daytrum - playstation game reviews

Publisher: Rockstar Games: www.rockstargames.com

Ages: Mature players.

Parental Advisory:
Among the darkest and most violent games on the market.

Violence, sex, and general depravity-this R-rated game has it all. And despite the obvious vices, Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is an excellent game that will appeal to mature gamers. It's an amazing sequel to the popular and equally perverse Grand Theft Auto III. This time, the game offers more options that makes it more fun to play.

After 15 years in maximum security, Tommy Vercetti is back on the streets. Because he didn't squeal on the family, he's again working for his former employers and sent to Vice City, a fictional seaside city that looks a lot like Miami in the eighties. As Tommy establishes new operations in Vice City, a drug deal sours and leaves Tommy holding the bag. As Tommy, you have to figure out who set you up and establish yourself in the new locale-fighting turf wars, destroying buildings, running a porn studio, and more. It's just another day in the life of a crime lord.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City serves missions that involve fighting, driving cars at high speeds away from the authorities, performing car jackings and hits, and more. The language and the situations are definitely those of a dark, R-rated movie. The sequel adds motorcycles that are fun to drive and a new ability to shoot out tires. Tommy can now walk into some buildings, crouch behind objects to take cover, and jump out of moving vehicles. Also, missions are generally more in-depth than those in Grand Theft Auto III, which makes Vice City a stronger game.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City offers superb graphics, and an excellent voices that include Ray Liotta, Gary Busey, Dennis Hopper, and Philip Michael Thomas (from television's Miami Vice). As you drive in cars, the radio plays an amazing variety of detailed and entertaining formats and music.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a great game that appeals to mature audiences and is definitely not for kids. Unfortunately, the youngsters will think that they want to play it (it's the old forbidden fruit/grass is greener on the other side situation). So when the young kids plead you to buy them this game (and they will), don't give in.