History VideoGame / GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories

** There are checkpoints in sub-missions. Every five levels gives the player a checkpoint, meaning they can start at that level again if they fail it, instead of the beginning.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Vice City is this once again.

* TheMillstone: A lot of Victor's problems are due to Lance's screw ups.
* MissionPackSequel: Just not as much as ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]''.

! Due to the nature of being a prequel to ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', all spoilers pertaining to it are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

''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 [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] exclusive, but was later ported to [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]].

* WhiteGangbangers: In addition to the Street Wannabes (now named Sharks), it introduces another 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, the Sharks remain the sole white gang in Vice City.

** Martinez, a buffoonish clown who repeatedly mocks and insults Victor while sending him to do his dirty work before eventually betraying him ''twice''

* 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").

* 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, but his entire business as well due to being forced to lay low.]]

* CerebusSyndrome: The pastel tone and bright lights of the night-time of ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' 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]].

* CerebusSyndrome: The pastel tone and bright lights of the night-time of ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' 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]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: This game is the darkest of all the 3D-era GTA games (being on par with HD era's ''GTA IV''). The pastel tone and bright lights of the night-time of ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' 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]].

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.

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 [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] exclusive, but was later ported to [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]].

* AsHimself: Music/PhilCollins appears in a few missions, complete with an in-game performance of “In The Air Tonight”.

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 [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] exclusive, but was later ported to [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]]. A fan-made PC version is being developed by doing a total conversion of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''.

* TheBerserker: In "Light my Pyre", when a Mendez cartel member blows up Lance's Infernus, he goes completely ballistic and relentlessly chases after a Sentinel without a care whether he gets shot or not, and later charges straight at the Mendez mansion at Prawn Island to exact his revenge, without taking cover. [[spoiler:This fails as he gets knocked out next to a dying Louise.]]

* BittersweetEnding: 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, but his entire business as well due to being forced to lay low.

* 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 in ''Vice City'', their territories are reduced to the Prawn Island and the northern part of Vice Point.

* ConcertClimax: One of the last missions, "In The Air Tonight", involves Vic working as security during a Phil Collins concert, as the Forelli Mafia tries ta 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.

* {{Flanderization}}: Lance is much 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.

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: 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.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: In the game's setting, V-Rock is based out of Reddick, Florida rather than downtown Vice City. "Reddick" may sound like a joke Rockstar would make, but the town does [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddick,_Florida exist in real life]]; however, it is closer to Gainsville (home of the University of Florida) than it is to Miami (the city Vice City parodies).

* BittersweetEnding: Vic manages to get his revenge and kill both Martinez and the Mendez brothers but not only he lost the one he cares so much, but his entire business as well due to being forced to lay low.