Monday 17 July 2006
Miami Vice opens with an option screen that says as much about gaming's potential for wish fulfilment in four words as you could in 40,000: 'Please Select: Crockett/Tubbs'.
Rebellion has taken the deftness for source material it showed with Rogue Trooper and applied it to Michael Mann's series (and now film) with a fizz of neon and a flare of cocktail-pink sunsets.
Much less mechanical than you might expect of a handheld movie tie-in, Miami Vice is nonetheless a straightforward game of killing perps and busting drugs, but its simple pattern of run, duck and gun has been smartly honed for PSP's unaccommodating controls.
With a wholly automatic camera, holding the right shoulder button switches the nub from movement control to laser-sighted aim control, meaning that it's essential to steer Crockett (or, of course, Tubbs) behind some cover before you start to fire.
Happily, almost every object in the game can be hidden behind and shot round, which perfectly recreates both the look of the shoot-outs you remember from the series and the methodical satisfaction of a decent light-gun game.
