Line #45 VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories


1	! Due to the nature of being a prequel to ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', expect {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s for that game as ''Vice City Stories'' ends in a ForegoneConclusion. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vice_city_stories.jpg]]
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4	''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'', released in 2006, is the tenth installment in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series. Like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories'', this game took a new plot to the same setting as a previous ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' game. But it avoids being a MissionPackSequel to ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' by including a lot of its own elements, such as improved gameplay, mission elements and the ability to swim. Some of the side missions now have continue points, for one. Like ''LCS'', it was originally a [[Platform/PlayStationPortable PSP]] exclusive, but was later ported to [[Platform/PlayStation2 PS2]].
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6	The plot is stocked with ''a lot'' of DramaticIrony, as the game is both chronologically the earliest in the GTA 3D era as well as the last entry in that continuity, meaning that it is loaded to the brim with {{Call Forward}}s and {{Continuity Nod}}s to the other games in the 3D era. It would also be the last game in the series to be set in Vice City until ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoVI'' nearly 20 years later.
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8	This game is set in 1984, two years before ''Vice City'', and follows Victor "Vic" Vance, a former soldier who is dishonorably discharged after his corrupt commanding officer, Sgt. Jerry Martinez, pays him to shelter drugs and a prostitute on base -- both of which are discovered. The rest of the game is about him getting revenge on Martinez, who is part of a powerful drug cartel, as well as (reluctantly) building a criminal empire with his brother Lance.
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10	----
11	!!Distinct tropes of this game:
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13	* AbusiveParents:
14	** Marty, in addition to be being a domestic abuser to his wife Louise, at one point even threatens to beat down on ''their infant daughter for crying too much!''
15	** Vic and Lance’s mother, Janet, is a crackhead who neglected her children, which eventually led to them living with their Aunt Enid. After briefly reuniting with the brothers she eventually steals all of their drugs and disappears.
16	* AlmightyJanitor: The BigBad Jerry Martinez is officially only a sergeant in the army but is effectively one of the major crime lords of Vice City.
17	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
18	** There are checkpoints in sub-missions. Every five levels completed gives the player a checkpoint, meaning they can start at that level again if they fail it, instead of the very beginning.
19	** Once you unlock the Empire missions, failing a mission for that business will put you back at the level you were at.
20	** If you get busted or wasted, you can pay $2,000 to buy back your weapons.
21	* AntiHero: Victor Vance is one even more so than CJ from ''San Andreas''. He doesn’t even want to be part of the criminal world at first, instead earning money legitimately by enlisting in the army, and only gets roped into it after being manipulated and betrayed by [[BigBad Martinez.]] One of his primary motivations is to get money to provide for his sick brother Pete.
22	* AsHimself: Music/PhilCollins appears in a few missions, complete with an in-game performance of [[Music/FaceValue "In The Air Tonight"]].
23	%% * BaldOfEvil: Vic has a shaved head and depending on how you play, he can be evil.
24	* TheBerserker: When a Mendez cartel member blows up Lance's Infernus in "Light my Pyre", he goes completely ballistic and rushes straight to Prawn Island without a care whether he gets shot or not, and later charges at the Mendez mansion through a hail of automatic gunfire in order to kill Armando. [[spoiler:This fails as he gets knocked out next to a dying Louise.]]
25	%% * BigBadEnsemble: Jerry Martinez and the Mendez Brothers.
26	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Vic manages to get his revenge and kill both Martinez and the Mendez brothers but not only did he lose the one he cares so much about, but his entire business as well due to being forced to lay low.]]
27	* BookEnds: The penultimate mission has you break into the same army base where you were stationed at the very beginning of the game to steal a Hunter military helicopter.
28	* BrokenBridge: As in ''Vice City'', the bridges are closed at the start due to a hurricane warning, although this time you start from the opposite side of the map.
29	* TheCameo: Phil Collins appears as a supporting character in some missions given by Reni Wassulmaier. Collins was the first real life celebrity to appear as a character in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' franchise.
30	* CampGay:
31	** Reni Wassulmaier. [[spoiler: At least until ''he'' becomes a ''she''.]]
32	** The White Stallionz, despite being a white supremacist group, has shades of this. In the mission where they are introduced, two members are dancing together to 70s disco.
33	* TheCartel: The Mendez Cartel is the main group of antagonists in the game. After the cartel's demise at the hands of Victor, Diaz's gang seized control of the drug trade in the city.
34	* CaughtUpInARobbery: In the mission ''The Audition'', Vic and Lance get caught in a robbery by a group of armed robbers in a King Knuts restaurant. Vic can kill the robbers to save himself and Lance, however, the cops mistakenly believe the brothers were the accomplices of the robbers.
