Line #155 Main/ViceCity


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16	[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/CityOfCrimeGangWars https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1427_0.jpg]]]]
17	[[caption-width-right:350:Today's forecast: anarchy with a high chance of bullets.]]
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22	->'''Ken:''' What did you find out?\
23	'''Tommy:''' That there are more criminals in this town than in prison.
24	-->-- ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity''
25
26	Vice City is a sprawling urban town, [[WretchedHive infested with crime]]. You can find every bad example of humanity here -- thieves, carjackers, gangsters, assassins, drug rings, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking arsonists, murderers, jaywalkers]] -- and will probably get the chance to partake in all of it yourself.
27
28	Here, law enforcement bends to the demands and bribes of powerful criminals or to the temptations of the DirtyCop. Much less chaotic than some {{Wretched Hive}}s as the vice in the city is caused by [[VillainWorld organized corruption]] orchestrated by TheSyndicate rather than greed-induced every-man-for-himself-ism and anarchy. [[PoliceAreUseless The police are ineffective]] in Vice City, [[OptionalTrafficLaws only getting off their asses to stop a criminal who is running over little old ladies]] ''repeatedly'' in the middle of the street. [[CardboardPrison They'll only incarcerate the offender for a short sentence]], too. Except, of course, our heroes, especially if they take effective actions against crime.
29
30	The setting used in most WideOpenSandbox games, particularly the "true crime" ones of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' variety ([[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity one of which]] is the {{Trope Namer\|s}}). The city may be based on a real one, such as the ones seen in the ''Spider-Man'' games, but mostly it will be a [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed loose amalgamation of various cities]], so the designers don't have to worry about adhering to the laws of geography.
31
32	[[HideYourChildren There will almost never be anyone under the age of 18 in Vice City]]. Presumably, children are shipped away from their parents to a certain boarding school or [[VideoGame/{{Bully}} somesuch]], and only allowed to move in once they hit the age of 18. It could possibly be a ChildlessDystopia.
33
34	Some of these cities are so bad they can bring about FridgeLogic when there are MoreCriminalsThanTargets. Occasionally, there is a CloseKnitCommunity in one (appallingly poor) neighborhood, which tends to be desperate for any help it can get. Naturally lends itself to TheCityVsTheCountry.
35
36	Compare CityNoir, CityOfTheDamned, CrapsaccharineWorld, GangsterLand, and GraffitiTown. Contrast HeelFaceTown. For more general crime-infested areas see parent trope WretchedHive.
37
38	----
39	!!Examples:
40	[[foldercontrol]]
41
42	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
43	%%* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'': Neo-Tokyo.
44	* ''Manga/BlackJoke'': Japan has been made the 51st state of the United States and prostitution has been banned in Tokyo. An artificial island, the Neon Island, has been built in Tokyo Bay for gambling and prostitution. It is a place swarming with organized crime.
45	%%* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'': Roanapur.
46	* ''Manga/CityHunter'': Shinjuku [[SubvertedTrope often appears like this]]. While it's not completely in the hands of its criminal elements, there's a number of crimes that the police can't or won't deal with (such as a serial killer who raped his victims as he kidnapped them in or close to the pleasure neighbourhood of Kabukicho, the police [[BlamingTheVictim simply blamed them for supposedly being loose women]]), [[WeHelpTheHelpless crimes that City Hunter deals with once the victims or their relatives ask for his help]] (the serial killer above, for example, was dealt with when the sister of one of his victims, who was waiting for her when kidnapped, hired City Hunter to do the police's job).
47	* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'': The Tokyo entertainment and commercial neighborhood of Ikebukuro blends this trope with the CityOfAdventure, with a bunch of gangs around, people cutting each other with knives, Shizuo throwing random vending machines at Izaya everywhere around the city, and a headless motorcycle rider going around, freaking people out and stuff. While it ''does'' have a somewhat "noisy" reputation in RealLife, its "Vice" aspects in both the books and their anime adaptation were heavily overplayed due to RuleOfCool.
48	* ''Literature/HeavyObject'': The city of Lost Angels was built near a Faith Organization Object maintenance base. The other superpowers sent spies to infiltrate the city, founding gangs to act as cover for their operations, and the Faith Organization responded in kind. The four gangs grew out of control as the crime rate exploded while the majority of the city's civilian populace fled. By the time Qwenthur and Havia arrive, the city consists of [[FlockOfWolves undercover spies]], criminals profiting off the conflict, and a handful of innocents with nowhere else to go.
49	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'': Naples at the beginning of the story is presented as a corrupt town where the mob is more feared by the police, and said police is also near corrupt or ineffective.
50	* ''Anime/{{Texhnolyze}}'' features Lux, possibly the bleakest example of this trope.
51	* ''Manga/TokyoCrazyParadise'': Tokyo, where robbery and murder in broad daylight is considered just a normal day.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Comic Books]]
55	* Mega-City One from ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' flagship title ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' certainly qualifies, and the Angeltown district from its SpinOff ''ComicBook/TheSimpingDetective'' is depicted as being worse than the city as a whole.
56	* Gotham City, mostly ''since'' Franchise/{{Batman}}, now. Except the GCPD is full of honest, hard-working people ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Harvey Bullock]]), and organized crime isn't nearly so big as chaotic, supervillain crime.
57	** Or at least it is now. ''[[ComicBook/BatmanYearOne Year One]]'' and ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' show that organized crime and police corruption were prevalent, and, after TheMafia was taken down, the "freaks" took over.
58	** And its neighbor, Bludhaven, where Batman's former sidekick ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} set up shop in his solo book (later to be supplanted by the current Robin and Batgirl in their solo books). That was before it became a DoomedHometown.
59	* New Port City in ''ComicBook/BombQueen'', to a parodic degree.
60	* Bete Noire, the setting of Creator/PeterDavid's ''Comicbook/{{Fallen Angel\|2003}}''.
61	* In ''ComicBook/GarfieldHis9Lives'', St. Paul, Minnesota is described this way.
62	''ComicBook/HeathenCity'', both by Alex Vance.
63	* Hub City in Franchise/TheDCU, from ''ComicBook/TheQuestion'' comics, was specifically written to be the most corrupt city in the U.S. Less than ten police officers were considered honest and the firefighters went out armed.
64	* Maranatha, Florida in the titular unfinished web novel ''Maranatha'' and the ongoing graphic novel series.
65	* Madripoor in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse is a dystopian, crime-ridden, and utterly corrupt version of Singapore. Like the Philippines!
66	* ''Comicbook/SinCity''.
67	* Downlode in ''ComicBook/SinisterDexter'' is a massive city run by gangsters.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Fan Works]]
71	* The city of Iwatobi in ''Fanfic/EyesWideOpenAllTheTime''. Rather than the idyllic seaside village, it is in Anime/{{Free}}, this Iwatobi is a poverty-ridden hellhole where the yakuza and gangs run rampant, nearly every cop is a corrupt one, and the drug trade is the city's main business.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
75	* Hill Valley in the alternate 1985 in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' was turned into this by a super-rich and corrupt Biff.
76	* ''Cidade de Deus'' (City of God) as presented in the [[Film/CityOfGod 2002 film of the same name]] -- it is a part of the Favelas, and thus a case of TruthInTelevision. Notably, none of the scenes of the film were shot within the City of God itself, because the location was too dangerous to film in.
77	* ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian2011'': Argalon is a city of thieves. Conan's friend Ela-Shan, a thief, goes there after Conan frees him, where he finds him to get his help with breaking into Khalar Zym's castle later.
78	* Detroit as portrayed in ''Film/TheCrow1994'' and ''Franchise/{{Robocop}}''.
79	* "New Angeles" in ''Film/DoubleDragon1994''.
