Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

aka: GTA: Vice City, GTA:VC
Moby ID: 7626
PlayStation 2 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Tommy Vercetti is a gangster who just got off a fifteen-year prison sentence for not squealing on his friends. Because he didn't rat out his "family", Tommy's sent to work with Sonny Forelli, his old boss. Sonny gives him an easy drug job, but everything goes wrong, and Tommy loses everything. Upon returning to Sonny, he gets mad and wants his money back. Unfortunately, everybody in Vice City, from gangsters and Cubans to bikers and politicians are in his way, and it's up to Tommy to clear a path.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City offers the same free-roaming driving and action gameplay style as its predecessor, but in a new setting based on the city of Miami. The game includes all the features of the previous installment and builds upon them. There are new cars in the game, reminiscent of typical vehicles from the 1980s. Some cars are earlier models of the vehicles from GTA III. A few missions also involve the protagonist navigating a boat.

New to this installment is the ability to drive motorcycles. Tommy can drive a variety of two-wheeled vehicles, from huge Harley-esque bikes to dirt bikes to a standard motorcycle. Flying is also a bigger part of the game, as the player can fly small planes and helicopters, traveling from area to area, landing on helipads on top of towering skyscrapers.

Firearms are for the most part the same as in GTA III, and melee weapons have been added to the protagonist's arsenal. Tommy can use riot batons, crowbars, and a few others. Activities outside of the missions (driving taxis, delivering sick people to hospitals, firefighting, and playing a vigilante policeman) are available as well.

To effectively capture the mood of the 1980s, the soundtrack has been altered to fit the time period. Players will listen to an estimated nine hours of music (nearly three times the amount featured in the previous game) across ten radio stations. The eclectic mix features such noteworthy titles as I Ran by Flock of Seagulls, The Message by Grandmaster Flash, You've Got Another Thing Coming by Judas Priest, and Out of Touch by Hall & Oates.

Spellings

  • 侠盗车手:罪恶都市 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 俠盜獵車手:罪惡城市 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

742 People (690 developers, 52 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 94% (based on 116 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 442 ratings with 14 reviews)

Long live the 80's!

The Good
Rockstar is at it again with Vice City, the sequel to the landmark hit GTA3, a title that broke new ground by crafting an exceptional cocktail of diverse gameplay mechanics in a free-roaming gameworld mixed with a distinct touch of politically incorrect humor and controversial content. Given the absolutely fantastic fun that it was to play GTA3 Rockstar could literally just shove the same thing down our throats with just new maps, and we wouldn't complain about it. However as it so happens Vice City is more than just a "mod" of GTA3 and manages to fix what was lacking in the original as well as add even more entertaining features.

The gameplay revolves around the same concept of being able to run around freely in a virtual city, stealing vehicles for fun and completing gangster-themed missions. As in the previous title you also have a pletora of optional challenges sprinkled all over the gameworld, that include "rampage" missions, races, obstacle courses and vehicle-specific missions that include chasing down perps in a police cruiser or making rounds as a taxi driver or (new to Vice City) being a pizza delivery boy in a moped. Oh yeah, didn't I mention it? Vice City now adds motorcycles to the vehicle pool! And to my pleasant surprise, riding a bike is exceptionally well done, with proper animations and distinct physics that make it a unique experience and probably the most fun you'll have in this new GTA. You also have choppers thrown into the mix, which allow you to easily take to the skies without the hassle that was trying to control GTA3's airplane. These vehicles open new possibilities for the many minigames that now include pilotwings-like air races, and enduro bike courses at the beaches with the list growing larger with each new secret location you uncover in the city. Car driving has also been added a couple of new tricks that include forward shooting and the ability to jump out of a moving vehicle and send it crashing into a group of unsuspecting enemies :D.

So far we have practically every forum-posted objection to GTA3 covered, which shows Rockstar listened to it's fans. However the real upgrade in Vice City is seen on the content side of things, a feature that became the target of some criticism for GTA3 by the always present boring old fools that like to dismiss titles that manage to reach stardom mostly by being good games instead of just an interactive book. Worry no more old geezers! Vice City adds that which you craved so much! A story!!

