Review #29 - 2020
My absolute all time favorite "Grand Theft Auto" title, simply due to how it manages to nail 1980s Miami in a way that's caricatured, yet accurate. I'm a big "Miami Vice" fan, and you can see the influence that show had on this game BIG time. The influence is strong, but its doing the "Miami Vice" thing the GTA way. It basks in the vices of 1980s Miami with reckless abandon, and doesn't hold back on the satire either.
The story is like experiencing "Miami Vice" from the perspective of the coke dealers, as you play through the life and times of Tommy Vercetti. Your drug deal went sour, and you need to get the money back before your kingpin loses his head and takes yours. Once the opening cutscene finishes, you are free to explore the 80s inspired world before you. Play the storyline, or cruise the streets to an incredible soundtrack of real 80s music, with radio hits we all know and love like "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. Maybe discover something that hasn't been heard on the radio in years like René & Angela's "I'll Be Good".
The gunplay is the game's weakest point, but then again, Rockstar isn't necessarily known for having amazing 3rd person gunplay controls. Their wheelhouse resides in recreating places and times, and letting you explore them to a chaotic storyline, that satirizes the real world problems the game is inspired by. It's a wild romp through a fictionalized 1980s beach side city, and no other game has been able to pull that off the way "Vice City" has.
My absolute all time favorite "Grand Theft Auto" title, simply due to how it manages to nail 1980s Miami in a way that's caricatured, yet accurate. I'm a big "Miami Vice" fan, and you can see the influence that show had on this game BIG time. The influence is strong, but its doing the "Miami Vice" thing the GTA way. It basks in the vices of 1980s Miami with reckless abandon, and doesn't hold back on the satire either.
The story is like experiencing "Miami Vice" from the perspective of the coke dealers, as you play through the life and times of Tommy Vercetti. Your drug deal went sour, and you need to get the money back before your kingpin loses his head and takes yours. Once the opening cutscene finishes, you are free to explore the 80s inspired world before you. Play the storyline, or cruise the streets to an incredible soundtrack of real 80s music, with radio hits we all know and love like "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. Maybe discover something that hasn't been heard on the radio in years like René & Angela's "I'll Be Good".
The gunplay is the game's weakest point, but then again, Rockstar isn't necessarily known for having amazing 3rd person gunplay controls. Their wheelhouse resides in recreating places and times, and letting you explore them to a chaotic storyline, that satirizes the real world problems the game is inspired by. It's a wild romp through a fictionalized 1980s beach side city, and no other game has been able to pull that off the way "Vice City" has.