Vice City Stories improves upon some of the flaws found in the first game, not the least of which is improved length and direction, as well as a great deal more personality. The story's still pretty subpar, though, and as much as this is very much Grand Theft Auto, certain conventions of the series are starting to feel a bit antiquated.

Additionally, much as was the case with Liberty City Stories' transition to the PS2, Vice City Stories loses a lot of its appeal when played on a console versus the PSP. Still, it's only $20, and if you don't own a PSP or just never got around to playing it upon its original release, this isn't a bad way to go if you absolutely, positively must get your GTA fix.

Vice City Stories returns to the pastel- and neon-colored excesses of the 1980s and Vice City. Modeled after '80s-era Miami, GTA: Vice City told a Scarface -inspired tale of Tommy Vercetti, a shunned mobster who found himself sifting through the aftermath of a cocaine deal gone wrong, and subsequently ended up building a major criminal empire throughout the city.

It was a bizarre, convoluted, and completely entertaining tale, filled with ridiculous and profane characters, as well as lots of biting satire on the most superficial of decades. Vice City Stories is, again, a prequel, taking place a couple of years prior to the original game.

You play as Vic Vance, the brother of central Vice City character Lance Vance. Vic's a strange fellow.

When the game begins, he's just joined the army, and he gets off the transport truck at a military base in Vice City. Upon meeting his commanding officer--a borderline psychotic named Jerry Martinez--things start going wrong.

We find out that Vic has joined the military to make some money to support his family, specifically his sick brother. But within the first few minutes of the game, you'll find yourself inexplicably picking up drugs for Martinez, killing Mexican gang members, and chauffeuring prostitutes.

Of course, any veteran of this series won't be shocked one bit by missions like these. The trouble here is that the setup for getting Vic into this mess is beyond flimsy.

From the get-go, Vic talks about how uncomfortable he is with illegal activities, and yet he does every single illicit thing Martinez asks him to do. If you're someone who doesn't want to do anything illegal, and your boss starts asking you to pick up hookers and hide drugs for him, are you going to just gripe about it and then do it anyway? Not to mention that Vic seems completely willing to run into an apartment complex and start wasting Mexicans without even being ordered specifically to do so.

He just says, ""I'll go get it"" (referring to owed money stashed inside one of the apartments) and goes in guns blazing. GTA heroes are never heroes, exactly, but the trick in the past has been that there's been no attempt to play those characters up as sympathetic.

They weren't boy scouts--they were gangsters, killers, and dope dealers. Vice City Stories tries to present Vic as a guy who doesn't want to get into that stuff, yet he freely and frequently does throughout the entire game.

He mostly comes off as a hypocritical idiot. For what it's worth, though, once you get through about the first hour of the game, you'll probably be inclined to stop questioning why Vic is doing what he's doing and just go with it.

As time passes, the game settles into the typical progression of GTA missions and oddball characters. While Liberty City Stories was almost devoid of memorable characters, Vice City Stories digs up a few favorites from the original Vice City, and introduces a couple of new ones as well.

Vic's mildly crazy brother Lance, the alcoholic gun nut Phil Cassidy, the balls-obsessed Cuban gang leader Umberto Robina, and the foul-mouthed Ricardo Diaz (voiced by Phillip Michael Thomas, Gary Busey, Danny Trejo, and Luis Guzman, respectively) are all back. Lance plays a huge role in the story, but the others aren't quite as prominently featured as they were in the first game.

Still, you get a good chunk of time with each of them. Functionally, Vice City Stories plays very much as Liberty City Stories did on the PS2, return of the right analog stick camera control and all.

When running around and shooting people, you simply press the R1 button to lock onto an enemy. Occasionally the game will lock onto random civilians, as opposed to the guy with the submachine gun blowing a hole in your head, but usually it's pretty good about identifying exactly whom you should be killing.

Mostly, though, the combat is quite fun. Running around causing mayhem and blasting away at the masses is just as enjoyable as it's ever been, and there's a good variety of guns and other instruments of destruction to play with.

The one part that isn't so good, unfortunately, is the melee combat. Basic fisticuffs and blunt-object beatings are merely a bit clunky, but if you try to get yourself into a fight while holding a gun at close range to someone punching you in the face, you'll lose every time, unless you run a good distance away, turn back, and start firing.

For some reason, the game just can't deal with aiming mechanics while you're face-to-face with an enemy; you're basically hosed. Vice City is a sizable open-world environment and driving around it can be a bit overwhelming at first.

Odds are that unless you've had the original Vice City regularly inserted in your PS2 for the last couple of years, you won't remember too much of the city's layout. But even though it'll take a while to figure out all the roads and side streets, there's plenty of familiar scenery and landmarks that appear just about where you remember them.

