The long wait for Gangstar Rio: City of Saints from Gameloft is over.
The game is available for both the iPhone and iPad.
I generally start by going through all the settings and help menus before diving into a game and I found that Gangstar Rio allows the user to play music from your own playlists and given that I have a playlist that consists of only the Epic Sax (10 min version on repeat all) it can make for some interested background music to the game. I know, I need to get out more. In reality the music plays through the car radio so with fist combat I just needed to play the Epic Sax in my head.
Anyway, I usually play fluffy games so I was quite taken aback during the opening cut scene where the girls grabs the guy between his legs and pulls him towards her, but then again the game did warn me at the start not to reproduce actions seen in the game. Oh well, unlucky for some.
I was impressed with the graphics, however someone needs to do something about Andreas’ goatee, dude even if you are gangsta, that thing on your face still looks stupid!
The controls are really great on the iPhone. For driving I was using the motion and pedals (so tilting the iPhone to steer left and right) and I had no problems other than my constantly driving on the wrong side of the road, but hey I’m Britsh, give me a break yo! I did worry that the same control system in the iPad might feel a bit cumbersome but it was actually much easier on the iPad than on the iPhone.
Using the slider rather than the motion controls was even easier and ended up being my controls of choice throughout the game.
You play Raul, good at your badass job, but you want to get out of the Assassinos now and there are some folks out there not happy about it. After having your car blown up while you’re inside it, your girlfriend killed and a few skin grafts later you are Angel and you’re on a mission to find out who did this, so naturally you join the Assassinos. Keep your friends close, and your enemies’ closer and all that. I’m not really sure why he didn’t just walk away and move to another city, his girlfriend was a total cow before she died anyway.
So your missions are set to up you through the ranks of the Assassinos and gain trust and intel. With its sandbox style you can choose to just focus on the missions or you can run around the city to your hearts content. I did particularly like just stealing cars all the time. There are collectibles scattered around the map and random taxi jobs you can do too. Kit yourself out with some new clothing, God only knows running around in flip flops can’t be easy for the guy. Be careful you don’t cause too much havoc or you will have the cops after you, and if you are injured you’ll have a hefty hospital bill to pay. After getting carried away just attacking random pedestrians I had the misfortune of being punched in the face by some bikini-glad girls, which knocked me out and landed me with a $500 hospital bill. Just like in real life.
All in all this is just what you would expect from a GTA style gangster game. There is nothing spectacular about the storyline, but it’s enough to keep you playing and a great wee waste of time
7 pimped out pimps out of 10