To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Rockstar has re-released the game for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems.
If you have a smartphone or tablet you can relive Rockstar’s take on Miami Vice.
The graphics have been polished to take advantage of each platform’s strengths – for the new iPad this includes support for its retina display – and the game retains the neon gloriousness of the original.
For the uninitiated, the game requires that you guide mobster Tommy Vercetti through a series of increasingly annoying and yet addictive missions in his quest to clear his name and recover stolen money after a drug deal gone wrong.
Vercetti must drive, shoot and steal his way around Vice City, aided and supplied by a series of shady underworld types.
The infamously funny Vice City radio stations can be complimented with your own iTunes library by simply creating a playlist but the various sarcastic and caustic call-in shows and adverts deserve to be enjoyed all over again.
With physical controls replaced by the device’s touchscreen it’s harder than ever to control Vercetti while the placement of the fire controls right next to the steering controller can result in stray touches which end or seriously screw up missions.
Worse, Vercetti computer controlled sidekick Lance has a nasty habit of not staying close or running when he needs to. Temptation to shoot him is tempered only by the knowledge that doing so will fail the mission.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is seriously addictive stuff.
The iOS edition Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad
and can be downloaded from iTunes.
Our verdict: 4/5