That's right, you no longer are a nameless thug raising havoc in the name of gangster rivalries. Now you take on the role of Tommy Vercetti, a former member of a big time mafia family that got shafted and had to do hard time due to some backstabbing. As the game starts you are fresh out of jail and the family sends you to "Vice City" a fictional 80's Miami (ripped right out of Miami Vice) to keep you out of trouble, but you have a different plan, and through the course of the game you set it upon yourself to take the city by the balls and become the new mafia boss. This eventually gets you back in the center of attention of your former employers, and a war begins for control of the city, war that deals richly in betrayals, backstabbings and assorted gangster stuff. The cast of characters is much richer and varied, now voiced by some real star power with the likes of Ray Liotta (who does an incredible job as Tommy), Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Gary Busey, Lee Majors, Fairuza Balk and even Phillips Michael Thomas reprising his role as a Tubbs-like parter of Tommy (and look out for a cameo by porn star Jenna Jameson also! :D).

The storyline and characters work like a charm in the brand new Vice City, an 80's themed beach town that serves as a gigantic source of sight gags and in-jokes towards one of the most blatantly funny decades in U.S. history. Taking most of it's cues from the seminal Miami Vice, the game has that distinct "pink neon" art-deco feel and a lot of detail was poured into every little nuance such as the flashy clothes, giant mobile phones, cars and assorted gags (including Don Johnson/Phillip Michael Thomas wanna-bes gunning for you in a Ferrari Testarossa should your mayhem bar grow too high :D). As in the previous game music also plays a major role in selling the gameworld, and since few things say 80's like it's music, the developers made the fantastic choice of licensing a full soundtrack that not only manages to be the largest videogame licensed soundtrack ever, but also manages to act like an 80's who's-who of music. Michael Jackson, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, David Lee Roth, Iron Maiden, even Crockett's Theme from Miami Vice and such pop hits as "Video killed the radio star" serve to complement the fantastic vibe of the game and make it a terrific experience. Plus for the PC release Rockstar took a cue from the technical issues in GTA3 and the installation now allows you to install all the audio files to disk, killing that nasty stutter effect whenever the game loaded a voiceover or radio station. The graphic engine is pretty much the same, but water has been improved with transparencies and visible sealife and loading times between areas have been almost completely obliterated by using some sort of streaming loading that makes it more or less a seamless environment (and bear in mind that Vice City is way larger than GTA3's city).

Finally, you have the ability to expand your empire by buying buildings in the city. From comfy condos to luxurious mansions, to more esoteric locations such as strip clubs, ice-cream companies and dance clubs. The later rewarding the player with extra specially-themed missions. And speaking of the missions they are a much more polished and carefully planned bunch than in the previous games, leaving the slightly meaningless races and time limits of the original in favor of more story-driven affairs (including a fantastic bank heist in which you have to assemble the team for the job and then hit it "Point Break"-style which is one of the coolest moments in the game).

Oh! And lest I forget, if you loved the quirky radio stations and those satirical ads. from GTA3 be advised that in Vice City they are back with a vengeance, including even more pop-culture references, and material that plays with the material from GTA3 (as you get to hear some of the same radio personalities in their earlier years). Excellently written stuff and priceless un-pc comedy.

The Bad
Well they fixed everything you could complain about... so what's left to bitch about?? Nothing I can think of.

The Bottom Line
Remember that fantastic game about carjacking and whore-shooting that you loved so much? Well they fixed everything you could bitch about, added it the coolest soundtrack ever, a kickass gangster story and the same fantastic un-pc humor the series is loved for. Plus... 80's Baby!!! What kind of a moron would pass this one up??

Windows · by Zovni (10504) · 2005

Superior to GTA III in almost every way.

The Good
First of all, this game's cast actually had a lot of big named actors in it. This includes Ray Liotta, Gary Busey, Lee Majors, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Fairuza Balk, and even Miss Cleo. One good addition is the ability to ride motorbikes (which were absent from the previous installment). There are many new weapons including a screwdriver (which is pretty useless for me), swords and knives, a chainsaw, and more. I especially like the chainsaw because if you want to steal a locked car, you can just cut the door off. Another new feature is the ability to change clothes, so you're not stuck with the same outfit all through the game.

The Bad
The non-mission gameplay is almost exactly the same as GTA III, so it sometimes it feels as though I'm just playing a modified version of GTA III.

The Bottom Line
Since this does not take place after GTA III, newcomers to the series can play it without getting confused.

PlayStation 2 · by J.D. Majors (14) · 2009

Very addictive, ridiculously fun. Say hello to my little friend.

