As I cruise through Vice City in my car, I look out my right passenger window to see a pig mobile cruising along beside me. Great, just what I needed. The fuzz patrol. I obey the speed limit and am careful not to run anyone over in their presence. But every turn I take, the police turn with me. I've had just about enough of this. I bring the car to a complete halt, throw the car into reverse, put my foot down hard on the accelerator, hit the handbrake and turn the wheel sharply to the left, executing a reverse 180. I take a second to put the car into drive and put as much distance between myself and the police as possible.

As I'm driving along, I'm going a little bit too fast, and crossing the street in front of me is a man running away from a man in a brown uniform. What the hell I figure as I go faster allowing the cop to become caught under the wheels of my car as Ozzy Osbourne plays on my radio. This is the world of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Set in a 1980s town that bears more than a passing resemblance to Miami, Vice City casts you in the role of Tommy Vercetti, a made man in the Forelli organization, fresh out of prison.

Sonny Forelli, one of the big bosses, sends you, Tommy, to Vice City to make a drug deal. When the drug deal goes awry and the Forelli brother's lose money, Tommy knows he can't go back to Liberty City (home of Grand Theft Auto 3), until he has the money to pay Sonny Forelli for the lost drugs. When one thing leads to another, Tommy realizes that he could just topple over all of the gangs of Vice City and become the head honcho. Vice City is one heck of a game. There are so many places to explore and so many things to do that it'll leave the average gamer tickled pink. There are a plethora of missions ranging from simple milk runs (go from point a to point b to point c and pick up some sort of package) to taking down members of rival gangs.

The graphics in this game are spectacular. Things that weren't in GTA3 are in Vice City. For example, as I cruise down the street on my motorcycle (something that wasn't in GTA3), the sun glares down into my eyes. This is something that definitely was not in GTA3. Also, when the vehicle you have catches on fire, no longer do you have to bring it to a complete stop, all you need to do is press the default button to enter a vehicle and you'll jump out, no matter how fast you are going. This is a really cool maneuver and looks spectacular no matter what speed you perform this maneuver.

Finally, the greatest selling point of Vice City is the radio stations in the game. Everything you can listen to is authentic 80s music. And just about every music genre from the 80s is present, New Wave, Hard Rock, Pop, and Easy Listening just to name a few. It doesn't get any better when you're cruising down the street grooving to some of your favorite tunes from the 80s. Some of the featured bands are Sigue Sigue Sputnik, A Flock of Seagulls, Michael Jackson, Hall and Oates, Ozzy Osbourne, Twisted Sister, Wang Chung, The Buggles, Tears for Fears, Toto, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, and Deodato. Oh and did I mention that the vehicles also look spectacular as well? The story-based missions don’t have to be completed; It's fun to just steal a fast car and cruise around Vice City, because, yes, you can also do that while causing as much or as little mayhem as you desire.

Cops riding your ass? Hey, no problem, just go to one of Vice City's clothing stores and get some new threads. And for the first time, you can buy your own property in Vice City and carry out your own missions.

All-in-all, Vice City is definitely a game you should consider picking up. Whether you are a fan of Grand Theft Auto or not, Vice City is a game that has something for everyone to enjoy, however, keep this game out of the reach of young children. You'll thank me for it tomorrow.

Final Grade: A

View a trailer of GTA: VC here.

System Requirements:

• PIII 800Mhz processor
• 128MB RAM
• 32MB Direct3D graphics card required
• 1GHz processor or higher
• 256MB RAM recommended