by MattW - June 9, 2004

Welcome to Vice City. Expanding off of the acclaimed Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City has more cars, guns, and side missions than you can imagine. The series has come a long way from its 2-D roots, and I wouldn�t have it any other way: GTA: VC is one of the most entertaining games I�ve ever played. While I had already played through once on the Playstation 2, I rediscovered my love for wrecking havoc on the PC and was pleased to find a wonderful port of a wonderful game. You take on the roll of Tommy Vercetti, who just did 15 years in jail and has been sent to Vice City for a drug deal. Everything that can go wrong does, leaving Tommy without the drugs OR the money and a very angry boss. What starts as a plan to get the money back to save your own head becomes a quest to establish yourself as the head of the Vice City criminal underworld, making a few friends and a lot of enemies along the way. And, oh yeah, it�s the mid-1980�s.

We're Gonna Own This Town

Is it a racer? Is it a shooter? Is it a 3rd-person action adventure? To all of the above, the answer is yes. There are so many parts to the gameplay of Vice City that it�s difficult to decide where to begin. For starters, the story and progression of the game involves going to different characters who assign you missions which range from blowing up construction sites, doing drive-by�s through rival gang territory, rescuing other characters, or just outright rampaging and killing everything in sight. Naturally, for these missions there�s a wide variety of weapons and vehicles at your disposal which increases as you progress. Vice City sees the introduction of motorcycles, from the slow-poke mopeds to the crotch-rocket �PCJ 600�s, easily the fastest vehicle in the game. Every vehicle differs in terms of handling, speed, acceleration, and durability, from the top-heavy ambulances and slow-moving trucks to the speedy sports cars and crazy stunt bikes. Rockstar Games has done a wonderful job giving each car its own feel, which add depth to the gameplay: should you take a fast car to make an escape, or a much more durable (and top-heavy) van? Later in the game, players will have access to helicopters through property that can be acquired, which is often my getaway of choice.

No city would be complete without law enforcement, and Vice City is very much complete. As you commit crimes (stealing cars, killing pedestrians, etc) you�re wanted level will increase from a minimum of 1 star to a maximum of 6. 1 star is a pushover, 2 means business, 3 gets helicopter support, and by 6� let�s just say I�m reminded of Tiananmen Square. On higher ratings, cops will relentlessly pursue you until you�re arrested, killed, or find a way to get rid of your rating. Upon being arrested or killed, you start at the police station or hospital, respectively, sans weapons. Let�s say you complete a mission and then die on the way back to a save point � no big deal, you won�t have to do it over. Very nice.

I should address the controls, particularly since this is a port of a console game. I myself have not used the default keyboard-mouse layout (which I�ve been told by friend�s works very well with the game). What would be best to play a PS2 game on your PC? A PS2 controller, of course! For about $20 you can get a USB Adapter which will let you use your PS2 pads on your PC with support for all 12 buttons and both analog sticks (you can get them here: http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=23&products_id=3833& PS SuperJoy). With the adapter, the controls were identical to the PS2 version, and that�s not a bad thing. The targeting system could use a little work, but it�s an improvement over the one seen in GTA3, and the whole game controls smoother than its Liberty City cousin.

No More Fog

Ok� the original GTA: VC was released on the PS2 in 2002, the PC port came in 2003, and it�s currently 2004. While it would be a correct statement to say that a lot can happen in 2 years and graphics typically improve by leaps and bounds (just look at Final Fantasy 7 compared to Final Fantasy 9!) in that kind of time. Vice City, however, is definitely not showing its age. For a PC game, it must be taken into consideration that this is a PORT of a console game, and as a result, the limitations of the console are present. If a game like this were developed for the PC directly, you can bet that textures would be more detailed, objects would have higher polygon counts, and the whole game would just look more polished. That said, GTA: VC on the PC looks fantastic. This game is full of bright, vibrant colors which really add to the atmosphere of mid-80�s south Florida. Unlike its console brother, buildings no longer materialize out of thin air as you race down the road; quite the opposite actually, and this is one of my favorite features of the port: turn the draw distance all the way up and you can see from one side of the city to the other. With all of the cars on the road and pedestrians, seeing buildings on the horizon as you walk, drive, or fly your helicopter really adds to the sense that you�re in a living, breathing city. Hop in a boat and watch as drops of water splash onto the screen like a camera lens; hit the emergency break in a car and check out the skid marks from your tires. There are so many little touches that its hard to keep up with them all. Day and night cycles as well as weather conditions will increase and decrease just how far you can see, but it rarely affects gameplay significantly. Of course, these are all things that were present in GTA3, but the dark and dreary Liberty City didn�t look nearly as great as Vice City does.

