2. Story
Much like the cast of characters, the story of Vice City worked so wonderfully because the developers threw it all against the backdrop of the nineteen eighties, which was in itself just a rip roaring time to be alive. At least thats the impression one gets from games and television. You know, if you ignored the cold war, economic recession and the bad hairstyles. Vice City won in my eyes as it was a straight up gangster story. It certainly helped that it was basically a retelling of Scarface. If you're going to make an 80s gangster movie there's no better source material. GTA 3 had a revenge centred plot that never really came into play until near the end. It never felt like what you did mattered, which I suppose made it easier to go off the beaten track and just cause wanton destruction. So maybe it was successful after all? San Andreas on the other hand didn't grab me at all. Personally I'm not into the hip hop culture, and the boys in the hood stylings we got bored me. Combine that with the fact the plot just got balls to the wall crazy at times and you have my least favourite GTA. I did like Woozie though. Woozie can stay. GTA IV fares better in my head. I enjoyed its rags to less raggedy rags story with its moral stylings, but it just didn't have the soul that Vice City had. Personal stories of greed, power struggles and back-stabbings, knowing you're in it for yourself and no one else. Going up against the mafia because fuck it, why not? Yeah, give me that over the I gotta save my hood from crack dealers and the Man any time.