Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Sony PlayStation 2, 2002)

This was the first GTA game I played and it was a stunning introduction to the series - good enough to cause me to buy its forerunner GTA III and every new GTA game since. Though technology and coding slickness have moved on since Vice City hit the stores, it is still - for my money - the best in the series in terms of cohesive game play, narrative story line and soundtrack. San Andreas provided a much bigger playing area, many more vehicles and aircraft, but its radio stations were, in my opinion, boring - plus the designers chose to lose a fair amount of detail in the vehicles so that they could cope with the expanded dimensions and extra movements of the SA 'world'.

Vice City's radio stations are in a different league - they offer hit after hit from the 1980's (the period in which the game is set), a wide variety of different choices and even talk stations which are so funny that you can hear the same jokes and warped interviews with the city's local and visiting celebrities over and over again and still enjoy them. I hate Rap and Country & Western, so San Andreas' stations are usually switched off when I play that game. From my point of view, Vice City set a standard for in-vehicle listening that has yet to be surpassed.

There is a lot of water in Vice City - the ocean, inlets, ponds, swimming pools and your character cannot swim - that was one of the main criticisms levelled by hard core VC players. It can be highly annoying when you drive off a bridge or fall off one of the boats, watercraft or aircraft with floats and swiftly drown, but I felt more than compensated by fairly quick access to the helicopters and floatplanes which are dotted throughout the game. When you take to the air, the full complexity and detail of the city becomes even more evident. You can land on roofs, on water (if you have floats on the aircraft) or anywhere there is enough room to put down safely. I found that helicopters were a great form of transport for a lot of missions - think about it...no traffic jams, no jostling police cars and very direct routes to and from the objective points.

The missions are well planned; some are very difficult, but none are impossible or based upon bizarre solutions...you can even use alternative ways to complete these tasks (a factor which enables you to replay the game and experiment with new tactics). When you start off in Vice City, you are confined to one island - but it is a big place with a huge amount of things to see and do. You can roam, explore and choose your own ways of doing things - will you be honest and law-abiding or will you steal cars and/or beat up, shoot or stab pedestrians and take their money?

There is a wide variety of firearms in Vice City - assault rifles, sniper rifles, fully automatic machine pistols, handguns - which you can pick up, steal or buy (along with body armour) in many locations. Stabbing and clubbing weapons are available too - knives, a katana (yes, a samurai sword), baseball bats, police nightsticks, hammers...even a chain saw. Eventually, you learn which weapons are best in different situations - for example, the cops are far more likely to intervene if you cause shock and horror on the streets with the sword - but using a baseball bat to brain somebody is often not going to make citizens dial 911.

If you haven't played Vice City - get a copy now. GTA IV is more modern, more complex, but VC has a unique character and it is a LOT of fun!

I've had the game for quite some time now but i've never finished it. thats becuase i enjoy causing terror around the city and being chased by cops.

Tommy is your main character and this guy breaks no sweat causing terror or running illegal errands. hes VERY entertaining and humours and says alot of random stuff that will make you bend over and laugh. like for example if you make him drive you and bump into someone else, he'll say something like
"how did you get your lincese?"

however if you cause disruption to some drivers, they'll either speed off, get out and run, or fight back. sometimes they have friends that will come and fight you off.

he does have a radio station with varioes music fms to listen to. and their news station is Hilarious. I know one of their shows lasts for about an hour, i think there are two news stations

There are TONS of cheat codes for this game, such as changing his apparences to various characters, course he'll have the same voice, you can make him change clothes. there are codes for making cars go faster, have bigger wheels, make cars and boats fly or bounce. you can have the pedestrians carry weapons or get in fights with people (just make sure youre out of their way)

you can change the weather if you want to such as forcast, raining, foggy, very sunny or dark

you can have unlimited health and armor.

you can find hidden items like those treasure bags but you can also attack people and get tones of money. there is humor also on the streets. sometimes you'll hear pedestrians say the funniest things. you'll even see a guy running from the police officer.

the city is BIG and loaded with life, but you can only go to a handful of places.

you can rent and buy places and have your favorites cars stored in a garage if you wanted to.

But like i said, i havent finished the game but its fun to just ride around and act crazy. the game is very enjoyable. i cry laughing sometimes.

if you loved the 80s music the 80s hair and you can stand some action and violence then this game is for you, set in the 80s this game has a awsome story line , i brought this game thinking i will add it to the collection but its never getting played in my house its too violent, one day deciding to put it on for just a couple of minutes i was hooked, it is now me and my sons favorite game cant say enough about it, i love the music the music alone brings back memories of younger days, the missions are soo cool as well as the rampages if you loves all the GTA's before it or after you have to have this one its AAAAA++++++++++

this game is so fun that we can pay it for hours and still not get done with it .it is great .u can shoot bad people and drive cars and trucks . and do some work like take people to places. u can bend other peoples car and not have to pay out money to do that .and u can jump the ramp and u get some money for that.and u can't save the cars in the garage.because there is no garage to save the cars in .

Grand Theft Auto Vice City ruled PS2 (and Xbox and PC) when it first came out, and in some ways, even compared to San Andreas, it still does. GTA 3 was extreme, but Vice City pioneered this genre we all know and love and pushed the envelope further with GTA Vice City. To be honest, after playing Vice City, I thought GTA 3 sucked. This is how many people compare San Andreas to Vice City. I really didn't like the graphics in GTA 3, they were all dark and at times distorted. I love the fact GTA Vice City it's set in 1986 and Miami. I believe the graphics are more advanced in Vice City than San Andreas. I like the retro music on the stations. I also liked the motorbikes, when it first came out, that was one of the coolest new features. Since San Andreas' debut, Vice City hasn't really been give the credit it deserves. I like San Andreas as much as any other person, but Vice City, in my opinion measures up to it and/or is better by these five reasons:
1. Excellent story
2. Great graphics
3. Motorbikes
4. Retro setting & music
5. Awesome weapons
Only thing it lacks is the character's ability to swim. I mean come on, he lives in Miami. Beaches? Tropical climate? You should really learn to swim.