35	* TheCavalryArrivesLate: [[spoiler: In the last mission, Lance arrives in a helicopter to help Vic to kill both Diego and Martinez, however, the battle has already ended with the deaths of the latter two.]]
36	* CerebusRetcon: Phil Cassidy was shown in ''GTA Vice City'' as a level-headed person, although he become hilariously TooDumbToLive when he drunk. Turns out that in ''Vice City Stories'', it is shown that he lost his sister, turning him into a drunk at times.
37	* CerebusSyndrome: The pastel tone and bright lights of the night-time of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' are carried over, but MoodDissonance and VileVillainSaccharineShow are in full effect. Vic starts the game being betrayed by his corrupt higher-up in the military, loses several of the people closest to them, [[spoiler:and despite building an underworld "empire" in the name of vengeance, is forced to leave them all in the end to erase all his (along with his brother's) criminal traces in Vice City]].
38	* CollectionSidequest: There are [[ShoutOut 99 red balloons]] scattered around Vice City. Some of them are hard to miss, but quite a few of them are up high and require a sniper rifle (and in a few cases, a helicopter) to reach. It's well worth popping them all, as you gradually unlock valuable weapons and equipment at Vic's safehouses - having this gear available for free saves you thousands of dollars.
39	* ConcertClimax: One of the last missions, "In The Air Tonight", involves Vic working as security during a Phil Collins concert, as the Forelli family tries to sabotage it. It's notable because Phil Collins can be heard singing the same-titled song on the background, and the scenes of Vic fighting the Forelli thugs are juggles with scenes where Phil Collins is shown performing. Overall, it ends up becoming one of the most memorable moments in the ''GTA'' franchise.
40	* ConflictKiller: [[spoiler:Sgt. Martinez is an annoying example, where he interrupts the plot near the end, thinking that the player is the same nobody he pushed around in the beginning, despite the player at this point having taken out Martinez's bosses, and can buy and sell his entire racket millions of times over.]].
41	%%* CrapsaccharineWorld: Vice City is this once again.
42	* CreatorsCultureCarryover: During one of Phil Cassidy's missions, you have to track down some Cholos so Phil can do a drive by on them. After failing to find any, Phil remarks that it could take awhile and it's "Good job I brought something to drink." "Good job" is exclusively a British phrase, and one someone as redneck as Phil would ''never'' say.
43	* DarkActionGirl: During ''Unfriendly Competition'', Vic must deal with a group of armed women in bikinis when he tries to kill one of the dealers for the Mendez brothers. To make things worse, they can even operate a helicopter during the chase segment.
44	%% * DeepSouth: Marty Jay Williams and his Trailer Park Mafia personify this trope.
45	* DepravedHomosexual: The game briefly features a small biker gang called the White Stallionz that is composed of gay white supremacists. Vic and Lance end up destroying the entire gang.
46	* DirtyCop: Bryan Forbes, who is so bent that it would be more accurate to say he's a criminal who goes undercover as a cop.
47	* DiscOneFinalBoss: Marty Jay Williams the leader of the Trailer Park Mafia. Killing him is what unlocks the Empire Building mechanics for the game.
48	* TheDitz: Lance, which, of course, isn't helped by the fact that [[LethallyStupid he constantly puts Vic through hell throughout the story due to his incompetence]].
49	* DoomedByCanon: [[spoiler:Vic is the first playable protagonist in the series to die, which comes during the intro of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity''.]]
50	* DualBoss: [[spoiler:Sgt. Martinez and Diego Mendez are both fought alongside each other for the final fight]].
51	* EasyLevelTrick: "Hose the Hoes" has you stealing a Firetruck in Little Haiti before you rescue the prostitutes trapped in a fire. However, this mission can be made a lot easier by stealing a firetruck beforehand and then starting the mission.
52	* EasySexChange: Reni, the German film director who has had three sex changes in the past. [[spoiler: And eventually has a ''fourth'' during his/her final mission.]]
53	%% * TheEighties: Much like the original ''Vice City'', the Eighties setting is a huge part of the appeal.
54	* EightiesHair: Louise, which is even more clearly this in the art work.
55	* AnEntrepreneurIsYou: The normal business missions have been expanded to the "Empire Building" feature: You attack rival businesses, take them over, choose what type of business you want to set up (drugs, prostitution, etc.), and choose the size of the building (the bigger, the better). You can then take missions from these buildings to improve your reputation.
56	%% * EscortMission: Several characters, from Phil, to Louise, to Reni.
57	* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: The mission "Brawn of the Dead", which has you acting as a stuntman in a zombie movie that is an obvious ShoutOut to ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978''.
