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Miami Vice PSP Review (Reviews)

Review by Tom Hully.

In Miami Vice: The Game, players choose between two estranged cops who take the central role in the game and the subsequent film. Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs are both characters in the game and have access to weapons, armour and clothing, all of which can be purchased and upgraded as the player progresses.

The storyline of the game details the dynamic duos' fight against a detailed network of drug cartels and gangs, all of which lead to the final showdown with a seemingly untouchable South American drug lord which gives the introduction to the film. Once these individual missions have been completed, players can access a string of drug dealers, where drugs that have been collected during the previous mission(s) can be sold of for cash, which in turn can be used to buy new weapons and clothing. These shady dealing escapades made by the two main characters may alarm some – what with the normal belief that the police should be eliminating and removing these substances and their sellers off the streets and not partaking in the running of them.

Here, then, lies the main driving force behind the story: these two main characters use their new found "evidence" to cleverly penetrate deeper into the drug dealing ring by supporting it, therefore exposing details of figures with higher and higher reputations. These narcotics can also be used to bribe informants into supplying the player with information relevant to the upcoming mission – these cover all the necessary locations such as enemies and health pickups, along with locations of extra drugs and the location of CCTV camera shutdown consoles (which help enormously when fighting in enclosed areas, as every time the player is detected another gang member appears in the area to supplement those already there) and handy pocket discs called FlashRams, which can be hacked at the Police Station (your base of operations) to unlock both weapon and clothing upgrades, such as increased firepower and clip size of weapons and increased armour capacity for suits.

Other features of the game include a reputation building dynamic – where players accumulate rep points by completing missions to gain access to increasingly powerful drug barons (which can be toppled through dealings, which can eventually establish you as a major player in the narcotics dealing market) and surprisingly innovative and entertaining interactive cut scenes.

Vehicle missions are also included in the game, although they are somewhat limited to boats only – however these prove to be an increasingly exhilarating experience as the chases become larger and more complex.

The final and surprisingly high quality feature in the game (which is also very fun) is the inclusion of a Co-Op game mode, which is accessed through the PSPs' ad-hoc wireless mode.

Overall then, this game starts off being very entertaining and of surprisingly high quality in terms of graphics considering the system it is using when compared to the bigger consoles, but some niggling defects unfortunately bring it down a little – such as irritating camera angles when utilising cover during firefights and the not-so-varied difficulty levels, even on the highest setting (extreme) the missions are still surprisingly easy.

Score: 8/10

- posted by duke on 01.09.06
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