Sponsored Feature: Hands on with Car Jack Streets

We've been going large on Car Jack Streets this week - developed by TAG Games and due to be published by I-play, it harks back to the original top-down Grand Theft Auto games, with a mixture of driving and criminality (with a side-order of pizza delivery).

But how does the game actually play? We've been getting hands-on with a near-final version, and we can report that it's shaping up nicely.

The effort put into the driving part seems to have paid off. Indeed, there's plenty of fun to be had simply roaming the city nicking different cars and then seeing how they compare in terms of speed, manoevrability and skiddy-drifting.

The freedom to do this is also one of the game's selling points. Although you've got the target of making $50,000 a week to keep the mob off your back, how you do it is entirely your decision.

Some days, we've just dipped in to steal a few cars for Kirk's Garage down by the docks, while others we've thrown caution to the wind and helped out in bank jobs and hits.

The attention to detail is another positive aspect to the game, with the ability to find $50 notes by running through bushes being one nifty easter egg.

Indeed, finding secrets is likely to be one of the more rewarding parts of Car Jack Streets - we were overjoyed at finding a jump to leap over a couple of blocks, and used it regularly in car chases just for the fun of it.

Car Jack City rewards exploration in this way, with TAG's visual signposting ensuring that after a few goes, you'll know roughly where you are even without the in-game GPS, thanks to landmarks and general scenery.

The more you play the game, the more it opens up, with the standard set of missions to pick up steady (but less risky) cash, and the daily set of criminal missions to earn bigger bucks.

One thing Car Jack Streets shares with GTA is the fun of provoking The Man by ramping up your criminal rating to max, and then streaking through the streets (as in driving a car fast, not running naked) with police in pursuit, to see how long you can survive.

Stand by for tomorrow, when we'll have another interview with TAG Games focusing on the game's characterful graphics and art style.