Gang$tar: West Coast Hustle is a GTA(III)-clone. It delivers a good experience for an iPhone game, with nice visuals, and a good framerate the game is a nice feat. But thats not to say that the game does not have its own let downs.

Graphics: For me the graphics are really quite nice, rendering of the city is done in a way that keeps the lag minimal. Limiting the draw distance, lowering the LOD (level of detail) and taking out collision on some models is some of the things they did to keep the game from showing lag. The iPod seems to be able to handle a little more though, a couple more cars and pedestrians on screen seems like something that would not of caused to much problems. Currently it seems only 3 pedestrians and 3 cars are rendered on screen at the same time, hitching that up to 4 peds and cars does not seem like it would have caused a huge performance hitch.

There is also no falling animations in place, and no actual physics, so car wight and the steepness of a hill do not change speed. You could put your vehicle on a straight vertical surface and it would stick like it was a spider vehicle or something.

The weapons all sport different models, and you can definitely tell the difference in cars. Featuring 6 weapons the game did good in variety, the game also showcase many different vehicles, each with different properties.

Sound: They did something quite good here, the sound in this game was actually more than I expected. Featuring an actual in-game radio the game does a good job of delivering that full GTA experience when your driving. The game also sports some minimal character feedback, and some voiceovers, nothing too out of hand considering the space it would take. But I believe Gameloft outdid themselves in the sound department.AI: Ahhhhh, my most hated part of this game… AI seems to act pretty hectic at times. The AI in this game seems to just be the peds walk on sidewalks, and the cars making the most random turns I’ve ever seen. The AI pathing does not seem to actually know where it wants to go. The vehicle AI seems to go out of place when you come by, and the AI will tend to go haywire and turn to the left and drive on the left lane, or to make a right turn it will go in a full circle before the turn. The vehicles tend to also be very aggressive, by just stopping in an intersection the car that was behind you will hit you at full speed, or if your going straight and the car on your right has stopped, it will suddenly start and hit you at full speed.

Furthermore the inevitably fun part of the GTA series (of course getting 5 wanted stars) is also boring… With the ability to purchase a health pack anywhere that seems to be all you need to do to stay alive. The cops do not get any special vehicles or actually chase you for that matter. When your on foot the cops do not chase you, you can just walk behind a building and all your stars will dwindle down. The gun fights get repetitive when its just on foot cops coming at you, with no helicopters, no tanks, no S.W.A.T. the difficulty just stays the same from 1 star to 5 star.

Story: The story is decent, I have only played through the entire game once, its easy to see that most of the game involves either protecting someone, or delivering something, or outrunning the cops. The variety is actually slightly more than I thought it would be. The game sports in-game dialogue to tell the story, some voiceovers are there. The story follows a pattern though, every chapter starts off with you going to a different gang leader for information, but in order for you to obtain that information you first have to do some tasks for them.

Also one fun thing in GTA was owning all of the buyable houses. You do not even get a house in this game, the game will just start you off in a parking lot of the last town you were in. This detracts from the game as a whole because it gives you no reason to make money and do the side missions.

Controls: The controls are actually some of the best I have used, aside from some irresponsiveness on the wheel setting when your driving, the controls are perfect for this game. No issues here, although the ability to jump would have been a nice addition.

Overall: 4/5 stars, while the games AI is whacked up, and the cops do not do what their paid to do, the game delivers a whole new experience, with the variety in missions, and the replayable side missions, the game shows that a lot of effort went into creating the world and story.

Screenshots:

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