The game's minimap is about as useful as it's ever been in depicting where you are, and there is a larger map to check on in the pause menu. Still, it feels a bit antiquated, especially considering evolutions we've seen in recent games of this type, where the best possible paths for a mission are highlighted on the map.

Heck, even an arrow pointer telling you where to turn would be nice. Driving in the game is pretty much as it's been for years now.

The vehicle physics are perhaps a bit more exaggerated than they were in Liberty City Stories, and that's both a blessing and a curse. It's extremely easy to spin out while taking turns in many of the game's cars, trucks, and motorcycles, but at the same time, some of the jumps and ridiculous crashes you can have make those wacked-out physics worthwhile.

You will run into weird physics glitches from time to time, and you'll sometimes get stuck in pieces of the scenery. These issues aren't exactly new to the series, but they're as annoying as ever.

In addition to cars and bikes, helicopters make their return in Vice City Stories, and they're among some of the most enjoyable vehicles in the game. The flying controls are easy to handle, and flying around the city is often much quicker than trying to drive it (less)

Tak Switch Controls. Auto Shut Off: Induction cooker Shuts off in 1 min if no Vessel is detected (less)

3-inch CCD with primary color filter Storage Media Internal memory (none) SD / SDHC memory card*2 File Format still image JPEG (Exif Ver 2.3 )*3 (Design rule for Camera File system compliant / DPOF-compatible) movie AVI (Motion JPEG ) sound WAVE format, Monaural sound Number of recorded pixels Still image L : (4:3) 4288 x 3216 / (3:2) 4288 x 2864 / (16:9) 4288 x 2416 M : (4:3) 3072 x 2304 / (16:9) 3072 x 1728 S : (4:3) 2048 x 1536 / (16:9) 1920 x 1080 Lens name Fujinon 5x optical zoom lens focal length f=5.

9 - 29.5mm, equivalent to 33 - 165mm on a 35mm camera full-aperture F3.

3(Wide) - F5.9(Telephoto) constitution 8 groups 8 lenses Digital Zoom Approx.

6.7x (up to approx.

33.5x, with 5x optical zoom) Aperture F3.

3 / F8.0(Wide) F5.

9 / F14.4(Telephoto) with ND filter Focus Distance Normal (from lens surface) Wide : Approx.

45cm to infinity / 1.5ft.

to infinity Telephoto : Approx. 80cm to infinity / 2.

6ft. to infinity Macro Wide : Approx.

10cm - 80cm / 3.9in.

- 2.6ft.

; Telephoto : Approx. 60cm - 1.

0m / 2.0ft.

- 3.3ft.

Sensitivity Auto / Equivalent to ISO 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200* (Standard Output Sensitivity) * ISO 3200 is effective in S modes. Exposure Control TTL 256-zones metering Exposure Mode Programmed AE Shooting Modes SP SR Auto, Auto, P, Movie, Natural Light & with Flash, Natural Light, Portrait, Baby, Smile & Shoot, Landscape, Motion Panorama, Sport, Night, Night (Tripod), Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Party, Flower, Text MODE DIAL - Image Stabilizer Digital Image Stabilization Face Detection Yes Exposure Compensation -2.

0EV - +2.0EV 1/3EV step Shutter Speed (Auto mode) TBD.

, (All other modes) 8 sec. to 1/1400 sec.

Continuous Shooting TOP-3 max. 1.

2frames / sec Auto Bracketing - Focus Mode Single AF / Continuous AF (SR AUTO, Movie) Type TTL contrast AF AF frame selection Center / Tracking White Balance Automatic scene recognition Preset Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light Self-timer Approx. 10 sec.

/ 2 sec. delay Flash Auto flash (i-flash) Effective range: (ISO AUTO) Normal Wide: Approx.

60 cm - 3.0 m / 2.

0 ft. - 9.

8 ft. Telephoto: Approx.

60 cm - 2.0 m / 2.

0 ft. - 6.

6 ft. Macro Wide: Approx.

30 cm - 80 cm / 1.0 ft.

- 2.6 ft.

Telephoto: Approx. 60cm - 1.

0m / 2.0ft.

- 3.3ft.

Flash Modes Red-eye removal OFF: Auto, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro. Red-eye removal ON: Red-eye Reduction Auto, Red-eye Reduction & Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Red-eye Reduction & Slow Synchro.

Hot Shoe - Electronic Viewfinder - LCD Monitor 2.7-inch, approx.

230,000 dots, TFT color LCD monitor, approx. 96% coverage Movie Recording 1280 x 720 pixels / 640 x 480 pixels / 320 x 240 pixels (30 frames / sec.

) with monaural sound. * Zoom function can be used.

* Sounds will not be recorded during optical zoom operation. Photography Functions SR AUTO, Face Detection, Auto red-eye removal, Blink detection, Framing guideline, Automatic LCD brightness adjustment, Frame No.

memory Playback Functions Face Detection, Photobook assist, Image search, Erase selected frames, Slide show, Auto red-eye removal, Protect, Crop, Resize, Image rotate, Mark for upload, Multi-frame playback (with Microthumbnail), Panorama, Favorite Other Functions PictBridge, Exif Print, 35 languages selection, Time difference, Discharge option for rechargeable Ni-MH batteries, Silent mode Terminal Video output NTSC / PAL selectable with monaural sound Digital interface USB 2.0 High-Speed HD output - Power Supply 2xAA type alkaline batteries (included) / 2xAA type Ni-MH rechargeable batteries (sold separately) Dimensions 93mm(W) x 60.

2mm(H) x 27.8mm (D) / 3.

7in.(W) x 2.

4in.(H) x 1.

1in (D) (Minimum depth: 22.0mm/0.

9in.) Weight Approx.

119g / 4.2oz.

(excluding accessories, battery and memory card) Approx. 168g / 5.

9oz. (including accessories, battery and memory card) Operating Temperature 0C - 40C Operating Humidity 10% - 80% (no condensation) Guide to the number of available frames for battery operation Approx.

180frames (Auto mode), Alkaline Approx.480frames (Auto mode), NiMH(2700mAh) Accessories Included 2xAA type alkaline batteries USB cable Hand strap CD-ROM Owner's manual Optional Accessories AV cable AV-C1 HD Player HDP-L1 (less)

) to the lens Virtual horizon display with two display options for visual confirmation that the camera is horizontally and vertically level Support for a variety of optional accessories, including a wide-angle converter and external Speedlights Specification Type of Camera Compact digital camera Effective Pixels 10.1 million pixels Image Size (Pixels) 3264 x 2448 (8M), 2592 x 1944 (5M), 2048 x 1536 (3M), 1600 x 1200 (2M), 1280 x 960 (1M), 1024 x 768 (PC screen), 640 x 480 (VGA), 3584 x 2016 (16:9), 3648 x 2432 (3:2), 2736 x 2736 (1:1) Lens 7.

1x Optical zoom; f=28 to 200 mm / F/2.8-5.

6 Vibration Reduction Lens shift Digital Zoom Up to 4x Focus Range Normal mode: 50cm, Macro: 2cm LCD Monitor 3.0""; 921,000-dot, TFT LCD monitor with anti-reflection coating, vari-angle Storage Media SD memory cards (SDHC and SDXC compliant;) and internal memory (approx.

94MB) File Format Compressed [JPEG (EXIF)], NRW (RAW), Stereo/wav file, MOV movie Shooting Modes Auto mode, P, S, A, M and User Settings exposure modes, Low noise night mode, Scene auto selector mode, Special effects, Movie mode Scene Modes Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night portrait, Party/indoor, Beach, Snow, Sunset, Dusk/dawn, Night Landscape, Close-up, Food, Museum, Fireworks show, Black and white copy, Backlighting, Panorama Capture Modes Single, Continuous (approx. 3 frames at 1.

0 fps), BSS (Best Shot Selector), Multi-shot 16 (16 frames with a single burst), Interval tmer shooting Video Recording HD 720p (1280 x 720, 24 fps), iFrame 540 (960 x 540, 30 fps), VGA (640 x 480, 30 fps) Exposure Metering System 256-segment matrix metering, Center-weighted metering, Spot metering, Spot AF area (with support for 99 focus areas) Sensitivity Auto (auto gain ISO 100 to 800), Fixed range auto (ISO 100 to 200, 100 to 400), High ISO sensitivity auto (ISO 100 to 1600), Manual selection: ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, HI 1 White Balance Auto, Preset manual, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Flash, Color temperature selection Self-Timer 2 and 10 sec. duration Flash Sync Modes Auto, Auto with red-eye reduction, Off, Fill flash, Slow sync, Rear-curtain sync, Manual Pictmotion No Supported Languages Total of 29 languages: Czech, Danish, German, English, Spanish, Greek, French, Indonesian, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Finnish, Swedish, Vietnamese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Hindi Power Requirements Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL14; AC Adapter EH-5b and the Power Connector EP-5A (optional) Battery Life (on a fully charged battery) Approx.

350 shots with EN-EL14 (based on CIPA standard) Dimensions Approx. 116.

3 x 76.9 x 48.

0 mm excluding projections Supplied Accessories (may differ by country or area) Camera Strap AN-CP21, Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL14, USB Cable UC-E6, Audio Video Cable EG-CP16, View NX 2 CD Weight (without batteries and memory card) Approx. 395g (Weight with battery and memory card) (less)