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''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' is an action-adventure game developed in a collaboration between
Rockstar Leeds Rockstar Leeds Limited (formerly Möbius Entertainment Limited) is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Leeds. Ian J. Bowden, Dave Box, Gordon Hall, and Jason McGann founded the company as Möbius Entertainmen ...
and
Rockstar North Rockstar North Limited (formerly DMA Design Limited) is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones, soon hiring former clas ...
, and published by
Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
. The tenth instalment in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, the game was initially released as a PlayStation Portable exclusive in October 2006. A PlayStation 2 port was released in March 2007. Set within the fictional Vice City (based on
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
) in 1984, the game is a prequel to 2002's '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' (set in 1986) and follows the exploits of ex-soldier Victor "Vic" Vance, a minor character originally featured in said game. The story centres around Vic's attempts to build up a criminal empire alongside his brother Lance, coming into conflict with rival gangs, drug lords and other enemies. In addition to the traditional gameplay elements and side missions of the series, the game features a unique empire building system, in which players must expand their criminal syndicate from the ground-up by taking over businesses from rival organizations, and completing missions specific for each of them to increase their income and unlock additional rewards. Like its predecessor, ''
Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories ''Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories'' is an action-adventure game developed in a collaboration between Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North, and published by Rockstar Games. The ninth installment in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' ...
'', the PSP version of the game includes a
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode through a
wireless ad hoc network A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...
, which allows up to six players to engage in several different game modes. ''Vice City Stories'' received generally positive reviews from critics, and has sold over 4.5 million copies as of March 2008. It was followed by ''
Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the e ...
'' in April 2008.


Gameplay

''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' is an
action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...
game set in an open world environment and played from a
third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
, structured similarly to other releases from the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming, jumping, as well as using weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat. The player can drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, planes, helicopters, jet-skis and motorcycles. The open, non-linear environment allows the player to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain areas and content, they are not required, as the player can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, the player can freely roam the game's world. The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, but have been moderately upgraded and enhanced compared to previous titles. A new addition to the game is "Beach Patrol", in which Victor (the player's character) must deal with bikers on the beach by beach buggy (by ramming or shooting to knock them off their bikes) or throwing life preservers to drowning swimmers by boat or by taking a paramedic around to injured people on the beach. The combat system was overhauled in ''Vice City Stories''. The targeting mechanism has been tweaked to "intelligently target"; enemies posing a threat or attacking the player will be targeted over pedestrians. The biggest changes concern the hand-to-hand combat system, as the player can now perform grappling moves and throws, and stand on top of enemies lying on the ground. The player is able to bribe policemen or hospital staff when "Wasted" (killed) or "Busted" (arrested) to lower their wanted level, and keep weapons that ordinarily would have been lost. One of the key gameplay elements in ''Vice City Stories'' is "empire-building". New to the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, it borrows a few ideas from ''
Vice City ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the fourth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2001's ''Grand Theft Auto III'', and the s ...
''s "properties" and '' San Andreas'' "gang wars" systems. To make money, the player must open and operate various businesses on property taken over from enemy gangs – these can range from protection rackets to brothels or smuggling compounds. Once a player removes a gang from a specific business, it becomes available for purchase. There are several different types of business, and each comes in different sizes, which can later be changed to adapt to the player's needs. Each business comes with unique missions which, upon completion, reward the player with various bonuses, as well as an increased income for said business. The player will occasionally have to defend their owned businesses from attacks by gangs looking to take them back, until all businesses in the city have been acquired, at which point the attacks will cease. The standard hidden package system from previous ''Grand Theft Auto'' games returns in the form of 99 red balloons scattered around the city. This is a reference to
Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...
's 1984 hit "
99 Luftballons "99 Luftballons" (german: link=no, Neunundneunzig Luftballons, "99 balloons") is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also relea ...
", which was featured in ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City''. Improvements to the graphics since the release of '' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories'' include new animations, faster load times, a longer
draw distance In computer graphics, draw distance (render distance or view distance) is the maximum distance of objects in a three-dimensional scene that are drawn by the rendering engine. Polygons that lie beyond the draw distance will not be drawn to the ...
, reductions in clumping of pedestrians and vehicles, more complex explosions, and increases in the density of objects, vehicles, and
NPCs A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...
. Like its predecessor, the PSP version of ''Vice City Stories'' features a
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode, for up to 6 players through WiFi ad-hoc mode (local area). The game features 10 different modes of wireless multiplayer gaming, which incorporate the use of automobiles, aircraft, and water-based vehicles. Various pedestrian and character models from the single-player mode are available as player
avatars Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
. These multiplayer modes are not included in the PS2 version.


