PixlBit

Earlier this year, Rockstar finally made a commitment to Nintendo's handheld system with the portable title, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. During my tenure at Nintendo World Report, I had the pleasure of reviewing the game, and I walked away quite impressed. With the PSP release now upon us, I had the opportunity to dive back into Liberty City for a second round with the game.

Upon first sight, players who had the opportunity to play the DS version will be quite impressed by the signifcant upgrade to the graphics. While they looked fantastic on the lower resolution screens of the DS, they would have been awful if they were directly ported to the PSP. As such, to maintain that graphical pop featured in the first edition, the PSP offers updated graphics with higher resolution textures and smoother polygons.

As players dig deeper into the game, they'll start to realize that Rockstar systematically replaced the controls of each of the integrated touch screen mini-games. Rather than using the DS touch screen, players will use shoehorned button controls to perform the same functions. These feel extraneous and are offputting in the overall experience.

Aside from these two minor changes, Chinatown Wars PSP is identical to its DS brethren. That being said, Chinatown Wars is still an excellent game. The title combines the best aspects of the 2D and 3D Grand Theft Auto games and turns it into a single, coherent experience.

Players take control of Huang Lee, who has made his way back to the infamous Liberty City in order to deliver his slain father's sword to his uncle, Wu "Kenny" Lee. In the process, Huang is caught up in the "game" and takes to life on the street, performing various oddjobs for unscrupulous characters around the city.

The full Liberty City found in Grand Theft Auto IV is featured here, but rather than the over-the-shoulder third-person view players are accustomed to, the game takes on an isometric viewpoint. Chinatown Wars also plays very similarly to Grand Theft Auto IV, with much of the game being managed via the in-game PDA. Players can accept missions of all kinds and connect to the game's online portal.

Chinatown Wars offers the typical mission-based gameplay players have come to expect from the GTA series, and the game is still humorous and charming. Huang's dialog is some of the best in the series as it is almost always sarcastic, a touch that is much appreciated.

Finally, players have access to the game's two new functions as they did in the DS version. Players will need to deal narcotics in a Drugwars-like mini-game that encourages players to buy them at low prices and sell them to other vendors in town for a profit. Players will also have access to the new Evasion system. This functionality forces players to evade arrest in a unique way. Rather than just getting out of range and hanging low for a given time period, this mode is much more aggressive, forcing players to attack a certain number of police cars before their wanted level is reset.

Both new functions suffer from minor problems, making them a decent addition which could use some slight tweaking in a sequel. The drug-dealing mini-game tends to be quite slow, since it often requires players to trek across the absolutely massive city. Also, the evasion system can be frustrating since the in-game police aggravate easily, and given the isometric view, it's easy to accidentally bump into a police officer, thus triggering the mini-game. This happens quite often and becomes incredibly bothersome over time.

Chinatown Wars though an excellent game, still suffers from some of the issues of its DS counterpart, as well as others introduced by the lack of a touch screen. Players that enjoy the GTA series and don't own a DS should without question purchase this latest entry. Those who have the option of purchasing either version need to assess whether graphics or controls are more important. In either case, players are treated to an enjoyable title that does an amazing job of making the GTA experience portable.