driving are equally as good.

The driving physics model was once again improved from GT3. The most noticeable change was improved realism in car handling at the extremes of traction. I have routinely compared driving cars on GT3 with the real cars I have driven at the actual Laguna Seca track. The new physics model in GT4 more correctly depicts the oversteer problems encountered during hard braking. In GT3, I can stand on the brakes and maneuver the car somewhat. But in GT4, the car gets unruly quite quickly if you start to turn while braking at the threshold, which is CORRECT. In the Toyota promotional package, the wheels can actually lock up! It seems to respond more accurately to mid-throttle and maximum throttle inputs while controlling the drifting car.

The new Logitech steering wheel is improved dramatically. It has both the paddle shifters and a "bump" shifter, simulating the sequential gearboxes of racecars and shifter karts. The steering wheel has more turns lock to lock than your typical driving wheel. I felt that the wheel was giving realistic pressures without any surprising yanks. They also improved the feel of the steering wheel while running over the rough, bumpy, inner curbs and the rumble strips on the exits of turns by adding more force to the wheel. It really pulls now and calibrates itself with GT4! Thumbs up on the wheel!

Likely tracks in the final game would be Laguna Seca, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas downtown, Circuit Tsukuba, New York City Circuit, Fuji Circuit, Cita d' Aria, Hong Kong, the Costa di Amalfi tarmac rally track in Italy, and Germany's famous 13-mile-long Nurburgring. I was told by the guys at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) that Kazunori Yamauchi and the GT4 crew were there for several days to model the track.

Likely improvements include expanding the license tests to act more like a racing school. My friends at the Skip Barber driving school at Laguna Seca tell me many developers from Polyphony Digital have been to racing school there. Also, a detailed replay mode will allow you to pose your car to create a digital image/picture to email or print out.

I need to actually play the game for a few days to come up with any faults. But there are no noticeable faults during the 2 hours I was fortunate enough to play the game. After spending two years beating the gold times and the demos in all of the license tests in GT3, as well as finishing all other races in Arcade mode and Simulation mode, I can truly say that Gran Turismo 4 continues to improve the simulated race driving experience, not just in simulated accuracy, but in entertainment value as well. This is my favourite game. Cheers, Rex.

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Are you searching for a driving game that offers more than just breakneck speed? Look no further than Gran Turismo 4. The most recent installment in this amazingly popular racing game brings realistic driving to a whole new level. With loads of new cars and a vastly improved physics engine, you'll be ready to tackle the roads in your favorite cars from the last century.
The Cars
Automotive history is at your fingertips with Gran Turismo 4. You can select from over 700 cars, dating back nearly a century to the 1915 Ford Model T Tourer. From the United Kingdom's AC to Sweden's Volvo, you'll can choose from practically every car manufactured since 1915.
Beyond the list of cars, GT4 sports a new and vastly improved physics engine. Offering even greater realism than its predecessors, the GT4 engine has been meticulously designed to cover every inch and turn of your driving experience. Using physics to calculate weight, speed, friction, and a host of other nuances, every car delivers performance with its own unique, precise handling and feel.
This game isn't just about the cars, though -- it's also about the competition. The advanced, lifelike drivers compete with fervor unmatched even by some of your video game buddies. Fueled by the latest advances in artificial intelligence, your digital rivals will react to your every move with behavior modeled after actual professional racers.
It may take you weeks to test drive all 700 available cars, but with Gran 4 you'll never truly run out of "new" vehicles. This game is equipped with a multitude of options to customize your favorite cars. Brakes, shocks, and engine components can all be upgraded. You can stylize your car with wings, rims, and color, and you can even change your oil. In short, you can do whatever needs to be done to keep your car tuned and looking hot for the next big race.
The Human Element
Gran Turismo 4 brings something completely new to your gaming experience. In the stands you'll find spectators who comes to life in3D before your very eyes. They react with genuine human emotions to your every move, cheering as you pass, and snapping photographs as you cross the finish line. Your next pit stop will take place as if you were really there. You'll watch the process unfold in real-time as your crew rushes to change your tires and refuel your tank. But that's not all. With the new addition of convertibles, you are truly in the drivers seat. Your drivers will react with precise and fluid motions, and turn just as you would if you were behind the wheel. Gran Turismo has never looked so unbelievably real.
The Courses
Not only does GT4 bring you the rare opportunity to drive hundreds of cars, it also offers you a vast collection of actual racing locations. Rip through the exotic Costa di Malfi in Capri, burn rubber through the urban jungle of Hong Kong, or throw up some serious dust at the Grand Canyon -- no matter where you decide to race, you'll love driving any of the game's fourteen tracks. Feeling nostalgic? With Gran 4, you can even race on some of your old, favorite tracks from previous editions.
LAN Play
Compete against your buddies with the LAN play functionality of GT4. Connect up to three PlayStation 2 consoles and bring together up to six players in a racing frenzy that pits you against your friends. Each console will need a copy of Gran Turismo 4, the proper connecting cables, and all the standard gaming equipment. Once connected, you'll be ready for a life-like battle of driving abilities and mental toughness. With LAN play, the action has never been more intense or more realistic!

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