Grand Theft Auto Vice City Nextgen Edition Review. The best reason to return to the immortal classic

Grand Theft Auto Vice City Nextgen Edition is a large-scale modification by the Russian team of enthusiasts, Revolution Team, offering a new take on the classic 2002 game. The modders have ported Vice City to the engine of the fourth part and offered fans a huge number of visual and gameplay improvements that Grove Street Games could not implement in the official remaster, The Definitive Edition. We couldn't pass by such a release and dove headfirst into the sunlit and neon-filled Vice City to tell you about another incredible creation by the fan community.

Vice City Nextgen Edition is a dream project of a small team of modders who wanted to bring the classic Vice City to the modern RAGE engine. Porting the game from RenderWare to the GTA 4 engine turned out to be a challenging task. The developers not only had to transfer the Vice City map, but also rewrite all the missions and gameplay features of the original from scratch.

This large-scale modification is not the first attempt by the community to bring «Rockstar classics» to a modern engine. You can find many unfinished projects online that were supposed to be remakes of GTA 3 and San Andreas. But none of them reached the final version. Firstly, the volume of work is too high, and few modders are willing to spend years of their lives porting without compensation. Secondly, the policy of the publisher Take-Two Interactive involves fighting fan remasters of Rockstar Games.

The publisher of the GTA series has repeatedly drawn attention to the authors of Vice City Nextgen Edition, but the Revolution Team continued to work on the modification, secretly releasing updates and beta versions. After the resounding failure of the official remaster Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition, the fan community began to support the authors of the Nextgen Edition even more actively and motivate them for further development. It was the support of the community and the perseverance of the Russian modders that allowed the project to reach release.

Vice City Nextgen Edition is not just a remaster, but an «almost remake» on the RAGE engine. The authors created cutscenes, story missions, additional tasks, as well as races, unique jumps, hidden packages, and other features from scratch, which were in the original. Unlike Grove Street Games, responsible for the official remaster, the modders did not improve the graphics with neural networks but used ready-made solutions. For example, the city base and weapon models are taken from the Definitive Edition, neon signs from Vice City Stories, character and vehicle models from the Xbox version of Vice City, which is considered the most technologically advanced. By the way, the radio stations in the modification are from the PS2 version.

The GTA 4 engine has given the Vice City remaster new features and realistic gameplay elements. Tommy has finally learned to swim! For this possibility, the developers detailed the seabed and built ladders around the city to easily get out of the water. In apartments, you can change clothes and save at the bed. Shops, cafes, pharmacies, and gun stores work like in GTA 4. In some places, you can restore health, in others, replenish ammunition. Moreover, new public places can not only be used for their intended purpose but also robbed.

The main thing Vice City Nextgen Edition offers is the opportunity to play the classic in a new wrapper. Initially, Revolution Team planned to release the mod with the requirement of having the original game to avoid the publisher's wrath. But after Take-Two deleted the team's YouTube channel two days before the release, the authors rebuilt the final version with pre-installed files. Now you can install Nextgen Edition without any compatibility issues.

The first thing that catches your eye after launching Vice City Nextgen Edition is the revitalized and refined Vice City. In addition to improved lighting, graphics, and draw distance, the game surprises with luxurious traffic and pedestrian behavior models from GTA 4. NPCs now carry items, make phone calls, read newspapers, and behave like real city residents. Thanks to the Euphoria physics engine, Tommy interacts realistically with the environment, and if he pushes a passerby, they will inevitably drop something from their hands.

From the first minutes, you can feel the atmosphere of America's resort center. There are more cars on the streets, and traffic jams on narrow streets are a common occurrence. Due to the increased number of vehicles on the roads, you have to drive more carefully and race on sports bikes. Excessive recklessness can easily end in an accident, after which Tommy flies through the windshield onto the sidewalk. Yes, many features from GTA 4 have been inherited by Nextgen Edition.

The car physics are also taken from the fourth part. Standard cars accelerate slowly and turn sluggishly. Sports cars are quite fast, but due to the dense traffic, you won't be able to race to your heart's content. With the new suspension behavior physics, you'll want to leisurely drive around the city, listen to the radio, and enjoy the aesthetics of the '80s. Fans of the era will be delighted.

Buildings, lighting, and city geometry have undergone a massive overhaul. Don't worry, there's no blatant «kolkhoz» in the modification. Vice City looks exactly as it did 23 years ago. High-resolution textures and volumetric lighting have brought iconic places to life. Ocean Drive with neon signs looks great. The view from the Ocean Bay Marina pier is breathtaking. The new lighting system with ENB enabled makes the game's atmosphere more vibrant. The city looks especially beautiful in the evening when neon blends with the warm tones of the sky.

At first glance, the character models seem unchanged. And that's good, because after the «plasticine Simpsons» from The Definitive Edition, we couldn't handle another mockery of the iconic characters' appearance. All characters and pedestrians have received improved animations and an expanded library of various actions.

The combat system works according to the basic patterns of the fourth GTA. Shooting from cover has noticeably simplified the gameplay. However, street fights have become more difficult and complex. Despite seemingly minor changes in the combat gameplay features, many missions are played differently. In shootouts, the game has become easier, but at the same time, more dynamic. However, missions with melee fights make you sweat a lot. Racing tasks, due to the new physics, present an extreme challenge. You don't even want to remember the mission with the toy helicopter. Even the biggest fans of hardcore will start crying from helplessness when they try to pass it. Believe me, in the original, it was much easier.

In other aspects, the game remains unchanged. The plot is familiar to everyone. The side missions with property purchases, assassination contracts, and races are recreated in their original form. The interface is fully adapted to the fourth part. There is the ability to set markers on the map. There are also a few interesting features that weren't in the original game, but it's better to discover them yourself for a dose of pleasant surprises.

We even feel awkward comparing the official trilogy of remasters, the Definitive Edition, with the Vice City Nextgen Edition modification. The result, as they say, is evident.

Definitive Edition: updated textures and lighting, but strange character models and a mismatch with the original's style. Modern controls, but outdated gameplay and «crutches». A huge number of bugs that still haven't been fixed with patches. During the playthrough, there's a constant feeling of rush and lack of polish.

Nextgen Edition: high-quality textures and lighting that preserve the spirit of the original. Classic character models and smooth animations from GTA 4. Improved controls, realistic physics, and new gameplay features. A sense of a complete and thoughtful project created with love for the original.

Of course, Vice City Nextgen Edition is not perfect in all aspects. It's important to understand that a tiny team worked on the modification without a budget and documentation. Sometimes low-polygon pedestrian models contrast with realistic animations, significantly affecting perception. Many players experience the mod crashing to the desktop without any errors. Developers advise sticking to a certain configuration in settings to avoid critical crashes. And there are enough ordinary bugs too. Sometimes armor won't appear after loading, textures might not load, or a mission timer might refuse to work. Yes, there are definitely errors, but they're not as annoying as everything that was in The Definitive Edition.

***

The GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition modification is another example of a cool large-scale modification created by a small group of enthusiasts with passion in their eyes. Despite all the obstacles, the team of modders managed to bring to release a modern version of Vice City that retained the spirit of the original. And although the Definitive Edition has the status of an official remaster, the Nextgen Edition modification has something much more valuable: the heart and soul of the fans who made the return to the beloved Vice City possible and meaningful. Be sure to try it if you haven't yet.

Verdict

GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition is not just a modification, but proof of the community's boundless love for Grand Theft Auto.