Gangstar: Miami Vindication
| Gangstar: Miami Vindication | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Gameloft |
| Publisher(s) | Gameloft |
| Series | Gangstar |
| Platform(s) | iPhone/iPod Touch (iOS), Java ME, Mac OS X, Android |
| Release date(s) |
iPhone/iPod Touch
Mac OS X
|
| Genre(s) | Action, Grand Theft Auto clone[1] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gangstar: Miami Vindication is an open world action/adventure game for iOS, Java ME, Mac OS X, and Android. It follows Gangstar: West Coast Hustle and is the third game in the Gangstar series. The game follows Johnny Gainesville, a middle-aged man in search for his brother, who was last seen in Miami, so he goes off to find him, but is driven into a life of crime.
In 2012, a spin-off called Urban Crime was released and follows the aftermath of the departure of Johnny Gainesville from Miami.
Gameplay
Unlike the previous game, Gangstar: Miami Vindication features helicopters, boats, and motorcycles. Police vehicles can be customized as well. Also, the game now features voice acting instead of a textual dialogue, albeit lacking any facial animations. The game features more profanity than the previous game. Other than people, alligators can be killed, but they do not give any benefit. According to the preview of the game by Gameloft, the map was 1.5 times larger than the previous game. Although it is the successor to Gangstar: West Coast Hustle, the only two connections the games are L.C.'s appearance and a reference to Eddie Fallon.
By collecting 10 surfboards, jet skis will spawn and collecting 10 wheels will give the player an armored sports car which has extremely fast acceleration and a very high durability. Unlike the previous game which took three kills to get a wanted level, in Miami Vindication you can kill a couple of people until the police are alerted.
After completing every mission, including races, player can switch their character from Johnny to Betty. Johnny can lead Betty, and Betty can lead Johnny. If they start hurting any civilians they cooperate and kill the targeted civilian together.
Plot
Johnny Gainesville has spent months searching for his younger brother Joseph "Joey" Gainesville. When the game begins, he is told by his old boss, Clive Otis Click III, that Joey is in Miami. With nothing to lose, Johnny drives down the east coast in search for him. While getting gas, his car is destroyed by a grenade and he steals the gas station owner's car. He drives into downtown Miami and meets an old man named Roscoe and his younger girlfriend Betty. Roscoe tells Johnny that if he wants to get answers about Joey he will need to "piss off some rivals." Johnny agrees and does a series of jobs that include stealing dead bodies, interfering with drug deals, taking pictures of corrupt police officers, etc. The gas station owner, Albert, from the beginning of the game meets Johnny again and tells him he will need to pay for the car he stole. After a race, Johnny tells Albert that he will be able to give him enough money to buy any car he wants. Roscoe tells Johnny that an inexorable Cuban mob boss named Victor Vega has Joey in his custody. Johnny spies on Vega in the warehouse by the docks and sees him dealing with a Detective named Bolano. He talks about "the little bastard," and Johnny assumes he means his brother. He finds Vega's boat but finds out the "little bastard" is not his brother. Instead he finds millions of dollars in heroin and Roscoe persuades Johnny to give it to him.
Betty tells Johnny that a man named Herman Kaye rules the downtown part of Miami and that he will probably have answers for him. Kaye sends Johnny on a number of odd-jobs, most of them being against Monique Jones, whom Herman Kaye had made famous in the music industry, but Jones ended up leaving him to go out on her own. One of the jobs included killing Victor Vega, whom Johnny had arrested after stealing his drugs. While being transferred to a maximum security prison Johnny shoots Vega before he can escape on foot.
Johnny leaves Kaye and learns that a pimp known only as Reginald has information on Joey. After Johnny scares him in a car ride, he gives up Joey's location: A slaughterhouse in the middle of a cornfield. Johnny and Betty (who have fallen in love, unbeknownst to Roscoe) infiltrate the slaughterhouse and a shootout occurs. They find Joey, being held in a cage but Johnny is knocked out by a baseball bat and he and the rest are trapped in a cage. The man who locked them up goes into Betty's cage, intent on raping her, but Betty knocks him out and takes his phone. Johnny tells Betty about a friend in Los Angeles named Luis Custodio (known as L.C. He appeared as a main character in the first game as a prominent mob boss). Betty asks L.C. to rescue them and a few days later, L.C. arrives and kills the guards surrounding the slaughterhouse. He rescues them and they part ways.
Joey, Johnny, Betty, and L.C. meet up outside the swamp where Roscoe has been hiding out for 10 years without the police finding him. Johnny believes that Roscoe had orchestrated the kidnapping of Joey and plans to kill him. Betty informs the men that the police have a flame thrower from Washington with them. Johnny steals it and destroys Roscoe's house with it, but after searching the area, they do not find him. They meet up at the beach in uptown Miami a day later and Joey comes up with a plan to have Roscoe arrested instead of killing him. Johnny causes chaos around the city and leads the police to the swamp where Roscoe is. Roscoe is arrested but the length of his sentence is not revealed.
Johnny realizes the Roscoe was just a dirty gangster and was not behind the kidnapping. He then starts to suspect Herman Kaye, who had him kill Vega, many police officers, and other gangsters. Johnny believes this was a plan to take control of Miami, since none of the jobs had helped him find his brother. Johnny steals Kaye's car from his villa and has Albert put a bomb on it. He parks it in Kaye's driveway and it explodes, but Kaye gets into another car and tries to escape, but Johnny kills him.
With everything apparently settled and Miami apparently rid of its mob, Johnny goes to the airport with Betty, Joey, and L.C. intent on marrying Betty. Before going inside the airport they are attacked by gangsters and are forced to drive back to Kaye's villa, where they are now living. Joey notices that they talk and look like the men that hung out around their hometown. Johnny realizes that the bad guy this whole time was Clive Click. Click sent Johnny to Miami to rid the city of its mob bosses so Click could take control. Johnny chases Click by car and boat around the city and they finally have a stand down at the airport (the final battle does not reach the epic proportions of the second game's, but it is still very violent and very long), and Johnny shoots Click multiple times, killing him. He sends L.C and Joey off to L.A where Joey will go to Boarding school and L.C will continue his work.
The game ends with Johnny and Betty walking along the beach, talking about their adventure. It is told that the fourth game in the Gangstar series will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, leading into Gangstar Rio
Urban Crime
In 2012, a continuation/spin-off to Miami Vindication was released to the App Store. The game follows the aftermath after Johnny Gainesville leaves Miami. There are now two gangs that are fighting for control of Miami and to replace him. The game is available as a free download exclusively on the App Store and is available for iPhone, iPod and iPad.
See also
References
- ↑ Fahey, M. (2010) Gameloft Shows Off Impressive New Grand Theft Auto And Diablo Clones. Kotaku. 16 Sept. Retrieved 11 Oct, 2014