Miami Vice: The Game review

Sometimes awesome games come from weird places. In thiscase,the videogame adaptation of a movie that remakes an '80s TV show. It reads like three layers of pure, uncut horrible, but Miami Vice: The Game somehow fails to be just another crappy licensed shooter.

Sure, the gameplay is linear and repetitive, but the execution is fun enough that you won't care. At its best, it's a slow, methodical stealth-shooter, with Det. Sonny Crockett or Det. Ricardo Tubbs (you have topick one or the otherfor the single-player game, but they play identically) sneaking around, flattening against cover, peeking around corners andrapidly capping whatever thugs or cameras are in view before they can shoot back or sound an alarm. At times, the action is broken up by a high-speed boat trip, where you'll race through a watery maze and blow up drug-cartel motorboats.

The game gets around the PSP's infamous camera problems by giving players an over-the-shoulder view of their cop, who stands just to the left of center (think Resident Evil 4). The camera always follows from behind, and the only way to look around is to actually aim. It's a little weird, but it works surprisingly well.

One major irritation: the murky lighting and small screen make far-away enemies almost impossible to see. Thankfully, you can still tag them with the help of your map (which shows guard locations) and your gun's laser sight, which turns white when someone's in your crosshairs.