Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Developer(s)	PS2 and Windows Rockstar North Xbox Rockstar Vienna
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Engine	RenderWare
Release date(s)	PS2 ^NA October 27, 2002 ^AU November 8, 2002 ^EU November 8, 2002 ^JP May 20, 2004 Windows ^NA May 12, 2003 ^AU May 20, 2004 ^EU May 15, 2003 ^JP September 25, 2003 Xbox ^NA April 11, 2003 ^AU January 2, 2004 ^EU January 2, 2004 ^JP July 29, 2004
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	BBFC: 18 ESRB: M OFLC: MA15+ OFLC (NZ): R18 PEGI: 18+ USK: 16+
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 Windows Xbox
Media	PS2 and Xbox DVD (1) Windows CD (2)
System requirements	PS2 and Xbox Memory card Windows^[1] 800MHz Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon CPU 128MB RAM 8x CD-ROM drive 915MB hard disk space 32MB DirectX 9.0 compatible graphics card DirectX 9.0 compatible sound card Windows 98/98 SE/Me/2000/XP
Input	PS2 and Xbox Gamepad Windows Gamepad (optional) Keyboard Mouse

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (GTA:VC) is the fourth computer and video game in the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Designed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games, it debuted in North America on October 27, 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and quickly became the best-selling video game for that year. As of July 2006, Vice City was, in the American market, the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time, only to be surpassed by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the succeeding Grand Theft Auto game.^{[citation needed]} Vice City also appeared on Japanese magazine Famitsu's readers' list of all-time favorite 100 videogames in 2006.^[2] Following this success, Vice City saw releases in Europe, Australia and Japan, and became available on the PC. Rockstar Vienna also packaged the game with its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, and sold it as Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack for the Xbox.

It uses a tweaked version of the game engine used in Grand Theft Auto III and similarly presents a huge cityscape, fully populated with buildings (from hotels to skyscrapers), vehicles (cars, motorcycles, boats, helicopters, and planes) and people to explore.

Vice City's setting is also revisited in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, which serves as a prequel to events in Vice City.

1 Setting
2 Gameplay
- 2.1 Weapons
3 Soundtrack
4 Reception and sales
5 Controversy
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Setting

Riding a motorcycle towards Downtown at dawn, PC version. In contrast to GTA III, Vice City's setting is a cleaner and sunnier resort city.

Vice City is a prequel to the preceding game in the series, GTA III (which takes place in the present day at the time of its 2001 release). The game is set in fictional Vice City, which is based on Miami, Florida. The game's look, particularly the clothing and vehicles, reflect (and sometimes gently parody) its 1986 setting (with the packaging and artwork in particular owing a great debt to 1980s artist Patrick Nagel). In contrast to the gritty urbanism of Grand Theft Auto III's Liberty City, Vice City appears (mostly) clean and upscale, with golden beaches, waving palm trees, and vivid purple sunsets.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The player takes the role of Tommy Vercetti, who has recently been released from prison in Liberty City. While attempting to re-establish himself within the Forelli Mafia family, boss Sonny Forelli sends Tommy to Vice City to supervise an important drug deal. At the exchange, masked gunmen kill three of the people involved in the trade (two Forelli henchmen and Victor Vance, Lance Vance's brother), stealing both the drugs and the money Tommy was charged with protecting. Vercetti narrowly escapes and informs Sonny, who demands that Tommy get back both the "product" and the money. Both Sonny and Tommy wish to kill those responsible for the theft.

