Rating: ★★★★ (Great)

It's quite clear while you play this game that it's the result of passionate people's work. It's a tribute to an era, to the movies, to the TV shows, to pop culture.

The soundtrack contains PLENTY of 80s classics. I think this is the brightest points of this game, alongside the atmosphere. They even managed to "Miami Vicey" some cutscenes by inserting tracks here and there, making certain sections of the story feel very cinematic.

Unfortunately it seems like they didn't have enough time to continue the theming through the game. The first act is an absolute masterpiece. The middle (most of the game) is okayish and the final act is once again back at incredible levels. Some characters were forgotten / underdeveloped in the middle, only to return weirdly in the final.

The cast is full of celebrities, so there's not much to say about acting. It's amazing. The radio commercials and commentary still delivers good laughs, but I think the previous entry did it better. The radio hosts are well written and gives a nice touch to the universe.

Now, I don't want to be rude towards this game. You see, I truly respect a work of passion. But I feel like they missed the opportunity to make a masterpiece. It's somewhere in this game, but it also isn't. I don't know what or who to blame. Maybe the one year deadline. But I feel sorry its potential wasn't fully utilized. Still, they managed to impact the industry and pop culture itself in so many levels. So that's something, eh.

I replayed this after so many years, and while the graphics do seem a little outdated, the gameplay is still pretty solid. Best thing for me has been: the missions are fairly short and all very peculiar and different. Chasing somebody on a golf court or startig a workers riot feels totally unique and amazing.

The strongest point about Vice City like in all GTAs is that you do not mind movig around a lot. You do not move to make missions, you make missions to have a reason to move around. GTA is about thefting cars and driving them, and while the driving itself feels pretty good, it's the radio stations that make these games, and more as all others Vice City, amazing.

Honestly, the radio in Vice City is even better than I remembered it. There is no retro synthwave or anything else nostalgically refering to the past, it's just straight up pop hits from the 80s, and not those that you know. The 80s have been yet the era with the best mainstream pop music ever, and Vice City takes advantage on that.

Even more than that, I love the radio conversations in this game. This is something I overlooked back in the days, because of my bad teenage English, I guess. They are all just 100% brilliant nonsense and satire on social, economic or culutral issues, and even do require some background knowledge on Florida stereotypes, us american libertarianism etcpp. Especially talking about the latter, Vice City implements criticism of capitalism and american's lack of welfare system.

Including this critique as another typical feature of this form of digital art, Vice City is the definitive Vaporwave game. If someone is to hold a lecture about vaporwave as contemporary retrofuturism, the presentation literally has to start with Vice City. Macintosh Plus holds reference to this game, the whole pink-purple 90s technology synthwave hype has to hold credit to Vice City. Vice City is Vaporwave avant la lettre, and as such so enjoyable because it does not know that it is and it doesn't want to be, so the whole look is more discreet and subtle than other contemporary outputs.

TL;DR: GTA Vice City is the definitive Vapor Wave game and has founded an own current of aesthetics. It will be talked about in decades and centuries.

Grand Theft Auto has been an important part of my life since my childhood. I have so many fond memories regarding this masterpiece of a franchise. For me, the throne of GTA is shared between San Andreas and GTA V, but Vice City will always have a special place in my heart. It is the perfect playground for the criminal lunatic Tommy Vercetti, who is a likable and charismatic protagonist. The virtual Miami still feels fresh and colorful, and it offers a fair share of freedom for those, who like to wreak havoc once in a while.

The Good:

• Tommy Vercetti is a badass, who starts fresh from the bottom and becomes a mob boss
• The setting is based on some classic gangster movies
• You can own businesses with their own set of missions
• Various gangs, with different relations to Tommy
• I really like the bullet dynamics with the visible shot patterns
• Made me listen to Michael Jackson (and 80's music)
• You can survive some serious falls
• The cops are not always at your neck when you do something bad (although they should get glasses or something, because i can steal a bike 3 meters from them and no one bats an eye :D )
• Played a lot online with VCMP, made some friends back in the day
• Sonny is a good villain, does a great job trying to make you hate him

The Bad:

• The map is not very well designed at some places
• The Haitians are annoying and the map is crawling with them
• The campaign is short in my opinion, some characters only give 2-3 missions
• The relations between the main characters could have been explored better, not just with some phone calls in between missions (like rampages with Lance, bike riding with Mitch, etc.)
• The antagonists should offer more of a challenge
• Runs great on Android, but the controls are just bad

Playthroughs: 4 times

В 2019-м году я впервые прошел GTA Vice City от начала и до конца и это было... хорошо.

Буквально всё сделано лучше, чем в GTA 3. Завезли какой-никакой сценарий. Да, он слизан с «Лица со шрамом». И персонажи по-прежнему карикатуры. Но тут эти карикатуры хотя бы используются для забавных сценок, а не просто говорят тебе, что надо делать.

В GTA Vice City дохулиард важных и нужных геймплейных улучшений. Улучшили езду (машины не норовят перевернуться на каждом повороте), стрельбу (разброс не такой бешенный), управление лодками (больше нет ощущения, что едешь по трясущемуся желе). Добавили мотоциклы и вертолеты. Дали возможность заходить в некоторые здания и покупать недвижимость, чтобы сохраняться.

Но самое главное изменение — разнообразие в миссиях. Игра больше не состоит из одних поездок: стрельбы и езды теперь приблизительно поровну. Миссии стали структурно сложнее. Например приехал, поучаствовал в перестрелке, а потом - в погоне. Да здесь даже есть ограбление банка есть! По сравнению с ограблением в GTA 5 здешние задания для ограбления смехотворны по всем параметрам, но по сравнению с GTA 3 — это охуенный шаг вперёд.

Во второй половине игры, когда нужно захватывать бизнесы, игра немного сдаёт. По большей части миссии становятся односложными: взорви 3 такси, убей курьера и привези чемоданчик, и тому подобное. Но всё же задания стараются оставаться разнообразными, и играть не надоедает.

Жопа у меня горела, адски полыхала прямо, только на миссии с самолётиком. Да, оказывается вертолётик это хуета, которая проходиться с первой попытки. А вот радиоуправляемый самолётик, который умеет сбрасывать бомбы - вот это порождение дьявола! Пройти это дерьмо я смог только с помощью хитрости, подсмотренной на ютюбе. Оказывается, если не прилетать к кубинцам, а подъехать на этом самом самолётике, то они на него не реагируют и их можно передавить. После этого уезжать на лодках будет некому, а взорвать стоящие на месте лодки намного проще. Но даже так я прошел эту миссию раза с 3-го, потому что этот ебучий самолётик управляется как кусок говна!

Помимо всех перечисленных улучшений Vice City тупо удобнее GTA 3. Тут на карте сразу отмечены магазины и гаражи перекраски. Показаны переулки, где можно срезать. Если умираешь на миссии, то обратно к началу задания тебя отвезут на такси. А еще на карте стрелочкой показывают, если нужный предмет или точка задания находится выше или ниже игрока. Это пиздец как много нервов мне сберегло.

В целом, GTA Vice City ощущается как тотально улучшенная GTA 3. И в отличие от предыдущей части, вполне проходит проверку временем, чтобы по праву считаться классикой.