80	* Rio de Janeiro as portrayed in ''Film/TheEliteSquad'' is this (like ''City of God'', it's TruthInTelevision). Drug dealers rule the favelas, brutally murdering those who "offend" them. The normal police are corrupt and firmly in their pocket. Rich, ignorant students fund the drug dealers and misguidedly rail against the police. The closest thing to a beacon of light in this darkness is the fascist, torturing BOPE, who would be villains in a less cynical work. The sequel adds LawmanGoneBad militia who violently feud with the dealers and the corrupt politicians aiding them.
81	* ''Film/FreeGuy'': The in-universe videogame Free City is set in one of these. It's an MMO equivalent of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' in which players are encouraged to murder and steal for their own amusement.
82	* UsefulNotes/HongKong, as depicted in many, many movies, is populated by nothing but gangsters, dragon ladies, foreigners looking for a quick buck or an easy lay, and rogue cops.
83	* One of the most famous scenes in ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' involves an angel showing a despondent, suicidal George Bailey what his hometown of Bedford Falls would be like if he'd never been born. In this world, it's been turned into Pottersville, a decadent slum run by his rival [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Henry Potter]] and filled with crime, drinking, cabarets, pawn shops, poverty, and general loutishness.
84	* Mexico City as portrayed in ''Film/ManOnFire''.
85	* In ''Film/ThePhenixCityStory'', the titular city is run by the mob, who is able to commit all kinds of crimes up to and including murder with impunity. [[PoliceAreUseless The police look the other way]], meaning the mobsters don't get charged, and if one of them does stand trial, the jury daren't convict them.
86	* The city in ''Film/Se7en''. The [[GrayRainOfDepression constant rain]] gives the city a run-down, depressed feel, and the fact that it is never specifically named (characters only ever refer to it as "this city" or "this place") makes it feel like it could be any large metropolis, though it is very clearly inspired by [[TheBigRottenApple New York City]] more than any other.
87	* ''Film/StreetsOfFire'''s unnamed city is an example.
88	* The song "No Place Like London" during the 2007 film adaption of ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' summed up London as this.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Literature]]
92	* ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight'' has Malkan, a great trading city in the mountain passes between [[TheEmpire Savondir]] and [[TheRepublic Amorr]], which is run by merciless merchant lords and full of corruption, loose living, slavery, and barely contained crime. It's an {{expy}} of ruthless Renaissance Venice, except that it derives its wealth from caravan rather than maritime trade.
93	* The last four circles of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'''s Inferno are contained beyond the city of Dis. Guarded by harpies, within the walls of the cities are graves of fire, literal blood baths, the forest of suicides, and a desert where fire rains. Past that, there's a deep drop into the Malebolge (Evil Ditch) that leads even further down into Cocytus, a frozen lake made from all the evil rivers of Hell.
94	* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', Angel argues that Freckles's parents and relatives did not have to have neglected and abandoned him.
95	-->''Chicago is a big, wicked city, and grown people could disappear in many ways, and who would there ever be to find to whom their little children belonged?'’
96	* New Crobuzon from China Miéville's ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'' certainly is this. Even the government itself is involved in criminal activities that are hardly petty. There are thieves, spies, drug dealers, religious extremists and underground activists on every corner, as well as [[BodyHorror the god-damn most creepy prostitutes in the history of literature]], the people who are not involved in any sort of crime are likely to be the first ones to die [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]] or alternatively perform things that are not illegal in New Crobuzon itself, but morally inexcusable to the modern western reader.
97	* [[PunnyName Pair-O-Dice]][[note]]"Paradise" – yes, IronicName[[/note]] in Francine Rivers’ ''Literature/RedeemingLove'' is a shabby, makeshift town whose primary population appears to consist mainly of backwash miscreants delirious with GoldFever, and prostitutes. Lots of prostitutes.
