Gangstar Vegas

Gangstar Vegas
Name:	Gangstar Vegas
Developer(s):	Gameloft
Release date:	June 2013
Platform(s):	iOS, Android
Genre:	Third-Person shooter
Protagonist:	Jason Malone
Chronology
Series:	Gangstar
Preceded by:	Gangstar City

Gangstar: Vegas is the sixth game of the "Gangstar" series and the fourth one to be released for iOS and Android. As the name shows, the game is set in Las Vegas. Gangstar: Vegas was released in June 2013.

Plot

Professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter Jason "the Kid" Malone, is bribed by the powerful Mafia Don Frank Veliano to take a dive in his fight against Pietro Holston. However, Pietro falls before Jason can take the dive. He is chased by Frank and his soldatos before Karen Olsen, the accountant and bodyguard of Vera "Leatherface" Montello, arrives and helps him escape. Jason later works for the Montello queenpin, Karen and Eric "E-Man", a pimp and drug maker-dealer, mostly in causing chaos against the Velianos.

Frank and his henchmen later storms the Montello's celebration, capturing Jason and forcing him to work for the Velianos, including Benny, Frank's right-hand man, and mayoral candidate Rev. Winston "Preacher" Goodman. Jason steals a boat, a seaplane and a helicopter for the Velianos, as well as fighting the Spanish street gang, the Huevos. After crashing a Huevos party however, Jason finds that the Velianos have kidnapped Karen, and are forcing Vera to hand over her strip club, Fire and Vice, to Frank in exchange for Karen.

Jason helps the Montellos save Karen by stealing wire tapping devices from an army base and planting it to pinpoint Frank and Karen's position. He later joins Eric and Vera to raid Frank's casino, where Karen is held. They then escape Frank's soldiers, but at the cost of Vera sacrificing herself to stop reinforcements, out of remorse for having bribed Pietro to lose the MMA fight.

Enraged by Vera's loss, and the truth that Frank killed her father, Karen wants Jason out of the Mafia war. Jason saves her again from Veliano soldatos, convincing her to accept his help. Karen kisses Jason (it's also possible they make out in Jason's Whiptail, as the scene is faded out) before taking back Fire and Vice. Jason later sabotages Frank's villa, and uses the media (the only business in Vegas not controlled by Veliano) to mock the LVPD's incompetence (Frank has also bribed the police).

Finding that Benny has been arrested, Frank seeks to remove him. Jason rescues Benny as Veliano mobs intercept the police convoy. Benny has photos of Goodman's debauchery, and Jason threatens Goodman to turn against Frank otherwise the photos are leaked. Cornered and betrayed, and with the FBI on his tail, Frank tries to flee Las Vegas with his money. Jason confronts him on the Wrecking Ball Hotel Casino Tower (parody of the Stratosphere), only to have Frank shoot at him, leaking the helicopter's fuel tank in the process. Jason lights up the petrol, setting Frank on fire and falling to his death, and then parachute jumps onto Karen's car.

Characters

Jason"the Kid" Malone is a professional MMA fighter and the protagonist of Gangstar: Vegas. Jason comes from Boston, where he and his brother worked for gangs. He started life in Vegas working as a club bouncer until Veliano Don Frank trained him as an MMA fighter for saving him from a fight. As a fighter, Jason's prowess lies with hand-to-hand combat.

Vera "Leatherface" Montello is the queenpin of the Montenello family and widow of Don Johnny "Jack the Hammer" Montello. She runs a gentleman's club called Fire and Vice in Las Vegas. She blames Frank for being too drunk to save Johnny on the day he died. She was also responsible for bribing Pietro Holston to dive on his match against Jason, causing him to be chased by the Velianos. Vera has a tendency to go berserk when she's drunk, and she has a collection of whiskey, tequila and other drinks at the Fire and Vice's bar.

Karen Olsen is Vera's accountant/bodyguard. Her mother left Karen and her father for an Elvis impersonator when she was three, and she was therefore raised by her father, who was a policeman. Mr Olsen seeked to unveil the corruption within the ranks of LVPD, but was killed by Frank, who bribed the LVPD. Karen started out cold towards Jason, but later warms up to him, and eventually they both fall in love. Karen is a specialist in firearms.

Eric, only known by his nickname E-Man, is a drug dealer-maker and prostitute caretaker for the Montellos. He tries most of the drugs he makes, making him high most of the times. He has the habit of using historical and fantasy terms to describe people and things: Vera is 'the Empress', a skater who stole his drugs as a 'dragon', Johnny's era as 'the Roman empire' etc.

Frank Veliano is the antagonist of Gangstar: Vegas. He started out as a thief before joining the Montello mafia family, which was ruled by Johnny. One night Johnny was severely injured, but Frank was too drunk to drive him to the hospital, causing the kingpin to die. Frank was ousted from the Montellos and later he established his own family. Through bribery, coercion and threats, Frank controlled most of the businesses in Vegas, along with its municipal government and the LVPD. He also endorsed Reverend Winston Goodman's mayoral election campaign, killed Karen Olsen's father who wanted to reveal LVPD's corruption, as well as nurturing Jason Malone as an MMA fighter. However, Frank did not seize control of Vegas' media business, and this weakness is used by Jason after he sabotages Frank's mansion.

