Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Review - "Say hello to my little friend"

By Sam Coles:

Grand Theft Auto now there is a title that is known for better or worse, better if you’re an avid gamer as it shaped a structure of how open world games are supposed to be made or worse if you’re a worried parent or right winged nutter. Grand Theft Auto is very influential in the gaming industry and if you owned a PS2 or still have a PS2 you probably own GTA III to San Andreas. I’m here to talk about Vice City my favourite game in the series and before you call me a twat in the comments it’s my opinion so don’t let it keep you up at night.

Grand Theft Auto Vice City starts with a big drug deal as Tommy Vercetti played by Ray Liotta hands over two cases of cocaine, however the deal was an ambush and Tommy’s colleagues are gun down in cold blood with the coke and 4 million dollars are stolen so Tommy comes out with nothing. Tommy phones his boss Sonny which to no surprise is not pleased with this report and has a bit of a tantrum. So Tommy must go on a quest across the neon lit streets of Vice City and rub shoulders with scum bags to help find his money to make sure he doesn’t end up in the bottom of the river. I love the story in this game as it is set in the 80’s so it’s a mixture of Scarface and Miami Vice so it’s cheesy and over the top which I love!

The gameplay wasn’t a massive leap from GTA III, but they took the foundations of that game and they tweaked them with better mobility and gunplay with more weapons to cause chaos with. They added new vehicle types like motorbikes, helicopters and a plane that flies like a plane and doesn’t glide like it did in GTA III. The missions had more variety as well and it wasn’t simply pick this person up or kill that person, you had certain stipulations in some missions like having a bomb rigged to your car etc. They added property which you could buy and save in different locations, but some of buildings can be used as a front where you can accumulate money over time and they have side missions tide to them to add few more hours of gameplay.

Presentation is nailed with the 1980’s setting and the game still looks pretty good considering that it came out 15 years ago, but the character models look a bit polygonal and not very good. The environment still looks decent with the neon signs, the beaches on a hot day and the blue teal water glimmering in sunshine as you skim a speedboat across the waters of Vice City. The game has a great selection of licenced music from the era from Slayer to Michael Jackson, it has something for everyone.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a blast to play with the over the top action, interesting characters and a killer soundtrack. If you haven’t played this A. where have you been the last 15 years and B. go get it! It’s super cheap on the PS2 I picked it up for 50p in a charity shop or you can get on iOS or Android devices or you can pick it up on the PSN store on PS3 and PS4.