Thursday 14 September 2006
This latest episode of handheld carjacking is a Vice City-based follow up to last year's impressive but flawed Liberty City Stories. And, from our up close look, it's going to do everything that LCS did only much, much better.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories takes us back to our favourite GTA location - the Miami-inspired Vice City - for more crime wave action as Victor Vance, brother of Tommy Vercetti's buddy/enemy Lance Vance. It's set two years before PS2's Vice City, and Vic's looking for a good time - which, inevitably, sees him lured into the criminal world by his white-lining bro.

Like LCS there's an incredibly large, sprawling city squashed into your PSP. Returning fans of Vice City will instantly recognise their fave areas, and there are some new landmarks to pick out. The pastel-painted beach hotels are still on show, but around the corner there's a brand new attraction called the Chunder Wheel, which you can ride, too.

But the big change is in the missions. They're much longer, more involved and cover a wider range of action. For example, one of Vic's first jobs is as a stuntman for an advert director. You're tasked with riding the new jet-ski vehicle between checkpoints, before leaping ashore and hopping on a motorbike to finish the ad with a zip through the vehicle-packed streets.

Liberty City's control set up remains untouched, with the same lock-on shooting system that sometimes makes things easier, and occasionally makes everything slightly more difficult. But there're plenty of enhancements that ensure Vice City Stories isn't just a relocated rehash of GTA on PSP.