I doubt there are many gamers out there that have not heard about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, especially after its amazingly successful debut on the Playstation 2. As many people expected, Rockstar Games have ported Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to the PC. Now after months of waiting, Vice City is finally here. Was it worth the wait?

Vice City is set in the mid-1980's, in a Floridian metropolis that most closely resembles the neon-and-pastel world of Miami Vice. You play the role of Tommy Vercetti, an ex-con in his mid-30's who's just finished serving 15 years in maximum security prison. Tommy has ties to the Forelli family, who sends Tommy down south to handle what should be a simple drug deal. The problem is, as soon as Tommy arrives, he is robbed of his money and belongings. He wants his money back, but is confronted by aggression from biker gangs, Cuban gangsters and corrupt politicians. Through various missions Tommy will do whatever it takes to get it back, no matter who or what stands in the way.

Unlike Liberty City, Vice City is a bright, colorful place populated with a variety of old people, yuppies, gangsters, gang members and cops. Vice City offers sprawling beaches, resorts, golf clubs, etc. You will also note new vehicles on the street including a number of 80's style cars, trucks, buses, Italian-styled sports cars, vans - and most importantly motorcycles and scooters, you can also drive powerboats, and even fly helicopters - something you couldn't find in GTA 3. GTA: Vice City also offers over 30 weapons (as opposed to GTA3's 10) to choose from: fist fight (punch, kick, head butt),baseball bat, pistot, shotgun, sniper-rifle, UZI, M-16, rocket launcher, grenade, Molotov cocktail and flame thrower, but also an entire set of melee weapons such as brass knuckles, a screwdriver, a chainsaw, a hammer, and even a golf club. You will also notice that you can buy certain structures if you want, giving you a new place to save games and park cars. Needless to say that owning certain buildings can also help you generate cash when you're not around.

The game is mission based, like GTA3. Hovewer, in a mission you may have three different goals, instead of the one task as found in GTA3. As you might expect, you do a lot of driving from point to point, often with hostile pursuit. There are boat missions, car missions, helicopter mission, and even remote controlled helicopter and plane missions. Of course, taxi cabs, police cars, ambulance and fire engines are still part of side jobs. There is even a mission where you deliver pizzas by grabbing a scooter and tossing pizzas at people with arrows pointed at them. The missions, both those related to the plot and the optional missions are well balanced for most of the early game. Although the first missions are easy, they are still very interesting and addictive. Well, there are several missions that are just too difficult, mostly near the end, and cause frustration, but these are the exception. The gameplay is non linear, so choose to take on a mission, or just check out Vice City and all it has to offer.

What is different between PS2 and PC version of GTA: Vice City? In terms of content, the PC version of Vice City is identical to its PS2 sibling; there aren't any bonus missions, nor has anything been cut. Also the graphic aren't much different from the PS2 except for the higher resolution and better textures. The PC version allows you to play the game in resolutions as high as 1600x1200/32bit (as opposed to the PS2's 640x480), also textures have been reworked and are now much sharper. The PC version also adds mouse/keyboard controls (along with support for all major gamepads, joysticks and steering wheels), replay option (though this replay feature is really awful - even Driver on the PS1 had a better replay implementation) and you can also create your own player skin. Sadly there are still no multiplayer modes, maybe in GTA4? Who knows...

Is GTA: Vice City worth your hard earned money? The answer is surprisingly simple, if you don't already have the PS2 version, definitely yes, because gameplay is superb and the game has really incredible replay value. This game is even better the GTA3. I totally love the atmosphere and the game rocks!

System Requirements:
Minimum: 800 MHz Intel Pentium III or 800 MHz AMD Athlon or 1.2GHz Intel Celeron or 1.2 GHz AMD Duron, 128 MB of RAM, 8 speed CD / DVD drive,915 MB of free HDD space (+ 635 MB if video card does NOT support DirectX Texture Compression), 32 MB video card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers ("GeForce" or better), Sound Card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers
Recommended: Intel Pentium IV or AMD Athlon XP, 256(+) MB of RAM, 16 speed CD / DVD drive, 1.55 GB of free hard disk space (+ 635 MB if video card does NOT support DirectX Texture Compression), 64(+) MB video card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers, ("GeForce 3" / "Radeon 8500" or better with DirectX Texture Compression support), DirectX 9.0 compatible sound card with surround sound, Gamepad (USB or Joystick Port)

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