In a move that surprised many, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars came exclusively to the Nintendo DS earlier this year. All these months later though, PSP owners finally have the chance to get their hands on one of handheld gaming’s most critically acclaimed titles. The PSP edition of the game features the same core title, with some new bells and whistles on the graphical side, as well as some new missions. There are other new additions, and not all of those work as well as we would like, but this is still a fantastic game and a necessary addition to any PSP owner’s library.

You play as Huang Lee, a member of the Triads whose father has just been killed in Hong Kong. He’s in Liberty City to deliver a sword–Yu Jian–to his Uncle Kenny, who is vying to become the new leader of the Triads. Huang is ambushed by unknown assailants along the way, and is thought to be dead. You are tasked with finding out where the sword has gone and who killed your father, and like in any Grand Theft Auto game, you will meet a cast of characters with missions for you to carry out on your way to reaching these goals.

While the story is good enough, it’s certainly one of the weaker parts of the title, especially when compared to other recent GTA games. “Weaker” is a relative term though, as almost everything else works incredibly, and there is so much to do outside of the story that you would be forgiven for ignoring your Uncle Kenny’s wishes for hours at a time. The characters you meet are also entertaining, so it’s not like this is a blight on the game or anything–there have just been better GTA yarns to spin in the past.

Despite what screens have led you to believe, this game is fully 3D, and seen from an aerial perspective. The camera rotates at 360 degrees, showing off the 3D models and interactive environment. The little things, like mail boxes, street signs and lamp posts all use realistic physics to react to your crashing and bumping into them. You will crash into a car, and that car will flip through the air just like it would on a home console–this is the moment where you realize just how powerful Chinatown Wars is graphically. It was impressive on the DS, but on the PSP, with a wider screen and higher resolution, the game’s graphics and physics stand out even more. Rockstar Leeds also went back and added some lighting effects, which are especially noticeable at night or when you’re driving around the city.

Chinatown Wars uses a semi cel-shaded style that works very well on the system, and cutscenes, though told through text and character portraits, have that trademark GTA art style down, and they work effectively. The PSP version cut down on the thick black lines that some of the DS characters had around them, and also presents the cutscenes in a much higher resolution that makes the images much, much cleaner. My one issue on the graphical side of things is that occasionally it feels like the game can’t load the road in front of you fast enough when you’re speeding–the entire road just sort of appears in front of you out of a mass of black nothingness. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen, and it resulted in a few crashes into cop cars I couldn’t see until I was literally on top of them. This wasn’t an issue with the DS version, so this may just be a UMD issue.

Though characters and cars may appear small at first, you shouldn’t lost track of what’s going on, and you can tell what is happening on screen. Driving, for example, is easier than you think it would be given you are using a single analog stick; your car can auto-align to center itself, and you can use the shoulder buttons as brakes to make turns more effectively. You can also set your GPS routes to appear on the city roads themselves, which is useful while learning your way around the city–I know I’m always overwhelmed the first few times I boot up a GTA game and have to find my way around.

Rockstar promised this would be the most action-intensive GTA we have seen, and they were not lying. Everything happens very fast, with more arcade influence than some of the game’s console cousins; there are tons of explosions, bullets, police officers, gang members, fires–if it’s dangerous, there’s a lot of it around Liberty City. Ridiculous weapons like the flamethrower and chainsaws are back, and they are a blast to use, especially when you start to get cornered by gang members jumping out of speedy cars. Missions will see you accomplishing a variety of tasks, but there is an emphasis on taking down entire groups of gang members before they can get you, as well as high speed car chases where guns are fired and Molotov Cocktails are tossed out windows to slow your pursuers. If it’s action you are looking for, I’m happy to report that Chinatown Wars delivers in spades. Even better, you can now replay any mission you have completed by checking out the white board in your apartment; you are able to improve your times and scores on these missions from here, which can then be uploaded, along with the rest of your stats, to the Rockstar Social Club, where Rockstar will hold contests for prizes. Those who participate in the Rockstar Social Club will also have access to some exclusive missions down the line, a nice bonus and incentive to keep playing.

What really ups the action in Chinatown Wars though is the new police evasion system. Rather than simply outrun the cops when you cause trouble, you must now actively engage them to impede their chase. When you get a single star (or are back down to one star) you can utilize the old system of laying low, but you will find yourself in far more trouble than that given the level of action in this game. In those cases, you will need to “disable” the cop cars by ramming into them, causing them to crash into buildings, walls, other cars, or just smashing them around with your vehicle while at high speeds. This kind of turns things around, making you more of the hunter than you are used to. Remember, the goal is not to blow up or destroy the cars, so don’t think you will be off the hook by tossing hand grenades out the window at oncoming cruisers. Instead, you just need to get rid of those who are chasing you by taking out their vehicles–they can’t very well catch up with you if they are on foot and you are in a sports car.

