On the 27th of October in 2002, Rockstar gave us the next instalment in the wildly successful GTA series. Rockstar took us from the grey and gloomy streets of Liberty City to the sun soaked shores of Vice City. Talking about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City being fourteen makes me feel old but this also makes me want to get back on my Faggio, crank up Fever 105 FM and cruise down the beachfront.
GTA:VC is many things. Most crucially it is an open world adventure fuelled by crack cocaine, glam metal and gang violence. What made this game so special to me, aside from the usual Rockstar humour was the fact that it was so different from GTA: III. It was showing us a world of power, drugs, betrayal and violence amongst the sun, sea, sand and skimpy clothes.
The other thing that I loved about this game was the music, I would park my car and just listen to whatever was on, my favourite being ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ by The Cult. Even listening to the talk radio stations made Vice City feel alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE0WMTxbT2s
The missions were so much fun to play through, even the cutscenes before each mission made the game feel more like a movie than anything else. I loved that you could ride motorbikes or scooters and zip in and out of traffic. Buying property and watching as your bank balance grow and grow made you want to invest even more time into the side missions that came with buying up each new piece of real estate.
Even coming before arguable one of the finest open world games ever GTA: San Andreas, Vice City is still a fantastic game. It was the first time that the game’s main protagonist (Tommy Vercetti) was given a voice, by none other than Ray Liotta, Liotta’s voice acting gave Vercetti the personality and charisma that drove the story onwards on to its final climax.
It feels strange thinking about how old this game is. Fourteen years isn’t exactly a long time in gaming but for something as timeless as this it could have come out yesterday and it still would be a fantastic game. The city around you felt alive, the music was incredible, the lighting, the sound and driving mechanics all made for a game that was endlessly entertaining. GTA: Vice City is £5.99 on steam and for just £6.00 it is a tiny price to pay for something that will give you hours and hours of joy.
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