Grand Theft Auto Vice City: Is the forgotten GTA the most stylish game ever made?

With Rockstar Games' sprawling entertainment monolith Grand Theft Auto V having just hit the shelves, what better time to revisit the company's seminal games trilogy Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas? With a new generation of consoles about to arrive, these modern classics may be showing their age, but little of the black humour, legendary style or downright ridiculousness has been lost with time.

You're drugs operation has been busted, and you're driving into the sunset in the ice cream van you use as a front while two detectives who look like they've just stepped out of Miami Vice and a whole fleet of police cars pursue you down the highway and Quiet Riot's Come on Feel the Noise plays in the background. This is Vice City.

Released just one year after the runaway success of GTA III, you might have been excused for thinking that GTA Vice City would be a disappointingly rushed sequel. Certainly the map's a little smaller than the previous instalment, and the game mechanics barely changed, but Vice City doesn't feel like a rushed job. It feels brilliant.

You're Tommy Vercetti, a convicted killer whose sent to Vice City, Rockstar's distorted vision of Miami, by his Mafia bosses to complete a drugs deal. Of course the deal goes wrong and Tommy ends up loosing the money and being forced to complete a variety of criminal activities (the missions are more interesting and varied than those of GTA III, although they're still not brilliant) to make the cash back and set up his own business empire. Unlike the unnamed, unspeaking character in GTA III, Tommy is a brilliantly likeable character who, remarkably, feels like a real man with real feelings. He's supported by easily the best supporting cast of characters of any GTA game, notably the drug addled layer Ken Rosenberg, cockney band manager Kent Paul and the two faced (and brilliantly named) Lance Vance. These frequently hilarious people really add depth and feeling to the game's superb story.

While GTA III was set in the present day, Vice City takes place in the 1980's, and it truly knows it. More than any other GTA game, Vice City creates an atmosphere that truly reflects and compliments the game's setting. The cars; the colour; the horrendous suits; all of it built to feel like an 80's gangster movie, and it really, truly works. And that's not to mention the soundtrack, which is surly the greatest collection of music of any video game to date. While GTA III introduced radio stations and licensed music, Vice City really brought the idea to life with 10 stations bursting with over 100 classic songs of the time and hilarious satirical adverts. And when the game has tracks ranging from Iron Maiden to Kim Wylde you know it's going to be fantastic. And it is.

Vice City also added the sublime level of detail GTA games are famed for today, with a large collection of side quests, ranging from street races to planning a bank robbery. It's also full of references to films, Easter eggs and secrets.


So while gameplay didn't change much during the transition between GTA III and GTA Vice City, it was Vice City that created that sense of style through music, characters and a beautiful open city that GTA games are world renowned for today. And while I can see why Vice City, as the game between the revolutionary GTA III and the massive GTA San Andreas has been forgotten by many of today's gamers, it's still inexcusable. For me, GTA Vice City is the greatest GTA game to date (although I have not yet been able to lay my hands on GTA V), and one of the greatest video games of all time.

10/10