Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - PSP Game Review

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a great game for the PSP, but is not nearly as good as any other Grand Theft Auto game for the PlayStation Portable. The graphics, gameplay, and missions are not on par with any of the other games (such as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories).

The graphics are annoying. Instead of a 3rd person view from behind your player, this game features a bird's eye view. This makes the game easier, but it also makes the game less fun. In Liberty and Vice City Stories, the graphics are some of the best that exist on the PSP. The characters look like a 5-year-old drew them. They are literally 4 colors, and the cars on the streets come in about 5 varieties. This game's graphics are not as good as you would expect from RockStar games. With games out like Midnight Club: LA Remix and Grand Theft Auto 4, you would expect some pretty high end graphics. This game doesn't have those graphics.

Then we move on to Gameplay. Gameplay in this game is OK, but not great. You are able to travel around the city by car or foot. You can engage the police in chases and (if you really want to) attempt to kill them or steal their cars. This is an extremely risky move. Attacking a policeman puts you in a 3 star chase. This is impossible to avoid unless you can find your way to a paint & spray. Entering a Paint & Spray will drop your wanted level. The only other way to get away from one of these is to either go to your house or to use the wanted down cheat code.

The missions are OK. Most of them are you working for your uncle, who makes you complete tasks to help save his name after a bullet grazed your face and you got beaten up by a rival gang of Chinese. They are normally pretty simple: steal this, kill him, or talk to him. Many of the missions have a choice, and many of the choices you make change the entire story.

The multiplayer is the only place where this game truly shines. You create an online account on RockStar game's webiste, then you sign it in on your PSP. You can visit your house to sync your statistics to the internet. Your stats can then be viewed by your friends. This makes the game a lot of fun, and you can compete with your friends online, as well as in Ad-Hoc mode.