Video games based on Miami cops don't have what you'd call a stellar track record. There was last year's PC title CSI: Miami, a crime-solving adventure drier than David Caruso's delivery. There was Bad Boys: Miami Takedown, which we bestowed with the coveted title of worst game of 2004.
Then there was an Xbox and PC budget title based on the '80s TV show Miami Vice, released last year only in Europe. Probably due to import restrictions on toxic materials.
Miami Vice has been reinvented by way of the recent Michael Mann flick, and the obligatory movie-to-game adaptation lands exclusively on the PSP. And although there's lots that's decent about Miami Vice: The Game -- crisp visuals, a cool Resident Evil 4-style perspective and a variety of gameplay styles -- there are plenty of irritations.
Like lowly thugs that can take a full clip of ammo (or more!) to kill, unless you can master the twitchy aiming well enough to consistently pull off headshots. Or the computer hacking mini-game that plays sort of like a kludgy version of Every Extend, and draws you out of the gritty, shooty vibe.
And although you play as the movie's nouveau Crockett and Tubbs (one at a time, or both simultaneously via wireless co-op play), the characters don't look or sound anything like Colin Farrell or Jamie Foxx. If you can't get permission to use your lead actors' likenesses and voices, then why even bother doing a game based on the movie in the first place?
Still, the game isn't bad for what it is, and as you travel the mean streets of Miami blasting thugs, collecting evidence, interrogating drug lords and skimming the waves in cigarette boats, you'll pump up your reputation and get easier access to the slimy underbelly of the South Beach narcotics trade.
As with every other shooter on the PSP, the single analog stick makes moving and aiming a little troublesome, but it's handled better here than in some titles. The use of cover, familiar to anyone who has played Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter or Kill.Switch, is also reasonably well done.
It might be generous to say Miami Vice: The Game breaks the curse of South Beach cop titles. But it beats Bad Boys: Miami Takedown. Beats it senseless.
BOTTOM LINE
Like the movie it's based on, there are plenty of things wrong with this game. But if you can overlook the flaws, it's a reasonably decent action title with a few unique touches.
Sun Rating: 3 out of 5
MIAMI VICE: THE GAME
Psp
Rebellion/ Vivendi Universal Games
Rating: Mature