The Good
When I played through Grand Theft Auto III, I became an instant fan of Rockstar's work. The game was fun, complex, and open-ended. No game I had ever played before this had given me so much enjoyment from just futzing about between missions. And then the mission structure itself was well-paced and the storyline was great.

Enter Vice City. GTA: Vice City took what I loved about GTAIII and made it better while adding a great 80's theme to everything.

This time around you are no longer a nameless character as you were in the first one. You're Tommy Vercetti, bad-ass mobster. The addition of a real character with a real personality who actually talked in the cutscenes was a big improvement over the previous game. It added to the storyline and made you care about who you were a little more.

Graphics also saw an improvement. Granted, there was not that much of a change in the engine itself. But in my opinion, graphics are at least 50% about what you do with them. It is on that count that Vice City shines. The design and outlay of the city is superb. The atmosphere that is set in each neighborhood is spot on. And, to top it all, the lighting effects in the game are great. I should also mention that where GTAIII seemed overly drab and used too many dark tones, Vice City's presentation is much brighter and just driving about these scenic places in your hot ride can be a pleasure.

80's, 80's, 80's. From great 80's music to the distinctively 80's atmosphere and gimmicks like an early model portable phone, Rockstar really came through with their chosen setting.

And speaking of the music. Besides the music in the game being an excellent mix of authentic 80's tunes, as before you can add your own MP3's to the game. So load up some Huey Lewis and Skid Row before you go on your rampage. Maybe some Motley Crue also?

The game is packed with GTA's own special brand of humor too. The radio features two talk stations this time around and, as usual, no one is safe from being skewered. As well, little gags abound, such as the "Cherry Popper" Ice Cream company.

So all of this and I have yet to talk about the best part of the game: gameplay. After all, gameplay is king. Vice City brings it and keeps it coming.

As you work your way through the storyline, you become a mafia boss and eventually make a play to essentially run the town. The amount of sheer coolness inherent in this scenario is hard to describe. It feeds that little guy inside of you who watched Scarface and said "Cooooool".

Along the way, you get to go through a wide array of interesting and challenging missions. Some are as "mundane" as a street race while others are as elaborate as a multi-faceted bank heist. One mission has you jumping from roof-top to roof-top on a motorcycle. Yet another has you photographing a politician's perverted activities from a high-rise only to have to fight through the FBI on your way out.

Along the road to success, you also get to buy and collect money from various properties. Yes, you can own property.Once you buy a property, you need to take on some missions in order to make it profitable. You can own anything from a counterfeiting factory to a adult movie studio. Nearly all offer you an interesting set of jobs to take on.

The Bad
There isn't much I can find wrong with the game. If anything, then it can be annoying that cars and people spawn and despawn in a weird way. If you see a car you want to steal, but you turn your back to it for a moment, it is indeed quite possible that it may have vanished completely. This can be really annoying when looking for a good ride in a junky part of town.

The Bottom Line
For the mafia boss in all of us! Highly recommended.

Windows · by Steelysama (82) · 2004

[ View all 14 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
How to do this stupid the driver mission mohammad asad Sep 21, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Bugs

On the (North American) PlayStation 2 version of this game, memory card data can get corrupted when the game is saved at the Ice Cream Factory.

Commodore 64

The second Rockstar Logo sequence that appears before each game pays homage to the Commodore 64. The blue on blue screen, the quality of the music, and even the load command accurately model the most popular home computer (especially for gaming) in the late eighties.

Controversy

In December 2003, the New York City's Human Rights Commission demanded that Take Two removed the phrase "Kill Haitians" from Vice City after Haitian groups complained about this.

Take 2 responded:

As with literature, movies, music and other forms of entertainment, we have strived to create a video game experience with a certain degree of realism, which we believe is our right. Nevertheless, we are aware of the hurt and anger in the Haitian community and have listened to the community's objections to certain statements made in the game. Accordingly, we will remove the objectionable statements from future copies of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

DJs

Among the connections this 'prequel' has with the original Grand Theft Auto III are the return of younger versions of some of the radio DJs. * Lazlow (whose real life counterpart is responsible for writing a lot of the radio dialogue), the talk radio Chatterbox personality returns as a young DJ starting out trying to convince everyone that he's a hard core rebel on the rock and roll station, V-ROCK. * Toni (Maria Chambers), was Flashback-FM's aging pop groupie DJ in GTA III. In Vice City, she not only sounds younger and naive, but a good chunk of her material plays into her GTA III material (for example, yes, she HAS been on fire). Her 80’s station? Appropriately enough, named Flash FM * And in a twist, Fernando Martinez (Frank Chavez), who ran the pseudo-legal prostitution ring ads euphemistically called 'Fernando's New Beginnings' got his start as a Vice City radio DJ on Emotion 98.3. In between playing emotive records, he’s already begun his pimping ways.

