Tommy Vercetti

Thomas "Tommy" Vercetti is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (set in 1986). He is also mentioned in The Introduction, a prequel of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (set in 1992), and in the game itself during the mission The Meat Business by former friend and lawyer Ken Rosenberg. Tommy was voiced by movie actor Ray Liotta, making him the first protagonist in the series with a voice actor. Tommy is a former member of the Forelli Crime Family in Liberty City, who, after being released from prison following a 15 year long sentence, is sent to Vice City to perform a major drug deal with the Vance Brothers. However, when the deal goes awry and both the drugs and the money are lost, Tommy begins looking for the person responsible for ambushing the deal, working for various criminals of Vice City's underworld that might provide him with answers. Over time, Tommy begins building his own criminal empire and eventually finds the man responisble for the ambush, killing him and taking over his business, thus becoming the leader of his own gang, the Vercetti Crime Family. He then works to make his gang the biggest drug empire in the city, eventually killing all his enemies and becoming the ultimate drug lord of Vice City. Prior to the release of Vice City, IGN stated that Tommy was likely to "leave the same kind of imprint on kids today that [actor Ray Liotta's] portrayal of Ray Sinclair left on every high school and college kid who saw Something Wild back in 1986." They also compared Liotta's portrayal of Tommy to his portrayal of Henry Hill in Goodfellas. When asked about his portrayal of Tommy, Liotta stated that "it was hard work." He said that "you're pretty much putting yourself in [the game developers'] hands and doing whatever they want so there's not much for you to do creatively." The character of Tommy Vercetti received very positive reviews and remarks from critics and players of Vice City, making it to many lists of the best video game characters. IGN said that they "were ready for a more fleshed-out protagonist" after Grand Theft Auto III's Claude. Crave Online stated that playing as Tommy was "a breath of fresh air". The Age praised Ray Liotta's voice acting and stated "while the character riffs on Tony Montana throughout the game, Liotta's speeches give him a reckless sense of humour that makes him more likeable". GameDaily praised Liotta's portrayal as having transformed him from a generic-looking thug to a "tough guy who ruled the 80's." The Telegraph described Tommy as "the most amoral" Grand Theft Auto protagonist. Liotta won the award for Best Live Action/Voice Male Performance at the 2003 G-Phoria Awards and Best Performance by a Human at the 2003 Spike Video Game Awards. =Championships=