98	* Zemphis in ''Literature/RaisingSteam'', filled with unlicenced beggars, people on the run from the law on the Sto Plains, and dealers in illicit goods including drugs and -- this being the Literature/{{Discworld}} -- raw treacle. Commander Vimes suggests that Vetinari allows it to exist so it doesn't exist closer to home, and complains that local law enforcement isn't even corrupt, because they're not competent enough for anyone to think them worth bribing.
99	* Grimpen Ward in the ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' novels, which sometimes seems to consist of run-down, disreputable taverns. Being in the middle of the Wilderun, the only reason to live there is if you aren't welcome elsewhere.
100	* Han Dold City in ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish''. The only mention of law enforcement comes when one police gang sets off some alarms to lure a rival police gang into a trap.
101	* The ''Franchise/StarWars Expanded Universe'' brings us Nar Shaddaa, this trope in planet form, it's essentially a dark version of Coruscant.
102	** Coruscant itself has aspects of this, though mostly on the city's lower levels.
103	* ''Literature/TheThebaid'': Home to men born of monsters, the alcoholic god, and kings of incest, Thebes is a microcosm of all of man's sin. The whole brutal war against Thebes is brought about because Jupiter is frustrated with just how much evil there is in the world and uses Thebes as a representation of that evil which he can take out his frustration upon.
104	* ''Literature/WarsOfTheRealm'': Implied, although not directly described. New York City and Los Angeles are both mentioned to be hubs of [[FallenAngel Fallen]] activity (with L.A. being the literal headquarters of the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Fallen commander of North America]]). The actual states of these cities are left to the imagination.
105	* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'': The Scorpion Den is the crime centre of Pyrrhia and you pretty much have to steal (or worse) to stay alive there. Oddly enough, one of the nicest characters, and probably the best queen in the series both hail from there.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
109	* In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Starling City is ridiculously corrupt. The cops and judges are mostly on the pad, the administrators of the local mental hospital exploit their patients for profit, the leading candidate for mayor is secretly a costumed supervillain, and the city's wealthy elite are [[spoiler:plotting to destroy the TheCityNarrows with an earthquake machine]].
110	* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', definitely verging on MoreCriminalsThanTargets levels. And its status as a {{prequel}} [[ForegoneConclusion means]] until a millionaire socialite and his young ward take up the fight, it won't be improving in a significant fashion any time during the course of the series.
111	* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Louis de Pointe du Lac and Daniel Molloy discuss how New Orleans in the 1910s was the perfect home for a vampire; it was a port city which boasted a very exciting nightlife, and since most people were expected to spend the day sleeping off the previous evening's entertainment/damage, no one questioned someone like Lestat de Lioncourt (and later Louis) only socializing at night. Lestat also notes "the ''laissez-faire'' attitude of the local police force," meaning law enforcement is rather lax.
112	* Cabot Cove in ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' seems to have a murder rate that's extremely high for a town of only a few thousand residents. An analysis of the show has revealed that it has one of the highest murder rates in the real world.
113	* Discussed in ''Series/{{Treme}}'', New Orleans is considered a risqué, but harmless, fun, and friendly "vice city" that may be devolving into a "sin city" because crime is on the rise and [[BadCopIncompetentCop the police and the authorities are worse than useless]] in the aftermath of Katrina.
114	* Explored more thoroughly with Baltimore in ''Series/TheWire'', written by the same creator as ''Treme'', with regards to the city's drug trade and how the criminal, political, and law enforcement systems perpetuate each other.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Music]]
118	* Music/{{Halsey}}: the Badlands are depicted this way, a dangerous urban sprawl full of dead-eyed kids and neon nights, reminiscent of UsefulNotes/LasVegas.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Pinballs]]
122	* Mega-City One in the ''Pinball/JudgeDredd'' pinball; the main purpose of the game is to visit various Crime Scenes and put away lawbreakers.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
126	* In most {{Cyberpunk}} games, the background setting is one of these. Night City in ''Cyberpunk 2025'', is one prime example.
