San Andreas and Vice City are considered the two best GTA games of their era. Both of them have been ported to Android, unlike the later GTA games. In this article, we are going to discuss GTA San Andreas vs GTA Vice City to find out which one of them is better on Android.
Table of Contents
1 - Graphics
With Vice City and San Andreas are made using the same engine, the differences are quite obvious. The texture quality of San Andreas is of course better, due to the technological advancement after Vice City's release. Rockstar also improved the texture quality of the game's assets. Both games run pretty well on Android without many issues.
However, while Vice City has worse textures and resolution, it has a much better art style, direction and color. The neon-lit streets and 80s-style buildings definitely look better than San Andreas' rather bland neighborhood. Furthermore, San Andreas also has a permanent gold filter, which ruins the color of the scenery most of the time.
Winner of graphics: GTA Vice City
2 - Gameplay
The quality of the Android port for VC and SA is very high - the PC gameplay pretty much remains intact. However, the lackluster handheld control makes combat more challenging. This is to be expected, as aiming without a keyboard and mouse can never be as accurate.
Down to the details... well, there's not much debate here, as most people would agree that GTA SA's gameplay is more refined. Comparing to Vice City, it introduced more RPG mechanics and allow players to customize CJ's appearance, down to his body type. This allows for much better immersion, with CJ getting fat if you overate. CJ can even learn various combat styles from different gyms in this game
Quantity-wise, GTA SA also has many more unique vehicles such as lowrider cars and diverse weapons for more variants of combat. The game also added swimming mechanics, allowing players to explore places without drowning.
Winner of gameplay: GTA San Andreas
3 - Story
GTA San Andreas tells the story of Carl Johnson "CJ" as he returns to his hometown to attend his mom's funeral. CJ was a former member of the gang and is sucked back into the world of crime. His goal in San Andreas is to protect what's left of his family and help the Grove Street Families rise back up to the top.
In the course of the story, Carl comes into conflict with a number of enemies, including the Ballas and Vagos street gangs; the highly corrupt C.R.A.S.H. police unit, the Loco Syndicate drug cartel.. and more. The story gets pretty over the top at points, with CJ infiltrating secret government labs and flying jetpacks. Overall, San Andreas is a lot of fun without much realism.
Tommy Vercetti, on the other hand, is a much more active participant in the story of GTA Vice City. Unlike CJ who takes orders, Tommy actually makes things happen. He establishes underworld domination in Vice City later on, after defeating all his opponents.
While both stories are rather underwhelming, Tommy's rise to the top and become the boss is much more serious and realistic than CJ's journey. Overall, if you enjoy a fun storyline, San Andreas is better... however, if a serious story is more of your style, pick Vice City.
Result of Story: Draw
4 - Vehicles
With the name of the franchise being "Grand Theft Auto", vehicles should be an important criterion to find out which game is better on android. While Vice City has a decent amount of them, it just can't compare with San Andreas, which has both fighter jets and jetpacks.
About the nitty-gritty details related to texture, Vice City is much more realistic - its cars have actual dirt and shading on the side. San Andreas' cars, on the other hand, are less realistic - they actually look like toys.
However, in this category, quantity is actually more important than quality. You definitely would enjoy San Andreas's multitudes of cars more.
Winner of vehicles: GTA San Andreas
5 - Map
The tech advantage that San Andreas has over its predecessor is apparent in this section. Unlike Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City, which needed loading screens when the player moved between different districts of the city, San Andreas has no load times when the player is in transit. The only loading screens in the game are for cut-scenes and interiors.
The game map of San Andreas checks out at 38.2 square kilometers, which upon release, was the largest three-dimensional map ever made. The design of San Andreas was heavily influenced by the state of California. It holds three major cities, multiple airports, and wide stretches of mountains mixed in with the city terrain.
GTA Vice City, on the other hand, is 4 times smaller, checks out at only 9.11 square kilometers. It's split into two main chunks: the Mainland and Vice Beach. Each area contains several individual districts, as well as featuring two main beaches.
Overall, the lack of load screens alone makes San Andreas better than Vice City, especially on Android.
Winner of map: GTA San Andreas
6 - Verdict of GTA San Andreas vs GTA Vice City
Overall, while GTA Vice City has a better story and look, GTA San Andreas is better as a game. The various gameplay features in SA are also much advanced as well. If you need to choose between the two games to play on Android, San Andreas is the better choice.
Interested in more of our articles related to the GTA Series? Please check out this post to find out How To Install GTA San Andreas Android Mods | List Of Available Mods
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