Alright everyone, Chinatown Wars is coming to the PSP this month. Rockstar took the Nintendo DS version and has tweaked it around for the PSP. There are a slew of new features and PSP exclusive missions. The newest set of screens focus on Huang fighting Yardies in a room full of drugs. “Factory Fun” focuses on Huang escaping the warehouse. Rockstar is really committed to provide an experience which is faithful to the DS version but at the same time, adds new material so that it isn’t a total rehash. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you are too!

Rockstar dropped us a line to let us know that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is making its way to the PSP later this year as both a digital download and retail release. They are promising some new missions, enhanced visuals and (obviously) some different gameplay, and we’ll have more details for you as they come out.

Chinatown Wars is one of the highest-rated handheld games ever, one of the highest rated on the DS, and also the owner of the highest score I have given out during my time here at Blast (we know which one of those things carries the most weight, of course). I’m curious as to how they aim to improve the experience, or replicate it, given how very DS-centric it was, but given what they accomplished with the initial version, I’m not about to doubt their ability do so. Read on for more details, straight from Rockstar.

Nintendo fans have missed out on the Grand Theft Auto experience this generation, but no longer; Rockstar Leeds has developed Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, exclusively for the Nintendo DS. In many ways, this is a definitive Grand Theft Auto experience that fans of the series cannot afford to miss; despite the transition to the dual-screen handheld after the grandiose and gigantic Grand Theft Auto IV, Chinatown Wars still comes off as impressive even before taking the hardware it’s on into account.

After New York Comic Con, we covered the game in detail and claimed that it may have been the best title showcased at the convention. More time in Liberty City has done nothing to detract from that opinion, as this is easily one of the top games available from the diverse and deep Nintendo DS library. Rockstar Leeds took many aspects from Grand Theft Auto’s impressive history, combining them together with new elements to create a game that sticks with the formula you expect from GTA titles but at the same time comes off as completely refreshing and unique.

You play as Huang Lee, a member of the Triads whose father has just been killed in Hong Kong. He’s in Liberty City to deliver a sword-Yu Jian-to his Uncle Kenny, who is vying to become the new leader of the Triads. Huang is ambushed by unknown assailants along the way, and is thought to be dead. You are tasked with finding out where the sword has gone and who killed your father, and like in any Grand Theft Auto game, you will meet a cast of characters with missions for you to carry out on your way to reaching these goals.

While the story is good enough, it’s certainly one of the weaker parts of the title, especially when compared to other recent GTA games. “Weaker” is a relative term though, as almost everything else works incredibly, and there is so much to do outside of the story that you would be forgiven for ignoring your Uncle Kenny’s wishes for hours at a time.

Despite what screens have led you to believe, this game is fully 3D, and seen from an aerial perspective. The camera rotates at 360 degrees, showing off the 3D models and interactive environment. The little things, like mail boxes, street signs and lamp posts all use realistic physics to react to your crashing and bumping into them. You will crash into a car, and that car will flip through the air just like it would on a home console-this is the moment where you realize just how powerful Chinatown Wars is graphically, despite being on the DS.

Chinatown Wars uses a semi cel-shaded style that works very well on the system, and cutscenes, though told through text and character portraits, have that trademark GTA art style down, and they work effectively. Though characters and cars may appear small at first, you shouldn’t lost track of what’s going on, and you can tell what is happening on screen. Driving, for example, is easier than you think it would be given you are using a directional pad; your car can auto-align to center itself, and you can use the shoulder buttons as brakes to make turns more effectively. You can also set your GPS routes to appear on the city roads themselves, which is useful while learning your way around the city-I know I’m always overwhelmed the first few times I boot up a GTA game and have to find my way around-and also for those who don’t want to keep an eye on two screens at once.

Rockstar promised this would be the most action-intensive GTA we have seen, and they were not lying. Everything happens very fast, with more arcade influence than some of the game’s console cousins; there are tons of explosions, bullets, police officers, gang members, fires-if it’s dangerous, there’s a lot of it around Liberty City. Ridiculous weapons like the flamethrower and chainsaws are back, and they are a blast to use, especially when you start to get cornered by gang members jumping out of speedy cars. Missions will see you accomplishing a variety of tasks, but there is an emphasis on taking down entire groups of gang members before they can get you, as well as high speed car chases where guns are fired and Molotov Cocktails are tossed out windows to slow your pursuers. If it’s action you are looking for, I’m happy to report that Chinatown Wars delivers in spades. Even better, you can now replay any mission you have completed by checking out the white board in your apartment; you are able to improve your times and scores on these missions from here, which can then be uploaded, along with the rest of your stats, to the Rockstar Social Club, where Rockstar will hold contests for prizes. Those who participate in the Rockstar Social Club will also have access to some exclusive missions down the line, a nice bonus and incentive to keep playing.

