Game Review of ‘Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars’ for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Also check out Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars HD on the Apple iPad.

Released with little fanfare, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the game GTA fans have been waiting for on the mobile. Originally on the Nintendo DS and, later, the Sony PSP, Chinatown Wars follows a young Hong Kong socialite who comes to America to avenge his Mafia-connected father’s death. Working under his uncle, the hero learns the ways of the mean streets. For us, it means plenty of high-speed chases, plot twists and shoot outs in the New York City-inspired world. It’s true to the GTA series, so you can do pretty much anything: Main missions are surrounded by tons of minigames, any car (including city and state vehicles) can be jacked, and fisticuffs can be done with random pedestrians. Chinatown Wars uses a new GPS system to make finding (and remembering) new areas easier in the big city. Also new are the touchscreen-dependent tasks required for missions like, say, swiping aside things to find hidden objects. The overhead perspective might seem new, but old-school gamers will recognize it from the first Grand Theft Auto games in the late nineties, and the pseudo three-dimensional depth, as well as the funky soundtrack by hip-hop producer DJ Khalil, make it fun just to cruise around. Walking controls via the touch joystick are very good, though the arrow-based driving does have quite a learning curve. Otherwise, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is definitely on par with the other games in the series. A must buy for fans.

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Genre: Adventure

Release Date: January 2010

Reviewed On: iPhone/iPod Touch

Available For: iPhone/iPod Touch

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars