System: PS2
IGN Score: 9.7
Release Year: 2002
I know what you are thinking: "How did this finish second and not first?" I know that pretty much everyone who reads this blog (if anyone reads it...) would say this game should be first on the list. Let me explain myself.
Vice City came out only one year after GTA III and it is leaps and bounds better. It is almost hard to believe how close together these games are in time considering how much better Vice City is than III. Rockstar made a number of changes for the better in this game.
First off, Tommy Vercetti is the best protagonist in any of the GTA games. From the opening scene there is no question that he is a man who knows how to get things done and who should not be messed with. He has a very strong presence in any scene he is in. This is much different than any other protagonist in the GTA games. Claude doesn't even speak in GTA III. Carl Johnson gets dogged all of the time for leaving Los Santos and his family behind for Liberty City. Niko arrives in Liberty City as a complete nobody. Tommy is different. He is the man from the beginning. And Ray Liotta is fantastic as the voice actor. Just hearing his voice makes me wanna pop in "Goodfellas" into the DVD player.
Speaking of which, the cast in this game is fantastic. Besides Ray Liotta, you have Dennis Hopper as movie director Steve Scott, Burt Reynolds as real estate tycoon Avery Carrington, Luis Guzman as Ricardo Diaz, Gary Busey as crazy man Phil Cassidy, Lee Majors as biker Mitch Baker, and Jenna Jameson as adult actress Candy Suxxx. Vice City has by far the best voice cast in the franchise.
Vice City itself is fantastic. If you take all of the cities that have appeared in all of the GTA games, Vice City is the coolest and most fun place to play. The city looks fantastic - from art deco hotels to palm trees, mansions, neon colors, and plenty of water, Rockstar did a fantastic job of recreating 1980s Miami. On the surface it would seem like Vice City would suffer from many of the same transportation issues involving bridges and crossing water that Liberty City has, but the roads in Vice City are layed out in a much more logical sequence and thus crossing water really isn't too much of an issue in Vice City (plus the city is so small it doesn't take long at all to drive anywhere). The only part of the city where roads get wonky are the downtown area. Luckily there aren't too many missions in this area of town.
Vice City probably has the best non-original soundtrack of any video game ever made. There is nothing more satisfying than stealing a 1980s corvette and getting to rock out to "Owner of A Lonely Heart" by Yes while cruising around the beach. It is fantastic.
Vice City has the best protagonist, the best acting cast, the best soundtrack, and the most fun city of all of the GTA games. So how does it finish second? Simple. While Vice City succeeds in all of these categories, it falls a bit short in the storyline department.
The scenery and plot of Vice City are very similar to the 1983 Oliver Stone film Scarface. Tommy Vercetti, just released from prison, is sent to Vice City by Liberty City mobster Sonny Forelli. The Forelli family is interested in getting in on the international drug trade taking place in Vice City. Predictably, the deal goes wrong. Sonny is left with neither the drugs or the money, and it is up to Tommy to track down both and get to the bottom of who sabotaged the deal. And that is it. That's the whole story. Along the way, you meet a handful of Vice City's major players and start to build an empire of your own. After taking down local drug lord Diaz, Tommy begins to acquire various properties throughout Vice City. Most of these properties are used as fronts for various other businesses. You get involved with street racing with the car dealership, drug pushing with the ice cream shop, the adult movie industry with the movie studio, and various other illegal operations. I like this setup a whole lot. Where it runs into trouble is that after you buy a new business, there is usually only 2-4 missions to complete before you have nothing to do with the business or its characters for the rest of the game. All of the characters are quite interesting in this game, but they all play such little parts that it is hard to get too involved with them. After you complete the short missions, you have to go around to all of your businesses to collect the money. Sometimes the game won't even advance until you do this several times to have enough money to buy a new place. It is all quite frustrating. I want more Avery Carrington. I want more Candy Suxxx. But this game basically just introduces you to these characters for a few stages and then you no longer see them in the game. All except Lance Vance, an annoying character that shows up numerous times throughout the game before back stabbing you in the game's final stage.
All of this is quite frustrating because everything about this game is so good, and yet you are left wanting more. You want to spend more time in Vice City. You want more missions. The game clocks in at about 12 hours. It is quite challenging, and the last stage is epic, reminiscent of the final scene in Scarface. This game is an all-time classic - probably the most memorable game of the series.
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