I wandered into HMV this afternoon on my way home to check out the DVDs and possibly buy a couple to watch tonight. What I walked out with was something entirely different though.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

It seems HMV on Oxford Street had decided to start selling the game a day early, so out came the cash and out I walked clutching a copy of the game in my hand.

It's now gone midnight, it's the real day of release, and I've managed to complete a grand total of two (yes, 2) of the enormous number of missions. Not for lack of trying though!

To say that the previews have been overly hyping this game would be to do a disservice to every person who has written a preview of this game. Almost everything about it is carefully considered and extremely well constructed, from the design of Vice City itself to the enormous number of different things to do when you're not doing missions.

I have basically spent the last few hours just driving around the greater part of Vice City, swapping vehicles and exploring. The first and funniest revelation was the motorcycles included in this outing. They are simple to drive, as you control them the same way as a car. A lot of thought and work has been put into the motorcycles ensuring they become an integral part of the game and not just a curiosity.

At the very beginning of the game, your first task is to visit the lawyer, your first source of missions. And parked right outside his office is a Fiaggio (not to be confused with the Italian scooter of a similar name of course). It's only a small motorcycle, but this doesn't matter - the sheer joy of pootling around on the scooter is a joy in itself.

And howls of laughter greeted the first time I crashed into a wall - and got flipped over the handlebars to land face-first in the dirt! And the designers have made sure they provide a lot of fun for you using the new vehicles - one of the first side missions I came across quite by accident. I had turned down a random siding, and seen one of the new weapons - a meat cleaver - and when I turned around I saw what looked suspiciously like a Pizza delivery scooter. And when I stole it, I suddenly found myself in the middle of pretending to be a pizza boy!

I won't spend too long going on about the game as this is after all a first look. Have a look at the (fuzzy, sorry, our PS2 test machine hasn't arrived yet so we're limited to AV capture images) screenshots we've posted in and amongst this quick look, and if you haven't made plans to go buy this game, do so.