Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Technical Specs:
Publisher - Rock Star Games
Developer - Rock Star North
Genre - Adventure/Driving
Platform - Playstation 2
Number of Players -1

Ten-second Rundown: Stop reading this review and buy it RIGHT NOW.

In 2001 Rock Star Games release the third part in their controversial Grand Theft Auto series. Once again you played the role of a car thief out to make his fame and fortune in the big city. The game makers made no apologies for the unlawful subject matter and the glorification of violence. Instead they made the game as fun as it could possibly be and it was a hit, becoming the top selling game of 2001.

Quick to capitalize on GTA3's success, Rock Star Games has released Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Like all sequels, everything is bigger, badder and more explosive. And let's not forget even more violent.

Set in 1986, or more specifically a fictional Florida in 1986, Vice City recaptures the same mindless fun as GTA3. Everything you could want from a video game is at your fingertips. Do you want to do missions? It has missions. Want to chase people with chainsaws? It has chainsaws. Want to just cruise around for an hour on a crotch rocket looking for killer jumps? It's got that, too. Vice City remains true to its predecessor by delivering the same free-roaming, nonlinear design while at the same time improving both the storyline and game play.

You begin your career fresh out of jail and in debt to some New York mob bosses. Unlike GTA3, you have a name and a voice. As Tommy Vercetti (voiced by Ray Liotta), you'll set out to take over Vice City working from the ground up. After accomplishing a series of jobs for the various gang leaders in town, you'll begin to make your own allies and connections.

Before too long you'll be living a life style of the 80s Floridian mobster. Being set in the 80s gives the developers a good amount of campy, nostalgic material to work with. Vice City could just as easily have been called Miami Vice, only it's all done from the perspective of the criminal.

Fast cars, fast boats, pastel suits and no socks all make their appearances. Even the radio stations in the cars you steal play pop hits from the 80s. You'd be surprised how much fun racing through the streets of Miami being chased by the S.W.A.T. team is when set to the pop hit 99 Luftballons.

The soundtrack is so good that Epic records has produced a soundtrack and box set recordings of the radio stations.

Rather than putting effort into reinventing the wheel, Rock Star Games has taken the same gaming engine from GTA3 and simply added to it. The extra year of attention really pays off in the graphics. When you knock some biker off his hog, you'll know you're stealing a realistic looking Harley. Weather effects and the sun flares give the game a cinematic quality, but like in the movies, the sun flares become a bit pretentious after a while.

Vice City adds more weapons to your arsenal. Chainsaws, swords, machetes, laser scoped sniper rifles, tear gas grenades, a variety of handguns and automatic rifles have been added to the game for your mayhem causing pleasure. There are a plethora of new vehicles, four types of motorcycles, helicopters and a dozen different speedboats that you can steal.

Money was mostly just a score keeper in GTA3, but Rock Star has added a reason to earn it this time around. Spread throughout the city are various properties that you can purchase to provide you save points, store your stolen vehicles and earn you even more money. They also give you more missions to accomplish, giving you even more bang for your gaming buck.

This is not to say that Vice City does not have its share of problems. I've noticed far more graphics glitches than I have in any other game. Nothing bothers me more than racing towards a location where I know a bridge should be and only seeing water in front of me. The bridge eventually shows up but little things like that and random clipping errors happen often enough to be noticeable.

Despite its few faults, Rock Star Games give fans what they want which is basically more of the same only better. While Vice City fails to recapture that moment of wonder I experience when I played GTA3 for the first time, it comes close. If you're searching for the perfect Christmas gift or just searching for the next big gaming addiction, Vice City is it. GTA3 and Vice City are the two best reasons to own a Playstation right now.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City