Shelta

Large Theft Car: Defect City (sometimes shortened in AWG: VC ) is a Video game of objective shooting developed by Rockstar North, and left in 2002 on Playstation 2 and in 2003 on PC and Xbox. It belongs to the series Grand Theft Auto of which it is the fifth opus. Because of its violent and sexual contents, the play was interdict with less than 18 years to the the United States and disadvised with less than 16 years in Europe.

It employs a version improved of the Moteur of play of AWG III , and reproduced like him a large city with its buildings, its vehicles and its inhabitants.

This play is the fifth opus of the series and the second of the trilogy Grand theft car III .

History of the development

Enormous success like its predecessor Large Theft Car III , Large Theft Car: Vice City quickly became the play best sold 2002 and, in July 2006, it was still the play PlayStation 2 being best sold on the North-American market. It also appears in the list of the hundred favorite plays of the readers of the Japanese magazine Famitsu of 2006. In all, this play had been sold to 9 million specimens in the fine world 2003.

Rockstar Vienna left a pack for XBox, Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack , containing the play and its predecessor AWG III .

The play saw a continuation Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and is revisited in Grand Theft Auto: Defect City Stories .

Gameplay

Like his predecessors, the player incarnates a criminal (here Tommy Vercetti) who must have a name in a fictitious city (here Vice City). This city is strongly inspired by Miami.

Most of the action of the play relates to the empire of the crime that Vercetti is built, in particular based on the drug trafficking, the counterfeit, the contracts of assassination, or taxes it with protection. The history evolves/moves as the player fulfills the missions that one entrusts to him, taking the control of the city little by little.

In the line of the gameplay of Grand Theft Auto III , which had renewed the principle of the series, the gameplay of City Defect is very open and offers a great freedom to the player who can trott himself anywhere in the city (even if certain sectors are accessible only once certain completed missions). As it was with the AWG precedents, of the weapons are hidden in all the city as well as “hidden packages” which allow to resolve certain no-claims bonus when the player collected sufficient of it.

The player can steal any type of vehicles, direct the stores, shoot at the pedestrians, and more generally spread chaos. However, these different Infraction S more or less draws the attention of the police force which will send the number of patrols consequently (before passing the relay to FBI even the National guard in the extreme cases). The behavior of the police force remains similar to that of AWG III but has novel methods like the installation of the nails on the road to burst the tires of the car of the player as well as the sending of troops of SWAT héliportées near the player and of the cars inspired of the series Two cops in Miami . There exists a new force able to make apply the law: the security guards which patrol in certain places of the city but they are armed only with one simple gun and cannot stop the player.

New kinds of vehicles seem the motor bikes and the helicopters. With the difference of AWG III, there are no planes in this opus but there exists a Hydravion all the same.

Another innovation in the play is the capacity to buy certain buildings of the city. Those often act as simple cushy job (place of Sauvegarde and stock of weapons) but can also be a “trade”. The types of trade are enough varied and go from the club of Strip-tease to the company of Taxi while passing by the movie studio Porno and the Imprimerie. In this case, the purpose of a certain number of missions are attached to the building in question and are to make flower the businesses of the company (by eliminating competition or while flying of the material for example). When all the missions of a trade are achieved, the property provides an regular income that Tommy can regularly go to take. These missions take part in the non-linearity of the play even if part of the main missions must be accomplished before being able to buy trade.

The various gangs frequently appear in the play, some play even a part in the events of the history. These gangs often have an appreciation positive or negative from the player, appreciation which evolves/moves according to the missions that the player achieves, and draws to him above or not consequently. Shootings between rival bands can occur spontaneously in the city and of many missions imply the player in these wars of gangs.

It is also possible to fill of the missions more civilized and (most of the time) non-violent such as delivering pizza pies, to escort people wounded in the ambulance, to extinguish fires with a truck of fireman… These missions can bring, in addition to the money, an improvement of the physical capacities of the character (like the infinite sprint and the gauge of increased health).

