Search This Blog

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (PSP) Review



Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars first made its appearance on the Nintendo DS back on March 17, 2009. Rockstar recently decided to bring the title over to the Sony PSP, but revamped a bit.



The player assumes the role of Huang Lee, who arrives in Liberty City after the murder of his father, who was a Triad boss.  Upon his arrival to the city, Huang is looking to find out what happened to his father and exact revenge. This is done in typical GTA fashion with various missions that must be completed to advance through the story.

There are plenty of things to do in this bout inside Liberty City. It will definitely keep the gamer interested for hours on end. This is the Liberty City featured in GTA IV, and the entire city is available to explore on the handheld with the exception of one island (Alderney).
Those wondering if this is a watered down GTA need not worry. The game is a full fledged title with all the elements one would expect in a GTA title. This also includes minigames for the user to enjoy, such as selling drugs to make some money, hotwiring a car, etc. Many of the minigames involve using the analog nub or various other buttons.

The game has been revamped to be more suitable for the PSP. It’s been optimized for the wider screen and features more missions and radio stations. Overall, it is a more fluid experience than its DS counterpart.

Graphically, the game takes a different approach than most Grand Theft Auto titles. It features more of a cell-shaded style. The cutscenes feature still images and text–no spoken dialog.
The viewpoint of the game will be familar to long time fans of the series. It pays homage to GTA 1 and 2 with a top down perspective. This perspective is different, but it translates nicely onto the PSP. Those fairly new to the series will have to spend some time with the game before they feel comfortable with the view.

The game’s communication system revolves around Huang’s PDA system, which features an email function. The map, which can be viewed via GPS, is also accessed here. The GPS also allows the user to set markers so that directions can be given on the fly to a specific place, just like in GTA IV.
Those that played the DS version of the title may remember the dualscreen moments, such as getting items out of a bag, or selling various drugs. The transition made to the PSP version was perfect. Since the PSP features only one screen, the title features a split screen mode during these moments, and it works perfectly. For example, during a drug deal, the character is seen on one side of the screen, while the “goods” are shown on the other side.

Neither the missions nor the minigames are overly challenging, but they are certainly entertaining. There are several things that have been changed to make the game a better experience for the on-the-go gamer, such as the cop chases. In GTA IV, the player had to get out of the radius of the flashing lights on the mini-map to get away from the police. In Chinatown Wars, the player disables police cars by crashing into them while on the go. The more stars accrued, the more police vehicles that need to be disabled before the escape process can begin.
Online mode features both ad-hoc and infrastructure features. The infrastructure mode allows users to communicate and trade items with one another. Through this players can also connect to the Rockstar Social Club and compare their stats to others. In ad-hoc mode, players can go head-to-head with one another by connecting their PSPs. Both co-op and versus modes are available.

All in all, this game is fantastic–probably the best GTA handheld title that is available. For fans of the series, this is definitely worth the purchase.

32 comments:

  1. по-моему это одна из лучших игр серии. очень удачная!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This on PSP! Who would never have thought!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Люблюю подобные игры

    ReplyDelete
  4. по мне так гта 2 лучшая

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have it on iphone, one of the best games out there

    ReplyDelete
  6. Last GTA game I have played was actually Vice City, and I DID really enjoy it. For some reason I never kept on track with the series. I have got the Pc to own them up, I should download them sometime, vice city goes for like 5.99 on steam.

    ReplyDelete
  7. вайс сити, гта 2... нужно бы освежить серию в памяти.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Очень интересно, узнал много нового.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Как раз в нее играю!

    ReplyDelete
  10. посмотрел отзывы, приобретаю в срочном порядке!

    ReplyDelete
  11. фигня зыз, вот скоро вторая выйдет, тогда заживем

    ReplyDelete
  12. ГТА игра для школьников.

    ReplyDelete
  13. thats the only gta game i did not play. prbly b/c it wasnt available for pc.. or is it?

    ReplyDelete
  14. i was never a really big fan of the psp gta games.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Полностью прошел на своей соньке, игра отличная, правда я думал будет больше.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Not my style of game on PSP.
    In portable consoles i'm more into instant fun games, like loco roco..

    I keep gta for my big fat ps3 :P

    ReplyDelete