58	* FallenHero: By game's end, Vic is a far cry from the straight-laced soldier he was at the beginning of the story.
59	* FauxAffablyEvil: Jerry Martinez and Armando Mendez both act in a overly friendly manner towards Victor even as they are blatantly manipulating him for their own ends and both eventually decide to discard of Victor [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness when they have no further use for him.]]
60	* {{Flanderization}}: Lance is even more immature, whiny, self-centered and irrational. Not to mention, he is an even bigger attention hog than he was in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' and that's saying something (given how already unlikeable he was during his debut).
61	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Vic is the level-headed responsible brother while Lance is the coked-up foolish one who is constantly getting the pair of them into trouble.
62	* FromCamouflageToCriminal: Vic starts out as a newly enlisted ensign in the army. After he is set up for a number of infractions by his CO and discharged, he turns to crime to support his family and ends up running a major criminal empire with his brother.
63	* FurAndLoathing: Louise buys herself a pink fur jacket in the second half of the game (that can also be seen in the opening and one of the {{Loading Screen}}s). But before then, she was a good girl, just in over her head. After that, she was all coked-up and ditzy (just not to anywhere near the degree of the Vance boys' mother).
64	* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Vic has military training and is easily among the most powerful of the GTA protagonists in a fistfight. He can also sprint while holding a rifle.
65	* GangBangers: The Cholos, as stated by Phil Cassidy as "bunch of Mexican gang-bangers".
66	* GrandFinale: Of the 3D era. While ''San Andreas'' was the final major [=GTA=] in the 3D era, this one is the last one ''period''. Which is funny, since it's the ''[[NonLinearSequel first one]]'' in a chronological sense.
67	* HelloSailor: While giving a big speech on having balls, Umberto tells Vic to show the other Cubans his balls. Vic replies "I was in the army, not the navy." This line itself is an IronicEcho of a line from main antagonist Jerry Martinez earlier in the game ("this is the army, not the navy").
68	* HideYourChildren: Averted for the first time in the series with Mary-Beth, Louise's baby, who appears in several cutscenes.
69	* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: In this game, the Bikers used to own several illegal businesses across Vice City, however, most of them are taken over by Vic and his gang, reducing their influence to a bar in Downtown. This also applies to the Sharks, they used to own several illegal business in most parts of the Vice Beach, but [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity two years later]], their territories are reduced to the Prawn Island and the northern part of Vice Point.
70	* IncompatibleOrientation: In one humorous cutscene Umberto repeatedly tries to flirt with a female welfare collector who dryly tells him that she’s a lesbian in a committed relationship.
71	* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Vic can't climb (unless it's up to shore out of water), even after ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'' averted this.
72	* {{Jerkass}}:
73	** Marty Jay Williams is a racist and misogynistic asshole who is also verbally and physically abusive to his wife Louise.
74	** Martinez, a buffoonish clown who repeatedly mocks and insults Victor while sending him to do his dirty work before eventually betraying him ''twice''.
75	** The Mendez Brothers as well, especially Armando who makes a big show [[FauxAffablyEvil of acting friendly]], in a very smug, passive-aggressive manner towards Vic in almost conversation with him.
76	* TheLoad: Lance... even moreso than he was in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]''. See TheMillstone as well.
77	* MacGuffinEscortMission: Don't let them "[[ShoutOut Kill]] [[Film/KillBill Phil]]"!
78	%%* TheMillstone: A lot of Victor's problems are due to Lance's screw ups.
79	%%* MissionPackSequel: Just not as much as ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]''.
80	* MistakenForCheating: Vic briefly thinks that Louise and Lance are having an affair after he catches them alone together at Lance’s apartment. They were actually both getting high off the Mendez’s supply of coke. [[FromBadToWorse Vic thinks this is even worse.]]
81	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Umberto Robina helps you to defend your businesses [[spoiler:from the Mendez brothers]] in "Blitzkrieg Strikes Again". In person. Too bad both of you are assigned different businesses to defend and you don't actually see him fighting.
82	* PinkMeansFeminine: Louise's fur coat is pink, and before that, her exercise clothes were part pink.
83	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain:
84	** The White Stallionz, an all-gay, white supremacist biker gang that tries to rape and kill the dark skinned Vance brothers.
85	** Marty Jay Williams is a misogynist hick who almost made his own wife one of his prostitutes.
86	* {{Prequel}}: Not only is this a prequel to ''Vice City'', it's chronologically the first game in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' continuity. It takes place 17 years prior to the events of the original ''GTA III'', which is the last game in the series in terms of chronology.
