Vice City gets too much attention for all the wrong reasons; it really is an amazing game.
The gameplay in GTA is what keeps people coming back for more. It's not deep or complicated, but that's a good thing. You start off with a punch, but you can find and obtain many different weapons ranging from brass knuckles to machettes to golf clubs. As the name would suggest, there's lots of driving in the game too. The controls are, again, simple and fun. The cars all control great, and you shouldn't experience problems. GTA knows how to do gameplay. What it doesn't know how to do, however, is tell a story. The story mode sort of falls on it's face, plot wise, as it isn't all that well written or interesting. It's still really fun, and you do grow a little attatched to Tommy. The graphics are hard to describe. The world is so vast and detailed that they are nothing short of amazing. They are all incredibly well laid out. But, due to this fact, there can sometimes be an unstable framerate. The character models aren't so hot either. This is all understandable, and it's nothing that gets in the way. The sound is just great, near perfect. The voice acting is top notch, and the soundtrack has real rockin' 80's numbers! Oh yeah, get ready to grow back the mullet listening to the car radio in this game. It's really well done, and makes you feel like your in the time it wants you to be.
Overall, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is one a PS2 owner musn't be without. It's hard to reccomend to everyone however, as the violence may be frowned on by some. You can see why the game got the media in such a frenzie, it's got murder, prostitution, drugs, everything politicians can blame there problems on. But those looking past that will see an amazing experience that shouldn't be missed.