I absolutely love Saint's Row, but THQ's game is to crime simulators what TNA is to professional wrestling. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, but I'd much rather eat a double whopper than settle for a dry sandwich. Confusing analogies aside, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto franchise is the unholy king of sandbox games, and while the next console GTA won't be out for well over a year, Rockstar is hoping to satiate fans' appetites with GTA: Vice City Stories for the PSP, a ridiculously robust adventure that bests the previously released Liberty City Stories in just about every way imaginable.

In order to surpass Liberty City Stories, a fantastic game in its own right, in quality, Rockstar went big. A true master of the PSP hardware, the company has taken the scenic Vice City, added to it, and somehow crammed the entire enchilada onto Sony's handheld, and what a tasty Mexican dinner it is! Despite looking exactly like the aged PS2 games, seeing this enormous city seamlessly running on a system that is often criticized as being a real bitch to program for is an incredible sight. Buildings stretch into the heavens, roads go on for miles, and the ocean is vast and limitless. The technology powering this game is sweeter than rock candy, the tastiest friggin' candy you'll ever have the privilege of popping into your mouth, at least when it comes to PSP games. The environment is twice the size of Liberty City, features twice the polygons, and twice as many vehicles and characters. It's like stepping up to a grill with an empty bun and having your favorite relative dump not one, but eight beef patties onto that bad boy. And it not only runs without a hitch, but it features speedy load times. Believe the hype my friend. Believe the hype.

Of course, all of the glitz and glam is worthless if you can't frolic about like a crazed psychopath, and Rockstar has delivered on this front as well. You can jack cars, run over or shoot pedestrians, pilot helicopters (something the Saints Row boys couldn't shoehorn into their game), ride on jet skis (a first for a GTA title), and you can swim! How about them apples!?! No more instant deaths every time a car tumbles into the sea! Vic Vance just spreads his arms and paddles for all he's worth.

Ah yes! Vic Vance. The main character. He's a 28 year old soldier trying to make ends meet in the delicious year that was 1984, which is two full years before the events in Vice City. Not only is he the brother of Lance Vance, the dude that gets smoked in Vice City, but he's also Tommy Vercetti's partner. But none that really matters in this game. It's just Vic and Lance, two brothers that fully intend to break the law and make a lot of scratch in the process, and believe me, there's a ton of money to nab in Vice City. All you've got to do is take it by any means necessary!

The missions in this game appear to be a bit different than the ones in Liberty City Stories. Whereas that game features lots of simplistic "point A to point B" missions, Vice City Stories contains multi-tiered objectives. For example, in this mission called Leaps and Bounds, I watched as Vic climbed atop a building and used binoculars (another GTA first) to watch his brother talk to a drug dealer. When the deal goes awry and Lance is abducted by the bad guy, Vic has to chase after him, then figure out how to catapult himself onto a boat, then kill a couple waves of bad guys, get his brother back, and get the hell out of Dodge. There's just a lot more to do this time around, though the game does contain quite a few simplistic missions that shouldn't be too difficult to complete and are pretty straight-forward. Say Cheese, a mission in which Vic has to hit check points while riding a jet ski, is a perfect example of typical GTA shenanigans.

Like most of the games in this series, Vice City Stories contains a rather engaging story that'll not only provide plenty of info on the characters, but also the events leading up to Vice City's shenanigans. Take for instance, the Chunder Wheel, which is this huge Ferris wheel. It doesn't show up in Vice City because it had been destroyed, and in Vice City Stories, you'll find out how it happened. Hell, you'll probably take part in its destruction.

There's also full voiceovers for all of the characters and plenty of radio stations. Actually, the soundtrack may wind up being this game's best feature. Rockstar hasn't announced the official list, but it's gone on record as saying that the game features completely different 80s music than what's found in Vice City. Of course, there will also be original content, so expect some amusing commercials and talk shows.

There's a lot of info in this preview, but it doesn't scratch the surface of the game. Rockstar wouldn't let me play it, and the demo only lasted about 20 minutes. But based on what I've seen, the company has a surefire hit on its hands. There's just no way in hell that Vice City Stories won't be the top selling PSP game this holiday season. It'll be huge. But I really want to get my hands on it, and if Rockstar keeps its end of the bargain (it mentioned hands on playtime in the near future), I'll report back with my impressions.