After the superb movie starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx this summer, it came as no surprise that a game was in the development using the movie license. But what is surprising, this isn’t your typical let’s release it on every platform ever including Atari Jaguar to try and get every penny available movie-based videogame, as it’s only coming out on PSP. So, does it suit the PSP, does it work perfectly with the controls of the system and the small screen? To be brutally honest the answer is no, not really, it would have been a much better game on PlayStation 2 (which has already had its own, rather dire version of a Miami Vice). But worry not, that doesn’t make this a bad game…

Miami Vice: The Game is a mixture of genres, from third-person action/stealth to driving, and you take control of either Crockett or Tubbs and begin the adventure. The majority of the game is done on-foot with a over-the-shoulder camera, similar to what was used so effectively in Resident Evil 4. The missions are all objective based, and usually revolve around obtaining information, meeting and taking out enemies and characters. Along the way you also pick up certain items such as drugs, which can be used to buy information from dealers in-between missions.

You control Crockett or Tubbs with the analog nub, and toggle crouch/stand with ‘circle’, run with ‘square,’ and aim your weapon with ‘R’ shoulder button. Unfortunately due to the hardware limitations of PSP, there is no secondary analog nub to allow camera control, and the game suffers quite heavily for it. The camera locks to the back of your player character, and sometimes it’s very difficult to see enemies attacking from the left or right of you, which can get frustrating, especially later in the game when there are more than a few enemies in one area to take out. It’s not a game-breaking problem, it’s just rather awkward, especially after playing similar games that do have independent camera control. The driving sections play quite similarly, and require you to drive and shoot at the same time, taking out enemies and pick up drugs along the way. These missions are much shorter than the on-foot ones but break the game up nicely.

Graphically the game is pretty solid, with nicely detailed environments and locations, and the two main characters are easily recognizable. Animations are decent too, even down to how they hold their guns and lean around corners. It’s just a shame the blurry and laggy PSP screen hides much of the detail. The games music is good though, with some well-selected tracks which change depending on what you’re doing in the game. Both the visuals and the audio give a really good atmosphere to the game, overall it’s really well done. Enemy AI is pretty basic; once they have seen you they often just stand there shooting at you, and then hide to reload and come back out at the same place, they won’t try and get at you from another point in the level.