Fansite PSP Vault has revealed a huge swath of details about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. The details are all apparently taken from the Australian edition of GamePro magazine as part of its cover story on the upcoming game.  When asked, Rockstar was unwilling to officially confirm or deny any of this stuff for us - but it all sounds pretty damn likely.

According to PSP Vault, GamePro reports that the main character of Vice City Stories is Victor Vance, the brother of Vice City character Lance Vance, who dies during the opening scene of the original Vice City. It is said that Vice City Stories is set in 1984 - two years before the events in Vice City took place.

As you can see in the above image - taken from the opening of the PS2 Vice City - Victor is a little unusual by the standards of GTA games, which so far have not featured balding, chubby protagonists who are easily put down by hails of bullets. But maybe Rockstar's got something up its sleeve to make Victor's two-years-younger self into an ultra-appealing antihero. It worked for Toni Cipriani, after all.

As far as gameplay tweaks, you'll reportedly be able to ride jet skis and swim; multiplayer modes similar to the ones included in Liberty City Stories are also in the cards. Perhaps most exciting, Vice City Stories is said to be much larger than the original Vice City game, in contrast Liberty City Stories (which was much the same length as Grand Theft Auto III.)

That's hardly all, but we invite you to take a look at the original story  on PSP Vault if you're curious to find out more... it's not like you can easily buy a copy of the Australian GamePro, after all, though that would be the best thing to do if you wanted to know the rest.

August 1, 2006