Read more about Colonel Jaun Cortez at: Wikipedia Official Site: Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 action-adventure open world video game developed by games developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall. It debuted in North America on October 1, 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and was later ported to the Xbox, and Microsoft Windows in 2003. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008, and on the Mac App Store on August 25, 2011. Vice City was preceded by Grand Theft Auto III and followed by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Vice City draws much of its inspiration from 1980s American culture. Set in 1986 in Vice City, a fictional city modeled after Miami, the story revolves around a psychotic Mafia hitman Tommy Vercetti, who was recently released from prison. After being involved in a drug deal gone wrong, Tommy seeks out those responsible while building a criminal empire and seizing power from other criminal organizations in the city. The game uses a tweaked version of the game engine used in Grand Theft Auto III and similarly presents a huge cityscape, fully populated with buildings, vehicles, and people. Like other games in the series, Vice City has elements from driving game and third-person shooter, and features "open-world" gameplay that gives the player more control over their playing experience. Upon its release, Vice City became the best-selling video game of 2002. In July 2006, Vice City was the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time. Vice City also appeared on Japanese magazine Famitsu s readers' list of the favorite 100 videogames of 2006, the only fully Western title on the list. Following this success, Vice City saw releases in Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as a release for the PC. Rockstar Vienna also packaged the game with its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, and sold it as Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack for the Xbox. Vice City's setting is also revisited in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, which serves as a prequel to events in Vice City. The player takes on the role of Tommy Vercetti, a member of the Liberty City mafia released from prison in 1986 after serving only 15 years for killing eleven men. Tommy's old boss, Sonny Forelli, fears that Tommy's presence in Liberty City will heighten tensions and bring unwanted attention to his organization's criminal activities. To prevent this, Sonny ostensibly promotes Tommy and sends him to Vice City under the guardianship of Mafia lawyer Ken Rosenberg to act as their buyer for a series of cocaine deals. During Tommy's first deal, an ambush by an unknown party results in the death of Tommy's bodyguards and the cocaine dealer, Vic Vance (the main character of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories). Tommy narrowly escapes with his life and loses both Forelli's money and the cocaine. |