.:Grand Theft Auto, Vice City:.

It's not often I allow myself to play games on the computer, oh alright .. that's a lie, but this past week things have gotten totally out of control. This week I have done almost nothing except play Grand Theft Auto- Vice City, it's just that addictive! Even with the Digit Skinnable Clock running on my second monitor with a really large skin just in front of my face I've not been able to control the amount of time that it's sucking up.

With this incarnation of the Grand Theft Auto tradition Rockstar Games have created what can only be described as a pure masterpiece. Having said that I can imagine how some people could hate this game, it's not called Vice City for nothing and the violence could make Clockwork Orange look like a Disney movie. So be warned this not a game for young children or those with strong moral convictions, but for anyone else I can't recommend this game strongly enough.

The game is quite massive, after a week of more or less solid playing I've still only finished a third of the missions, and its hard to imagine reaching the end there is just so much to do. The game has a definite plot to follow but you have complete freedom to roam the city and do various jobs, pizza deliveries, taxi driving etc so its easy to spend a few hours playing the game without even attempting any of the standard missions. That's not to mention just driving around, listening to all those wonderful 80's classics and visiting all the sites in this truly huge city.

As a programmer it's hard to imagine how much work went into making this game, many many man hours I would imagine. Rockstar Games have truly excelled themselves, If you've any time to waste at all and want to lose yourself for a while in a fantastic world then buy this game now...

Colin Olden/Horizon5 Development.