Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a game for all the people who found Grand Theft Auto IV too ponderous, scattershot, or just too damn different from the rest of the series. The fact that the game is on the Nintendo DS may have forced Rockstar’s hand. There’s just no room for hours of talk-radio banality or stand-up routines. So Chinatown Wars sticks to the basics: police chases and kill-crazy rampages. Sure, there’s a story. Huang Lee is another immigrant new to Liberty City. He’s surrounded by smart-ass mob bosses, all scripted with Rockstar’s trademark panache. But he isn’t here to escape or chase the American dream. He just wants to fuck shit up, and maybe avenge his father’s death if he can squeeze that in.
If Chinatown Wars is missing anything, it’s the sense of place that Grand Theft Auto IV transmitted. Character oozed from the city’s pores, thanks to colorful sidewalk banter, satirical billboards, and top-notch voice acting. But dialing back such flourishes feels right in the handheld setting. So does the old-school top-down view and handsome cel-shaded architecture. Where the handheld Grand Theft Auto games for the PSP felt like console games shoehorned into a smaller setting, Chinatown Wars feels like a different Liberty City grown organically out of Nintendo DS soil.