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===''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]''===
===''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]''===
'''Rating:''' 8/10


Sequel to the arguably popular ''Grand Theft Auto III'', this game takes a step back 15 years on the other side of the United States but makes several steps forward in terms of improvement from its predecessor. In my opinion, this was the first ''Grand Theft Auto'' game that can be treasured for years to come.
The game begins in 1986. Being released from prison after serving a 15-year sentence, [[Tommy Vercetti]] is sent to Vice City to help his boss, Sonni Forelli, set up business there. After a drug trade with [[Victor Vance|Victor]] and [[Lance Vance]] goes disastrously wrong, he decides to take over criminal activity in the city and face Forelli when he came calling. Right away, it becomes very obvious that exploring Vice City as Tommy would be a lot more interesting than Liberty was for Claude; for one, Tommy actually talks! He shows differing motivations for whatever situation he is in, whether it was the revelation of Ricardo Diaz's treachery, or something as simple as helping set up advertising for a film studio he bought; it doesn't matter how tremendous the task was, Tommy was making connections between himself and something he was interested in, whereas Claude simply did something and didn't give it another thought after completing it.
For a game that was made only a year after the release of ''Grand Theft Auto III'', ''Vice City'' sure offers a better gaming experience by a wide margin. By 2002, it seems Rockstar thought it would be a better idea to keep some missions locked until other ones were complete, than make it possible for the player to kill or betray one of their bosses before finishing all missions for them, making it impossible for them to reach 100% completion (not that it is important to reach 100% completion, but taking out the possibility of making an irreversible mistake is always a good thing). Another thing that stands out in ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', and was never emulated by any following GTA game to date was how most of the missions weren't "storyline". Most of the missions that are necessary to reach the ending were related to the businesses Tommy owned, and could be done in literally any order the played wanted. This made the game by far the most open out of every ''Grand Theft Auto'' game (ironically, ''Grand Theft Auto III'''s story order was more or less scripted but held less connection to Claude than Tommy's ventures in Vice City). Another step up from its predecessor, ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' offers players the ability to fly helicopters and drive motorcycles. This driving experience is also improved by the fact that pedestrians no longer sound like squashed tomatoes when you run them over, and cars don't get spun around by hitting a flimsy streetlight.
For a game that was made a decade ago, ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' would satisfy most expectations. If you're into Miami beachsides, 80s style cars and clothing, and want to get away from the shifty nature of Liberty City 2001 and the two-dimensional protagonist you'd have to play as, then you would enjoy this game much more than you would ''Grand Theft Auto III''. Yes, I would play this game again, and yes, I would recommend it to a friend.


===''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]''===
===''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]''===

Revision as of 02:53, 22 January 2012

Silver Infernus
Age 17
Gender Male
Height 1.83 m (6')
Weight 134 lbs (61 kg)
Blood Type O
Date of Birth August 7, 1994
Zodiac Leo
Nationality Canadian
Religion Christian Protestant
Occupation Writer/Video-maker/Musician
Rank on Wiki Patrol User



Hi, I'm Silver Infernus. I'm a long-time user of Grand Theft Wiki, but I'm not really one of the most active ones. I mainly just pop on to add images or whenever I see the occasional article that needs editing. But I've had plenty of experience on other wikis, so I'm hardly a stranger to editing guidelines and practising community civility. I just happen to use different usernames on said wikis.

And if you were wondering about my username, yes, I wish the Infernus could be driven in silver in GTA IV.

I've played all the GTA III games, as well as GTA IV. The first game I played was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and ever since then, I've been a fan of the series. I thoroughly enjoyed Grand Theft Auto IV when it first came out, but I still like the GTA III era games. If I had a wish for GTA V, it would be having it located in Vice City and featuring two protagonists working as partners in the storyline.

Apart from editing on wikis, I like to write fanfiction, make AMVs, and jam with my band. Here's a link to my first and only GTA story.

That's my GTA AMV below, in case you were wondering. Check it out if you're a fan of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. I promise you won't be disappointed.


<youtube width="1000" height="1000">3Bsd3bj3MlQ</youtube>

GTA Games I've Played

  • Grand Theft Auto III (PC, PlayStation 2, iPhone)
  • Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PC, Xbox)
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PC)
  • Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PlayStation Portable)
  • Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PlayStation Portable)
  • Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360)
    • Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned (PlayStation 3)
    • Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony (PlayStation 3)

Other Games I'm Into

  • Halo series
    • Halo: Combat Evolved
      • Halo: Combat Evolved (Anniversary Edition)
    • Halo 2
    • Halo 3
      • Halo 3: ODST
    • Halo: Reach
  • Guitar Hero/Rockband series
    • Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
    • Guitar Hero: World Tour
    • Rockband
    • Rockband 2
      • Green Day: Rockband
  • Call of Duty series
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops

Personal Reviews of Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto III

Rating: 6/10

A game that was revolutionary for Rockstar back in the day, and one that made them famous with their Grand Theft Auto series. Nonetheless, it has by today's standards lost most of its lustre and is very scarcely played save for the recent release on mobile devices.

