Review: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (PSP)

There can be little doubt that the Grand Theft Auto series is one of the most successful gaming franchises in history. This spin off from the main games was originally designed for the Nintendo DS. After a makeover Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has been released as a PSP title. Fans of the series eager for more GTA content will buy this regardless of the reviews, such is the strength of the franchise, but does it compare favourably with the DS version or with the other PSP releases Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories?

The good news is that this is unmistakeably a GTA game. The sharp sense of humour, the extreme violence and wanton crime rampages, the police baiting behaviour and the anarchic action are all present and correct. The basic mission structure is very familiar, you pick up a job from a person or phone call and get sent to various locations on the map to retrieve things or kill people. There are races thrown in and between missions you can explore the vast city map returning to your apartment to save your progress.

In this title you play the spoiled son of a murdered Triad boss. As the petulant Huang Lee you must reunite the clan, killing the opposition and advancing your own cause every step of the way. You’ll be asked to pull off all kinds of jobs for various gangs, not to mention corrupt cops and there are over 70 story missions in the game. On top of the main story there is drug dealing mechanic built in which allows you to establish drug connections with buyers and sellers. The simple economics challenge you to find the best prices for buying and selling so you can squeeze out a good profit.

There are some unique changes in Chinatown Wars. The most obvious one is the addition of mini sequences which were obviously designed specifically for the DS. For example, sometimes when you jump in a car you’ll need to use a screwdriver and then hotwire it. These mini sequences are very simplistic and they don’t really add much to the fun. In fact tasks such as filling up Molotov cocktails from the petrol pump are just dull. Perhaps they’re more enjoyable with a touchscreen.

The team responsible for the main GTA games is Rockstar North and while it's helped out here, this game was mainly developed by Rockstar Leeds. Perhaps the Leeds team was keen to make its own mark on the franchise and so it altered another basic mechanic which is already well established in the series: cop chases. Instead of evading cops and hitting a re-spray garage or driving over bribe pickups in Chinatown Wars you have to take out cops to lose them. This means barging them and pulling off swift manoeuvres to make them crash. I’m not convinced it’s an improvement.

The visual style of the game is good but if you’ve played Liberty City Stories or Vice City Stories on the PSP then the drop in quality is clear. The wonderful voiceovers are gone, replaced by stylish concept art and text. The engine is still actually 3D but it might as well be 2D because you usually have a top down view on the action. The art has a cartoonish tinge which has been used to conceal the much lower quality I guess was necessary to get it working on the DS. It looks and plays a lot like the early GTA games. It does look better on the PSP than it did on the DS though.

Another big change here is the ability to save anywhere. There is an autosave after each mission so the challenge or decision about when to return home to save your progress is removed. You also have a PDA system which seems to want constant attention with a flood of emails. The problem is the jarring break between the PDA and the game gets annoying and many of the emails are just reminders that you can go and pick up a mission which is clearly evident already by the icon marked on the map.

There is a wealth of content on offer here and you can even replay missions once they are completed if you want to try and better your performance. The actual missions are typical GTA quests and while some are slick and satisfying, others are awkward and all too obviously heavily scripted. There is an awful lot of extra content dotted around the city though, from random encounters with people to cars that spark races. There are also loads of security cameras to find and destroy, around 80 dealers to work with and an array of stunt jumps and rampages to trigger. There are even a few PSP exclusive missions which revolve around an aspiring female reporter.

There are two ways to look at this release. Reviewing it in comparison with the other GTA games Chinatown Wars is easily the weakest entry in the series. The thing is, the GTA series is so far ahead of the competition that even the worst game in the series is streets ahead of your average PSP title. There are plenty of flaws and rough edges here but at the end of the day it retains the same feel that has made GTA such a success and it offers many hours of engaging gameplay. If the games themselves were a criminal organisation then Chinatown Wars would be a slightly eccentric henchman.