127	* In ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'' Duskwall is a cramped city living off its leviathan blood exports, and the only people who seem to truly uphold the imperial law in it are the Inspectors, who are foreigners and thus don't have any local ties.
128	* The Edge, capital city of [[WretchedHive Al Amarja]], in ''TabletopGame/OverTheEdge''. All the normal laws against drugs, violence, fraud, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking trademark infringement]], and the like exist but are only enforced if you piss off the government. In the event that you ''are'' arrested for something, bribing the local magistrate to let you off is not only legal, it's actually a major source of income for the state.
129	* The city of Kaer Maga in ''Tabletopgame/{{Pathfinder}}'' is an anarchic metropolis in which "anyone can fit in, and anyone can be bought and sold".
130	* Shelzar in the ''TabletopGame/ScarredLands'' is a city-state devoted to hedonistic pleasure and pursuit of physical freedom, earning it the in-universe moniker "City of Sins". Slavery, drug-use, prostitution, polygamy and homosexuality are all legal and applauded, [[FleshGolem sintaurs]] are a status symbol, and it delights in rubbing its perversity in the face of more uptight city-states. It often comes as a surprise to outsiders to discover that [[EveryoneHasStandards even Shelzar regards some things as unacceptable]], most prominently [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]].
131	* These occur on planetary scales in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. The Dark Eldar race lives in an extradimensional, planet-sized Vice City, for one, and these are people who ''survive'' by crossing the MoralEventHorizon every day, if not every hour.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Video Games]]
135	!!!In General:
136	* The grittily overblown "gangs control the city" version of this that primarily crops up in [[BeatEmUp Beat 'Em Ups]]:
137	** ''ChaosOverlords''
138	** ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon''
139	** ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage''
140	** ''VideoGame/FinalFight''/''Franchise/StreetFighter''
141	** ''Film/TheWarriors''
142
143	!!!By Title:
144	* In ''VideoGame/AllPointsBulletin'', San Paro has some of the things mentioned, minus the prostitution, but it does have drug rings, assassins, and carjackings. You have the choice of playing a criminal or a cop.
145	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Noctis City is described in the LoreCodex as being a free land in fog and shadows. Citizens are said to flock towards Noctis to seek a life of freedom to fulfill their dreams while most die from the chaos and evil that happens beneath. Some choose to leave after experiencing such pandemonium, others adapt to the city's nature by becoming chaotic.
146	* In the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', the underwater metropolis of Rapture was founded precisely to ''escape'' urban decay. Unfortunately, the discovery of a PsychoSerum on the sea floor created a drug market, which the Mayor refused to police. The drug eventually became the biggest economic force in the city, as every citizen was now hooked on it.
147	** In ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' we are treated to Siren Alley, described as a ViceCity within a ViceCity. As best described by Augustus Sinclair...
148	--->'''Augustus Sinclair''': I do love Siren Alley. The kind of place you go to scratch an itch you're ashamed of -- even in a town with no laws.
149	* Paragon City in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' is a far more idealistic version, with clear lines drawn between good and evil. The upshot of this is, even though there's just as much crime going on, you don't get to partake in any of it. You're a superhero, after all. The Rogue Isles in ''City of Villains'' are closer to this, though with their own twists. (For one thing, the "police" will attack you even though you technically work for them.)
150	** Not so much 'work for' as [[spoiler:'are mercifully allowed to live and roam free in case you are the one destined to become strong enough to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt']].
151	* ''VideoGame/CondemnedCriminalOrigins'' {{deconstruct\|ion}}s this concept by showing how scary such a setting would be. All the crime-ridden buildings in Metro City that the main character has to crawl through (and there are a lot of them) are filled with nothing but junkies and crazy homeless people.
152	* Pacific City in ''VideoGame/{{Crackdown}}''.
