Vice City was the GTA that established Rockstar’s killer formula – and 24 years on, it’s still one of the best games ever made

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City began as a proposed add-on to GTA 3 but became a major standalone game, released in 2002 after roughly a year of development. The article argues that its scale, celebrity cast and bold approach helped establish the formula that would define Rockstar and make the series a cultural force.

Ray Liotta’s performance as Tommy Vercetti gave the series its first voiced protagonist, turning an arrogant gangster into the centre of a revenge story with a thread of redemption. The game featured more than 50 story characters voiced by actors including Tom Sizemore, Luis Guzmán, Gary Busey and Danny Trejo; its development budget was about $5 million, alongside $13.2 million in marketing.