Benny is Frank's right-hand man. A man of muscle than of wits, Benny is also paranoid that Frank would one day kill him. Benny tricks Jason to crash the Huevos' party while he kidnaps Karen Olsen. However, hope and redemption come for him when Jason saves him from both the Velianos and the LVPD, who arrested him. He keeps photos of Frank and Winston doing illegal activities such as bribery and debauchery in case Frank seeks to take him out.

Winston "Preacher" Goodman is a priest running for mayor of Las Vegas. Although looking clean and serene from the outside, Winston has been involved in debauchery, corruption and property manipulation. He was endorsed by Frank for his campaign, but later turns against him in order to stop Jason from leaking his photos.

Weapons

*: Can be Dual Wielded

Melee

• Baseball Bat

• Deluxe Baseball Bat

• Guitar

• Sword

• Astro Saber
• Poison Petals
• wrench
• zombie arm
• sledgehammer
• deluxe sledgehammer
• French baguette

Handgun

• Handgun *

• Revolver *

• Ray Gun *

• Six Shooter *

• Deluxe Six Shooter

SMG

• Mini SMG *

• Deluxe Mini SMG 

• SMG *

• Pacifist SMG *

• Deluxe Pacifist SMG

Shotgun

• Shotgun

• Deluxe Shotgun

• Riot Shotgun

• Heavy Shotgun

• Sawed-Off Shotgun *

Assault Rifle

• Classic AR

• Deluxe Classic AR

• Modern AR

• Tactical AR

• Heavy AR

• Street Mower

Sniper Rifle

•  Sniper Rifle

• Marksman Rifle

• Bolt-Action Rifle
• ufo sniper rifle

Heavy

• Flamethrower

• Light Machine Gun

• Rocket Launcher
• expirimental AR
• bombThrower
• classic big gun

Upgrades

Weapons have different levels, which go up to level 3. Each time the weapon is upgraded a level, it becomes more powerful, has more ammo etc. The weapon also changes aesthetically. For example, a Lvl. 1 Baseball Bat is just a greyish colour, but when upgraded it gets a gangster logo and green and black paint on it. When it gets to Lvl. 3 it has spikes on it. Upgrades can also be done on vehicles.

Trivia

• Frank's casino is named "City of Saints". However, the Gangstar minisite quotes the hotel/casino as "Casino Rio". Both these names refer to the previous Gangstar game, Gangstar Rio: City of Saints.
• Although set in Las Vegas, the city differs from its real life inspiration: the urban area is too small for it to be called a city (in order to address hardware limitations), besides being surrounded by water.
• Hoover Dam is positioned too close to Las Vegas, that in the event if it ever breaks open, most of Vegas would be flooded.
• There is a military base west of the city, across the river. Some have mentioned it to be a parody of the famous Area 51 hidden military facility, however, the base in game is not in a secluded area, nor given a name.
• Some landmarks in the real Las Vegas appear within the game as parodies: The Luxor's Sphinx appears to be modelled after Anubis, an ancient Egyptian deity; the Stratosphere appears as the Wrecking Ball and etc. However, street names are kept; Fremont Street, where the Space Frame and Vera's Fire and Vice are located, is mentioned on occasions along with other names such as the Strip.
• Weapons in Gangstar Vegas are taken from real life; these weapons also appear in Gameloft's Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation and Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour. They are:
  • Handgun - Glock 18 (Schoc-33 in MC4)
  • Revolver - Colt Python (.44 Revolver in MC3)
  • Mini SMG - IMI Mini Uzi (Viny Pro in MC4)
  • SMG - Heckler & Koch MP5K (Jolt-7 MP in MC4)
  • Shotgun - Remington 870 (R780 in MC4)
  • Riot Shotgun - Benelli M4/M1014 (N4010 in MC3)
  • Heavy Shotgun - Atchisson AA-12 (Roar 3000 in MC3)
  • Classic AR - Kalashnikov AK-12 (KR-200 in MC4)
  • Tactical AR - Heckler & Koch XM8 (ZN6 in MC3)
  • Modern AR - Heckler & Koch G36C (PSD2 in MC4)
  • Heavy AR - FN SCAR-H (Bravel-1 in MC3)
  • Sniper Rifle - Remington XM2010 ESR (X6 in MC4)
  • Marksman Rifle - Remington RSASS (E24 SASR in MC4)
  • Machine Gun - Heckler & Koch MG4 (Shred-4 in MC3)
  • Rocket Launcher - Saab M136 AT4 (CTK-88 Crumplor in MC4)

Whether these weapons are taken from the Modern Combat games are still at debate; some claim Gameloft are lazy while others say these are probably easter eggs.

• A character by the name of Malone appeared in Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation. He is one of the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Los Angeles during the KPR alliance invasion. However, both him and Jason are not related.
• Vegas was metioned a lot of times before when the game was released. In Gangstar: West Coast Hustle, Juan wanted to go to Vegas some day. In Gangstar: Miami Vindication, Johnny Gainesville wanted to marry Betty in Las Vegas before spending honeymoon in Los Angeles
• It is unknown if it is a bug but a few players reported that a few weapons, clothing and Vehicles were missing
• Nova 3 is referenced in Gangstar Vegas, if you travel to the Heart Of Vegas and travel to the casino area you'll find a poster which says Nova 3 The Musical.
• A laser weapon from Nova 3 is one of the main weapons in the game.