153	* Night City, the setting of ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' is filled with crime, poverty, violence, prostitution, and people desperately trying to rise to the top. The city is [[DividedStatesOfAmerica independent from the [=USA=]]] and practically owned by corporations, with politicians being merely their puppets.
154	* ''Franchise/DragonAge'': While yet to be visited within the games, the small country of Antiva is frequently mentioned and described as one of these:
155	** Zevran grew up in an Antivan brothel and some time after his mother had died, he was bought by the local Assassins Guild [[TykeBomb to be trained]], which he says was a lot better than being a street urchin once he survived the first years. He has a lot of stories to share about political assassinations and mentions a particularly funny one which ended in one of the assassins almost becoming king.
156	** While being originally from the neighboring Rivain, Isabela had often been there as a pirate and a few stories of her own.
157	--->'''Isabela:''' I had a husband. He didn't beat me, that's the best I can say about him.\
158	'''Bethany:''' So you left him?\
159	'''Isabela:''' He was murdered. By my lover... It was all very... 'Antivan'.
160	* ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'':
161	** The Den in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' is referred to as a WretchedHive, as a blatant ''Franchise/StarWars'' ShoutOut, although it's rather tame compared to New Reno, the true ViceCity of the franchise.
162	** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' has Goodneighbor, a city founded by criminals who had been exiled from the comparatively straight-laced Diamond City. Even with Hancock working to maintain a semblance of order and vigilantism encouraged, Goodneighbor is still rife with thievery, drug abuse, and murder. It may be safer in comparison to wandering the wastelands, but only to a point.
163	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
164	** Zozo in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. Everybody's a thief and a liar, and unlike most towns, you'll hit random encounters while exploring.
165	** Midgar in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. The Wall Market is a sleazy red-lights district owned by Don Corneo, a wealthy pervert and Mafia crime boss, and muggers can be encountered as enemies in Sector 5, who may steal your items and run away from them, taking them forever if you fail to beat them in time. Corel also suffers from having thief enemies.
166	* ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'' presents NYC this way: You can't go far without running into a business controlled by TheMafia, {{Dirty Cop}}s are a dime a dozen, and staying away from known Mafia fronts doesn't guarantee your safety from running gunfights in the streets.
167	* ''Every city'' in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' universe is a crime-ridden city filled with violence.
168	** The {{Trope Namer\|s}} is ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', Miami-inspired city.
169	** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' expands this into a Vice ''State''.
170	* Haven City in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade''; Spargus City in ''VideoGame/Jak3'' is like this, but much more orderly, considering ''everyone'' is armed and are likely to shoot you if you try anything funny with them. The Kras City from ''Jak X: Combat Racing'' is an even better example as there are criminal syndicates involved in everything going on in the city, including the titular races.
171	* To a lesser extent, Tokyoto from the ''VideoGame/JetSetRadio'' franchise.
172	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure'': Crossbell is presented as this. It's not quite as bad as the reputation that preceeded it, but it still has a powerful underworld with ties to City Hall, sharply divided politics and police that are generally perceived as useless.
173	* ''VideoGame/MafiaII'' has [[BigApplesauce Empire Bay]], home to three Mafia Crime Families and several other organized crime rings such as [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triads]] and a local [[TheIrishMob Irish Mob]].
174	** ''VideoGame/MafiaIII'' has [[UsefulNotes/NewOrleans New Bordeaux]]. While publicly a pleasant place to go to and live, the reality has it being controlled by TheMafia and TheKlan, who use the city to illicit their illegal activities ranging from prostitution to drugs.
175	* ''Videogame/{{Manhunt}}'' takes place in Carcer City. It's populated by various gangs who are (unknowingly) part of a SnuffFilm empire.
176	* The city of New Radius in ''VideoGame/MarcEckosGettingUpContentsUnderPressure''.
