Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - Playstation 2

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for the PlayStation 2 is a prequel to the beloved Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, set two years earlier in 1984 in the same sun-soaked, neon-drenched fictional city. Players take on the role of Victor Vance — the older brother of Vice City's Lance Vance — a principled US Army soldier stationed at Fort Baxter who is framed and dishonorably discharged thanks to the schemes of his own corrupt commanding officer. Kicked out onto the streets of Vice City with nothing, Victor is pulled into the city's criminal underworld by his brother Lance, navigating a world of glamour, betrayal, drug cartels, and ruthless crime lords as he fights to survive and carve out a place for himself in one of gaming's most iconic open worlds.

Vice City Stories introduces Empire Building — the biggest new gameplay mechanic in the series at the time — a system that blends Vice City's property ownership with San Andreas's gang territory warfare. Players take over rival gang businesses across Vice City by eliminating the gangs that control them, then purchase and upgrade the properties into their own criminal enterprises ranging from legal fronts to protection rackets, loan sharking, smuggling, and drug operations. The more businesses Victor controls, the more passive income he generates and the stronger his criminal empire grows — though rival gangs will actively raid your properties, forcing you to defend your turf. Traditional GTA open-world freedom is fully intact, with a massive Vice City to explore across land, sea, and air alongside dozens of story missions, classic side missions, and a brand-new Beach Patrol mode where Victor moonlights as a lifeguard. The PS2 version enhances the visuals over the original PSP release, eliminates the frame rate issues present on the handheld, and adds additional side missions and Easter eggs exclusive to this version.

Originally developed for PSP and released in October 2006, Vice City Stories was ported to PlayStation 2 in March 2007 — one of the final major GTA releases on the platform. It serves as the last story set in the 3D era of the GTA universe before the series transitioned to the HD era with Grand Theft Auto IV, making it a significant piece of GTA history and a must-have for fans of the Vice City setting.

Language: English
Rating: M (Mature) — Blood, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs
Platform: PlayStation 2
Genre: Open World / Action Adventure
Players: 1 player
Developer: Rockstar Leeds / Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Release Year: 2007 (North American PS2 release: March 6, 2007)