Taking the role of either Sonny Crockett or Ricardo Tubbs,
Miami Vice: The Game takes you through Miami’s seedy back alley world of drug trafficking. As an undercover officer, it is your job to get close to every street corner pharmacist and big time drug lord in the city and take them down. In order to do this, you’ll need to first build up a reputation by taking down rival dealers (who just also happen to be some of Miami’s Most Wanted) as well as by becoming a better dealer yourself and looking good while you do it.
Gameplay consists primarily of shooter elements, combining the cover fire mechanics of kill.switch with the over-the-shoulder gunplay found in Resident Evil 4. Levels are linear in their design and can quickly become repetitive. You’ll run into a room, find cover and take out all the bad guys in the room before repeating the same cycle in the next room. How you go through each level helps to build or break your reputation on the street. If you charge through in full body armor brandishing a high-powered rifle, your reputation will suffer. On the flip side, going in with your standard issue pistol while wearing your Sunday best, you’ll earn a higher rep. Though it is an original mechanic, it doesn’t help to alleviate the fact that you’re still doing the same thing repeatedly; the only difference is that you’ll have an easier time with the big gun and armor.
Between levels, you can catch up with informants and bribe them with either drugs or money in order to get tips on the next mission. Tips include everything from how to get past certain security measures to the location of secret drug stashes and weapon upgrades. You can also enter the drug trade yourself by buying and selling to various dealers around town. Drug trafficking is actually one of the more interesting elements in the game, especially given the virtual economy that takes place. Certain drugs are in high demand in some areas, so there’s a bit of strategy to finding out who needs what and maximizing your take. On the downside, the trade isn’t all that tough to figure out. It is easy to come out on top with both money and drugs, allowing you to buy up all the information you could ever need from informants, making the game much easier in the long run.
During missions, you’ll obtain FlashRAMs that you can take back to headquarters and hack through. Doing so opens up a mini-game where you attack nodes with a triangle and collect information rings. Hacking becomes harder the deeper you get into it, but like the game’s other elements, it tends to become repetitive after the first few times.