Much of the action in Vice City concerns Vercetti's burgeoning criminal empire, spanning drug trafficking, contract killings, counterfeiting, and protection. The player progresses through the game narrative by performing a series of missions, most of which involve criminal activities. Teaming up with Lance Vance, who is out to discover who is responsible for his brother's death, Vercetti rises from being a small-time hood staying in a beachfront hotel to being the city's crime kingpin. Nonetheless, Sonny is looming over Tommy throughout the entire game, until he visits Vice City personally to claim his portion of Vercetti's fortune. It is then that Lance reveals himself as a traitor, as he sells Vercetti out and reveals the money he is intending to hand over to Forelli is counterfeit. In a shootout similar to that of the ending of the Brian De Palma film Scarface, Tommy Vercetti kills Forelli and Lance Vance, eliminating all opposition to his crime kingdom.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Themes and inspiration

Many themes are borrowed from the films Scarface and Carlito's Way, along with the hit 1980s television series Miami Vice. Vice City also parodies and pays tribute to much of 1980s culture in the cars, music, fashion, landmarks, and characters featured in the game.

Ricardo Diaz's opulent mansion (later seized by Vercetti), Club Malibu, and the climactic battle which takes place in it at the game's end, are very similar to their counterparts in Scarface.^[3] Another most obvious reference is the game's overall storyline, as it is highly similar to the film, as is the design of the final mission. There are also more subtle references, such as a hidden apartment room with blood on the bathroom walls and a chainsaw (in a nod to the film's "chainsaw torture" scene).^[3] Additionally, the "Mr. Vercetti" suit players receive when purchasing a local strip club bears a striking resemblance to Tony Montana's .

Most of the characters wear the then-fashionable white or pastel baggy cotton suits and, like Miami Vice, much of the action takes place in mansions, on speedboats, or in other glamorous settings. In fact, if the player's "wanted level" reaches three stars, an undercover sports car strongly resembling a Ferrari Testarossa, which is featured prominently in Miami Vice, joins the police in chasing the player; the occupants of the sports car are two undercover police officers who dress in suits or casual wear.

Other notable popular culture references include:

Top Gun - Across town, there are several Top Fun vans to be found, through which racing and checkpoint minigames are played using remote controlled miniature vehicles.
Taxi - The interior of Kaufman Cabs is almost identical to that of the taxi depot in the television series that aired in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The name is an homage to one of Taxi's stars, Andy Kaufman.
Red Dawn - During a public debate on a radio station, Pastor Richards references the plotline of the film, mentioning a possible Soviet invasion and suggestion to hide in the woods and call themselves the "Wolverines," alluding to the name of the film's counter-Soviet rebels.
Heat - The bank robbery during the "Heist" mission is very similar to the one in the movie. The characters also wear gray jumpsuits and masks as in the movie. After successfully completing the robbery, the outfit including the mask is available at The Malibu Club.
Friday the 13th - During the same robbery, Tommy and his gang wear hockey masks similar to the mask worn by Jason Voorhees in the series.
Pulp Fiction - During a mission in the game, Tommy and Lance retrieve rifles from the trunk of Lance's car (depicted in a trunk shot) to battle Ricardo Diaz's men and kill Ricardo. The appearance and situation of the scene is similar to Pulp Fiction's trunk shot scene. Lance Vance also uses the alias "Quentin" briefly, this might be a reference to Pulp Fiction director, Quentin Tarantino.
Carlito's Way - Ken Rosenberg, Tommy Vercetti's lawyer and adviser looks and acts like David Kleinfeld (played by Sean Penn) from the film.
Cars associated with 1980s pop culture - Including look-alikes of the Ferrari Daytona and Ferrari Testarossa (Miami Vice), and the De Lorean (Back to the Future).
Village People - The outfits of the dancers on stages at the Malibu Club obviously parody the outfits of music band Village People.

Ocean Beach at night, PC version.

