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UGO.com's GTA:VCS Hands On Preview


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UGO.com - GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY STORIES HANDS-ON PREVIEW. Absolutely no new screenshots, but some new information. Enjoy.

GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY STORIES HANDS-ON PREVIEW

Featured preview by Russell Frushtick, contributing editor

If you own a PSP, you're probably already looking forward to Vice City Stories just as much as we are. Fact of the matter is that it's not too often that Sony's handheld sees stellar software, and GTA is quite obviously its highlight for the holiday season. In anticipation of its release at the end of the month, we stopped by Rockstar's office to get a little hands-on time with some of the game's missions. If you're looking for a general overview on the plot of Vice City Stories, be sure to check out our previous coverage on the game.

Our first mission had us taking on a job for the Mendez Brothers, one of the most powerful cartels in Vice City. Clearly these guys mean business, and their common course of action usually involves the unpleasant end of a rifle. In this case, we were ordered to wipe out some competition holed up nearby. Hopping in a ride, we started cruising over to the mission marker. Draw distance and graphical effects, like a bright orange sundown, were in full effect, though we're hoping the frame rate will see a little improvement with the box copy. Control-wise, driving and running around the city was pretty much identical to Liberty City Stories, so if you sunk a few dozen hours into that title, you're probably good to go.

Once we arrived at the marker, a quick gun battle ensued. In the middle of the carnage, we managed to pop a red balloon nearby, calling up a message reading 1 of 99 red balloons found. Get it? Oh '80s humor!

With our competition wiped out there, we moved on to a beachside resort where a serious rival had set up shop. Surrounded by bikini-coated beach girls, our mark was cool and collected. One moment he was chattin' us up, the next he was ordering the lovely ladies to blow us away! All around us, a few dozen chickas whipped out assault rifles, shotguns and magnums and started taking pot shots at us. Little option but to take them all down. Unfortunately, a few of them got away, tearing off down the beach on ATVs! The mission ended with an intense chase along the ocean, with our man tossing grenades to knock us off the course. A few shots with an SMG and we were 1500 bucks in the black.

Another mission allowed us to test out the much-anticipated aircraft in the game, having us rescue our troublesome brother Lance from a burning building via helicopter. The chopper controls could use a little tweaking, especially since, if you're pointed down for speed, you can't see ahead of you very well, but other than that we got the hang of it pretty quickly. Once Lance was saved, we made our way out to sea, where we had to take down boats carrying rival dealers. Holding the chopper steady allowed Lance to blow them away with an assault rifle, leading to a climatic confrontation and eventual drug windfall.

Based on our brief time with the game, we're definitely more excited for Vice City Stories than when we went in. It's admittedly not a dramatic evolution from the previous PSP GTA game, but all the visual tweaks, new vehicles and higher presentation values (expect an awesome soundtrack) should place it high in the running for PSP game of the year.

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