87	* ProfaneLastWords: During the final mission, Diego Mendez tells Martinez "Vete a la mierda", which literally means in Spanish "go to the shit". Since Victor kills both of them immediately afterwards without a chance to say anything else, those end up being Mendez's last words.
88	* PsychopathicManChild: Lance Vance. Despite being a grown man, he's terribly immature, is as insecure as a teenager, and is prone to take vengeance on any slight he suffers.
89	* RagsToRiches: After getting kicked out of the army, Vic is virtually broke, and only has a place to stay because he helped Phil Cassidy clear out Phil's old place of gang members. At the end of the game, Vic is the leader of a massive criminal empire with countless operations all over Vice City, not to mention some pretty sweet living spaces.
90	%% * RapeAsDrama: What Martinez does to Louise.
91	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: During the final mission, Vic assaults the Mendez building with a Hunter helicopter and murders both Diego and Martinez in revenge for [[spoiler: Louise’s death at Armando’s hands.]]
92	* RunningGag: Some missions involving [[TheLoad Lance]] usually end with Lance riding a vehicle alone and without even bothering to offer Vic to ride with him, much to the latter's chagrin. This is PlayedForLaughs, because most of these usually happen right before the "Mission Passed" screen appear.
93	* SceneryPorn: Vice City at dusk. The neon is all lit up, and the sky is painted in glorious shades of orange and red.
94	* SeriesContinuityError:
95	** The Fort Baxter is depicted as an army base for the United States National Guard in this game. However, in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', it belongs to the United States Air Force Reserves.
96	** There is a small road that connects Little Havana to the Escobar International Airport. However, the same road is absent in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity''.
97	** There is a VIP terminal located in the western part of the Escobar International Airport, it is used in the first mission in the game. However, like the aforementioned road, the building is absent in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity''.
98	** The Enforcer uses black and white colors, as it did in ''Liberty City Stories'' instead of the evergreen and white colors it used in ''Vice City''.
99	* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/GrandTheftAuto All on this page.]]
100	* ShowWithinAShow: By this point, the idea of the game featuring an extensive array of in-game radio stations playing licensed and original music was old hat, so the programmers upped the ante by introducing several old-style dramatic radio programs into the mix, specially written for the game.
101	* TheSyndicate: The Vance Crime Family is this, being organized criminals split into two groups.
102	** When Vic runs a legal businesses, they will be crewed by low-end WhiteGangbangers wearing tracksuits and wifebeaters, and are only armed with baseball bats and pistols.
103	** When Vic runs an illegal business, they will be crewed by goons wearing either a T-Shirt (bald Caucasian) or a suit (Blacks with a stocky build), and are better armed compared to their gangster variants (carrying either an AK-47 or a MAC-10).
104	* ATasteOfPower: For the first two and a half missions, you have easy access to a pistol spawn at the barracks and can appropriate assault rifles from your fellow soldiers. However, you are relieved of your firearms after Vic is dishonorably discharged and can't get them back.
105	* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Completing 15 firefighter levels will make Vic completely immune to fire. Not a single enemy throughout the game, be they naturally spawning or scripted for a mission, attacks you with fire... except [[BossBattle Armando Mendez,]] who will attack you with a flamethrower, does not switch weapons, and has no other enemies around him. This means that it's impossible to die unless you kill yourself on purpose with a grenade, turning this into a CurbStompBattle. You can just [[ShootingSuperman walk through the onslaught of flames]] and beat him with your bare fists if you so desire.
106	* TooDumbToLive: Lance, ''good God, Lance!'' [[spoiler: If you felt bad about killing him in Vice City, this game will rapidly change your mind]].
107	%% * ViceCity: [[TropeNamer Of course.]]
108	* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Vice City is by no means a pleasant place despite its colorful exterior, but Sgt. Martinez and the Mendez Brothers are some of the most-menacing antagonists in the story, let alone the franchise.
109	* WhiteGangbangers: In addition to the Street Wannabes (now named Sharks), it introduces other white gangsters in the form of Marty's Gang, known as the Trailer Park Mafia, whose turf is at Vice City's trailer park. Once Victor wipes them out, they will be succeeded by the {{Gangbanger\|s}} branch of the Vance Crime Family (consisting exclusively of whites).
110	* WideOpenSandbox: Not to the same degree as ''GTA: San Andreas'' or ''GTA IV'', in part due to the somewhat restricted geography of Vice City, but also because once you start "empire building", you will constantly have to deal with gangs trying to take over your turf, reducing the opportunity to explore and do stuff on your own. [[spoiler: Although once you take over every single Empire Building in the town, the gang attacks will stop and you can explore the city without worrying about the other gangs.]]

Context VideoGame / GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories