Gangstar Vegas: World of Crime

Do you remember Tommy Vercetti? A notorious goon who instigated trade union mutinies, chainsawed witnesses, and built his own empire of crime and chicanery? And the setting in which that immoral saga unfolded: a Miami-like city full of temptations, corruption, and vice?

It looks like today Tommy has an enthusiastic admirer who’s gonna try and steal his laurels. Can he really do it though?

Visuals

Ah, the graphics of Gangstar Vegas are the first thing you’ll love about that game. And probably the last.

It seems the authors put their hearts and souls into reconstructing the actual Las-Vegas’ locations and capturing its spirit of excessive luxury. Everything’s so glittery, snazzy, and breathtakingly scenic… It truly feels like you’re on a field trip to the world’s gambling Mecca.

Detalization is praiseworthy as well since the weapon and vehicle models look like legit cars and guns, not just some abstract things you have to utilize once in a while.

But when it goes to the physics engine and animations, oh boy… I’m afraid I lack the eloquence to depict that avalanche of fierce glitches and bugs knocking you down every time you least expect it.

You risk seeing a car floating in the air, a woman’s hands accompanying her at a considerable distance, and many other examples of a diabolical pantomime.

The Core of the Gangstar Vegas

The gameplay of this brutal masterpiece is, in fact, a carnival of shameless clichés.

You start off as a rather unintelligent but enthusiastic pro-fighter named Jason. Guess what? Jason got himself into a mammoth-like debt and to save his life from one mob boss, he starts working for another, named Vera.

Errands that Jason is commissioned to do include:

• Massacring people.
• Chopping people in half.
• Riddling people with bullets.
• Beating people to a pulp with bare hands/any tool appropriate.
• Running over people etc.

That kind of thirst for violence is endearing but a bit tedious. The exaggerated brutality could make a fine gimmick for the game if the authors put in it some bitter-sweet irony and black humor with the elements of both nonsense and wisdom.

However, the plotline/dialogues are as entertaining as staring at a bag of potatoes all day long. At some point, while playing it, I’ve noticed the abyss of poor creativity combined with glitchy gameplay started sucking the soul out of me.

As if these drawbacks weren’t enough, the game dares to demand money for:

• VIP-status – allows you to buy super-items in the store.
• Super-cars.
• Super-weapons.

Unfortunately the prefix “super” exists only in the super-imagination of the developing team.

Controls

The controls can compete with the gameplay on equal terms. The fighting mechanics are all bout rapid tapping which makes the process glitchy – the button tends to freeze.

Jason accelerates the speed and lowers it with difficulty and don’t get me even started on his way of overcoming obstacles…

Apparently, his AI triggers automatically whenever he bumps into some tangible object. Therefore it commands long-suffering Jason to climb up & jump simultaneously which is a pain to observe.

It’s either AI or maybe the blows received in a fighting ring do leave permanent scars on one’s cognitive abilities...

The Sentence

This creation must be either remade or obliterated – there’s no third choice. With all of its flaws and money extortion, it can be easily replaced with GTA SA for mobile devices. That’s what I did.