Environment

The play takes seat in the fictitious city of City Defect, based on the model of Miami in Florida. The history proceeding in 1986, all the environment of the play begins again, even parody, the codes of the time, in particular in the vehicles and clothing. In opposition to the town planning grisonnant of Liberty City in Large Theft Car III , Vice City breathes the tourist city with its gilded beaches, its palm trees and its sunsets (in spite of the presence of certain more industrial districts).

In the chronology of the series, Large Theft Car: Vice City is a Préquelle preceding play, AWG III , which him is held in 2001.

References

The history of Tommy has much similarity with that of Tony Montana, main character of the film Scarface . One will quote for example the manor of Diaz, of which the atmosphere points out that of the manor of Tony, as well as Malibu Club, which resembles the discotheque curiously where Tony passed his evenings in Scarface . But the most obvious reference remains the history even play very similar to that of film of Brian de Palma.

There are also more subtle winks, such as this hidden apartment, whose walls of the Bathroom are papered of Sang and where one can collect there a Tronçonneuse, which points out a scene of Torture film. Without forgetting the Skin “Mr. Vercetti” who is obtained by buying a box of Strip-tease and which resembles the costume that carries Tony Montana towards the end of film (with the difference close part of the costume is pink instead of being white).

Also, environment is not without recalling to Two cops to Miami . If its index of research is sufficiently high, the player can be made besides continue by the Ferrari (named Cheetah in the play) black of the heroes of the series. The occupants of the car are even equipped like the two heroes with the series.

Other references to the Popular culture exist including:

  • Taxi : the interior of the Kaufman taxis of the play is almost identical to that of the taxi rank of the series. The name is a homage to the one of the high-speed motorboats of the series, late the Andy Kaufman.

  • Heat : the steering of bank of the mission “Heist” is very similar to that of film.
  • the Godfather, 2nd part : one of the properties and a stadium bears the name of “Hyman” in reference to the character of film.
  • the Dead end : Ken Rosenberg, the lawyer and adviser of Tommy, acts like David Kleinfeld in film.
  • the trade Tarbush coffee shop and Gash clothing blind resemble respectively the coffees Starbucks and the stores Gap.

The play comprises obviously many winks with tendencies and events of the years 1980:

  • With the second generation of the game consoles with publicity for the console “Degenatron”.

  • With Pablo Escobar, and by association in the middle of drug very present in the play, with the name of the airport of the city: International Escobar .
  • With the Glam metal which is parodied in the play through the fictitious group Love Fist (and in homage to the false group of Hard rock Spinal Tap).
  • With the Cold war which is evoked many times through the radios of the play.
  • With the music of the years 1980 with many pieces famous of the time arisen for the occasion and diffused on the radios of the play.
  • With the politicians of the time such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev.

History

The history proceeds in 1986 with Vice City. Tommy Vercetti, former henchman of one of the godfathers in the Mafia Sony Forelli, which leave a fifteen years stay of Prison following a traffic of Drogue having turned out badly.

As a rehabilitation with the family of Forelli, Sony sends Tommy to Vice City in order to deliver drug to it. Accompanied on the spot by Ken Rosenberg, a véreux lawyer, it carries out the exchange with its customer Victor Vance when mysterious armed men emerge and flee with drug and the money, killing Vance and two men of Forelli in the shooting.

Furious of this failure, Sony Forelli orders in Tommy to recover its money. Only, to discover which fled with the money and drug, Tommy must initially better approach the medium of the crime of the city.

With the assistance of Rosenberg, Tommy enters the medium of the organized crime, the jet set and drug. On its road, it also meets Lance Vance, brother of one of the men with whom Tommy was to exchange drug, with which it is a common objective: to find the money and to be avenged.

