Gameloft's 'N.O.V.A. 3' and 'Gangstar Rio: City of Saints' Are Free for the Weekend - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Gameloft's 'N.O.V.A. 3' and 'Gangstar Rio: City of Saints' Are Free for the Weekend

by

Gameloft is offering up two of its most popular games for free this weekend. Both N.O.V.A. 3 - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance and Gangstar Rio: City of Saints can be downloaded at no cost for the first time ever.

gameloftsale
Originally released last year, N.O.V.A. 3 is a first person shooter with impressive graphics and a science fiction theme. Like many of Gameloft’s games, it includes a multiplayer mode that supports 12-player battles and voice chat to communicate with friends in real time. Our sister site TouchArcade has a review of both the single player portion of the game and the multiplayer component.


Gangstar Rio: City of Saints was released in late 2011 and is Gameloft’s version of Grand Theft Auto. The game, which takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, provides players with more than 60 missions to complete across five different neighborhoods. TouchArcade reviewed the game when it was released and found that Gangstar Rio offered a robust open-world crime game experience, despite a weak storyline.


Both games are universal and free through the weekend.

- N.O.V.A. 3 - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance [Direct Link]

- Gangstar Rio: City of Saints [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

ArtOfWarfare Avatar
174 months ago
Free games I have no interest in?

Why not, I'll download them.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
174 months ago
No wonder they are free. Just played gangster, and its bad. Just bad.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BJMRamage Avatar
174 months ago
I guess I could download them to the computer.
Then I have a record of app "purchase" and can DL onto phone/pad if I ever want to play them.

not really interested but maybe I can check them out some day
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
174 months ago
As a huge fan of GTA-style sandbox games, I really enjoyed City of Saints, as well as the other Gangstar games (which I all played full price for). Yeah, the storyline is kind of strange, but every once in a while some clever writing shines through (Narco's character is very memorable). It does a better job of capturing this sort of gameplay on a touch device than I would have thought possible, and if you enjoy it, I really recommend checking out the other Gangstar titles (though the others, and the first one in particular, definitely look "older").

Gameloft has teased a new Gangstar title set in Las Vegas. I'm glad they haven't given up on this series - though they could still ruin it by doing the freemium thing, I suppose. Assuming they don't do that route, I'll gladly give them my money on launch day.

But I'll skip NOVA 3. I find FPSes unplayable on touch devices, at any price. That being said, I bought and enjoyed the Mac port of NOVA 2 enough for the price, and hope that Gameloft will continue making Mac ports of some of its titles, even though it appears they've dropped that experiment.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
174 months ago
I guess I could download them to the computer.
Then I have a record of app "purchase" and can DL onto phone/pad if I ever want to play them.

not really interested but maybe I can check them out some day

If you have the available space on your iPad, you can initiate the download but immediately tap-and-hold to delete it as soon as it starts loading. So that huge game won't download to your iPad, but it will appear in your purchase list, no computer required. :)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Plutonius Avatar
174 months ago
and this should end the discussion on the storage size of the device (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) you should get. Buy the largest capacity you can get since you will eventually fill them with huge free apps :).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Apple iCloud Plus expansion hero

iCloud+ Now Includes Apple TV, Apple Arcade, and Curated Apple Music Stations in Over 100 Countries

Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries. In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....