What really ups the action in Chinatown Wars though is the new police evasion system. Rather than simply outrun the cops when you cause trouble, you must now actively engage them to impede their chase. When you get a single star (or are back down to one star) you can utilize the old system of laying low, but you will find yourself in far more trouble than that given the level of action in this game. In those cases, you will need to “disable” the cop cars by ramming into them, causing them to crash into buildings, walls, other cars, or just smashing them around with your vehicle while at high speeds. This kind of turns things around, making you more of the hunter than you are used to. Remember, the goal is not to blow up or destroy the cars, so don’t think you will be off the hook by tossing hand grenades out the window at oncoming cruisers. Instead, you just need to get rid of those who are chasing you by taking out their vehicles-they can’t very well catch up with you if they are on foot and you are in a sports car.

For those who missed it, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was easily one of my favorite games at New York Comic Con last month. Now, with the release date less than a week away, Rockstar has sent along this gameplay trailer, that shows you some of the things you need to do in order to raise some cash. Namely, deal drugs.

Of course, Huang runs into trouble, as you can see the cops chasing him in this; this is probably something you never thought you would be doing with a stylus (assuming you don’t deal drugs with a PDA in your spare time, of course), so it’s worth it to check it out.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars releases next Tuesday, March 17, exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Make sure to check back for more information leading up to the release, as well as our eventual review.

NEW YORK — We’ve all seen screens for Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars since it was first announced at E3. Many of us had this image in our heads that since it was going on the DS, it was going to be like the old-school GTA games, the top-down viewpoint with less story and a completely different kind of game than the recent epics we are used to dealing with. Take those thoughts, put them in a pile, and toss a flaming Molotov cocktail on top of them, because all of us who thought that were wrong.

Rockstar Leeds has done something that from the outset seems impossible: they have created a Grand Theft Auto title for the DS that is as action-packed and engaging as its console cousins. Just because the game is called “Chinatown Wars” and focuses on the Triads doesn’t mean you’re stuck in that area; you will visit the other Liberty City locales you remember from GTA IV such as Dukes, Bohan, Broker and Algonquin. The world is also fully realized, as the AI citizens wandering around are not doing so aimlessly; they are all individually programmed to have lives and jobs, and if you were to follow one all day after they left their house you would see them go to work, drive to do errands, then head home at the end of the day to start it again the next one. Impressive work considering the hardware limitations of the platform, for sure.

Graphically, it looks like one of the most impressive and ambitious titles on the handheld, as Rockstar Leeds has put together the game in full 3D and without the use of repeating textures. You can rotate the camera 360 degrees, the cartoon rendering is done live and is generated in render time, and the art style used for the game is wonderful; the concept art in advertisements that you have seen is what this game’s style looks like. Chinatown Wars looks great in motion, far better than the screens have led many of us to believe.

Let’s start with the story. You play as Huang Lee, who enjoys the splendors of the Triad life without any of the bloodshed as a spoiled and rich member of the family. His father is assassinated in Hong Kong, so Lee shows up in Liberty City to deliver the Yu Jian, a sword his father says has been in the family for generations, to his uncle, who wants to use the sword’s status as a way of becoming the leader of the Triads in Liberty City. Things go awry when Lee shows up at the airport though, as he is shot in the head and dumped in the river after an ambush.

You set out to solve the mystery of your father’s assassination, in the hopes of finding out why it happened and also to secure your large inheritance. Part of what makes this inheritance portion of the story work is the fact that will not be a millionaire walking around the streets of Liberty City halfway through the game; you are going to need to perform a lot of missions in order to earn cash, and you will need that cash to get through the game. This helps keep you going and motivated to perform more missions and progress through the story.

Story is important, but you want to know more about the features, or why you should pay attention to this game when it releases. Taking the idea of the cell phone one step further, you now have use of an In-game PDA, thanks to the touch screen and the stylus capabilities of the Nintendo DS. You receive e-mails, use it as a GPS and map system, a music player, your contacts database, and as a resource for the trade-information that you will need to follow thanks to the inclusion of the in-game economy. The PDA is also used to send messages to your friends over the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, something we will get to later.

That in-game economy has to do with the drug market you have been thrown into. Huang Lee will sell drugs-six different types, actually-and prices fluctuate, meaning you need to know when and how much to sell in order to make the biggest profit. You get a boost from sales if you sell in an area surveyed by police cameras, but you can also take the cameras out as a way to help reach 100% completion.

Thankfully, if you want to remember where those cameras are, you can mark them on your map for later. Not just the cameras though, as you can mark whatever points of interest you find on the map for future reference, and then set paths to them just like you could in GTA IV. This makes gaming on the go a cinch, and also makes navigating the streets of Liberty City a breeze.