Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for PSP Reviews by Gamers

For the uninitiated, Chinatown Wars was originally released on the DS, where like many M-rated franchises that have recently tried to tap that Nintendo well, sold much lower than expectations. I'm not sure if porting the game to the PSP was a result of poor DS sales or part of the plan all along, but if you're new to the PSP or the world of GTA, you really shouldn't start here.

The PSP version is essentially the same top-down game (reminiscent of GTA I and II) with improved graphics and sound, plus a few changes to mini-games that previously required the DS touch screen. Much of what put GTA on the map is here: the story, the characters, the wide-open world with lots of stuff to explore outside of the main missions. Still, after playing the "Stories" games on PSP (still two of the system's best games), this really feels like a big step back for the franchise. It's not just the generic radio and lack of voice acting, either. Shooting and driving is clunky and with the top-down view there were many times where my view was blocked by trees or train tracks.

Don't get me wrong. It's a good game and 7 is probably too low. If we could use decimals I'd give it 7.5 or so. I might actually give it another rental later on to give it a second chance, but only because it's Grand Theft Auto. If it was just called "Chinatown Wars" by someone other than Rockstar, I'm not sure I would have even put it in my queue the first time around. It may not be fair to compare it to other games in the GTA series, but you if want to sell this as a full-priced, $40 game that's what I'm going to do. And unfortunately it pales in comparison to its PSP predecessors.