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When reviewing a game a writer must try to adhere to certain
codes-of-conduct, uphold some kind of moral order and say that
“drugs are bad”, kids! But Miami
Vice: The Game is going to be a difficult game to write about,
mainly because this is a
family-friendly website, and the game is so very adult. Avoiding any
relation to the tragic PlayStation2 release based on the TV
Programme, this PSP release instead firmly places it’s feet in the
shoes of the recent Motion Picture adaptation.
The story follows two Miami Drug Cops and their quest to infiltrate the
main infrastructure of the
Miami
drugs scene, to bring it down from the inside as it were. The game
centres on the main
Miami
area, a night-time Map being the main HUB of the game. From here you can
access the main Missions, different Sub-Levels and the Police
Station, where you can Load and Save your game, and also hide your
stash.
In the main Missions of this Third-Person Action game you are given a
series of Objectives to complete. The Primary Objectives are those
which you must complete to progress the game. These are pretty much
handed to the player on a plate as you simply have to get to a
destination. If the
Mission
reads ‘go and steal a
boat’ you must get to where the boat is and a Cut-Scene kicks in
showing your character (of which you choose Crockett or Tubbs at the
beginning) stealing the boat. You do have several Missions which
take place on a boat in which you must shoot-down all enemies and
reach your Objective point; although these do bring a welcome break
from all the walking and shooting they do little to alleviate the
boredom which consumes this game.
You can collect different items throughout the Missions to help you which
include First Aid Kits, Drugs (which you can trade with money)  and the FLASH RAM, of which there is one in each
Mission
you complete on foot. This FLASH
RAM can be hacked into at the Police Station, which opens up a
Mini-Game you must complete to successfully complete the hack. In
this Mini-Game, you have to charge-up a bomb to blast away blocks
which are floating around in order to collect little bubbles. After
collecting ten of these bubbles you get moved onto the next phase,
of which there are three in total to complete the hack. On later
Levels the blocks shoot-out spikes which burst one bubble;
theoretically these are used to make later hacks more challenging,
yet they act as a fuse and will end-up blowing-up several blocks in
one fell swoop.
The information gained from these hacks unlock certain items, including
weapon upgrades and the location of the Drug Barons with whom you
can trade your drugs for money, if your reputation is high enough.
In addition to these Drug Barons you can deal drugs on the street to
help your cash flow situation, which can buy new suits and weapons
upgrades .On playing this section of the game you may be reminded of
a popular Viral game called Dope Wars where the object was to deal drugs, make a profit and try
to not get busted by the Police. Take out the risk of getting busted
and you have the Street Drug Dealing which takes place on Miami Vice: The Game, as this time around you are the police.
For making money, a far better route to take is dealing drugs with the
Drug Barons, they will sell drugs in larger quantities and you can
deal with these people from drugs in the Police Depositary as well
as those you have in your pocket, whereas when dealing on the street
you can only sell what you have in your pocket at the time. When
initiating a Drug Baron trade, you have two different stages to
completing the trade. First off you must gain entrance -  convincing
the goons outside that you mean business - while the second phase is
actually trading with the nasty man. In both instances you must make
a Meter at the bottom of the screen fill-up by keeping your marker
in the middle of a bar. Blue is in the clear and you must keep it at
blue to win, if it goes into the red section it will back track, and
you will be in trouble.
Unfortunately this game suffers by the fact it’s too repetitive. Once
the Drug Barons are unlocked there is no reason, other than for fun,
to use the street dealers, as visiting the Drug Barons boosts both
your Reputation and your cash. The Missions are fun and can be
played from both a gung-ho shoot-and-die style of play as well as
being more stealthy, using cover and pinpointing the location of,
well, everything by buying the information Freddie Luiz has for
sale. However other than the Maps being different they are all very
similar so nothing really compels you.
The story itself is very sparse with little to no explanation as to why
Narcotic Police would be trading with Drug Barons, unless they are
indeed underhanded themselves. The main story also has a distinct
lack of imagination, having been thrown in as an after thought with
only a small amount of explanation as to what is going on, so you
find yourself unsure of your place, with only the ideal that you
must  bring
several drug lords to justice as your guide. Even at the end of the
title you are left confused as to whether you have actually
completed the game, as the only indication is a screen saying ‘Miami
Vice: The Game’, and as you return to the HUB of
Miami
all the Missions are unlocked
for you to complete again, completing Objectives by-passed on the
first play-through.
Miami Vice: The Game is
a fairly solid showing of the PSP’s graphical capabilities,
showing some good Character Models and shading; yet there were many
instances of Polygon Pop-Up and players may be slightly distracted
by this. The sound was mainly good, helping to add atmosphere
without detracting from the action and the sounds from the enemies,
although very limited, had a good distinction between when they had
found you, were looking for you or didn’t realise you were there,
which could be of great help.
Overall Miami Vice: The Game can get repetitive which detracts
from this slightly above-average title. If the developers had put
more variety into the game it would provide a much better sense of
escapism. The Mini-Games do help to add a different level of play,
but these are parts not essential to the game, just small add-ons,
almost a bonus rather than being an integral part of the game. The
different styles of play available also helped make this title
better than some other lack-lustre titles available for the PSP,
but, as the BBFC Classification suggests, this is a game for adults
only, and clearly unsuitable for younger players.
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