Synopsis


Setting

''Vice City Stories'' takes place in 1984 within Vice City, and forms part of the "3D Universe"
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...
of the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series. Set two years before the events of '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', the game's setting features several areas that are different from the 1986 version of Vice City, including locations being constructed or whose plot used to house something different. An example of this is the site of a car showroom completed in 1986 still being under construction in 1984, while the business is located in a smaller building down the road.


Plot

In 1984,
Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...
Victor "Vic" Vance (
Dorian Missick Dorian Crossmond Missick is an American actor known for his role as Damian in the television series '' Six Degrees'' (2006) and for voicing Victor Vance in the video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories''. He is also known for his starring ...
) is stationed in Vice City's army base, Fort Baxter. To raise money for his sick brother Pete's medication, Vic agrees to help his corrupt supervisor, Sergeant Jerry Martinez (
Felix Solis Felix Angel Solis (born September 17, 1971) is an American actor, film director, and film producer. Born on the Upper West Side and raised in Chelsea/Greenwich Village area of New York City, to parents that were both born in Puerto Rico, Felix co ...
), finding himself involved in the city's drug trade. After a deal goes awry, Martinez frames Vic for hiding drugs under his bed and bringing a prostitute to the base, resulting in Vic being charged with high
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and
dishonorably discharged A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...
from the army. Forced onto the streets, Vic assists eccentric gunrunner and self-proclaimed army
veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...
Phil Cassidy (
Gary Busey Gary Busey (; born 1944) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics ...
), whom he met during his work for Martinez, in exchange for a place to stay to rebuild his life. Martinez later hires Vic and Phil to do more jobs for him, only to betray and try to have them killed, leading to the pair cutting ties with him after escaping the trap. Meanwhile, Vic also works for Phil's brother-in-law Marty Jay Williams (Jim Burke), leader of a street gang called the Trailer Park Mafia, who frequently abuses his wife Louise (Chelsey Rives). Angered over Vic's growing relationship with his wife, Marty eventually attempts to kidnap her, forcing Vic to kill him and save Louise. With Marty dead, Vic takes over his gang and renames it the Vance Crime Family. Aided by his recently arrived brother Lance (
Philip Michael Thomas Philip Michael Thomas (born May 26, 1949) is an American actor and musician, best known for his role as detective Ricardo Tubbs on the hit 1980s TV series ''Miami Vice''. His first notable roles were in '' Coonskin'' (1975) and opposite Irene C ...
), he slowly begins to take over rackets from rival gangs to increase his power. In the process, he earns the respect of the Los Cabrones, a Cuban street gang led by Umberto Robina (
Danny Trejo Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...
), for taking out their rivals, and deals with a corrupt
DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...
agent ( Daniel Oreskes) who was posing as a drug dealer to steal the Vance brothers' money. Upon stealing a major drug shipment, Vic and Lance find themselves kidnapped by the Mendez brothers, Armando ( Yul Vasquez) and Diego (Ruben Trujillo), Vice City's biggest drug kingpins and the shipment's owners. Lance lies to them that Martinez, who regularly deals with the Mendezes, is an undercover DEA agent and stole the drugs as evidence. After being released, Vic and Lance begin working with the Mendez brothers, who introduces the former to transsexual film director Reni Wassulmaier ( Barbara Rosenblat). While assisting Reni and their friend Barry Mickelthwaite (
Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' ...
), the
talent manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee the day-to-da ...
of Phil Collins (himself), Vic finds himself tasked with protecting Phil from
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
hitmen, to whom Barry is indebted, before and during his concert in Vice City. Reni later introduces Vic to Ricardo Diaz (
Luis Guzmán Luis Guzmán (born August 28, 1956) is a Puerto Rican actor. His career spans over 40 years and includes a number of films and television series. He has appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson films ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), ''Magnolia'' (1999) an ...
), a drug baron who seeks to take over the Mendez brothers' operations and employs Vic and Lance for several jobs. However, Armando and Diego grow distrustful of them, and eventually make an attempt on their lives after Martinez exposes their lie. After escaping the Mendezes' trap, Vic works with Diaz to bankrupt them as revenge. The Mendezes retaliate by kidnapping Louise and Lance, leading to Vic assaulting their mansion and killing Armando, though he fails to rescue Louise, who dies from injuries she received. Swearing revenge against both Diego and Martinez, Vic works alongside Diaz and Phil one final time to track them down and steal an army chopper from Fort Baxter. Using the chopper, Vic assaults Martinez and Diego's hideout and kills both men. After Lance arrives too late to assist, he tries to persuade Vic into taking part in another drug deal that he plans to set up. Vic firmly stands his ground and states that he has no interest in drugs anymore. Lance accepts Vic's choice and the two brothers leave Vice City to give Pete money for his medication.


