Fresh out of prison and back on the streets, it's time to gather your gang and reclaim your ugly, run-down, drug plagued neighborhood block-by-block. Glu Mobile is so gangsta.
Big Time Gangsta for the iPad and iPhone takes the formula established in Facebook games like Sony Online Entertainment's The Agency: Covert Ops, strips out the social aspects, and slips it onto the iTunes App Store for the low, low price of completely free, albeit with a slight hitch.
The player is tasked with building up a gang and taking back their city, run-down tenement by run-down tenement. Role-playing style gun battles determine ownership of buildings and drug labs, providing the money, drugs, and experience points needed to hire more gangsters, earn more levels, and participate in timed-missions for even greater rewards.
You can buy new gang members with in-game cash, or purchase credit by either forking over real money or downloading various free applications and games that earn you a credit bonus. Applying real money to the game can give you a real leg-up on the competition.
The only problem is there really is no competition. So far I've seen no hints that I am playing against anyone. It's me versus the streets in an all-out boring gang battle, fighting to reclaim buildings I wouldn't walk in front of in real life. I can spend money to grow my gang faster, but without any multiplayer components to brag about, why bother?
Because it's free, and we enjoy free things. That's just how we roll.
Big Time Gangsta [iTunes App Store]