GTA: Vice City Stories - Hands On Preview

TVG's second visit to Vice City was a chance to discover more about the exploits of the Vance brothers, as they struggle to seize the opportunity that a city on the rise in the mid-1980's brings. Of course being set two years before Tommy's adventures in Vice City, the titular location is a little different this time around. A time before the yuppies, excess and over-indulgence kicked in, alot has already been mentioned about The Warriors inspired Ferris wheel and the chance to take a ride and enjoy the view; whilst the trip around the Eastern island also came across the golf course that was the scene of a classic encounter in Vice City.

With missions appearing on a pager, the first of the demonstration challenges Vic to set off after a package competing against others in a race to collect it. Although it seems impossible to actually get to the package first, the mission quickly changes to all-out attack, as you're left to ram the opponent off the road to take hold of the package yourself - a GTA take on the archetypal CTF gametype.

The second mission entitled "Lost and Found" demonstrated one of the most significant introductions to Vice City Stories, the introduction of helicopters and other aerial-based vehicles - although Rockstar are keeping quiet about exactly which craft will feature. After hi-jacking a helicopter from the roof of the hospital, Victor must fly to assist his brother's escape from the rooftops of a burning building. Once rescued, the mission requires a steady control to chase after the enemy in speedboats, with Lance gripping hold of an assault rifle in one hand and hanging out of the window with the other. Pretty standard requirements for a typical day in GTA, however Vice City Stories introduces the subtle challenge of a "Balance" meter, required to keep level to ensure Lance gets a clean shot at his targets. Amidst claims of the most sophisticated water to feature in a GTA title to-date, Rockstar Leeds appear to be becoming adept masters of the PSP with convincing wave and wake effects that can be scrutinised thanks to Vic's swimming ability (white men can't swim, it seems).

Finally the third mission, "Unfriendly Competition", and last of the day came with the added bonus of invincibility and the claim that survival would be tough without it - apparently Rockstar Leeds are toying with the balance at this moment. Driving to a location on the beach front, Victor faces up against wave after wave of bikini-clad women with very big guns. Despite the alluring attraction, the action is relentless and a suggestion that "excess" is the theme running throughout the entire game. Finally the mission concluded with an exciting chase sequence across Ocean Beach on quads.

Although each of the three missions exhibited the pickup and play nature that characterised Liberty City Stories, Rockstar assure us that they've listened to the demands of the fans and included longer, grander, multi-part missions - as they noted themselves, the Hold button is pretty useful when it's time to get off the bus!

Following Liberty City Stories, it's inevitable that Rockstar would follow up with multiplayer features. Unfortunately they're remaining tight-lipped on the specifics, though we do know it will be a mixture of the old and the new with water and aerial vehicles likely to feature.

Teasingly Rockstar representatives promised a new side-mission structure set to be revealed in GTA: Vice City Stories; although surrounded by a veil of secrecy at present, we did manage to squeeze out the fact that it's something that has been tried before in the GTA series, but with an entirely new twist. We suspect it's the "Empire Building" that has been hinted at before, but hope that co-op following the Vance brothers is an outside possibility.

The team at Rockstar Leeds have obviously benefited from their extended time with the PSP and appear to be pushing Sony's handheld format further than most. The obvious difference compared to Liberty City Stories is the improvement to the draw distance, which capture the vivid hues and enhanced colour palette that make up the skies above Vice City far more capably then its predecessor. Although Vice City is twice the size of Liberty City (in their respective "...Stories" spin-offs), load times have also been dramatically reduced, with an average island hop taking less then five seconds to load and barely noticeable whilst you're actually playing. The list of improvements continue, with the team at Rockstar Leeds ramping up explosions considerably with a greater sense of impact and flying in a different trajectory to straight up and down every time.

With the demonstration concluded TVG had the chance to ask about the rumoured return of Tommy Vercetti voiced by Ray Liotta. Rockstar seemed bemused by the suggestion, claiming that some rumours had wrongly suggested that Ving Rhames would be bringing the title's main character to life - though we won't take that as complete denial just of yet.

Following the biggest title on the PSP to-date is no mean feat; however, Rockstar Leeds appear to have embraced the challenge in the way we expect from the GTA series. Vice City Stories appears to expand upon every virtue of its PSP predecessor whilst maintaining the series trademark qualities; given the limitations of the system, it's an amazing achievement that the handheld specialists appear to be on their way towards.