Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) (VG)

User Rating:

9.4/10   

Director:

Navid Khonsari

Writers:

Dan Houser (written by) &
James Worrall (written by) ...

Release Date:

8 November 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Welcome to Vice City. Welcome to the 80s.

Plot:

After being released from jail, Tommy Vercetti left Liberty City for Vice City--a city overrun by the mob. Now, Tommy is out to make the Vice City his home.

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Drugs | Biker Gang | Police | Cocaine

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Ray Liotta	...	Tommy Vercetti (voice)
William Fichtner	...	Ken Rosenberg (voice) (as Bill Fichtner)
Tom Sizemore	...	Sonny Forelli (voice)
Dennis Hopper	...	Steve Scott (voice)
Burt Reynolds	...	Avery Carrington (voice)
Luis Guzmán	...	Ricardo Diaz (voice)
Philip Michael Thomas	...	Lance Vance (voice)
Robert Davi	...	Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez (voice)
Danny Trejo	...	Umberto Robina (voice)
Gary Busey	...	Phil Cassidy (voice)
Lee Majors	...	'Big' Mitch Baker (voice)
Fairuza Balk	...	Mercedes Cortez (voice)
Danny Dyer	...	'Kent' Paul (voice)
Kevin McKidd	...	Jezz Torrent (voice)
Deborah Harry	...	Delores (voice)

Also Known As:

Grand Theft Auto IV (USA) (working title)
Grand Theft Auto: Miami (USA) (working title)
Vice City (USA) (short title)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Australia:MA | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Ireland:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Sweden:18 | UK:18 | USA:M

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Company:

Rockstar North

Trivia:

Two of the missions are called "Cop Land" and "No Escape". No Escape (1994) and Cop Land (1997) are movies that star Ray Liotta (who voices Tommy Vercetti).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the "Keep your friends close..." mission intro, Tommy says to load 20 million into briefcases, while the subtitles say 3 million. In a later cut scene, both the subtitles and the audio say, "Here is your three million".

Quotes:

Delores: [over radio] Tommy, the police are here for you.

Movie Connections:

References Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

Soundtrack:

I'm Burning for You

Easily the best video game ever.

I'm thirty-five and recently married. I hadn't played a video game since the late eighties--in fact, I hadn't even given them a second thought. Then everything changed. I watched my brother-in-law play GTA:VC one afternoon on his PS2. I was transfixed. I was appalled. I was, in a word, hooked. When it came out on XBOX, I bought a used copy at Blockbuster and haven't looked back.

First of all, the gameplay is phenomenal. The fact that you can freely roam the large Vice City map is worth the price of admission by itself.

Second, the voice acting is amazing--especially the commercials. Ray Liotta. Gary Busey. Burt Reynolds. Phillip Michael Thomas. Lee Majors. Robert Davi. Dennis Hopper. Luis Guzman. Fairuza Balk. Jenna Jameson. Danny Trejo. These are just a few of the names that make appearances. The radio material is so well produced, I can drive around all day listening to nothing but VCPR or KCHAT. The radio commercials are witty, sarcastic and spot-on.

Third, the story is great. You start as a nobody, recently released from jail. You finish (if you really ever do finish) as a Tony Montana-esque criminal psychopath.

Fourth--this is probably the most immoral game ever created... and it's beautiful. It's sick, sick, sick! Apart from the usual "waste him" missions, tasks include delivering drugs from an ice-cream van and driving a humvee drunk while avoiding the cops. I mean, one mission has you carving up a guy with a chainsaw! In addition, there are dozens of "rampage" icons throughout the game. When you run into one, you have two minutes to kill a certain amount of people a certain way (e.g. "kill 20 gang members in two minutes with a meat cleaver") It's never boring.

Conclusion: GTA:VC is the sickest, funniest, most engrossing and immersive video game ever made. It looks and plays better on the XBOX, but it's a blast on any platform. Rockstar's next GTA release, San Andreas, has immense shoes to fill.