The developers created the game inspired by gangster films such as Scarface and Carlito's Way. The game was also significantly influenced by the Miami Vice series and a number of other films. The game is full of references to them.

GTA Vice City tells the story of Tommy Vercetti, a low-ranking gangster who served fifteen years in prison in Liberty City. At the direction of his boss, Sonny Forelli, Tommy goes to Vice City, the city of eternal sun and expensive yachts, in order to conclude an important deal with drug dealers.

Vercetti arrives in the city with two partners, where he meets lawyer Ken Rosenberg, who should be waiting for them in the car. However, the deal ends unsuccessfully, to put it mildly: uninvited guests interrupt it, starting to shoot at the businessmen. Tommy, along with Ken, manages to escape the scene. Now they have to figure out this difficult situation.

GTA Vice City immerses the player in the world of crime, mafia clashes, contract killings and drug trafficking, and all this is shown not without grotesquerie, with a fair amount of humor, sometimes quite black. The game takes place in the 1980s, and the corresponding music of popular artists is heard from car stereos: Vice City radio plays songs of such groups and performers as Motley Crue, Electric Light Orchestra, Judas Priest, REO Speedwagon, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson.

The city of Vice City is modeled after Miami. This city, surrounded by the sea, has many picturesque beaches. The several islands into which it is divided contain both poor areas with shack houses and streets completely lined with luxurious mansions with expensive cars parked next to them.

The characters in GTA Vice City are quite colorful, and the main character is speechless compared to GTA 3. Tommy was voiced by actor Ray Liotta, known for such films as “Goodfellas” and “Cocaine.” His work on Vice City was highly acclaimed, with Liotta winning Best Male Voice Acting at G4's G-Phoria Awards. Ken Rosenberg is voiced by William Fichtner, best known for his role as Alexander Mahone on Prison Break. See also the list of all the characters in the game.

The gameplay of GTA Vice City is typical for games in the series: a combination of several genres, such as a shooter and a car simulator (now called simply a “sandbox”) allows you to move freely around the open world of the game, performing different tasks in a non-strict order, which are divided into several types: mandatory story missions and secondary tasks, such as the opportunity to work as a taxi driver, transporting city residents to their destinations.

Speaking about story missions, one cannot help but notice that they have been complicated in comparison with the previous game: simple assignments can alternate with complex missions, which consist of chases on different types of transport, leading to shootouts.

Driving cars and other vehicles (as well as stealing these same vehicles) still plays a significant role: the game features 101 units of transport, including six motorcycles, 10 boats and yachts, 7 helicopters and airplanes.

GTA Vice City is trying to overtake its predecessor in everything: there are many more opportunities: you can buy suits in clothing stores; buildings appeared that you can enter; there are eateries where you can eat (unlike the later San Andreas, where food affected the state of the protagonist’s figure and was a natural need, here food only restores health lost in firefights). One of the interesting features is the ability to purchase real estate — the hero can buy both residential buildings and businesses that generate income.

Complicating the game technologically, Rockstar used a more modern version of Criterion Games' RenderWare game engine. The engine has been optimized and seriously improved, the graphics have become more pleasant thanks to the use of higher quality textures and models. Such graphical features as the glare of the sun on a virtual camera were worked out, and the sunsets implemented by the developers will probably be forever remembered by those players for whom their acquaintance with the GTA game series began with Vice City.

GTA Vice City is also the most striking game in the series (literally). After the dark style of the third part, the developers used rich colors to create a pleasant atmosphere of a warm resort town. It's funny, but it seems that the developers are now doing about the same thing with GTA 5, in which bright colors replace the gloom of GTA 4.

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