Back when I was younger, quite a few game series came around that impacted the way video games as a whole are viewed, and started raising questions about video game violence and the like. Back then it was Doom and Doom 2, these games were considered too violent by a lot of people. These games paved a path for years to come however.

A few years after the Doom days, a few more gems came out, once again raising these questions. The first was Postal, by Running with Scissors software, where the main character was a man who was going insane and going on a rampage through his area. This was truly violence with little to no point except to just kill. The other I found in my possession was a game by the name of Grand Theft Auto. The thing with GTA was that it wasn’t just senseless violence, though it certainly could be if you wanted it to.

This game truly made an impact when it was released, as did the sequel, Grand Theft Auto 2. The truly groundbreaking one that made Rockstar Games famous was Grand Theft Auto 3. Several of their games have followed in the footsteps of GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas took us to different cities. Liberty City Stories showed the city of the first game at a different time. Now Vice City Stories is showing you Vice City from a different perspective, although still in the 80s. Then again I can’t imagine a better time frame for Vice City Stories to be set in.

In these games you expect to play a criminal, anyone who doesn’t expect to play a criminal in a GTA game, quit reading now. This one did catch me off guard though, as when the game first starts you are on a military base, talking to your commanding officer. (I just said something about a GTA game I never expected to say.)

Moving on, your name this time around is Victor, and you joined the military to help pay for your sick brother. As soon as you are done explaining your cliché life to the CO, he starts telling you of ways to put extra money in your pocket. You don’t really want anything to do with it, but this puts money in your pocket more quickly.

After delivering a bunch of drugs and trying to get a prostitute onto base, you get discharged. This is about the time that Vice City Stories becomes just like all the other GTA 3-ish games. You work for a drunken redneck named Phil, who gets you in touch with some trailer park buddies of his. From here you degrade into a complete life of crime, you turn from a guy who was scared to transport some marijuana into a guy who has no problem shoving a shotgun down someone’s throat if it means he makes a buck or two.