Some want GTA 6 to go dark and gritty – but after replaying Vice City on PS2, I hope Rockstar hasn't lost its sense of humor
Feb. 27, 2024Now Playing | Vice City might be all grown up, but there’s still room for levity in GTA 6
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“That’s not vodka, that’s boomshine!” This single line fromGTA: Vice Cityhas been cozily camping out in my temporal lobe for 22 years. I remember everything about it: tone, cadence, slurred Scots drawl. I’m not really sure why, especially when the fourth mainline entry in Rockstar’s beloved crime sim is littered with zingers, but it’s probably because the mission it comes from encapsulates why I love the PS2-era GTA games: they’re daft, proud of it, and still plenty challenging to this day.
Pedal to the metalhead
Rediscovering the 24-year-old open-world GTA game that totally changed my opinion on PC graphics.
If your memory is a little fuzzy, allow me to refresh it. Scottish metal band Love Fist have enlisted Tommy to help escort them to their next gig, only to find the notorious Psycho that’s been trying to assassinate them is alive and well, and has rigged the car to explode if it drops below a certain speed.
Cue perhaps the funniest and most irritating mission ever. It’s stressful enough to focus on maintaining a certain speed as the detonator meter starts to fill, but where I falter is in avoiding bashing into other cars and consequently slowing myself down. Not to mention how my desire to listen to every incredible word exchanged between the Love Fist members is partly the cause of all my crashes. No shade on Sandra Bullock, but these guys had me in stitches.
I would be incredibly sad to see Vice City turned into Night City in GTA 6.
I might be alone in wanting another slightly cheesy, lighter-hearted GTA game in the pipeline, but then again, maybe not. It’s all too easy to lose track of the GTA 6 gossip circulating these days, though our very own Joe Donnelly’sGrand Theft Autopsyseries can help you out on that front. Still, you only need to stick your nose into a subreddit to find that many fans are clamoring forsomething decidedly darker, grittier, and altogether more mature in GTA 6. Personally? Nah, no thanks.
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I get it. GTA is one of the longest-running and best-loved games out there, and perhaps it would be cool to see it grow up alongside its players. However, that just doesn’t feel like Vice City to me. Shifting tone to strike at something a little darker and brooding in GTA 7 sounds like a plan, but I would be incredibly sad to see Vice City turned into Night City in GTA 6. Thankfully, the one and only GTA 6 trailer we’ve been treated to so far shows off a new yet familiar side to Vice City: it’s still teeming with larger-than-life characters and stereotypes, albeit in a much bigger and flashier cityscape playground, and I hope this translates in the odd bizarre mission that recaptures the wacky essence of Publicity Stunt – minus the worrying mention of “groupies to abuse”. Thanks but no thanks, Love Fist.
Check out how we rank thebest GTA gamesever as we wait for more news on GTA 6.
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