Progressively of its missions for the “powerful ones” of the city, it is to bring to work for Ricardo Diaz, one of the chiefs of the local Pègre, it discovers whereas this one is at the origin of its troubles at the time of the deal . With the assistance of Lance, it then takes the manor of Diaz of attack, eliminates Diaz and decides to take again his business, shouldered by Lance and Rosenberg.

Following that, the money of Sony passes quickly behind from other priorities of Tommy which intends well to have its share to be able in Vice City. Aiming at putting the hand on the city, Tommy repurchases the principal companies of them (a movie studio, a discotheque, a company of taxis…), polishes its relations, and ends up becoming one of the most powerful men of City Defect. By repurchasing a printing works, Tommy finds a plan to get rid of Sony, whose pressures are increasingly strong: to launch a company of counterfeit and to bleach the money of Sony in order to offer counterfeit bills to him.

But understanding that it loses the control of the situation, Sony decides to go to Vice City with its men to replace Tommy by the force, accompanied by Vance Lance which decides to betray Tommy for Sony. After a long shooting in the old manor of Diaz, who had become the seat of the band with Tommy, Tommy leaves victorious and eliminates its two former associates.

Characters

The play comprises a dozen main characters of which much appears only in the kinematics between each mission.

The characters have each one a very typified personality, often a caricature of their medium or their trade: the lawyer as timorous as véreux, the Politicking Puritan with the strange whims, the group of Bisexual Hard rock tear with drug, the Cuba in Macho, the gang of Motorcyclist in Harley-Davidson…

Although the hero, the time and the place of Large Theft Car: Vice City is not the same ones as in Grand Theft Auto III , the player meets some characters of AWG III (which are thus fifteen years old less). Thus Donald Coils, the Businessman without pity of AWG III , appears here as a simple pupil of the tycoon of the Immobilier Avery Carrington.

Besides more known of the english-speaking, Lazlow, the organizer of emissions of discussion on the radio of AWG III Chatterbox, is DJ of the station hard rock of Defect City (it mentions this time in AWG III ) and Toni, the DJ of Flashback 95.6 (the radio station of years 1980 of AWG III ) is present on the station pop Flash FM.

Phil Cassidy “the One-Armed Bandit” of AWG III appears in Vice City, it is besides in one of the missions of the play that it loses his arm.

Radios

See also: Musics of Large Theft Car: Defect City

Various fictitious stations of radio can be listened via the radio of the majority of the vehicles of the play. The majority are stations of music covering each one a particular style except the station KCHAT which is devoted to the Interview S and to the dialog and the station VCPR which is directed towards the debates. The songs are for the majority of works resulting from artist realities like Aneka, Blondie, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson, Mr. Mister, and other artists who marked the years 1980. The radio stations also pass a fictitious group called Love Fist which also appears in the play. Various compilations gathering all these musics quickly were very well sold.

In addition to the music and interviews, the radios also include false publicities as for the fictitious game console Degenatron, probable parody of the Atari 2600. Publicities sometimes consolidated by billboards in the city.

The various stations are:

Weapons

The play offers a great choice of weapons which widens as the player advances in the history. The traditional firearms can be bought with Am, the armory of the city but of other types of less conventional weapons (like the hammer or the bat) can buy itself in other stores. There are 8 categories of weapons, each one characterized by its color. The player can simultaneously carry only one weapon of each category.

Principal districts

Vice City is a city which consists of two islands connected by four bridges. The various districts are respectively:

  • Ocean Beach , the richest district of the city with its beach and its luxury trades.

  • Washington Beach , where the central HQ of the police force is located.
  • Vice Point , at north, and its great shopping mall.
  • Prawn Island , small island which knew its moment of glory in the years 1930 with the movie studio, such that the houses and the old signs of the hotels show it. In 1980 it is given up and delivered to the squatteurs. It is a means of showing the decline of the cinema which in is tiny room to produce pornographic films.
  • Leaf Links , deprived small island on which is arranged a golf course.
  • Starfish Island , the most luxurious residential district of the city where the manor of the local baron of drug Ricardo Diaz is located.
  • Wearing of Defect , far from the tourists, the port of the city accommodates the boats of more or less legal goods.
  • International Escobar Airport , the airport of the city narrowly supervised and placed beside a military base.
  • Little Havana , poor district where the Cubans settled and torn by the war that they deliver with the Haitians.
  • Little Haiti , perhaps even poorer than its cuban counterpart with its automobile breakage and its decayed cottages.
  • Center , the district of the businesses and its large stadium.

