GTA-style open world action on the mean streets of Rio

Gangstar Rio: City of Saints is the third in Gameloft’s series of Grand Theft Auto-style games.

What is Gangstar Rio about?

The plot of Gangstar Rio sees you star as a Brazilian gangster who has grown disillusioned with his crew and wants to break away. Besides exploring the open world, sandbox environment, you take part in a series of missions based around a compelling storyline.

Gangstar Rio has a decent range of vehicles to choose from. There’s nothing like the range you’ll find in Grand Theft Auto, but there are several nice sports cars, as well as buggies, tanks and even planes to try out. Just like GTA, vehicles in Gangstar Rio include music and talk radio stations, which even broadcast news coverage of incidents you’ve been involved in.

The gameplay in Gangstar Rio is captivating when playing missions, which get quite involved and interesting. The open world element is fun for a while too, but it lacks the variety needed to make it enjoyable to roam around in for any great length of time.

Moving around the city

Controlling your character in Gangstar Rio is done via an on-screen joypad and action buttons for sprinting, attacking and shooting. You can change the view by holding your finger down and panning around. This control system is much the same as it is in Modern Combat 3 which, as we commented at the time, is fairly straightforward but can never compete with the fluidity of a real control pad.

Bringing Rio to life

The 3D reconstruction of Rio de Janeiro is the most impressive thing about Gangstar Rio. From the favelas and suburbs to the beach and the commercial areas, every area of the city has been lovingly recreated in great detail, making it a real joy to explore and drive around.

Cut scenes in Gangstar Rio look great, but the poor voice acting lets it down a bit, and some of the dialog is comically clichéd at times.

The verdict

Overall, Gangstar Rio: City of Saints is a fun open world game that allows you to go on the rampage in Rio.

Currently only available in New Zealand App Store, but will become available on other App Store instances on November 10 2011

Changes

• Currently only available in New Zealand App Store, but will become available on other App Store instances on November 10 2011