The game also features many references to 1980s trends and events:

Second generation video games and home video game consoles: in radio commercials for the "Degenetron" games console, graphics are referred to "green dots" and a "red square".
Pablo Escobar, and by association the cocaine subculture of the game's setting, are alluded to by the Vice City airport's name: Escobar International.
Hair metal is parodied through the game's fictitious band Love Fist in the fashion of Spinal Tap.
The Cold War, referenced many times on several radio stations, including VCPR, in which Congressman Alex Shrub accuses another speaker of "sounding red."
Typical 80s music - New Wave, 1980s hip hop and synthesizer pop.
Self-help programs, including those on Thor, as well as Jeremy Robard's "Think Your Way To Success" program.
Politicians from the 80's: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The game features dozens of characters, many appearing only in the cut scenes which describe each mission. The voice-talent includes Ray Liotta as protagonist Tommy Vercetti, Tom Sizemore as Sonny Forelli, Robert Davi as Colonel Juan García Cortez, Dennis Hopper as pornography Director Steve Scott, Burt Reynolds as Avery Carrington, Luis Guzmán as Ricardo Diaz, Miami Vice star Philip Michael Thomas as Lance Vance, Danny Trejo as Umberto Robina, Gary Busey as Phil Cassidy, Lee Majors as "Big" Mitch Baker, Fairuza Balk as Mercedes Cortez, and porn actress Jenna Jameson as Candy Suxxx. The voice of the taxi dispatcher is provided by Blondie singer Debbie Harry.

Although the main character is not the same as the one in Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City contains a few characters from GTA III at an earlier point in their lives. Donald Love, a business tycoon in GTA III, makes an appearance as an apprentice to real estate mogul Avery Carrington. Lazlow, who played the host of Chatterbox, the talk radio station in GTA III, is the DJ for the hard-rock station in Vice City (he mentioned in passing in GTA III that he used to be a DJ on a rock station). Toni, the burned-out, female disc jockey of Flashback 95.6, the 1980s music radio station in GTA III, also appears as a young, club-hopping DJ in Vice City's pop music station, Flash FM, an obvious reference to GTA III. Finally, Fernando, a self-glorifying procurer of women ("not a pimp... a savior" he claims) who appeared on Lazlow's show in GTA III runs the Emotion radio station. The one armed Phil Cassidy from GTA III appears in Vice City as well, and one mission actually explains when and how he lost his arm.

[edit] Gameplay

Flying a helicopter over Vice Point, PC version

Because Vice City was built upon Grand Theft Auto III, the game follows a largely similar gameplay design and interface with GTA III with several tweaks and improvements over its predecessor. The gameplay is very open-ended, a characteristic of the Grand Theft Auto franchise; although missions must be completed to complete the storyline and unlock new areas of the city, the player is able to drive around and visit different parts of the city at his/her leisure and otherwise, do whatever they wish if not currently in the middle of a mission. Various items such as hidden weapons and packages are also scattered throughout the landscape, as it has been with previous GTA titles.

Players can steal vehicles, (cars, boats, motorcycles, helicopters, and even a plane) partake in drive-by shootings, robberies, and generally create chaos. However, doing so generally attracts unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the police (or, in extreme cases, the FBI and even the National Guard). Police behavior is mostly similar to Grand Theft Auto III, although police units will now deploy spike strips to puncture the tires of the player's car, as well as SWAT teams from flying police helicopters and the aforementioned undercover police units, à la-Miami Vice.

A new addition in the game is the ability of the player to purchase a number of properties distributed across the city. Some of these are additional hideouts (essentially locations where weapons can be collected and the game saved). There are also a variety of businesses called "assets" which the player can buy. These include a pornographic film studio, a dance club, a stripper club, a taxi company, an "ice-cream delivery business" (acting as a front company), a boatyard, and a printing works. Each commercial property has a number of missions attached to it, such as eliminating the competition or stealing equipment. Once all the missions for a given property are complete, the property will begin to generate an ongoing income, which the increasingly-prosperous Vercetti must periodically collect.

Police trouble, PC version.

Various gangs make frequent appearances in the game, some of whom are integral to story events. These gangs typically have a positive or negative opinion of the player and act accordingly by shooting at the player or following him. Shootouts between members of rival gangs can occur spontaneously and several missions involve organized fights between opposing gangs.