Dundee

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was created by Rockstar North, a division of Rockstar Games. Rockstar North was previously known as DMA Design. DMA Design was originally located in the Scottish City of Dundee. In 2000 the company moved to Leith in Edinburgh.

Located near the airport is a sign mocking Dundee. It has a picture of a ship on it (Called the RRS Discovery) and the word "Dundee" very similar to that used by the local council when promoting Dundee. There is also some text saying something along the lines of "We have a ship that belonged to a loser".

For more information on Dundee try www.dundee.com www.dundeecity.gov.uk

German version

On March 29, 2003, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2) was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games. After the game has been banned in Germany, publisher Take 2 released a new, censored version. Rated 16, you can recognize the edited game by its white edges on the cover.

The changes are: * People on the ground can't be hurt with melee weapons * Blood effects when hurting people were removed * No decapitations * Killed people don't leave money behind * The Rampage missions were removed * Two regular missions were removed: Messing with the Man and Dirty Lickin's

Guinness World Records

As of 2008, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is listed by Guinness World Records as the biggest selling game of 2002 and the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time.

Movie studio

In the movie lot located in Prawn Island, there is some set that looks like Broadway. If you take a look, you´ll notice that is the set of Staunton Island (Liberty City) even with the same advertisements.

References

  • In one of the assassination missions you get from the payphones the targets are called Nico Carter and Marcus Hammond which is a nod to the two main characters in the game The Getaway.
  • The remote control helicopter used in the mission 'Demolition Man' closely resembles the helicopter which is piloted in one level of Blood Money, a game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) for the Commodore Amiga computer.
  • In the Malibu Club, the band performing on the stage of the club is an obvious parody on the Village People.

Sales

Vice City was a massive success for Rockstar. Electronics Boutique sold more than 500,000 copies on the game's first day of release, and more 250,000 in the UK.

Soundtrack

You can buy the soundtrack in your record-store. But try to get the German version - it has more tracks on it, than the US-version, due to some copyright difficulties.

Swimming pool

There is a mansion on Starfish Island, by the shore, with a peculiar swimming pool. If you look at it from above (looking south) you'll see that it has the shape of a woman's torso, and some rocks at its bottom look like a bikini.

Telephone numbers

You can call the telephone numbers that are being advertised on the radio or elsewhere. They work.

Weapons

As of 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is the only GTA game not to feature the AK-47.

Windows release

Windows version of this game was accidentally put on shelves 5 days before right release date. After that many gameshops put out this game 1 or 2 days before right release date.

Vice Point building

From 23:00 to 00:00 in-game time, near the Malibu Club, the Vice Point Langer building's lit windows form a figure which looks like a penis. Every 15 in-game minutes during this time, a fountain on the top of the building is activated to give the impression the penis is ejaculating.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2002– Best PS2 Game of the Year
    • 2002– Best PS2 Action Game of the Year
    • 2002 – #2 Best PS2 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2002– Best PS2 Action Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2003 – Best PC Game of the Year
  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2004 - #2 Game of the Year 2003
  • Computer Gaming World
    • March 2004 (Issue #236) – Best Music of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2002 – PS2 Game of the Year (Readers' Choice)
    • 2002 – Best Music of the Year (PS2)
    • 2003 – #2 PC Game of the Year
    • 2003 – PC Action/Adventure Game of the Year
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2003 - PS2 Game of the Year
  • PC Games (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2004– Best Game in 2003 (Readers' Vote)
    • Issue 02/2004– Best Action Game in 2003 (Readers' Vote)
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 07/2006 - #8 Best Packaging
  • Retro Gamer
    • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #15 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

PlayStation 4 added by Flapco. PlayStation 3, Android added by Sciere. Macintosh, iPhone, iPad added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Ray Soderlund, Unicorn Lynx, Apogee IV, Corn Popper, paul cairey, ~~, Patrick Bregger, Victor Vance, FatherJack, crysty86, 一旁冷笑.

Game added October 29, 2002. Last modified March 9, 2024.