Development

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...
originally announced the title was to be released in North America on 17 October 2006 and in Europe on 20 October 2006, but an announcement in early September stated that the game's North American release had been delayed until 31 October. It was also announced that the game would be released on 10 November 2006 in Australia. Moreover, in Europe (Excluding the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
&
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
) the game suffered another delay, from 3 November 2006, to 10 November 2006, the same as Australia.


PlayStation 2 port

On 7 February 2007 Rockstar Games announced plans for a PlayStation 2 port, released on 6 March. It was confirmed by Rockstar Games that the PlayStation 2 version of the game would be an almost straight port. The port has improvements such as enhanced graphics (including the addition of bloom effects, enabled via a "trails" option), draw distance, and performance as expected, but also includes a few new side activities that were not in the PSP release such as five new odd jobs, six additional unique jumps, five more rampages, and a new
Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
. While other ''Grand Theft Auto'' ports have had extra features added (such as replays or custom soundtracks), this is the first port of any ''Grand Theft Auto'' game to include extra in-game content. The PS2 version of ''Vice City Stories'' was announced as a digital release for the
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...
in 2012, as a PlayStation 2 Classics title, and was released in April 2013 via the PlayStation Network. It has since been removed from PSN.


Reception

''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' has received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. The PlayStation 2 port of the game was criticised for having the same coding as the PSP version and for fixing very few issues and removing some things, but was praised for better lighting. As of 26 March 2008, ''Vice City Stories'' has sold 4.5 million copies according to
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...
. '' Hypers Eliot Fish commended the game for using "the slick veneer of the 1980s nd thestory is well integrated into missions". The game's PlayStation Portable version received a "Platinum" sales award from the
Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...
(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


Accolades

*Received ''
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
''s award for the best licensed soundtrack on PlayStation Portable in 2006. *Best Handheld Game -
Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be vote ...
2007.


Notes


References


External links


Rockstar Games' official ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'' website
{{Authority control 2006 video games Action-adventure games Censored video games Vice City Stories Multiplayer and single-player video games Open-world video games Organized crime video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Portable games Rockstar Games games Take-Two Interactive games Video game prequels Video games about the illegal drug trade Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games featuring black protagonists Video games produced by Dan Houser Video games produced by Leslie Benzies Video games set in 1984 Video games set in Florida Video games written by Dan Houser