Optional side-missions are once again included, giving the player the opportunity to make pizza deliveries, drive injured people to a hospital with an ambulance, extinguish fires with a fire truck, and be a vigilante, using a police vehicle to kill criminals. Monetary rewards and occasional gameplay advantages (i.e. increased health and armor capacity and infinite sprinting) are awarded for completing different difficulty levels of these activities. Players are also awarded a minor sum of money for punching a criminal running away from a policeman, as a "good citizens bonus".

[edit] Weapons

The weapons system used in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is derivative of those from its predecessors, but has been significantly expanded. Compared to 12 forms of weapons from Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City features a total of 35 weapons divided into 10 classes (classified by portability, firepower or function), with the player allowed to carry only one weapon from each class. Each class presents a set of weapons which each presenting their own strengths and weaknesses, such as weight, damage and efficiency. For example, when a player has semi-automatic pistol in hand (which inflicts lower damage, but has a higher firing rate and larger magazine capacity) and encounters ammunition for a revolver (which inflicts a large amount of damage, but is weak in firing rate and more frequent reloading), he or she can only choose to replace the automatic with the revolver or choose not to replace the automatic. Because of this, the player is only allowed to carry up to 10 weapons at once while being allowed to pick specific weapons from each class.

The weapons, which range from a variety of mêlée weapons and firearms become available to the player as he or she completes more and more missions. Guns (such as pistols, rifles, thrown weapons and heavy weapons) may be purchased at firearm store Ammu-Nation or obtained via a weapons dealer, and other types of weapons (such as baseball bats, hammers and chainsaws) can be bought at various hardware stores. Another quirk is the inclusion of a camera, which is used in only one mission to capture pictures (a la sniper).

Various ports of Vice City also present modifications on the inventory of weapons. The PlayStation 2 version is the only version of the game to feature tear gas, while the Xbox version from Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack features modified names of weapons (i.e. the MP5 renamed as "MP" and the PSG-1 sniper rifle renamed as ".308 Sniper").

[edit] Soundtrack

Promotional artwork for the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack albums.

Main articles: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Soundtrack Box Set, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST - Greatest Hits

Vice City includes a large collection of licensed music from the 1980s that can be listened to by means of various in-car radio stations. Each station covers a particular music genre, such as rap music (Wildstyle), rock (V-Rock) and (most predominantly) pop music (WAVE 103, Flash FM). The tracks are for the most part works from various real-life artists, such as Judas Priest, Toto, Blondie, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, INXS, Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams, Mr. Mister, Luther Vandross, Kool & the Gang, Spandau Ballet, Wang Chung, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and Eumir Deodato. Additionally, a talk station (KCHAT) and a public radio debate show Pressing Issues (VCPR) are included. The radio stations and the game's storyline also feature a fictional heavy metal band called Love Fist. The multi-CD soundtrack to the game was an instant best-seller.

In addition to music and interviews, the stations also include satirical commercials, such as the Degenatron, a fictional video game console (Save the green dots with your fantastic flying red square!), likely a parody of the Atari 2600. The commercials and the game setting are consistent: Degenatron advertisements appear on billboards, and ads air for stores in which the player can actually shop, such as Ammu-Nation. Months before the release of Vice City, Rockstar Games created a Degenatron "fansite", which allowed users to actually play the ridiculously simple and "emulated" games.

[edit] Reception and sales

[edit] PlayStation 2

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released to extremely positive reviews from critics and fans alike. The game received ratings of 9.7/10 from IGN,^[4] 9.6/10 from GameSpot,^[5] 5/5 from GamePro,^[6] and 10/10 from Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. The game's average review score of 95/100 on Metacritic^[7] makes Vice City the seventh highest rated game in PlayStation 2 history. Most critics praised the game for its open-ended action and entertaining recreation of 1980s culture.

To date, Vice City is the second best-selling game of the series for the PlayStation 2. Vice City has sold 13 million copies worldwide.^[8] San Andreas has reported in to have sold 14 million copies^{[citation needed]}, making Vice City one of the top-selling PlayStation 2 games.

