For other uses, see Vice City.
The City of Vice, commonly known as Vice City or simply Vice and nicknamed as the City of the Fallen Angel [1], is a city featured in the original Grand Theft Auto. The city is unlocked upon completion of the two San Andreas mission chapters.
Geography[]
The city is characterized as a tropical city, featuring palm trees, and beaches and hotels along much of its coastlines, while the heart of the mainland is designed as the core of the city, and the western end of the city is dotted with low-density buildings. Like Liberty City, Vice City also contains a looped train line that runs through the mainland and peninsular.
Compared to its later counterpart, the GTA rendition of Vice City is more geographically accurate to Miami. The city is designed with a large mainland to the southwest, while a small peninsular and island are located on the northeast. While geographically accurate, it is not as accurate in culture.
A military base is located on an island between Banana Grove and Vice Beach.
Influence[]
The city is based on the American city of Miami, Florida.
History[]
Districts[]
Vice City only features a total of 10 districts, the lowest of the three cities. Regardless, the districts are evidently based on Miami's real life divisions and their names are wordplay's of those from their real life counterparts:
- Miramire (Miramar)
- Little Dominica (Little Haiti)
- Coral City (Coral Gables)
- Vice Shores (Miami Shores)
- Vice Beach (Miami Beach)
- Little Bogota (Little Havana)
- Greek Heights (Olympia Heights)
- Felicity (Brickell)
- Richman Heights (Richmond Heights)
- Banana Grove (Coconut Grove)
Miami Beach, Western Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and surrounding areas are depicted as "Vice Beach". North Miami Beach and the Central Business District have been tagged as "Felicity". Eastern Vice City is made up of Miramire, Coral City, Greek Heights, Little Dominica, Little Bogota and Richman Heights, each representing the counties Broward and Dade.
Crime[]
Various areas in Vice City suffer from high crime rates, mostly from the Jamaican gang known by the VCPD as the Brotherhood of Jah Army of Love (commonly referred to as The Rastas or The Brethen by their members), who have been waging a campaign of terror in the city since 1990. The gang controls almost all of the drug trade in Vice City, although police sources indicate that "they operate a 'one for you - two for me' method" that has curtailed their violence somewhat. [2]
Aside from the gang violence within the Jamaican community, other crimes and social problems such as police corruption within the Vice Squad branch of the VCPD, constant car bombings, car theft, bank robberies, kidnapping and drug smuggling also give Vice City a bad reputation.
The Angels outlaw motorcycle club from New Guernsey also has a small turf in the neighborhood of Felicity in Vice City.
Major drug dealers from San Andreas such as El Burro and Jimmy the Shovel are known to engage in drug deals in Vice City. Some gang leaders from other cities have entries in the VCPD Database, as seen on the game's promotional website. These include Robert "Bubby" Seragliano from Liberty City's Vercotti Crime Family and Uncle Fu from San Andreas' Chinatown Triad organization.
By 1997, Vice City has the highest murder rates, the highest amounts of drug-related crime and the least respected police department of anywhere in the United States.
Transportation[]
Vice City has a subway system that connects the many areas of the city via rail bridges and tunnels, inspired by the real-life Miami-Dade Metromover.
In the Game Boy Color port of Grand Theft Auto, the subway trains, rail bridges and tunnels are absent due to hardware limitations, while subway station platforms are replaced by buildings with a "subway" sign, which are used as a fast travel point to each station.
Public Service[]
Police Stations[]
- Banana Grove Police Station
- Coral City Police Station
- Little Bogota Police Station
- Miramire Police Station
- Southwest Richman Heights Police Station
- North Richman Heights Police Station
- Vice Beach Police Station
Fire Stations[]
Hospitals[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Vice City was originally intended to return in a post-Grand Theft Auto 2 game developed by DMA Design (internally called Grand Theft Auto 2.5), which would introduce the isometric perspective in the series. The project was later cancelled due to studio offices in Dundee being closed circa 1999. [3]
See Also[]
- Vice City
- Vice City (3D Universe) – 3D Universe counterpart of Vice City that appears in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
- Vice City (HD Universe) – HD Universe counterpart of Vice City that appears in Grand Theft Auto VI.
References[]
- ↑ Official GTA website > Cities > Vice City
- ↑ Brother Marcus' VCPD police file from the official GTA website.
- ↑ Obbe Vermeij's blog, November 11, 2023