Similarly to Liberty City Stories, this entry was a prequel to a previous game in the series (this time GTA: Vice City). Tommy is a much more realistic character than GTA III’s Claude, and is the first truly great protagonist in the series. But more than that, it’s about the characters and their relationships. This backdrop provides the perfect atmosphere for a game that is essentially all about tracking down stolen cocaine. In fact, much of the game’s development reportedly went into worldbuilding and refining the overall “feel” of the game to be as evocative of the criminal underbelly of 1980s Miami as possible. The game’s aesthetic was inspired by the 1980s and various movies set in that period. Mechanically, the game remains similar to GTA III, but with new weapons and improved graphics and animation. Players take on the role of Tommy Vercetti, an ex-con who seeks revenge on his enemies as he builds a criminal empire in the neon-saturated setting of Vice City. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is the first game in the series to introduce a voiced protagonist. The game’s Wanted mechanic encourages players to avoid law enforcement at risk of getting “Wasted” and losing points. Successful missions increase the player’s multiplier, which increases the number of points earned through more general actions like stealing and reselling cars.
Points can be obtained in any number of ways, but they’re amassed most reliably by completing missions like robberies and assassinations for the crime syndicate. Grand Theft Auto’s gameplay is relatively simple - players must earn a certain amount of points in each level (without dying) to progress. It was first released on PC, then ported to both PS1 and GBC.
The player is free to explore and interact with the world however they want outside of these story missions, an aspect of the game that made it stand out from other titles in the late 90s. Originally called Race’n’Chase, the game follows the player character through a series of missions assigned by a crime syndicate. The original Grand Theft Auto is a top-down action-adventure game set in the fictional US cities of San Andreas, Liberty City, and Vice City.