Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories [PSP]

Grand Theft Auto is synonymous with a genre. It's a big name that's been attached to some great games and no small amount of controversy. In fact, the game is as likely to be associated with picking up hookers, having sex with them, and beating them to death with a baseball bat as it is with free-roaming "sandbox style" gameplay. While recent titles like Saints Row and Scarface have been able to hold a candle to and even improve upon the not-quite-patented GTA formula, the series has had the PSP all to itself with the semi-sequel Liberty City Stories and now Vice City Stories. There's honestly nothing on the PSP that can compete, but is VC Stories really a great game?

Like the original Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, VC Stories features a character with a fully developed personality rather than a blank slate character the series used in pre-Vice days. The main man here is Vic Vance, a man who is faced with some serious family obligations, including a sick brother, a no-good brother (Lance Vance, a returning character), and a mother with an expensive drug problem. You begin the game on a military base where your corrupt commanding officer starts you down a path to dishonorable discharge and a life as a career criminal.

Your new job involves a lot of driving and a lot of killing people in a big, densely populated, busy and interesting Vice City that's nearly identical to what we saw in the original PlayStation 2 title. For a portable title, the graphics and scope of the environment are very impressive and defy comparison. There are a few technical hitches -- objects popping up suddenly, moments of janky jerkiness -- but overall the technical package is extremely impressive. The city is huge, the load times in between scenes are for the most part no sweat, and the sound is incredible with a solid cast of talented voice actors and a licensed soundtrack that captures the essence of the 80s in an extremely broad range.

There have been notable efforts to improve the game over the short and somewhat sparse Liberty City Stories. The game seems to be longer, for one. There are more complex multi-part missions, more collectables, and an expanded empire-building aspect that was touched on in the original Vice City. After a certain point in the story, which moves as you complete missions for various individuals willing to pay cash for carnage (or the prevention of carnage), Vic becomes a crime boss and can take over certain buildings and turn them into brothels, loan shark outfits, and other illegal operations that get you paid in cash money at the beginning of every day.