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And this leads us to my final analysis of the game. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, as I have said, may or may not be simply training wheels for Grand Theft Auto IV. As I write this, I'm leaning more toward the "may be" than the "may not be." I've not yet collected all of the hidden packages, or beaten all of the ambulance or pizza boy missions; still, I get the curious impression that, despite its greatness, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City might just be the great game between two greater ones.
This doesn't make sense, does it? I believe I've said that Vice City is a better game than GTA III. However, Vice's leap over III is not the leap of Super Mario Bros. 3 over Super Mario Bros., of Yoshi's Island over Super Mario World -- not even of Super Mario Sunshine over Super Mario 64.
Vice is, in many ways, a tweaking of and injecting of style and environment into its predecessor. It makes me feel vaguely hopeful that this is a new benchmark; some time in the future, I might have a new entry to my limited Mario-istic Gaming Yardstick. "This game is less of a GTA V over GTA IV, and more of a GTA: Vice over GTA III," I might say.
Still, those who liken Vice to a sports game "yearly update" are dead wrong. This game is more than new players and altered teams. Those who dismiss it as simply being a game with "new cars, and a new city" are foolish. Work was put into this game -- work that paid off. That's not to say EA doesn't work on the Madden series, of course. It's just that more effort was required by this new city and new missions (and motorcycles!) than is put into your typical yearly sports update.
***
As an analytical-minded person (so said my college writing professor), it's my nature to look at mediocre things with objectivity, and great things with much attention to how they could have been greater. I gained this way of looking at things through a childhood of reading Roger Ebert's reviews, to see how he thought my favorite movies could have been better. I observed a simple rule: the more I like something, the more ways I can think of to make it better.
With this knowledge, I could rattle off a list of things that Rockstar could change in the future. I won't do this, both because that list is particularly long, and because you're going to buy the game anyway. Chances are, you already have.
Still, in closing, I'd like to get in my two cents on some of the directions the Grand Theft Auto series could head.
First, the addition of real cars* would be a breath of air as fresh as Ray Liotta speaking my character's lines and Slayer supplying the background music for my ramming some guy's poor wife off the road. [*No, a DeLorean, cool as it is, isn't enough.]
Second, I believe it's time to instate The F-Word into the GTA lexicon. I'm tired of my gangsters saying "That's freaking bullshit." It's not . . . balanced. If we're going to (almost) card everyone who buys the game (actually, I got carded -- thanks, Compusa, for your social responsibility), we might as well complete the "mature" content. Now, I'm not talking topless girls and BMX (ahem), I just . . . well, you get the idea, right?
Third, I want a real city. Liberty City is fine. Vice City has atmosphere. Wouldn't an accurate Chicago have more atmosphere? Hell, San Francisco Rush recreated San Francisco well enough to wow easily-wowed people. Imagine what a Grand Theft Auto set in, say, Chicago, would do. You already tried it, kind of, in GTA: London, 1969; why not try it again?
Fourth, themes are cool as hell. Vice could be the start of something brilliant. Like London before it, Vice creates an environment and immerses the player. Going with the Chicago idea, how cool do you think it'd be to steal cars and murder innocent civilians in the name of Al Capone?
Or how about Grand Theft Auto: Los Angeles, 20XX? I, for one, would be up for some cyberpunky hover-bike-jacking.
The one I'd most like to see would be Grand Theft Auto: Hong Kong, 1996. John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat could be involved somehow, double-45 action and all. Maybe you could pick between a British knock-off smuggler or a Shanghai punk in your battle against British customs, Interpol, local triads, and/or the Yakuza? The sheer variety of cultures in Hong Kong -- British, Chinese, Indian, Middle-Eastern, Japanese -- would make for a truly epic scale and mixture of languages and architecture, and an excuse to have a girl named "Ginger Lee" in there somewhere. The political backdrop of the Changeover could offer an opportunity to actually achieve true storyline depth.
Even dipping back to Hong Kong, 1962 would kick my gaming ass.
Still, something tells me Rockstar should, just to be safe, give the series one final outing in Liberty City for Grand Theft Auto IV.
*****
The producers of Grand Theft Auto have taken and run with a simple premise: make a game where you play as a criminal who can steal any car, kill any civilian. In the beginning, sluggish controls and stone-age graphics turned off many who would have enjoyed such a spree. Grand Theft Auto III got everyone's attention. With Vice City, the designers flirt with tossing inspiration into the mix, and nobly succeed in an atmospheric way I'll admire with tens of hours of play. This is one for the library, kids -- and, if Rockstar heeds my above suggestions (and you know they're listening), so will every other game ever produced in this series.
Game of the year? I'm not going to say anything yet. As it stands, it's going to be tough to beat Kingdom Hearts.
tim rogers hopes you caught the joke in that last sentence
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