A screenshot of Vice City from the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)If you, like many others, spent a whole lot of your Grand Theft Auto: Vice City playtime back in the day screaming in frustration at that mission where you have to blow up a building with an RC helicopter, I've got great news: that mission is back, in $2 PS4 game form!
If you head over to the PlayStation Store right now, you'll find a little game called HeliCity Demolition Man. Released on August 30 by developer Erik Games, the official description says that you'll "take control of a powerful demolition helicopter as you navigate through a high-stakes urban environment. Your mission? To strategically plant explosive charges in a towering construction site, all while facing off against new and unpredictable adversaries."
Take a look at the trailer for HeliCity Demolition Man above. If the pink accents, low-poly buildings, white van with a "fun" pun on the side, mini-map design, and UI details didn't give it away, this is, in fact, a straight-up unlicensed remake of the Demolition Man mission in GTA Vice City. It's all the same right down to the last detail - seriously, take a look at the footage below for a comparison.
All kinds of games you probably don't want to buy hit all sorts of gaming platformers every day, and I'm not even here to throw shade at Erik Games. The studio also has a party game called Potato Arena in Steam Early Access that seems totally fine and competently made. Mostly I'm wondering how the heck something like this makes it through PlayStation's certification process.
Presumably, somebody at PlayStation had to okay this game. I'd think the fact that it's got "Demolition Man" in the title - the name of a pretty notable '90s sci-fi film - would immediately set off a few flags. If not that, you might see the 'Bunch of Tools' store in the screenshot sharing its name with the same store in Vice City. At some point, you might even realize that this game uses literally Vice City's entire UI.
Ah well, if Sony's cool with HeliCity Demolition Man I guess there's no real harm here other than a bit of additional clutter on the PlayStation Store. And hey, it seems to be an easy platinum trophy, too, so if you're willing to pay $2 for a new plat, you might want to grab this one before it's gone. Or just wait for GTA 6 to land if you want to revisit Vice City in grander style.
