What's better than runnin' over pedestrians, stickin' it to the mob, and blowing up police cars -- all while jammin' to your favorite tunes? That's right, nothing! And as an Xbox owner you can now join in on all that wholesome fun your PS2 and PC friends have been lording over your head for the past couple years. Better, you can do it in what is arguably the best version of both Grand Theft Auto III AND Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That's right, it's like two, two, two gats in one!

Spend the dough you normally would on a single title, and with the Double Pack get twice the psychopathic mayhem. It's like buying The Sopranos and getting the entire Miami Vice series for free! Wait, maybe that's a bad simile. After all, even standing alone these two games are both worthy of five stars. Could Don Johnson say the same?

The cultural impact GTA III and Vice City have had over the past two years is unmistakable. As poster-children for the anti-violence in games movement while simultaneously having sold millions upon millions of copies each, there's simply no way you're reading this page without having at least heard of these games before.

Both games are near-direct ports of the originals, so in the unlikely event that you've just returned from a two-or-more-year stint in Antarctica, check out all our coverage of the GTA series to get the full story on why these games have not only brought about a political firestorm, but have ushered in a welcome era of open-ended game design and emergent gameplay. "Near-direct ports" could imply that something is missing from the Double Pack, but nothing could be further from the truth. Both titles have received a slew of updates which makes it easy to declare the Xbox GTA the best on any platform.

It almost hurts to look this good.
Of course, the most notable and immediate changes are in the visuals. Every model in the game has been given a polygonal booster shot -- vehicles and humans alike -- and the real-time lighting added to the engine gives a whole new reason to go about your "business" at night. The neon glow of Vice City is a particular visual treat; most notable when reflecting off the hood of your shiny, uh "new," Cheetah. That's right, real-time reflections have been added to all the vehicles. But, as the Don said when I was made, "Your appearance is a reflection of our character."

Something to keep in mind when choosing vehicles as that old pick-up will appear dull and abused while that shiny new sports car will cast a reflection so clear innocent bystanders will be able to see the horror on their own faces as they're being run down. This sort of attention to detail made my choice of vehicles more important than ever - even more important than my insistence that Tommy Vercetti always appear in a suit. Now I search out all the classy (read: shiny) rides. No way I'm causing a bloodbath unless it's a classy bloodbath.