Welcome to Miami

What can I say? Grand Theft Auto III is the best videogame of all time. I mean, is anyone really going to seriously argue this issue? A nod should be given to the original Metal Gear Solid, maybe one of the Zeldas, even Halo or Mario 64. But when it comes down to the line, if I'm stuck on that proverbial island in the middle of nowhere, I want one videogame with me and without a question that is Grand Theft Auto III. But perhaps that statement is about to change...

For we now stand less than a month away from the release of the much-hyped sequel to GTAIII _ Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. But what, you ask, could the sequel contain that last year's offering didn't give us? I was wondering the same. I mean, really, they could leave the game completely intact, tack on a few extra missions, slap together a new city, and I'd be more than happy. Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design, developer of both GTAIII and GTA: Vice City), however, has taken the core of GTAIII and built an entirely new game around it. It's poised for greatness, and dare I say, poised to eclipse GTAIII in every way.

First thing's first: Vice City takes place in the 1980s. It's a city that the developers admittedly modeled after Miami _ if you live in Miami, don't be disappointed if your favorite pizza shop isn't where it's supposed to be. The game doesn't actually take place in Miami, but rather simply in a city that tries to capture the style and flare of Miami in the 1980s.

We all remember Liberty City: a dark, dingy, grimy city set in the 21st century. Vice City, on the other hand, is a hot spot, a beach town, a spring break mecca sprinkled with nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and hot chicks on roller-skates (remember, its the 80s).

The actual map of the city will be TWICE the size of Liberty City. For those reading this article that didn't actually play GTAIII: first off you're all losers, but the city was simply enormous. Now we're going to have enormous times two, that's how big Vice City is. And, lest I forget to mention, you can enter buildings in Vice City. While not all buildings will be fully functioning, there will be a handful-among which include: a nightclub/disco, a hotel, a pizza shop, a mall, and multiple houses.

As far as the basics go, you can expect more of the same. You'll run, shoot, steal cars, run missions, take out mafia members, get into gang fights, the whole shebang. But what has changed is the way you go about doing your business. With rumors circulating that Rockstar is including as many as 30 weapons (for those counting, last year's game had 11, from a baseball bat to rocket-launcher), the fun should never end. Screenshots already traversing the Internet show Vice City's main character wielding, along with the standard cache of other weapons, a chainsaw and a screwdriver.

The number of car models is also rumored to eclipse the century mark (everything from a helicopter _ oh yes, you can fly it _ to a hearse, to the great 80s classic green station wagon with wood paneling straight out of the first National Lampoon's Vacation movie). Don't worry fans, the famed motorcycle from previous iterations (Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2) is also back in full force. From the fancy, fast sport bike to the big old badass Harley, the bikes are back baby!

As far as the actual structure of the missions, Rockstar is remaining tight-lipped. But developers have dropped hints in interviews that the missions will include far more variety than was found in last year's offering. After all, this was one of the few complaints last year _ the missions were too similar and the money system was really pointless. Knowing Rockstar though, they've certainly considered these complaints with Vice City.

Another complaint of last year's game that Rockstar took into consideration and hit out of the park, the screenshots of the interiors of buildings look tremendous. And just imagine walking into a disco with smoke machines and disco lights going, with 50 people on the dance floor, and letting loose with the uzi. Grotesque? Sure. Fun? Hell yeah.

One of the best features of last year's game was the voice work. For a video game, it was simply incredible _ hell, it would have been great in a movie even. And this year (sense a trend here?), Rockstar is going to the next level. While last year's lead character had no voice, this year the main character has a name (Tommy Vercetti), he speaks, and his voice is that of none other than Ray Liotta (of Goodfellas and Hannibal fame). Rumor has it that other notables will also be chiming in, but we'll just have to wait and see who they might be.

Another one of the few complaints from last year's game was that the graphics simply weren't up to par with the best the PS2 had to offer. The complaints were valid, but I could overlook the pure aesthetic appeal of the graphics simply because of the depth and scope of the piece. The city was so large, contained so many pedestrians, cars, etc. that it was excusable _ not to mention that the superb gameplay would have made me overlook any possible graphical flaw anyway. But Rockstar has developed a new technology for streaming information off a DVD on the PS2 that they claim allows them to stream information twice as fast.

As a result, Vice City pushes twice as many polygons per second as GTAIII. The result is a much cleaner, sharper, and far more detailed world. The graphics that I've seen in initial screenshots and video clips are excellent, on par with any videogame on the market anywhere today (Xbox, PC, PS2, Gamecube).

Let's recap: 1980s. Miami. Twice as many weapons. More cars. Greater variety of vehicles. Buildings that you can enter. Hollywood voiceovers from people whose names you actually recognize. A city that's twice as big. October 29, 2002. I'll be in line that day and so should you. It looks like Rockstar is on its way to delivering a game that's fully capable of astonishingly trumping last year's GTAIII. While GTAIII has now sold over 7 million copies worldwide, raking in more than $350million, retailers around the nation are claiming to have already received upwards of 4 million pre-orders for Vice City. I highly advise that you make that 4 million and one.