Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
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| Developer(s) | PS2 and Windows
Xbox <tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)</th><td>Rockstar Games</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Engine</th><td>RenderWare</td></tr> |
| Release date(s) | PS2<ref name="PS2Release"/> NA</small> October 27, 2002
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| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)</th><td>BBFC: 18 |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 Windows Xbox <tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media</th><td>PS2 and Xbox
Windows
Windows<ref name = "windows system requirements">Windows System Requirements. Take-Two Interactive. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.</ref></li></ul>
Windows |
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 is, in the American market, the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time. Vice City also appeared on Japanese magazine Famitsu's readers' list of all-time favorite 100 videogames in 2006.<ref name = "top 100 in Japan">Japan Votes on All Time Top 100. Next Generation. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.</ref> 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 by its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, and similarly presents a huge cityscape, fully populated with buildings (from hotels to skyscrapers), vehicles (cars, motocycles, boats, helicopters, and planes) and people.
The game was succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and is revisited in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, which serves as a prequel to events in Vice City.
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[edit] Setting
Vice City is a loose prequel to the preceding game in the series, GTA III, which took 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
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. This takes Vercetti from being a small-time hood staying in a beachfront hotel to being the city's crime kingpin, but Sonny is looming over Tommy until he finally comes down to get his stuff personally. And in a shootout similar to that of the ending of the Brian De Palma film Scarface, Tommy Vercetti kills Sonny Forelli and his traitorous partner Lance Vance.
[edit] Theme
Many themes are borrowed from the films Scarface and Carlito's Way along with the hit 1980s television series Miami Vice and numerous other cultural events and artifacts predominantly from the 1980s.
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.<ref name = "GTAScarface">Grand Theft Auto: Scarface - Examining Grand Theft Auto's Scarface Connection. Cliff O'Neill. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.</ref> 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).<ref name = "GTAScarface"/> Not to forget, the "Mr. Vercetti" suit players receive when purchasing a local strip club, strongly resembles Tony Montana's suit which he wears toward the end of the movie, the only difference being that Tommy's undershirt is pink instead of white.
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. Another reference is a billboard in Little Haiti announcing a concert by Jack Hammer, a parody of Jan Hammer, who composed music for Miami Vice.
Additional popular culture references include:
- Speed - During the game, Tommy is required to drive the Love Fist rock band to a gig, only to discover that the limousine they are in is booby trapped so that it will explode if it slows down.
- 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.
- Heat - The bank robbery during the 'Heist' mission is very similar to the one in the movie.
- The Godfather Part II - A condominium available for purchase and a stadium bear the "Hyman" name, a reference to a character from the movie.
- Pulp Fiction - During a mission in the game, Tommy and Lance retrieve rifle from the trunk of Lance's car (depicted in a trunk shot) to battle Ricardo Diaz's man and kill Ricardo. The appearance and situation of the scene is similar to Pulp Fiction's trunk shot scene.
- Carlito's Way - Ken Rosenberg, Tommy Vercetti's lawyer and advisor looks and acts like David Kleinfeld from the film.
- Tarbush coffee shop and Gash clothing store - Featured prominently in a mall, the stores are obvious spoofs of the Starbucks coffee shop and the Gap clothing retailer, respectively.
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.
- 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
The game features dozens of characters, many appearing only in the cut scenes which describe each mission.
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.
The voice-talent includes Ray Liotta as Vercetti, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Luis Guzmán, Miami Vice star Philip Michael Thomas, Danny Trejo, Gary Busey, Lee Majors, Fairuza Balk, and porn actress Jenna Jameson. The voice of the taxi dispatcher is provided by Blondie singer Debbie Harry.
[edit] Gameplay
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 (once "unlocked") and otherwise do whatever they wish if not currently working on 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, but there is the addition of spike strips to puncture the tires of a car the player is fleeing in, as well as SWAT teams deployed 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 around 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 provides an ongoing income, which the increasingly-prosperous Vercetti must periodically uplift. This makes the storyline and missions less linear than the preceding GTA III, although there are a set of "core missions", some required before the player can purchase properties, and others being triggered as the player complete asset-related missions.
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.
One is also able to carry out productive and (mostly) non-violent activities in the game such as pizza deliveries, driving injured people to a hospital with an ambulance, extinguishing fires with a fire truck, and much more, usually with monetary rewards and occasional gameplay advantages (i.e. increased health and armor capacity and infinite sprinting).
[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] Radio stations
Various radio stations can be received on radios in most vehicles in the game; one is an interview and chat station (KCHAT), another (VCPR) consists of the public radio debate show Pressing Issues, and the remainder are music stations which cover particular musical genres such as rap music (Wildstyle), rock (V-Rock) and (most predominantly) pop music (WAVE 103, Flash FM). The tracks are for the most part licensed works from various real-life artists such as Aneka, Blondie, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson, Mr. Mister, and other artists that fit the retro 80s theme. The radio stations and the game story also feature a fictional 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 fake 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.
The complete list of Vice City radio stations is as followed:
[edit] Sales
[edit] PlayStation 2
To date, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is the best-selling of the entire series for the PlayStation 2. While Vice City was expected to outsell its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, due to incremental improvements and greater hype stemming from the success of the latter, Vice City managed to only outsell the succeeding Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by an extremely close margin. Sony's exclusivity deal with Take-Two Interactive at the time which had recently been signed before Vice City's release, ruled out an Xbox version but also put the PC version in doubt. However, 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.
It is also one of the top-selling PlayStation 2 games, often interchanging spots with San Andreas.
[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. 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. However, the lower resolution of the Xbox port somewhat reduced the effect of the improved textures overall.
[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 pickup 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.
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.<ref name = "CubanHaitian">Haitian-Americans protest Vice City. GameSpot. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name = "CubanHaitian2">Take-Two self-censoring Vice City. GameSpot. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name = "CubanHaitian3">Vice City lawsuit switcheroo. GameSpot. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name = "Devin Moore">“Suit: Video Game Sparked Police Shootings.” ABC News. Archived on 2005-03-07.</ref> <ref name = "Devin Moore2">Grand Theft Auto sparks another lawsuit. GameSpot. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name = "Cody Posey">Video-game maker blamed in '04 killing. The Albuquerque Tribune. Retrieved on September 27, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name = "Cody Posey2a">Vera Ockenfels, the Cody Posey defense team's mitigation specialist, discusses his conviction (transcript) (Feb. 8, 2006). Courtroom Television. Retrieved on September 27, 2006.</ref> The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Vice City, the murders would not have taken place.<ref name = "Cody Posey3">Antigame Crusader in ABQ. ABQnewsSeeker. Retrieved on September 27, 2006.</ref> 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]
[edit] References
<references />
[edit] External links
[edit] Official sites
[edit] Teaser sites
- Kent Paul's 80s Nostalgia Zone
- Degenatron; "fan site" of the Degenatron
[edit] Game resources
- GTA: Vice City at MobyGames
- GTA: Vice City at the Internet Movie Database
- GTA: Vice City at StrategyWiki
- GTA: Vice City (PS2) at GameFAQs
- GTA: Vice City website directory at Alexa Internet
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Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1980s retro movement | 2002 computer and video games | 2003 computer and video games | Controversial computer and video games | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | PlayStation 2 games | Third-person shooters | Vehicular combat games | Windows games | Xbox games
