The events of GTA: VCS unfold two years before. That's just to give you some perspective of where this game is coming from in relation to its predecessor. The background to this game is all about Victor Vance. The surname might ring a bell and it should. Victor is the brother of Lance Vance from Vice City fame. It's nice to see the co-relation between the two games.

Victor is an interesting character; a US army soldier based near the airport in Vice City, Victor plays the hero who is trying to rescue his brother from the grip of the 'Vice'. Victor's brother seems to be hooked on drugs and is in a bad way. The game follows Victor's progress as he fights to secure his position in the city of Vice whilst trying to get his brother out.

The first thing we noticed that was different about this game was movement and use of the controls. On the PSP, movement is fairly straightforward and you can pick it up quite easily. You also get the option to change how the movement is controlled. The D-pad controls movement by default and the thumb-stick controls the other game options like changing radio stations and changing weapons but if you don't like this, you can switch them around to suit.

The missions in the game are quite varied which is great. Racing ATVs (quad bikes) around a trailer park can be a lot of fun and if that doesn't take your fancy, perhaps good old fashioned killing will do the trick. The basic gameplay mechanics of unlocking different areas to progress continues in GTA Vice City Stories, which is just fine. It's nice to have a game that uses some of the familiar attributes of the previous games in the franchise.