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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is 19 years old today.
This is the second Grand Theft Auto game released on the PlayStation Portable, coming out on Halloween day in the US in 2006. It then came to the PlayStation 2 with extra side missions and content in 2007.
A True Side Story
Unlike Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories delves into a character who did not go on to be particularly visible or important in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That’s because Victor Vance, who you play in this spinoff, dies at the start of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Dan Houser and the rest of Rockstar made the most out of this limited writing prompt to create a tale that was unique to the franchise at the time. Unlike most of the pre-HD era Grand Theft Auto protagonists, Vic is not a hardened criminal at the start of this game.
Vince is a soldier who gets dishonorably discharged after taking a job to facilitate a drug deal, only for that deal to go bust. Vince does not take to crime like Claude or Tommy. He just happens to be really good at dealing out violence.
A Forgotten Grand Theft Auto?
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is not the only pre-HD era game that Rockstar has allowed to slide to irrelevance. Unlike many of the other games, this did not go to PC or get rereleases to other platforms. That has made it an unnecessarily rare title.
We do understand why that is the case, to some degree. Rockstar put extra work in to make this game work better on the PlayStation Portable that Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. But even when it came out, they did not see as much success as their first game to make that work worthwhile.
It’s also aged, but that’s what you come to expect with these kinds of games. But there’s one parenthetical reason why it’s strange that it’s forgotten.
How Did We Forget This?
Yes, as you saw in the title, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is the only video game appearance of one time Genesis bandleader and solo artist Phil Collins.
In the game, you have to protect Phil from hitmen because his manager wouldn’t pay his mafia debts. You even get to protect him in concert while he performs the drum break classic In The Air Tonight.
And, if you succeed in this mission, you can go back and pay to have Phil hold a concert for you to play this one song again and again. Maybe licensing this bit is the real reason that this game hasn’t resurfaced ever again.
Which is both a shame and understandable, but we imagine the fans can convince Phil and Take-Two’s Strauss Zelnick to make something happen, now that everyone remembers that this has been hiding in this title this whole time.