177	* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': Omega, the unofficial capital of the lawless Terminus Systems fits in the trope quite well. More subtly all the basic elements of the trope also fit Illium, an asari colony world where everything is legal as long as there is a contract for it, and criminal organizations and ruthless [=CEO=]s struggle for power behind the serene image presented for tourists.
178	* New York in ''VideoGame/MaxPayne''.
179	** Arguably an inversion, as the conflict in the game is based around fighting a totalitarian (though admittedly still corrupt) local government and police force.
180	* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'':
181	** Santa Destroy features street thugs in bondage gear armed to the teeth and out for the player's blood, to the point where no one actually stays in the city willingly and desperately wants to take the first bus out of town. The ending of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' implies that with the UAA destroyed, Travis and Sylvia are going to fix it up. It ''does'' look better by the time of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII''... and then the aliens obliterate a huge chunk of it anyway.
182	** ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'': Perfect World, located at the south, is how Santa Destroy would look like with a bigger quality of life. It ''does'' still host assassination challenges as well as some required fights for the Rank 9 fight, but by default it's a thematically safer (and prettier) city.
183	* Rogueport in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' is a parody of this setting.
184	* ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'': Pyrite Town. Even for a LighterAndSofter work like ''Pokemon'', Pyrite is a Vice City within a WretchedHive - it's the only city with police officers in all of Orre, and despite them, the hoods freely roam the streets. This is the city [[EnsembleDarkhorse Miror B.]] ruled over during his days as a Cipher Admin, and it has an ''even worse'' Vice City underneath it, The Under, an underground city that's all one big Cipher hideout.
185	* In the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series, the first two games have Stilwater, while the third and fourth have Steelport. They range between Vice City and WretchedHive.
186	* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'' makes Miami one of these, albeit not to as large an extent as most.
187	* New York in the ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' video games -- particularly ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'' and ''VideoGame/SpiderMan3''.
188	* ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA'' and ''[[VideoGame/TrueCrimeNewYorkCity New York City]]'' took this to a unique level by having the featured cities replicated, or at least with an accurate street and landmark layout. One review for the first game claimed that " residents of LA could use any shortcuts they know in RealLife in-game.
189	* ''VideoGame/WildArms3'' has Little Twister, a Wild West town of outlaws. The various arena towns in the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' series may also apply, though they aren't really towns per se.
190	* In a bizarre example, the little town of Goldshire in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has become a Vice City of sorts, at least on RP servers. It's filled with strippers (13-year-olds watching their naked female characters dance), prostitutes (13-year-olds cybering), and criminals (13-year-olds powergaming.) Goldshire is so well known for this that among the fanbase it is also known as Whoreshire. It's also filled with a bunch of people who are desperately trying to ignore the aforementioned children. It's a pretty common gathering spot all around, especially for big groups of friends, as it's obviously rather easy to reach.
191	[[/folder]]
192
193	[[folder:Webcomics]]
194	* Greysky City from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is all but controlled by the Thieves' Guild, with [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0574.html crime rampant on the streets]] and omnipresent flyers for ''corpse disposal'' that don't even bother with euphemisms.
195	* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Sharteshane has a reputation as a home to criminals run by gangs, and its capital Sharteshane City is shown to have prostitutes carrying out their business in the streets while pickpockets slip through the crowds and Jab Beadman, a gangster who bought his way into the nobility, is the real power behind the throne.
196	[[/folder]]
197
198	[[folder:Western Animation]]
199	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' features the City of Thieves. The name isn't hyperbole - every resident is a thief and staying in the city for too long causes outsiders to become thieves.
200	* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' gives us a Vice ''Planet'' in the form of Tradeworld. The economy is essentially one big black market where anyone can buy anything, no questions asked, regardless of legality.
201	* {{Hell}} is depicted this way in ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'', a dark red city where demons indulge in every evil they did in life, just without any shame or subtlety. Gang violence is rampant, the porn industry is booming, and hard drugs are sold from vending machines. One particular example is the main location ''alone'', Pentagram City.
202	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ViceCity