I have a new favorite radio station.
This radio station plays cheesy ’80s hits like “(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight” by Cutting Crew and REO Speedwagon’s classic “Keep on Loving You.” The disc jockey is Fernando, a Latin lover who likes to talk about the girls he picked up at the club last night. One of the station’s many taglines is “Emotion: Where we give it to you 24/7, not just once a month.”
The station is Emotion 98.3. Before you turn that radio dial, just a word of warning. You won’t find Emotion in Eugene. Only in Vice City.
That’s my vice, right there. Vice City.
“Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” to be exact. For those of you who haven’t been there (damn tourists), “Vice City” is the most expansive video game city on the planet. And I spend far too much time there.
Vice City technically isn’t Miami, but it is, with parts of “Miami Vice” and “Scarface” thrown in.
Heavy on the “Miami Vice.”
Sure, the game is a shoot-em-up. You start out as a mob underling and work your way through a rags-to-riches plot, performing various “tasks” for the bosses. And at any time you can take a break and just cruise around, flipping radio stations on the Ferrari-like vehicle you’ve just carjacked.
But the best thing about “Vice City” is the ’80s. These aren’t the ’80s we all know, with ponytails on the side and leg-warmers. This is the Decade of Decadence, in all its wonderful splendor. You blast Blondie from the stereo as you romp around the city, running into cars, knocking over fire hydrants and, yes, shooting random things. You meet drug lords who wear pink suits and dance in clubs with more neon lights than a carnival. You jack police cars and tanks, helicopters and speedboats.
And somehow, the destruction and mayhem seem almost normal. C’mon, this is the ’80s! The decade of conspicuous consumption! So what if you bust a few hoods along the way? You’re playing Twisted Sister on the radio!
That is the best thing about this installment of GTA. Past incarnations have been set in seedy, grungy, present-day cities that were almost too realistic. “Vice City” is a delight, a simultaneously sinister and sweet place that includes everything from a golf course (where you can jack golfers and take their carts), to vast malls and an adult film studio.
Maybe that’s why “Vice City,” which came out in early November last year, was named the game of the year by publications from Entertainment Weekly to Playstation Magazine.
It takes me back full-circle to Emotion. One of the taglines from the station is “Remember: Too much emotion is a always a good thing.”
Ditto on the Vice City.