Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Video games began modestly, in a primitive age that had a littile yellow dot scour a maze "eating" little white dots. Since then, video games have expanded exponentially. These games even spand genres, including action, adventure, sports, etc. In their progression, many video games have attempted to simualte really, emersing the gamer into this puesdo-reality. Although some attempts were unsuccessful in fully depicting reality, one game managed to bring this vision to fruition. The Grand Theft Auto series not only succeeded in producing this realistic, yet simualted environment, it changed the landscape of video games forever. Particularly, the Vice City installemnt, absorbs the visual and aural aspects of cinema, while drawing source material from an array of films to produce a simulated reality that emerses the gamer and accentuate the overall experience.

Vice City, in a sense, is not even a video game. It is an interactive movie. The opening credits are like those in a film, with opening action scenes accompanied with an original score. Vice City begins with a brief, introductory animated sequence that reveals the story and introduces the protanginist. Rockstar games, the producers of Vice City, went as far as to enlist real and reconizable actors to do the character voices. The protaginist in Vice City is a character named Tommy Vercetti. This character is voice by Ray Liotta. "What the public knows, in short, is not a star as a person, but rather the star as an image" (Robert C. Allen 607). Ray Liotta is a well known actor, whose star persona is associated with a ganster, mafiaoso image, as personified in the film, Goodfellas. Further, the animators for Vice City sketch the character of Tommy Vercetti to actually resemble Ray Liotta. The usage of Ray Liotta's voice and physical likeness takes Vice City from being a mere video game and transforms it into a cinematic, yet interactive experience. Essentially, the gamers have the ability to act on their homicidal whims and live the "gangster" life. Futhermore, Vice City has Gary Busey voice the character of Phil Cassidy; Luis Guzman voices the character of Ricardo Diaz; and David Paymer voices the character of Ken Roseburg. In Vice City, the character of Ken Roseburg, who is Tommy Vercetti's lawyer, would equate to a supporting actor role. The animators, who continue to...

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...the same simple nuiances of a real city. Furthermore, the radiostations spand a wide array of musical genres from hip hop to rock and roll to reggae. Flash 103.5 is a station found in Vice City that plays a fe songs found in the gangster film, Scarface. These songs include "Push It to the Limit", "Rush Rush", "She's on Fire", and "I'm Hot Tonight". With this attention to aural detail, Vice City no becomes the complete cinematic experience.

In conclusion, Vice City is a video game that absorbs many thematic elements from the cinema. The design of the landscape of Vice City has set the bar for the aesthetics of video games as well. A great deal of attention was given in the design of the buildings and streets. Even the pedestrians that rome the streets were scrutinized in an effort to bring a certain level of realism to the game. In acheiveing this virtual, and seemingly realistic environment, the gaming experience completely immerses the gamer. This game becomes one of legends with a cult following to match. In the recent installment of the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas, the creators raise the bar even to a further while continuing to use the cinema as source material.