Sales

PlayStation 2

Up to now, Large Theft Car: Vice City is the episode of the series which was best sold on PlayStation 2. Whereas it was foreseeable that Vice City exceeds of number of sale its predecessor Grand Theft Auto III from success of this last and by the improvements made to the gameplay , Vice City also managed to be sold better than its successor Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas . A possible reason is the agreement of Sony with Take-Two Interactive to have the exclusiveness signed little before the exit in City Defect, agreement which cancelled the version Xbox but also made the exit on PC dubious. However, the agreement was then rearranged to allow the exit Xbox de Vice City.

It is also one of the plays most sold on PlayStation 2, its place in the number of the sales often interchanging with those of Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec .

Xbox

Although the version Xbox left one year after the version PlayStation 2, it all the same was well sold as an element of the Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack . The Xbox version makes some improvements compared to its counterparts PlayStation 2 and PC. Graphics were optimized and it is possible to play its own musics since the hard drive of Xbox.

Distribution of the original voices

Several known people spoke on behalf of the play like Philip Michael Thomas, one of the high-speed motorboats of Two cops in Miami or the pornographic actress Jenna Jameson. The voice of the radio of the taxis is that of Debbie Harry, the singer of the group Blondie.

Polemic

Like its elder, Large Theft Car: Vice City was categorized like violent play by many organizations and always is very discussed. ESRB classified this play “M” (Mature). In Australia, some modifications were made to the play to make it escape the Australian laws of censure (the possibility of going to see the prostitutes was removed to make it possible the play to be classified “MA15+” by OFLC. In Great Britain, Vice City received classification “18” by BBFC.

In November 2003, the innate communities Cuba and Haiti ennes of Florida showed the title to invite to the discrimation towards the two groups. The players stressed that the insults like “ These Haitians! We take 'EM out! ” refers only to the Haitian trust of drug and not at all the Haitian community, in the same way for the Cubans. In spite of that, the charges of racism drew the attention of the public to Vice City . Rockstar Games published an official statement according to what it included/understood the protests of the Haitians and the Cubans but whom it found disproportionate their reaction. The pressures being accentuated, joined by the declaration of Michael Bloomberg the mayor of New York “to do all that it can” if Rockstar did not yield with the requirements, the producer of the play Take-Two Interactive agreed to remove several lines of dialogs. This modification seems to have satisfied the communities and in 2004, the new version of the play was available.

In February 2005, a lawsuit was brought against the manufacturers and the distributers of the series Grand Theft Auto showing the plays to have led a teenager to kill by ball three members of the police force of Alabama. The shooting took place in June 2003 when Devin Moore, 17 years old at the time of the facts, was brought to be questioned about a flight of car to the police station of the town of Fayette. Moore seized then the gun of one of the police officers and killed three police officers before fleeing in one their cars. One of lawyers of Moore, Jack Thompson, supported by the family of Moore, declared that it was AWG, play which he played constantly, which brought Moore has to make these murders. Compensations were requested from the stores for the city Jasper, GameStop and Wal-Mart, the store chains where were respectively bought Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Defect City , and with the producer of the play Take-Two Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment, the manufacturer of the console PlayStation 2. The business is currently heard by the same judge who chaired the lawsuit of Moore, lawsuit where he was condemned to died for his actions.

External bonds

Official sites

  • English Official site
  • French Official site
  • Kent Paul' S 80s Nostalgia Zone
  • Degenatron, site of fictitious fan of quite as fictitious game console “Degenatron”.

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