Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Imagine if Scarface, Miami Vice, and a Ray-Ban commercial had a criminal child. That child is Vice City. Rockstar takes the formula from GTA III, sprinkles it with neon glitter, douses it in synth-pop, and sets it loose in a fictional Miami so ’80s that even the air seems to have shoulder pads.

In Vice City, you’re Tommy Vercetti, a guy who gets out of jail with two goals in life: never to go back, and to buy himself a nice suit. Unfortunately, his first little job—a simple drug-for-cash exchange—turns into a trap with more dead bodies than an episode of CSI. From there, Tommy decides that the best revenge is to take over the whole city. Chill, right?

The cast is pure, glorious over-the-top drama: Ken Rosenberg, the most nervous lawyer in video game history; Sonny Forelli, the boss who never stops sending threatening voicemails; and Lance Vance, who basically exists to make bad decisions with you.

What’s the gameplay like in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City?

• Open world: two entire islands all to yourself, which unlock little by little as if Rockstar were telling you, “You don’t deserve the other half of the map just yet.”
• Buying properties: For the first time, you can own real businesses, including a porn studio and an ice cream shop that definitely doesn’t launder money (yes, it does).
• Vehicles: cars, motorcycles, speedboats, helicopters… the driving physics have the grace of a grocery cart with a crooked wheel, but that’s part of the charm.
• Missions: There’s everything from stylish infiltrations to that radio-controlled plane mission that has brought a whole generation to tears.

Who created Vice City?

Rockstar North developed this GTA game for the PS2 in 2002.