5 reasons why GTA Vice City was a critical success

GTA Vice City is still fondly remembered decades after its original release.

2022 marks the 20th anniversary of GTA Vice City. The game redefined the open-world experience for 2002 gameplay. While the industry has moved on since then, players still look back at what made this game work.

GTA Vice City was a success both commercially and critically. There are several factors that made it such a hit. Here's what newer players should know about this game.

Note: This article reflects the writer's personal views.

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Reasons why GTA Vice City became a success

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5) Attention to detail

Vice City transports players to a living, breathing version of the 1980s. No GTA title has yet to match the vibrant atmosphere. Whether it's lively characters or the incredible soundtrack, it's a fun game.

Rockstar also made references to classic 1980s shows and films like Miami Vice and Scarface. GTA Vice City recognizes its roots and pays homage in a variety of ways. Players will never forget the bloody apartment complex with the chainsaw.

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4) Multiple activites

Tommy Vercetti aspires to run a criminal empire that stretches across the entire city. For the first time in the series, Vice City players can take over businesses and earn passive income. They will, of course, have to complete a few missions, but that is part of the fun.

Players can also spend their free time participating in illegal street races or hunting for hidden collectibles.

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3) Immersive Soundtrack

Vice City is groundbreaking in its use of popular songs in a video game soundtrack. Never before has a single game featured so many popular songs. When Tommy Vercetti first enters a vehicle, players hear Michael Jackson's famous song "Billie Jean."

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2) Realistic Gameplay

GTA 3 was, in many ways, a test run for Rockstar's open-world games in 3D. With their next game, GTA Vice City, they learned from their mistakes. Players, for example, could regain health by visiting a safe house. For some reason, this was not present in the previous game.

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1) It followed in the footsteps of GTA 3

With the release of GTA 3 in 2001, Rockstar shook the entire video game industry to its core. It was groundbreaking in terms of the open-world concept. The scale and scope were unprecedented in the early 2000s.

NNaturally, GTA Vice City received a lot of attention a year later. By that point, Rockstar had a larger budget to work with. The game sold 500,000 copies in a single day. A few days later, it sold over 1,400,000 million copies, breaking several records at the time.

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