God. Where to start.
It's been 17 years since I visited Vice City. In 2002 and 2003, I was addicted to the original game. I would play into the early hours of the morning and then wake up a couple of hours later to get in some more game-time before work. And I'd still be late.
This was the dawn not just of truly three dimensional open worlds, but of Rockstar's trademark sense of humour. In giving you control of a lead character who was a self confessed psychopath, 'Vice City' side-stepped so many issues that skittled a lot of other games of this type - even of this brand.
Tommy Vercetti was so unhinged that mass murder didn't seem an unreasonable way to spend an interval between dirt bike races. Given this is the only game in the entire franchise to use this device, you have to wonder if it was a lucky accident. All subsequent GTA's have characters that try to be more rounded, more functional even in their dysfunction.
Tommy Vercetti was a cartoon character, and 'Vice City' was all the better for it.
Replacing him with a "good guy" for 'Stories' is the game's first misstep, but it's far from its biggest.
I don't remember 'Vice City', or 'San Andreas' for that matter, hating women with quite so much venom as this game.
Even if we somehow ignore the endless line-up of misogynistic characters (you're not supposed to like them so it's 'okay', right?) The game is constant and consistent in its depiction of women as something that exists only for belittlement at the hands of men.
It first rankled me during an early cutscene where an NPC is watching porn. During this scene he makes reference to the action on screen (his screen, not ours) where series regular Candy Suxxx is, by all accounts, engaging in sexual activity with farm animals.
Obviously this is played for laughs, but there's something nasty about the delivery. Something not befitting the porn-star with a heart of gold I (possible mistakenly) remember from the original 'Vice City'.
And then, from the moment I started the game proper to the moment I turned it off, every single radio advert was, in one way or another. disparaging towards women. That's not an exaggeration. From gun shops, to chewing gum, clothing, to... I can't even remember... Every. single. one. Hated women.
But it's satire! Right? You're not supposed to take it seriously! Yeah?
It's true. I laughed at the first advert I heard, and I smiled to myself seeing C LI NTS strip club, I even chastised myself for thinking the barely dressed NPC was a sex worker when she was probably just topping up her tan, in the middle of city, at night.
But then the second advert hit me, and the third, then I played a mission where I take a young mother to reclaim some baby stuff and she instead steals the fathers wallet, then there's another advert, and another.
It's relentless. It's draining. And it's depressing.
I'm aware a lot has changed in the world since 2006. And I'm more than aware that one of those things, perhaps even the thing that's changed the most, is me.
The original 'Vice City' is one of my favourite games of all time, and now I'm afraid I'll never replay it, because if it turns out that what I remember as a scatter-gun sense of humour where everyone and anyone was a target, was in fact steeped in the same level of cynically hateful misogyny as this game - it might just break my little gaming heart.
But maybe this kind of thing doesn’t bother you, maybe you think I’m being overly sensitive and that this kind of targeted hatred is not a problem when played for laughs - and if that’s the case I can tell you that ‘Vice City Stories’ actually plays really well.
It looked horrific played through my PS3 on my 60" Plasma but when I switched to the original hardware hooked up to a 21" CRT it's actually a great looking game.
The Soundtrack isn't up to the quality of the original but it's still fun, all the voice acting is top notch.
As a game in itself 'GTA Vice City Stories' is fine, as a reflection of games circa 2006 it’s utterly dismal.
No comments:
Post a Comment