The name is Tommy Vercetti!

One of the things that made GTA3 so immersive was the smart comments from NPC�s and the radio stations while driving, and I�m happy to say that both make a triumphant return. There are more radio stations to choose from now, and they seem to have much longer segments. As much time as I�ve invested in this game already, just today I heard a dialogue on the radio for the 1st time. The talk shows are all hilarious and more humor to this already morbidly entertaining game. Since it�s the 80�s, it�s only proper that the radio has 80�s music, right? You�ll be rocking out to Michael Jackson, Rick James, The Buggles, Mr. Mister, Iron Maiden, and Wang Chung, just to name a few. If the character�s clothes didn�t make you feel like it was the 1980�s, then the music definitely will. While a few of the songs get old when you play it as much as I have, it�s all about atmosphere. For those of you not interested in any of that, the MP3 Player from the PC version of GTA3 makes a return as well. Just load some songs into the folder �mp3� in the game�s directory and they�ll play in any vehicle except for cop cars and the like. There�s nothin� like being chased by the cops to a soundtrack of NWA and Black Flag. Honest.

Since this game has a legit story (arguably a first for the series), there�s a ton of dialogue and it�s all spoken very well. Voices match their characters and really help to establish each individual character and his or her personality. Tommy Vercetti�s voice acting in particular is great, often replying to NPC�s as they react to your actions. Speaking of which, NPC�s will scream when guns are fired, yell when their being ripped out of their cars, and complain when you bump into them on the street. As far as sound effects go, each car has its own unique sounds for accelerating, further establishing a feel for each one. Explosions, gunshots, car wrecks, and everything in between all sound as you would expect them to. A lot of work went into the audio for this game, and it shows.

Way Too Much Fun

So it looks, sounds, and handles great, but more than anything GTA: VC is really, really fun. I beat all of the missions about a week ago, but I still keep finding things to do. You can deliver pizzas, give people rides in taxi�s (kind of like Crazy Taxi only better), become a vigilante and hunt down other criminals in police vehicles, or do ambulance runs to the hospital. If you do really well on them there are even rewards, such as getting higher maximum health. Throw in the vehicle missions, hidden packages, and rampages scattered throughout the city and you�ve got a lot of variety and a lot to do. At a certain point in the game you can start buying buildings such as strip clubs, printing presses, and car dealerships which provide you with even MORE missions and things to do, including street racing. Is it bad that a game based on being a criminal and a deviant is this entertaining?

Getting It Right

Do yourself a favor if you play this game. Watch the movie Scarface and a few episodes of Miami Vice. And, if at all possible, visit Miami itself. After spending spring break in South Beach Miami, I grew to appreciate this game much more, as the level of detail is astounding. The stoplights and traffic signs, the buildings, the colors, everything is carefully reproduced to look just like their real-life counterparts. A lot of the music is taken directly from Scarface�s soundtrack, too, adding even more to the gangster feel of the game. After seeing the sources of Rockstar�s inspiration, the effort put into this game really shows and makes the anticipation for the next addition to the GTA series that much more.

With PC games, its not uncommon for there to be patches released after a game ships. There�s only been 1 patch for Vice City, and it was to correct a bug that occurs with certain GeForce FX cards which makes the polygons explode into crazy shapes and make the game virtually unplayable. Fear not, though, it�s easy to fix. In other words, Rockstar got it right the first time when they released this game, and its nice to see a company perfecting games BEFORE they�re released, not after.

The Final Word

I should emphasize that this game earns its �Mature� rating, so it�s not the kind of game you�d want to let your little brother get a hold of. But, it�s nice to see games evolving in maturity as gamers do, too. If you�ve been thinking about picking up Vice City and just never did, there�s no better time than now. I�ve seen Vice City going for $20-$30 on the PC, and there�s a 2-pack on PS2 and Xbox which also has GTA3. If you haven�t played it yet, go buy it. Now.