Sony's exclusivity deal with Take-Two Interactive at the time, which had been signed before Vice City's release, initially ruled out not only an Xbox version, but a PC version as well.^{[citation needed]} The deal was modified to allow Vice City to be published for the Xbox and when San Andreas was released in 2004, it was widely expected that the Xbox and PC ports would be released in 2005.

[edit] Windows

The Windows version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PC featured significantly improved performance over the preceding Grand Theft Auto III. Part of the reason was because GTA III rendered everything around the player even when not seen by them, while Vice City restricted it to what could be displayed, which reduced the amount of processing required.^{[citation needed]} Vice City supposedly had higher performance requirements because of the increased polygon count.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Xbox

Although the Xbox version was released six months after the PlayStation 2 version, it nonetheless sold well as part of the Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack. The Xbox version featured numerous improvements over the PC and PlayStation 2 versions. The Xbox version included better graphics which included more detailed polygon models, real time reflections, real time shadowing, greater draw distances and weather effects. The Xbox version also featured custom radio tracks which included the ability to play a user's own songs from their Xbox hard drive.

[edit] Controversy

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has been labeled as violent by many special interest groups, and is considered highly controversial. Some suggest that parental supervision is necessary when young people play this game, in spite of the fact that children were never the game's intended audience and are very unlikely to understand its humor. The ESRB rated this game "M" for Mature. In Australia, it was slightly modified to comply with current Australian censorship laws; the ability to pick-up prostitutes was disabled, allowing the game to be given an MA15+ rating by the OFLC. In the UK, Vice City received an "18" certificate from the BBFC.

Attacking a Haitian gang in Little Haiti, PC version. The game was accused of inviting people to harm immigrant Cubans and Haitians, and featuring anti-Haitian and Cuban phrases.

In November 2003, Cuban and Haitian groups in Florida targeted the title. They accused the game of inviting people to harm immigrants from those two nations.^[9] Players of the game pointed out that lines such as "These Haitians! We take 'em out!" refer specifically to members of a Haitian drug cartel, not every Haitian person, and a similar line appears in a mission to kill the Cubans. Nevertheless, the groups' claims of racism and incitement to genocide attracted a good deal of public attention towards Vice City. Rockstar Games issued a press release stating that they understood the concern of Cubans and Haitians, but also believed those groups were blowing the issue out of proportion. Under further pressure, including threats from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to "do everything we possibly can" if Rockstar didn't comply, Take-Two (the game's publisher) did agree to remove several lines of dialogue.^[10] This seems to have largely satisfied the groups who raised the complaints, although the case was then referred to a state court, downgraded from the initial decision to refer the case to a federal court.^[11] In 2004, a new version of the game was released, removing and changing those lines of dialogue^{[citation needed]}.

In February 2005, a lawsuit was brought upon the makers and distributors of the Grand Theft Auto series claiming the games caused a teenager to shoot and kill three members of the Alabama police force. The shooting took place in June 2003 when Devin Moore, 17 years old at the time, was brought in for questioning to a Fayette police station regarding a stolen vehicle. Moore then grabbed a pistol from one of the police officers and shot and killed him along with another officer and dispatcher before fleeing in a police car.^[12] ^[13] One of Moore's attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was GTA's graphic nature - with his constant playing time - that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore's family agrees. Damages are being sought from the Jasper branches of GameStop and Wal-Mart, the stores from which Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games' publisher Take-Two Interactive, and the PlayStation 2 manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment. The case is currently being heard by the same judge who presided over Moore's criminal trial, in which he was sentenced to death for his actions.

In September 2006, Jack Thompson brought another lawsuit, claiming that Cody Posey played the game obsessively before murdering his father, step-mother, and step-sister on a ranch in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims' families.^[14] During the criminal trial, Posey's defense team argued he was abused by his father, and tormented by his step-mother.^{[citation needed]} Posey was also taking Zoloft at the time of the killings.^[15] The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Vice City, the murders would not have taken place.^[16] Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages.^{[citation needed]}