My GTA China Town Wars (iPhone) Review:
GTA: China Town Wars is a portable outing that combines some of the best features of the console series with the top-down perspective of the original two Grand Theft Auto games. Originally released for Nintendo DS and later the PSP, the iPhone port combines the touch related mini-games available on the DS with the polished graphics of the PSP port. The result being one of the most in depth fully featured games available on the platform.
On the surface there is not much more to China Town Wars than other games in the series as it features many of the same mission types and arcade action present in the original GTA3 trilogy. The story is a similar tale of greed and betrayal that takes place in the criminal underworld albeit this time you’re dealing with Asian Triads instead of the Italian Mafia, or Miami Drug Cartels. You’ll be carrying out tasks for numerous thugs and higher ups in the business – tasks that range from following people to their hide outs, blowing up store fronts, dealing with rival gangs, and other GTA standards. The main plot is generous with content and if you only play the missions you can expect at least 20-25 hours of solid gameplay.
The graphics are well drawn with very polished textures and a good variety of vehicles. There are plenty of little details in the world and no part of the world map feels unused or empty which helps to encourage exploration. The game features a good set of radio stations – unfortunately there are no radio-advertisements and the music is all instrumental, however you can import a playlist of songs from your iPod library – if I may, I suggest
HEAVY JACK ~ Multiply.
Where this game shines is with mini games, side quests, and other fun activities not pertinent to the storyline. The game takes full advantage of the touch screen making things like stealing cars, reading email, making molotov cocktails, buying scratch&win tickets, etc. seem more realistic than just pushing a button. Like the console series you can also steal police cars, ambulances, taxis, and fire trucks and take on their respective side missions as well. There is also a new side mission that can only be found in this game – Dealing. This game features a robust drug dealing system that takes into account territory, six types of drugs, the DEA and Supply&Demand – all of which make playing this mini game almost more fun than the main storyline. As you work your way up through the ranks you can expect to get notifications from friends and enemies about good and too-good-to-be-true deals that will take you all around the massive map, and allow you to make cash very quick if you are strategic about who you buy from and where you sell.
The enormous amount of content available in this game would not mean anything if the controls were not designed well. So how does gameplay in GTA: CTW feel? Pretty good – although it does take time to get use to the car handling which can feel slightly sluggish at times due to the touch controls. Fortunately the gameplay never feels extremely difficult and for the most part the controls don’t get in the way.
At $9.99 is GTA: China Town Wars worth the price of admission – absolutely without a doubt it most certainly is. No where else in the app-store are you going to find an open-world action game with as much attention to detail as this one.
9/10