Layered Sprite 3D effect

Has anyone played GTA: Chinatown Wars? If yes, aren’t the character sprites in the game layered sprites with some sort of dynamic parallax 3D effect. Dynamic because it adjusts the image according to the camera. Regular parallax works great with a fixed cam but in this case its slightly different as our cam is movable and there’s an additional axis of depth to the cam which might get used once in a while.

Well at least that’s my understanding. If they are not what they seem like, then what are they?
I was wondering if this was possible in Unity and if so, how? Hope someone can help :slight_smile:

Couldn’t find an exact picture. But notice the cops and how the camera angle can change and go deeper.
6226--grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-psp-.jpg
6227-gta_cw_psp_5.jpg

Here’s a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70KpZn2cNGY

This is how I want my game to look.

If a video showing off the camera is needed, just ask… I’ll record my own gameplay and upload one.

I believe these are 3d models, but instead of being defined by polygons, they are defined by 3d points, which make them look like sprites. You could try defining one of those models and render a tiny 2d square in the scene for each point…