"Waste of a license"

Miami Vice is ripe with potential for a good video game. When Michael Mann released his film in 2006, a pretty good PSP shooter was made to coincide with the film's release. A few years earlier, a European company named Davilex decided to make a third person shooter, presumably to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the TV series' premiere. As a licensed budget game, Miami Vice tries to remain true to the license. The story loosely follows the cop duo fighting some drug cartels. The graphics and sound are both rather terrible, but that's pretty much the norm for a budget game. However, to the developer's credit, the main characters bear a good resemblance to their TV counterparts.

Miami Vice has gameplay that dates back to 1998. The entire game focuses on shooting lots and lots of drug dealers. The camera is fixed horizontally, and you cannot look up and down at all, which is really annoying when the game decides to place enemies above (and usually behind) you. You cannot fire your weapons unless you're targeting an enemy, and the game uses the archaic "hit a button repeatedly to switch targets" mechanic that usually doesn't even work - the game will keep targeting one enemy rather than several others in the area if that one you first targeted is still alive. You never really have to aim - just sort of swing your character in the enemy's general direction, hold target and mash the fire button until the enemy dies, and repeat this for the rest of the level. You can crouch and take cover behind objects but the mechanic is clunky and will usually result in you getting shot up like crazy trying to get in position. You can switch characters between Crockett and Tubbs. Crockett gets a pistol and Tubbs starts off with his trademark shotgun, and you can pick up one additional firearm from fallen enemies. The squad mechanic is really meh - when you're not controlling one member the computer is, and the only distinction between Crockett and Tubbs is that Crockett is more agile but Tubbs can kick down locked doors. If one member dies, a timer is started and the other member must run over to the downed team mate and revive them.

Summary:
+ Cool license
- Terrible gun play and team mechanics
- Crappy camera and controls
- Bad presentation

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/08

Game Release: Miami Vice (EU, 12/03/04)