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1* AluminumChristmasTrees: In the game's setting, V-Rock is based out of Reddick, Florida rather than downtown Vice City. "Reddick" may sound like a joke Rockstar would make, but the town does [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddick,_Florida exist in real life]]; however, it is closer to Gainesville (home of the University of Florida) than it is to Miami (the city Vice City parodies).
2* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: As with ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'', the entire soundtrack has some of the best hit songs popular in the 1980s and has even introduced young gamers to the hits that were big in the decade.
3* BaseBreakingCharacter:
4** Victor Vance has definitely gained a polarizing reception. On one hand, fans find him a breath of fresh air from the more psychopathic, cold-hearted protagonists in previous games and like that they got a NiceGuy as a protagonist for once (especially with how tragic Vic's backstory is). On the other hand, there are also fans who felt that Vic's nice-guy attitude didn't blend well with the nature of the game and dislike how hypocritical Vic can be at times (saying he doesn't want anything to do with drugs yet doesn't bat an eye to building his brother's drug empires).
5** Likewise, a lot of fans are divided of this version of Lance Vance, either the fact that his stupidity and impulsive antics make him seem funnier and great use for comic relief or that his personality was an all-time low of his more slick, mellow demeanor he displayed in the original ''Vice City'' and made him come off more annoying than funny, bordering on BadassDecay.
6* BrokenBase: Much like ''Liberty City Stories'', fans of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' franchise are either going to consider this game a huge letdown of [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity its original]] and dislike how depressing the storyline is, as well as being turned off by the empire side missions, or an underrated gem that truly deserves just as much attention as the other games of the franchise, and the fans actually do like the side missions for the empire buildings, as well as the other additional features that even encourage many of them to complete for the 100% completion.
7* CompleteMonster: [[StarterVillain Marty Jay Williams]] is the redneck leader of the Trailer Park Mafia, who distinguishes himself as the worst abuser in the 3D universe. Marty uses his gang to run a ProtectionRacket threatening multiple innocents, and upon opening a brothel, he begins pimping out multiple women. [[DomesticAbuse Abusing his wife Louise for years]], Marty threatens her life [[AbusiveParents and the life of their baby]] on a regular basis to keep her in line, and when Louise finally tries to leave him, Marty kidnaps her with plans to force her into prostitution at his brothel.
8* CultClassic: It isn't as popular as the original ''Vice City'' (much less any other game of the series) due to lower PSP adoption rate outside Japan and being released very late into the Playstation 2's lifespan, but thanks to the redesigned city, slight increase in graphical detail (for example, the car plates are now legible compared to the ones in ''Vice City''), as well as the enjoyable side missions and features, a handful of the fans consider this the most underrated game of the series.
9* DamselScrappy: Louise slips into this territory after she decided to take on Martinez on her own, which was a rather impulsive and foolish move on her part, especially given how many goons Martinez has backing him up.
10* DemonicSpiders: Once you piss off the Sharks gang, they will occasionally show up in a Gang Rancher doing drive-bys with powerful weapons. These will easily tear your car to shreds and do significant damage if you're on foot.
11* GoddamnedBats: Police are everywhere in this game. They will often show up at even a one-star wanted level, which means you have to think quickly on a good escape route or you'll get arrested.
12* GoodBadBugs: By entering and exiting a building during the "Hose the Hoes" mission, the fires will immediately be extinguished.
13* HarsherInHindsight: "The Bum Deal", aka the White Stallionz mission, involves the Vance brothers having a shootout with a gang of homosexual bikers in a bar. Then in 2016 (ten years after VCS was released), a mass shooting occurred at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
14* IronWoobie: Victor Vance. Unlike all the other playable characters of the series (including [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas CJ]], who has been considered have more "moral" than most), Victor Vance in the background does not like to be a drug dealer or kill people, he just feels compelled to. Adding to this, his mother is a drug addict, and his brother an [[TooDumbToLive idiot]], JerkAss ManChild and has a lust for the money without seeing the consequences.
15* MoralEventHorizon: [[MoralEventHorizon/GrandTheftAuto See here.]]
16* ScrappyMechanic:
17** Gang attacks on your Empires will easily whittle away at your resources. You'll need to constantly restock after an attack was repelled. Sometimes, another attack will happen immediately right after. Unlike in ''San Andreas'', you can't ease your way by saving and reloading when an attack happens because it will be damaged although starting a mission will cancel the attack without damage.
18** Police spawning will drive you up the wall because once you get a wanted level, it's difficult to escape from the police. More times than not, a cop shows up to arrest you.
19* ThatOneLevel: [[ThatOneLevel/GrandTheftAuto See here.]]
20* ThatOneSidequest: Vigilante. While the earlier levels are acceptable, the later levels have enemies that can tear Vic to shreds if the player doesn't plan ahead or exploit the AI.
21* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Aside from being Vic's love interest, Louise doesn't really do much for the story and only seems to exist to be a DamselInDistress (which isn't helped by the fact that she becomes a DamselScrappy after Martinez kidnaps her). It would've been nice to have her character more explored by having her show more development to live a better life after meeting Vic for the first time, as well as her sibling relationship with Phil.
22* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Considering that Vic's goal was to join the army, it's a bit jarring to not see him get his name cleared to return in the army to take on Martinez and have him discharged as a sergeant in retaliation as well to explore more of the military missions. The fact that Vic gets discharged before he even has any time to train doesn't help this case.
23* TheWoobie: Louise. She did not finish high school, her ex-husband abused her verbally (and probably physically), was kidnapped twice (and allegedly raped and tortured) by Jerry Martinez and Armando Mendez, and finally being killed by Armando.

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