The storyline starts off interestingly enough. Set in Liberty City 2001, the protagonist, Claude, is in the middle of a bank robbery with his girlfriend Catalina, when she suddenly turns on him, shooting him and running off with the money and leaving him to be arrested. Out of all the introductions in any Grand Theft Auto game to date, this one was by far the best. After this betrayal, however, is where the plot evaporates almost instantaneously. After a Colombian ambush on a police convoy that freed Claude while being transported, he teams up with a fellow inmate, 8-Ball, and heads off into Portland to hide out from the authorities that were no doubt searching for him. Even though Claude does not talk, it's clear that he wants to find Catalina and take revenge on her. A fair enough motive, and apparently he seeks to do this by undertaking dozens of missions that in addition to giving little benefit to him, make the storyline so watered down and linear that you would begin to wonder why you were playing the game about ten to fifteen missions in. A sentiment that has most likely not changed in the last ten years, since the mobile edition of Grand Theft Auto III is the same game except a little harder to control.

What really makes the story fall flat is the fact that Claude has no character. In the beginning, he's a middle-to-lower-class criminal with a girlfriend and in the end he's a middle-to-lower-class criminal with a dead girlfriend and every gang in Liberty wanting to kill him. He takes on any mission, no matter how immoral or undignified, and does it with the motivation that he was making one step closer to finding Catalina? That's a bit hard to believe. And why is it that no matter how many new people he meets, not one of them tries to make him talk or asks what his name is? How did El Burro, King Courtney, and D-Ice know Claude was the one listening to their calls? When every mission cutscene becomes so boring because each one is made up of one-sided conversations that are nothing more than the boss giving instructions and Claude nodding before leaving, you'd think everyone in Liberty City was high off something mixed the wrong way. In terms of the plot itself, it seems to be more about Claude running around doing errands and only a handful of them actually being relevant to, well, the story. It's as if Rockstar was so engrossed in finding out how many ways Claude can kill someone, and made most of the missions about that, before remembering that Grand Theft Auto III is supposed to have a plot, and occasionally sprinkled in one or two as an afterthought. It doesn't matter if a story is linear or scattered in an attempt to make it feel realistic; if it becomes tedious, people lose interest.

It would be unfair to bash the game's graphics, as the game standards in 2001 were considerably different. The physics deserve a little more to be criticized, but that will be forgiven as well. What is really appalling even a decade back is the audio. If Colombians only have three lines of dialogue in-game, the least Rockstar could have done was not recycle them for the first mission ("Give Me Liberty"). Then there are the missions where your speakers are flooded with incomprehensible gibbering ("Kingdom Come"), as if Rockstar couldn't be bothered to use audio methods that don't make you want to mute your speakers. Most ridiculously, running pedestrians over with a car is akin to stepping on a paintball, because that's sure as hell what it sounds like.

It is undeniable that Rockstar did break a lot of ground with Grand Theft Auto III. But it felt like a tentative effort and had the potential to be so much more. Like the mediocre graphics and physics, comparing this game to newer ones wouldn't be fair; but it is plain to see that there were things they could have done way better, even back in 2001. Would I play it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to a friend? No, I would not. At this point, the only thing I would find noteworthy is how Grand Theft Auto III's storyline ties into its sequels, poorly done retcons aside.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Rating: 8/10

Sequel to the arguably popular Grand Theft Auto III, this game takes a step back 15 years on the other side of the United States but makes several steps forward in terms of improvement from its predecessor. In my opinion, this was the first Grand Theft Auto game that can be treasured for years to come.

The game begins in 1986. Being released from prison after serving a 15-year sentence, Tommy Vercetti is sent to Vice City to help his boss, Sonni Forelli, set up business there. After a drug trade with Victor and Lance Vance goes disastrously wrong, he decides to take over criminal activity in the city and face Forelli when he came calling. Right away, it becomes very obvious that exploring Vice City as Tommy would be a lot more interesting than Liberty was for Claude; for one, Tommy actually talks! He shows differing motivations for whatever situation he is in, whether it was the revelation of Ricardo Diaz's treachery, or something as simple as helping set up advertising for a film studio he bought; it doesn't matter how tremendous the task was, Tommy was making connections between himself and something he was interested in, whereas Claude simply did something and didn't give it another thought after completing it.

For a game that was made only a year after the release of Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City sure offers a better gaming experience by a wide margin. By 2002, it seems Rockstar thought it would be a better idea to keep some missions locked until other ones were complete, than make it possible for the player to kill or betray one of their bosses before finishing all missions for them, making it impossible for them to reach 100% completion (not that it is important to reach 100% completion, but taking out the possibility of making an irreversible mistake is always a good thing). Another thing that stands out in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and was never emulated by any following GTA game to date was how most of the missions weren't "storyline". Most of the missions that are necessary to reach the ending were related to the businesses Tommy owned, and could be done in literally any order the played wanted. This made the game by far the most open out of every Grand Theft Auto game (ironically, Grand Theft Auto III's story order was more or less scripted but held less connection to Claude than Tommy's ventures in Vice City). Another step up from its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City offers players the ability to fly helicopters and drive motorcycles. This driving experience is also improved by the fact that pedestrians no longer sound like squashed tomatoes when you run them over, and cars don't get spun around by hitting a flimsy streetlight.

For a game that was made a decade ago, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City would satisfy most expectations. If you're into Miami beachsides, 80s style cars and clothing, and want to get away from the shifty nature of Liberty City 2001 and the two-dimensional protagonist you'd have to play as, then you would enjoy this game much more than you would Grand Theft Auto III. Yes, I would play this game again, and yes, I would recommend it to a friend.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Grand Theft Auto IV