You need it, you want it, it's a shoe-in for the best game this year, and quite possibly the best game ever. It's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and it most certainly owns your ass.
Quick review: Take everything you loved about GTA 3, and add more: More guns (a lot more, in fact), more vehicles, more plot, more twists in said plot, more violence, more humor, more naughty language and adult content, more high profile voice talent, more music, more talk radio, and, well, more, including the fixing of the dreaded targeting system. Bigger isn't always better, but don't tell Rockstar Games that. You. Buy. Now.
Whole review: Vice city takes place in the 80s, and is not so much of a revolution than it is an evolution of the GTA 3 series. Thus, this review will make the assumption that you have not just come back from an extended vacation on Mars, and are therefore somewhat familiar with GTA 3 and all the controversy it has created.
That said, don't expect Vice City to be a rehash of GTA 3 based in the 80s. To say the game is that and nothing more is not only inaccurate, it borders on blasphemous. There's so much new content packed into Vice that you're going to have to lock yourself away for weeks to play it. Motorcycles, helicopters, seaplanes, new interior areas, and pizza delivery missions are just some of the new ground broken in Vice City.
Even the loved/hated combat engine gets an overhaul, with a much improved targeting system. It's not perfect, but few things in life are, and the camera won't cost you a mission nearly as many times as it did in Liberty City, even when you go indoors. Combat is now fun, instead of just "cool". In addition to a revised targeting system, Vice City also nearly triples the amount of "tools" at your disposal. Granted, some of them aren't as satisfying as I was expecting *coughchainsawscrewdrivercough*, but you certainly have more to work with this time around when wreaking your own unique brand of havoc.
Even more overhauls: the flying vehicles actually fly now, you can jump from still-in-motion vehicles, no gore code is required for heads to pop with the sniper rifle, and you can snipe tires, bash cars with melee weapons, as well as target drivers through the windshield for one nasty variation on the headshot. If my "review" at this point sounds like a list of things that are great about GTA Vice City, that's because it is.
Aesthetics has never been the GTA series' strongpoint, and while this newest installment's graphics won't beat out, say, celda; it's leaps and bounds ahead of the bland textures and blocky models found in GTA 3. Lighting shimmers off your vehicles, models are better animated and more diverse in their movements, and the draw in distance and "makeup" used to hide the flaws in the visuals seem to have been reduced greatly since 3.
Soundwise, GTA VC remains the most pleasing to the ear, comedic experience anywhere, in-game or not. It's diverse, hilarious, fits the tone perfectly, and oh yeah, over 7 hours in length. The absence of several major 80s artists is a drag, but I can't fault Rockstar for that due to lawyers and legalities, especially when the game as a whole is damn near perfection. Still, what's an 80's game without Duran Duran or The Bangles?! The voice acting is even more accomplished and bizarre than last year, with such "talent" as Jenna Jameson and Miss Cleo (!!?!?!) in the fold.
There's plenty of references to the 80s to be found, but they're never forced down your throat. From C64(!) to Scarface(!!!), every piece of 80s culture this side of Molly Ringwald is in the game. What is forced down your throat, at least more than it was in the last game, is the plot: almost every mission in the game somehow advances the plotline. This isn't a bad thing, however, as you'll soon find out, since as a result of this design choice, many of the more pointless beacon chasing, "a-b-c" missions have been eliminated. The emphasis has definitely been put back on making you feel like a made man, and it works: especially when you start building your empire later in the game.
Make no doubt about it: GTA Vice City is the most complete form a video game has ever taken on, and it certainly is deserving of GOTY honors. If you don't play this, you are missing out on what is quite possibly the best game in years.
-George
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