Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (released 2002) is the third sequel to the hit video game Grand Theft Auto. It is a Rockstar Entertainment production, available for PlayStation 2 and PC. In November 2003, it also became available for the Xbox.

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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is one of many video games which have been labeled as violent by many people, and is considered highly controversial. Set in the late 1980s, the player plays a character named Tommy Vercetti (voiced by Ray Liotta) who has recently been released from jail and has to re-associate with mafia elements to earn a living while gaining revenge on those same associates who betrayed him. Themes such as drug trafficking and murder for hire are issues in the game. The player must progress through the game narrative by performing series of missions in order to achieve ultimate success.

The gameplay is very open-ended (unlike most games) and although missions must be completed to finish the game, the player is able to drive around and visit different parts of the city (once "unlocked") and otherwise do whatever they wish if not currently working on a mission. Various items such as hidden weapons and packages are scattered throughout the landscape, and certain buildings can be bought by the player and then used as save points.

Players of this game can steal vehicles (carss, planes, boats, motorcycles, and helicopters), become involved in drive-by shootings, purchase certain properties (amongst them a film studio, a dance club, a taxi company and a printing works), and generally create chaos. However, doing so generally attracts unwanted and potentially fatal police attention.

Various gangs make frequent appearances in the game, some of whom are integral to story events. These gangs typically have a positive or negative opinion of the player and act accordingly by shooting at the player or following him. Shootouts between members of rival gangs can occur spontaneously and at least one mission involves organised fights between opposing gangs.

One is also able to carry out productive and non-violent activities in the game such as pizza deliveries, driving injured people to a hospital with an ambulance, extinguishing fires with a fire truck, and much more, usually with a monetary reward.

In addition, a wide array of guns and arms become available to the player as he or she completes more and more missions. Guns may be purchased at fictional firearm store Ammu-Nation and other types of weapons (such as baseball bats, hammers and chainsaws) at fictional hardware chainstore Screw This.

Various radio stations can be received on radios in most vehicles in the game; one is an interview and chat station (KCHAT), another (VCPR) consists of debate show Pressing Issues and the remainder are music stations which cover particular musical genres such as urban music and rock. The tracks are for the most part licensed works from various real-life artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Duran Duran, and other artists that fit the retro 80s theme.

Some suggest that parental supervision is necessary when young people play this game. The Entertainment Software Rating Board rated this game Mature. In Australia, it was heavily modified to comply with current Australian censorship laws. Prostitutes and pimps were removed allowing the game to be given an MA15+ rating.

On December 3, 2003, Cuban and Haitian groups met in Florida, to form a protest against this game, alleging the game invites other citizens to harm people from those two nations. Rockstar Entertainment issued a press release to the context that they understood the concern of Cubans and Haitians, and that they believe those groups are blowing the game's actions out of proportion.

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