Rockstar Games welcomes us to the urban jungle of Vice City once again, in the new PSP incarnation of their GTA series. Developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with series creators Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is now available in North American retail stores, for a suggested price of $49.99, and proudly bearing the "M" (Mature) rating. The game should also arrive in Europe later this week, on November 3.

Vice City Stories takes players back in the '80s, in the same coastal city emerging from the swamps, but still sunk deep down in violent power struggles between exotic street gangs and underworld syndicates. Construction is everywhere in Vice City, as a shining metropolis rises from foundations of crime and betrayal.

"The glamour and glitz... the seedy, trashy underbelly... the pressure cooker of a tropical port city blowing out of control with burgeoning drug activity... The story of Vic Vance - a man wrongly discharged from the US military, finding himself with his back against the wall, and in a position to do whatever he must to make a new life and make things right for himself and his family.

A return trip to Grand Theft Auto's tropical haven for tumult and excess... Vice City. 1984.

All that... and portable to boot."

Well, you heard'em, folks. If you own a PlayStation Portable and don't have a fetish for oriental games (and even if you do), GTA: Vice City Stories is as good as they come on the PSP this time of the year.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)