Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PlayStation 2) review " Have you ever gotten the urge to run over the old lady that decides to cross in front of you? How about beating up that wierd looking guy and stealing his money? Well, with the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto series, you can. "

Have you ever gotten the urge to run over the old lady that decides to cross in front of you? How about beating up that wierd looking guy and stealing his money? Well, with the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto series, you can.

You play as Tommy Vercetti, a loud mouth mobster just fresh out of prison. Your old friends want nothing to do with you, so they send you to Vice City to do the dirty work with drug deals. When you finally make it there, a gang busts up the deal and steals the cash.Infuriated, your boss forces you to find any lead you can get to track down the lost money.

Along the way, you meet various criminals and other such scums of the Earth. They hire you to do various missions, and along the way, you'll get the chance to purchase your own property and become a big name in the city. When not on missions, you can explore the city and do just about anything you want. Steal a car, shoot some people, and jack some guy of his cash. You can also find various ''mini'' quests, such as ''kill all the gang members'', or hit each checkpoint. Many of the cars and other vehicles also have jobs. Steal a taxi, and pick people up for a quick buck. The expansive city of Vice has so many things to do that you'll never be bored.

So many improvements have been made over the last installment. With the addition of helicopters, motorcycle, boats, new weapons, and more ways to blow things up, the freedom experienced in the last game has been expanded significantly.As in the last game, you can turn on the radio and listen to music. However, now instead of generic music, you can take a blast to the past with the popular music of the 80's. If that doesn't please you, you can listen to the hilarious talk shows that seem to mock every aspect of the time period.

The new ways to destroy drivers and thier cars is also an improvement. Now, you can pop the tires, shoot through the windows, or get a lucky shot to the gas tank. The police are smarter, and are even more difficult to evade, with road blocks, SWAT teams, and tougher FBI agents.

If I had to make any complaint about the game, it's the graphics. The cars are generic, and the people don't always look like people. It seems like they put just enough effort to make people happy, and nothing more. Further more, the look of the 1986 Vice City may turn people off. However, the fun factor of Vice City cannot be denied. The countless hours I'm sure you'll spend on the game is total bliss, something not many games can do. It gets a 10/10.

Community review by heroofthewinds (June 18, 2004) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.