In one month, the PSP will receive its second Grand Theft Auto title. Based on the neon-soaked Vice City, featured on the PS2, XBox, and PC, Vice City Stories will take the player back to the wacky Duran Duran days of the 1980s.

Set in 1984 (two years before Vice City), players will take command of Victor Vance, the gentleman who will eventually suffer a terrible fate in the intro to the original Vice City. As a former man of service, you'll have to harness all of Vic's marine training to wreak havoc in the streets of Vice City in the desperate attempt to elevate you and your younger brother Lance Vance to the upper crust of the population, rather than dying amongst the dreary poor of the city. Not much is known about the plot in Vice City Stories, but you should expect it to touch upon various aspects of the Grand Theft Auto universe.

Liberty City Stories was a technical feat on the PSP, yet Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North intend on blowing that title away--boasting better graphics, better physics, larger playing field, better water systems, deeper gameplay, and a killer 80s soundtrack to boot. All of this in a single UMD?

Like in the original Vice City, players will be able to operate a variety of vehicles, including cars, trucks, motorcycles and aerial vehicles such as helicopters. Players will also be able to drive around in boats and--a series first--jetskis. Rockstar Leeds promises that the water physics will take advantage of these vehicles. Waterstunts, ahoy!

Gameplay is said to be far more in-depth than Liberty City Stories, opting for more complex, multiple task missions rather than the "drive from A to B" missions. Players can expect a fairly long story campaign, alongside the standard taxi, firetruck, and ambulance missions. While Vice City introduced real estate into the series, Vice City Stories improves on it by implementing gang warfare into the mix. It'll be tougher to establish a business in Vice City, but it should certainly be more fun.

One of Vice City's most popular features was its classic 80s soundtrack featuring several well-known songs of the era, and it appears that Vice City Stories will not disappoint on this element. Although the soundtrack has not been revealed yet, songs by Phil Collins, Foreigner, and Ratt have been featured in several VCS promotional videos. Several radio stations will be returning, including Flash FM, Emotion, and V-Rock. Several of the DJs will also be returning, albeit in different roles (for example, V-Rock will be hosted by Couzin Ed with his intern, Lazlow).

At this moment in time, Rockstar Leeds is rather quiet on the subject of multiplayer. At the very least, you can expect the modes from Liberty City Stories to return. Unfortunately, it appears at this point that multiplayer will only be playable over ad-hoc.

The game is scheduled to be in North American stores this Halloween, with Europe receiving the game just a few days later. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to drive this Duran Duran song out of my head.