Why haven't there been more open world games set in Miami

[Edward Nashton]

Okay, time to break my silence. I read @Night Machine linked article, it was interesting and I don't doubt that Miami Vice had a hand in helping Miami (South Beach specifically) boost it's tourism industry... But, the article is a puff piece. It focuses heavily on the superficial; the show's aesthetics, art deco architecture, the new wave clothing fashion, the beaches with all the beautiful people etc. and how all of that helped with attracting tourists. It doesn't really go into detail on how it improved other sectors of the economy, it just goes on about how it saved the city's image. Okay, sure. I'm okay with that, I guess. What I'm not too sure about is it's claims that the city was pretty bland and desolate until Miami Vice came along and showed everyone how it's done! Clearly there was a preexisting tourist and night scene before - Scarface came out a year before Vice and it prominently showcased the beaches, the fashion, the lavish lifestyles of Miami high society, and the drug fueled club scene - most of the wide outdoor shots were on-location, before someone gets pedantic.

 

My point is they got the inspiration from somewhere, and it was, y'know, the irl beaches, clubs, and the decadent lifestyles of the drug lords, and the rich and famous who gravitated to the city because of it's roaring drug scene. And then there's the titanic amount of money that comes with all that and the inevitable corruption. Billions were pumped into the city - there is no denying that, the very thing that was hurting the city was also weirdly helping it, especially later on, obviously there were ups and downs in between. Once the bad guys were all dead or in prison, the investments, real estate developments, businesses, and the pop culture footprint they left behind really set the upward trajectory for the city moving forward. I'm not going to indulge in hyperbole and say that it SINGLE HANDEDLY saved Miami, but it was very much a contributing factor. It had a hand in both destroying and improving Miami, the latter was obviously unintentional.

 

@Night Machine  By the way you speak about the show, you seem to be very close to Miami Vice. One would almost suspect you were somehow involved with the production of the show or... something, with your PR marketing talk and all. So, I doubt you'll care about what I had to say above, and I'm not really all that interested in arguing. But what I will say is this: Miami Vice ran from 84-89 (final "lost" episode aired on Jan 1990), according to you the show improved the city's image almost as soon as it started airing. According to this hefty article from 1987, the city was still suffering from an image problem and was struggling with attracting corporate interests. It does acknowledge that drug money along with oil money and "trading" with Latin American countries bolstered the city for a period, things took a dip and then came back up again. The only mention of Miami Vice is that it was inspired by the criminals that were hurting the city's image at the time. It then goes on to talk about the terrible, terrible race relations of the city and it's pervasive anti-Cuban sentiment. 

Can Miami Save Itself; A City Beset by Drugs and Violence 

 

 

Also, I'd love to see another open world game set in Miami. It's been too long.

 

...I'm done.

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Edward Nashton

[Zello]

On 8/24/2020 at 10:00 AM, Mister Pink said:

GTA: Vice City

GTA: Vice City Stories

Scarface: The World Is Yours

Driv3r

The Godfather II

Of those how many of those can you play right now?

 

Just one. Vice City if you have a PS4 or PC. The others you better have a good working copy saved somewhere pray it works and a PS2 or Xbox on hand or prepare to pay a fortune for it. Scarface The World is Yours, Driv3r, and Godfather II aren't available on any of the online PC stores either. Vice City stories was a Playstation exclusive.

 

 

Also the Godfather II is debatable if it's set in Miami since in the game they never mention Miami by name just "Florida" the map isn't accurate and there are no notable landmarks at all.

Edited August 25, 2020 by Zello

[Zello]

On 3/3/2019 at 10:28 AM, Static said:

Even if you considered all the games set in Miami, which is 37 btw, it's still but a fraction of NYC or LA.

 

 

Somehow this counts since you're technically playing in "Miami"

Edited August 25, 2020 by Zello

[Mister Pink]

11 hours ago, Zello said:

Of those how many of those can you play right now?

 

Just one. Vice City if you have a PS4 or PC. The others you better have a good working copy saved somewhere pray it works and a PS2 or Xbox on hand or prepare to pay a fortune for it. Scarface The World is Yours, Driv3r, and Godfather II aren't available on any of the online PC stores either. Vice City stories was a Playstation exclusive.

 

 

Also the Godfather II is debatable if it's set in Miami since in the game they never mention Miami by name just "Florida" the map isn't accurate and there are no notable landmarks at all.

Point taken!  You're right man. Can't disagree with you there. 

[GrudgefromSanAndreas]

So are SFTWIY and Driv3r abandonware?

[Zello]

On 8/26/2020 at 4:20 PM, GrudgefromSanAndreas said:

So are SFTWIY and Driv3r abandonware?

Probably.

 

Scarface is tricky because of movie rights and sh*t probably expired years ago. Driv3r uhh... they want you to forget about that game lol. I do have hope that with that Scarface movie reboot in the works that the game gets a remaster or a rerelease but idk if that will ever happen.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Zello

[kobeni]

Well there's NFS Heat

[Zello]

On 9/12/2020 at 10:48 PM, DownInThePMs said:

Well there's NFS Heat

Ehh NFS Heat took some inspiration from Miami but not the entire map.

[Badman_]

Scarface, Driver 3, GTA Vice City (and Stories), NFS Heat, Godfather 2...

 

I think there's a good list of games that are set in Miami and GTA 6 will probably be set Vice City too so... I think it's no big deal.

[Zello]

3 hours ago, The Wolf Man said:

Godfather 2...

Godfather 2 isn't in MIami. It's a generic Florida location that looks nothing like Miami.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Zello

[B Dawg]

On 8/26/2020 at 1:24 AM, Zello said:

Of those how many of those can you play right now?

 

Just one. Vice City if you have a PS4 or PC. The others you better have a good working copy saved somewhere pray it works and a PS2 or Xbox on hand or prepare to pay a fortune for it. Scarface The World is Yours, Driv3r, and Godfather II aren't available on any of the online PC stores either. Vice City stories was a Playstation exclusive.

For Vice City Stories, emulator, for the other ones that aren't available, well, you know

[sivispacem]

10 hours ago, Zello said:

Ehh NFS Heat took some inspiration from Miami but not the entire map.

You could say the same about VCS, though. You can't really exclude one example that's "inspired" by Miami whilst continuing to include a load more that are also actually "inspired" rather than "set" there. 

[MrBreak16]

The most "accurate" version of Miami I have seen in a game is The Crew and The Crew 2. But these are online open world racing games and the city feels really empty in both

Edited January 13, 2021 by MrBreak16

[D9fred95]

I've been playing alot of NFS Heat recently and Palm City seems fairly "Miami". While it's not a 1-for-1 recreation, no GTA city really is either (V's Los Santos has no Long Beach for example). I went to Florida back in 2019 and even though I wasn't in Miami, many areas in Palm City like the Mendoza Keys look exactly like locations I went to during my trip.

[Zello]

We need more third person open world games with guns set in Miami 

[KiTTYReCkless]

I wish more games were set in New England (ie Boston) Besides Fallout 4 I can't think of any others...

[Zello]

We need Miami 

[MrBreak16]

2 minutes ago, Zello said:

We need Miami 

Yes

[Algonquin Assassin]

12 hours ago, Zello said:

We need Miami 

Yep. 
 

Without me life isn’t worth living.