Gameloft, as many of you know, are one of the best mobile game developers in the world. Their high quality games, such as Asphalt 5, Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles, NOVA, and much more show just how much of a threat they are to many developers.
Like the rest of Gameloft's other graphical 3D games that only work on high end phones, Gang$tar is no exception. The graphics are amazing compared to most mobile games. It has plenty of missions/side missions and takes about 70mb in your SD card and about 10 in your phone's memory. The first thing you'll notice when playing the game is how similar it is to Grand Theft Auto. It practically is a carbon copy of the classic 3D GTA games, but not quite.
The game is quite fun, but as a person who has enjoyed the Grand Theft Auto series, there is a lot left to be desired. One of the first things that Gang$tar is missing is the ability to listen to your own tunes while driving a car. I know what you might be thinking, "why not just launch the music app in the background?". Well, the thing is this, since the game takes a lot of space and has a lot of content, it will have to load once you go back to it after minimizing the game. And for someone who would switch between music or their playlists, this can be a huge hassle. Another one of the flaws are the small variety of weapons. As some of you may or may not know, this game is based on Gang$tar 2: Kings of L.A. and the story is practically the same but with a lot of changes to game play, graphics, etc. There are 6 weapons(excluding your hands) to choose from which are a pistol, an Uzi, shot gun, AK47, Sniper Rifle, and a Bazooka. And....yeah, that's about it. No grenades/bombs, no melee weapons, no chainsaws.
YouTube - Gang$tar: West Coast Hustle on Motorola Milestone/Droid
Although the weapons are based off the ones in Gang$tar 2, the grenade seems to be gone in West Coast Hustle. Other features taken off from Gang$tar 2 is the ability to climb(which can be very frustrating at times) and one of my favorites, sliding on cars(where to you run up to cars and slide from the hood to get to the over side). Why Gameloft decided to take these features, I do not know and I feel that it was a mistake to take them away. Yet another flaw I found in this game is switching between weapons. For example, if you switch from your fists to an Uzi, but want to use the pistol, you'll have to switch from the whole list of weapons you have rather than just going backwards. This can be annoying when you're taking on a gang of thugs and want to use your ideal weapon. Although the game uses multi-touch in areas such as the map, you cannot change around the camera angle when walking/running, and did I mention you cannot sprint in this game?
(Image Source: IGN)
To wrap things up, with many of its flaws, Gang$tar: West Coast Hustle is not a bad game. Its one of best games for Android at the moment. With its excellent graphics, good game play, intuitive user-interface, and the "services" on the menu which allows you to buy some weapons, health, and lower your wanted level, its a great game to add to your collection. Despite the services feature being useful, it tends to make the game a little too easy. Gameloft provides Android with an excellent GTA substitute...that is until Rockstar games steps in with a 3D GTA title. Simply put, if Rockstar does decide to release a 3D GTA title, there would be no reason to get Gang$tar: West Coast Hustle considering all the major flaws. I would have to give it a
6/10 . With that said, I hope the next Gang$tar game addresses all these flaws as Gameloft happens to make excellent games.
+Great graphics
+A good substitute for Grand Theft Auto
+Ability to dual wield weapons such as the pistol and the Uzi
+A nice cinematic feel to the cutscenes
+A fitting, graphical User-interface that is intuitive
=Inability to purchase it directly from the Android Market. However, the fact that you can purchase the game when you cannot buy apps in certain areas make up for it
="Service" system is useful, but can make the game too easy
=The games plot isn't anything to write a book about
=Voice Acting leaves much to be desired
=The music in this game is okay, but needs to be improved. Also, try to get some real music, you know, like actual songs when accessing the radio.
-Only 6 weapons to choose from excluding the fist. No melee weapons or thrown explosives. No variety. It was excusable in Gangs$tar 2, but simply because it was a Java game.
-You cannot climb on things or slide off cars like in Gang$tar 2
-Cannot access the music stored in your SD card when driving a car
-Trackballs/D-Pads do not function at all like they do in Asphalt 5
-Cannot change camera views when walking/running
-No Sprint feature
-Game can be a little too easy at times
-You lose your bullet proof armor once you restart the game regardless if its full or not
-The weather never changes and its sunny
all the time
Gang$tar: West Coast Hustle Review
