The effect shown in those screenshots is nothing more than 2D sprites in a 3D scene. 2 triangles for each character and an animated 2D image.
They are just sprites, drawn with an overhead look, and placed over the road with a 3D transform instead of an orthogonal 2D transform.
Update: After watching a YouTube video of the iOS version, I can confirm that that is all they are doing.
L. Spiro