It seems like only yesterday that we were tearing down the waterfront in GTA: Vice City, attempting to do the longest wheelie known to man on a scooter. The thing is, it wasn't yesterday, that was 10 years ago.

To celebrate, Rockstar has released Grand Theft Auto: Vice City anniversary edition on iPad and Android. As you might expect, its brilliant. But just how brilliant? Read on to find out.

Our quick take

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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

  • Format: iOS & Android (coming soon)
  • Price: £2.99
  • Where: iTunes

If you have played Grand Theft Auto 3 on mobile devices, then don't expect too much to be different here in terms of the way the game plays. Control schemes are basically identical and weapon handling is also, although Vice City benefits from a better lock-on system and bigger arsenal of guns.

Graphically, playing this game on the Retina display iPad is fantastic. It turns a title that was muddy and washed out on consoles into a vibrant and colourful affair. The same applies, we expect, to the Android version, which we haven't been able to try yet because of issues with the app on Google Play.

For £2.99, you are getting an incredible amount of game to play with. Vice City has much more content to it than GTA 3. There are more cars, boats and even aircraft and helicopters to mess around with. Missions are more diverse and the whole game has just a better level of polish.

Voice acting, by the likes of Ray Liotta and Dennis Hopper, is absolutely brilliant. Name any other app priced at £2.99 with Dennis Hopper in and the beers are on us. The story is as wild as any other GTA and the whole 1980s setting is done so perfectly. Radio and music is also a particular highlight and boasts just the right amount of catchy but awkward songs so as never to feel repetitive.

The only fault we can find with this game - and it might simply just be us not remembering it exactly after 10 years - but the world seems to have a lot fewer pedestrians and cars in it. It just feels a touch empty. Still, not really a major problem. Thankfully, controls are brilliant - which was exactly where we were expecting issues.

Playing through GTA: Vice City again - which, we will be honest, is our favourite in the whole series - is great. We loved GTA 3 on the iPad, but now, with a game of this calibre, we can't really see how others can compete with what Rockstar is offering for £2.99. Download this.