GTA: Vice City Stories is situated in 1984, two years before the original Vice City on PS2. The city is mostly under construction, the difference between rich and poor is strongly present and there is a lot of crime. Gangs rule over the city. The police is involved too, they just act as if nothing is going on. Main character is Vic Vance (yes, brother of Lance Vance), an 28 year old soldier who got on the wrong side of the law somehow. He’s a tough guy who likes to make his hands dirty, to put it in a decent way.

As soon as we see the first images, we have to admit there is a notable difference. If you thought Rockstar Games got the maximum out of the psp with Liberty City Stories, then you’re very wrong. The first thing we noticed in the bright and sunny city was that everything looked much more realistic, including traffic. In the predecessor, they used a system that respawned the same pedestrians and vehicles over and over again. Now, that’s no longer the case. Also the water, which will become more important in this game, looks a lot better and more detailed. Oh, and you’ll be happy to hear that Vic has learnt to swim and can pull himself out of the water again.

Mission: Say Cheese
What do you do when you need cash? In Vic’s case, you apply as a stunt driver for a chocolate commercial. The guy you will work for isn’t really normal, let’s call him eccentric, but even that is too weak. With a little voice he starts chattering about a story of two brothers, one a dog, the other a librarian. Anyway, Vic gets the job and so we discover one of the novelties of the game: water vehicles. He jumps on a jet ski and needs to get to the checkpoints on time. A helicopter flies above your head to film everything and that way you get a cinematic view during stunts. On a spectacular way, the race goes on, this time on a motor vehicle. This kind of transitions, from land to water or air will be something you see often in VCS. There will still be fun, short missions, but most of them will be more profound.

Mission: Waking Up The Neighbours
One of the gangs, the Cholo’s, obstruct the business of Vic’s friends and drugs dealer Marty Williams. No problem, Vic will get his grenades out and blow up their vans. However, he has to be careful to not alarm them. If he does, the shotgun or rocket launcher come in handy. Although you can just drive over them with a stolen vehicle of course! In short, a mission as we know it, with lots of banging violence and multiple possibilities to get out of there alive.

Missie: Steel The Deal
Good old Diaz wants to reach the top of the crime world. Gonzales, a new guy in town, tries to handle drugs without paying Diaz for it. Therefore, they want to get back at him. Vic and Lance follow Lance’s intuition and decide to wait in front of a Strip Club where a lot of foreign men hang out. For once, that doesn’t get them into trouble. On the other hand, after a while Gonzales’ courier walks out. It’s clear he’s been drinking and partying all night when he gets into his car and starts to swing from one side to another. Vic and Lance follow him from a distance, because if they get too close, they’ll blow their cover. The persecution goes on on a jet ski, but don’t worry, you can listen to the typical GTA radiofrequencies there too! Vic plays a one-man-army en dives into the speedboat where the drugs are hidden. While he slides over the water to bring the boat and including dope to Diaz, Gonzales’ men are after you. Not an easy job to get rid of them!

Mission: Taking The Fall
Another mission to make us clear there’s a lot more in Vice City Stories than in the predecessor. Lance has some unfinished business with some bikers and thus, he wants Vic to control a helicopter while he shoots them with his AK47. Immediately, we find out flying with a helicopter isn’t as easy as it looks. You have to keep an eye on the balance and damage meter. The L and R buttons let you turn. You use X to balance and you press up on the analogue stick to get your tail up. You can get some speed if you can hold the tail under an angle of 45 degrees. Of course, the helicopter has to fly low enough so Lance can shoot the bikers. When Lance falls out of the helicopter and is caught by the tough bikers, Vic has no choice than to go after them. Snipers, rifles, shotguns, Vic gives them everything he has to get his brother back. Don’t expect any gratitude from Lance though.

Mission: Jive Drive
On the Escobar National Airport, Vic is waiting for his contact person. He’s certainly surprised to see his own brother Lance showing up. There is a short discussion, but that stops when they’re under fire. Lance jumps behind the wheel of a car and starts driving, Vic sits next to him and shoots everything that moves. It’s a good idea to put automatic aiming on here.

Mission: Leap And Bound
Another introduction of a new item: a binoculars. Vic uses it to look out for his brother when he’s doing a deal with a guy. That was a good plan, because Lance is captured and brought to a boat that has lots of contraband. Vic takes the car to drive to the boat and uses a ramp to get it on the deck. He collects the contraband while shooting down the enemies. Finally, he saves his brother and gets out of there with a great jump with a motorcycle.

Mission: Turn On, Turn In, Bug Out
To give us an impression of how hard the game can get, the last mission we got to try was one with six stars. Lance discovers the DEA is tracking him and his brother down. So you’ll have to use a rocket launcher to blow down their antennas and win time. To go from one antenna to another, you use the helicopter again. All of this in a race against the clock. They told us there was also a SWAT bus involved, but we didn’t get to that point. We had to learn to fly the helicopter first and that needs some practising. But hey, there has to be a challenge!