Android Game Review - Gangstar: Miami Vindication HD

Android has become a big name now. The latest report by Gartner puts Android with around 52% of global smartphone marketshare. With such a huge reach and lots of untapped revenue potential, the app developers are working night and day to churn out best of the lot. Gameloft also appears to strengthen its Android game lineup with an array of HD releases. Be it the FPS lineup with some classic titles like Modern Warfare and NOVA or RTS and simulation games like SIMs and The settlers, Gameloft is going all out at it. Gangstar: Miami Vindication appears to be an effort by the company to plug in one essential gap in the lineup – the open world gameplay, made wildly popular by PC games like GTA series and Saints Row. So if you want to pull out a cabbie and loot his car or smash the pedestrians on your smartphone too without crossing over to wrong side of the law, then Gangstar: Miami vindication is the game for you.

Third in gangster series, the game is of regular open world type with realistic 3D buildings, cars etc. The city has been modelled after Miami city, so if you are familiar with the area, you'll find many similarities between the two. Gameloft roped in the script writer of popular TV show, “The Wire” to write the script full of revenge and action. The story follows the Johnny Gainesville, who comes to Miami to search for his kidnapped brother and ends up cleansing the city of crime. The whole story unfolds in more than 75 missions, which advance the game apart from tons of other side missions. The whole gameplay appears heavily influenced with GTA series and hence most of the people who are familiar with GTA would find themselves home.

The pros

By smartphone standards, the game promises hours and hours of continuous entertainment. If you like to go with the flow, then you can go on completing missions after missions. If you are some lazy type, then may be roaming in the city and exploring would appeal to you more. Either way, the game has lots to offer. The missions let you chase villains across the city or hunt down nasty cops and hoodlums, making the next mission more exciting than the last one. The designing of game is good. A wide variety of cars, bikes, and weapons have been made available to keep you busy. The presence of customisable radio adds some level of personalisation to the game, but you cannot customise your character and hence pretty much stuck with it. The cut-scenes are also good and add much needed dramatics to the storyline.

The cons

The only significant problem we came across during our review was its coarse controls while driving. The game goes along fine until you just keep running around punching unsuspecting pedestrians. The moment you hop in a car, the controls just lose it. Though you have the option to drive the vehicles either through accelerometer sensor or a touch driving wheel, driving still remains Gangstar's Achilles heel. Driving through accelerometer is particularly difficult; hence we stuck to driving wheel during our review. This drawback becomes more biting in missions where you are supposed to drive in an orderly fashion. Other than that, the gameplay is pretty much smooth, save slight drop in frame rates in while playing some extensive action sequences.

The deal

At last, the time comes for our take on Gangstar: Miami Vindication. Since there are not many similar titles available for Android devices at the moment, Gangstar: Miami Vindication comes across as a nice option. Though the game is mostly an extension of the series with nothing much to offer in terms of gameplay, other than a brand new storyline and a new character. The game world is huge and has lots of offer in terms of exploration. If you are headlong into GTA types then this game is a must have for you. Even if you are not much familiar with the segment, the sheer amount of action available should be persuasive enough. So, take the bait and dive in, city of Miami won't disappoint you.

Some compatible smartphones:

Samsung Galaxy S Plus I9001

SamsungGalaxy S II I9100

Samsung Galaxy Note N7000

LG Optimus Black P970

LGOptimus 2X P990

LG Optimus 3D P920

HTCDesire S S510e

HTCDesire HD A9191

HTC Sensation Z710e

SonyEricsson Xperia Neo V MT11i

SonyEricsson Xperia Ray ST18i

Sony Ericsson Xperia pro MK16i

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc LT15i

SonyEricsson Xperia Play R800i

Motorola Defy MB525