There have been a couple of attempts at trying to capture the style of Grand Theft Auto for iPhone, but these have been either 2D (Car Jack Streets) or 2.5D (payback). But now, Gameloft have now released their own take on this iconic series with the first 3D free roaming crime game. I present you with; Gangstar: West Coast Hustle.
Now this is actually an enhanced port from their very successful J2ME Gangstar game for traditional mobile handsets, but let’s be honest, everything has been ramped up to give it the WOW factor only the iPhone/iPod touch can give.
Now with a game so big it’s hard to know where to start, so lets start at the beginning, the fully rendered 3S opening scene grabs your attention quickly and made me eager to get going. The game centers around the story of Juanito and P.Thug who have arrived in the city and robbed a bank (as you do), after hiding the getaway car and look there now looking to make a name for themselves in this gang infested take on L.A. Naturally, after making a call from a nearby pay phone they have the location of a contact who has a job for them.
The game unwinds in an almost identical way to most GTA games, you start off with a contact doing the odd job for them, then they introduce you to another contact and so on, with 50 missions to complete as well as countless (well I haven’t counted them) side missions, jumps and achievements to unlock this is not some clone that has been watered down to ridiculous levels.
The missions that I undertook are all relatively short and this makes it easy to pick up and have a quick blast without having to invest hours at a time to progress the story making it a great mobile game for when you want to get your gangstar fix. However, if you can just pick it up for a few minutes then you deserve some kind of medal, the game is massive with hours of fun to be had just driving around in a variety of vehicles causing as much mayhem as you can.
Graphically it is very impressive, generally running smoothly even on my old and battered 2G iPhone. Load times can be quite long and I’ve had the occasional ”˜hang’ whilst playing but again, given the size I can’t complain. There are a few niggles however, the draw distance is quite low so cars sometimes spawn so close you have no way of avoiding them. Also, some of the scenery such as signs and even some trees have no crash detection and you can just drive straight through them only to be brought to a standstill by a potted plant a mile down the road. But, even with this inconsistency, given what were getting I don’t think you can complain too loudly, just don’t drive into things.
My biggest concern prior to playing this game was how the controls would work, as this would be a game killer if done badly. However, they seem to have put plenty of thought into this and I have to say they are easy to learn and you’ll soon be running, driving and shooting your way around the city.
When on foot you control your character with a virtual stick, simple enough. Tap on the screen to select your targets and with the auto target activated you can easily mash the attack button (on the right) safe in the knowledge that your “gonna get ”˜em”! When near a vehicle a new button pops up, tap it and you will enter the vehicle throwing the occupant to the ground in the process.
When driving you have various options: Tilt to turn, a virtual wheel on screen or (and the one I use) another virtual pad. Acceleration and Braking are done with either a gas and brake pedal or another virtual pad. The controls are implemented well and the direction the camera is facing can be changed at any time with a quick swipe across the screen, so if you need to get out of a situation in a hurry you don’t have to wait for the camera to catch up when you suddenly hit the reverse gear.
Continuing on with the GTA inspiration, this game offers a number of radio station to listen to whilst driving around, ranging from hip-hop to rock and interspersed with comical adverts but if none of these take your fancy, simply select your own music instead.
My only real problem with Gangstar has to be the police. Commit crimes in front of the police and they will give chase and the more crimes you commit the higher your wanted level, but unfortunately the difficulty doesn’t really ramp up like it does in GTA and the police AI just doesn’t feel quite right. A shame, but not enough to spoil this wonderful game.
If you’re even the smallest fan of GTA style games, you cannot afford to miss this game, the perfect crime sandbox game available to date and the only way I can see this been beaten is either with a sequel, or if Rockstar ever enter the iDevice gaming world. The only thing to bear in mind is given the magnitude of this game, you definitately need to reset your device occasionally to ensure you have the memory free to get the best from the game, this isn’t a fault of the game itself, but of the iDevice and these resets will ensure you get the best experience when playing. Now, go get your gangster on!
Current Status: Highly Recommended
Reviewed at: v1.0.3
Reviewed on Firmware: 3.0.1
Download size: 173MB
Released on: 20 August 2009
Retails for: £3.99 / $6.99
Compatible with: iPod touch Gen 1 & 2 / iPhone Classic / iPhone 3G / iPhone 3GS (requires OS 2.2.1 or later)
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