Vice City appears to have a cast of colorful characters that runs at least as deep as GTAIII's. You'll encounter heads of gangs, such as the Vietnam-vet-turned-biker, Big Mitch Baker. Other major characters include the corrupt preacher, Pastor Richards, a hillbilly arms dealer named Phil Cassidy, and a wide array of characters that will help, harm, or double-cross you along the way.
Sound was an important part of GTAIII. Between the fantastic voice work, multiple radio stations, and realistic sound effects, the game simply sounded great. The "bigger, better, more" approach is being taken in Vice City's sound department, as well. The game is said to feature a total of nine hours of audio, and the cast of voice actors working on the game should be rather impressive. Many rumors about the voice cast have been floating around, pinning people like Luis Guzman, Jenna Jameson, and Phillip Michael Thomas to the project, but the only officially confirmed voice in the game is that of Ray Liotta (Blow, Turbulence, Goodfellas), who will provide the voice for Tommy Vercetti. The multiple-radio-station concept that has been included in every single GTA game to date will also be included here. Station genres will include heavy metal, rap, soul, pop, power ballads, and the ever-popular talk radio station. No word on whether the talk show station will include the return of Lazlow Jones. Artists on the game's soundtrack include Judas Priest, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Hall & Oates, Kool & the Gang, A Flock of Seagulls, and many more. Each station will, as before, feature its own DJ, and a healthy number of funny, fake commercials are scheduled to be included as well.
The GTAIII engine has been expanded to allow for more-impressive graphics. Radiosity lighting is used throughout the game for most of the game's nighttime effects, such as neon that realistically splashes colored lighting around it, car headlights, and so on. Improved disc-streaming techniques allow the game to have a longer draw distance, though the frame rate doesn't seem to have taken any sort of performance hit in the process. The game features fewer flat-shaded objects and more fully textured surfaces than GTAIII, including the pattern on Tommy's Hawaiian shirt, among others. You'll see quite a few costume changes for Tommy as the game progresses, as well--the first mission forces him to change out of his favorite attire in favor of a Miami Vice-like pastel suit. Also, as seen in some of the game's early screenshots, fish and other ambient wildlife will be found throughout Vice City. There's no word yet on whether or not you can shoot fish out of the water.
Cars of the '80s simply look different from the cars of today, and Vice City will reflect that fact with a wide array of sedans, Italian-styled sports cars, motorcycles, trucks, and vans. Since Vice City is a seaside locale, boats will play a significantly larger role here than they did in GTAIII. To facilitate this, there is a fairly large variety of different boats in the game, including speedboats and sailboats. You'll need a boat to reach certain areas of the game, as your main character still dies upon contact with the water. Finally, flight is another aspect that has been expanded in the form of a flyable helicopter. While the version we saw still needed some optimization, flying high above Vice City is definitely an amazing addition to the series. You'll be able to land your chopper on top of skyscrapers and snipe victims from a high position. Of course, police helicopters are still a nuisance, and now officers can actually rappel out of helicopters to come after you.
Outside of cutscenes, there were very few instances of going indoors in GTAIII. That's been changed in Vice City. While you won't be able to go into every single building in the game, a significant number of buildings will have fully furnished interiors. One scenario we were given was that you could be running away from the cops, then head into a pizza shop and duck behind the counter to find cover. We don't know if you'll actually be able to lose cops (and thus stars on your wanted meter) this way, or if it's just a good way to take shelter from gunfire.