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PSP owners, rejoice - Grand Theft Auto:
Chinatown Wars, Metacritic.com's highest-rated DS game of all-time is now
available for PlayStation Portable. Specifically retooled for the PSP platform,
this is a full-fledged game that stands on its own. With an all-new, deep story
and visuals complete with upscaled widescreen graphics, enhanced lighting,
animations and including all new story missions, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown
Wars promises a powerful experience on the PSP, and one not to be missed,
Liberty City's newest tough guy, Huang Lee.
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The Story: Left for Dead in the Worst Place in America
Following his father’s murder, Huang Lee is given what would on the surface seem
to be a simple mission: to deliver an ancient sword to his Uncle Kenny to ensure
his family retains control of the Triad gangs of Liberty City. Huang is a
spoiled rich kid who expects everything to run smoothly, but his trip does not
go exactly as planned. Only minutes after arriving at the Liberty City airport
at the far end of town, he is attacked, robbed and left for dead. Only through
quickly thinking is he able to survive and make his way back to his
neighborhood, but the damage to he and his family has been done. Now his destiny
is to search for honor, riches and revenge in the most dangerous and morally
bankrupt city in the world.
Gameplay
Chinatown Wars is set in the Grand Theft Auto IV-imagined version
of Liberty City, and contains most of its boroughs and neighborhoods. In
exploring and exploiting this vast area, players use the game's rotatable camera
to take in a 3D, 360-degree view of their environment, providing an elevated and
somewhat skewed third-person perspective, that switches to first-person with the
appropriate player action. Assuming the role of Huang Lee your goal is to rise
up in the ranks of the underworld to challenge the Triad of Chinatown gangs that
have usurped your family's position and recover the stolen heirloom and your
lost honor. In true GTA fashion this entails gameplay that embraces the
seedy underbelly that Liberty City is famous for. Throughout the game's 70+
missions -- all of which can be replayed even after completion -- and its myriad
of side quests, players earn cash by completing jobs ranging from petty street
crime, all the way up to drug dealing and assassination. As in other GTA
releases, rising competence at crime raises the amount of attention received by
police, but unlike previous games here players can not simply outrun alerted
authorities. With each additional star added to your 'wanted rating' players
must disable or destroy more of the pursuing police units to keep them off your
tail. In addition to mission play, the game also contains many opportunities,
such as the safe cracking and car hot-wiring mini-games and the various items
and weapons hidden throughout the game that demand skill with the PSP's analog
nub for success. By whatever means, once players have attained a certain level
of cash and street cred they will also be able to recruit members for their own
gang who pledge their loyalty by allowing themselves to be tattooed with the
mark of the player's choosing.
Cars and Controls
Cars and control schemes play a prominent role in Chinatown Wars. All
cars feature GPS functionality based on available roadways. Directions are shown
on the lower of the screen as part of the in-game PDA interface, but players may
take vehicles off roads wherever possible, with the GPs automatically resetting
when back on the pavement. While driving players also have access to five
in-game radio stations and use of their weapons. Your PDA provides efficient
management tools for your growing crime empire, including quick weapons
switching, a running total of available cash, in-game e-mail and Internet access
and nearly instant game saves any time. The control scheme in Chinatown Wars
utilizes an easy to use and comfortable to play combination of steering and
manual and automatic weapon locks and unlocks via shoulder buttons.
Key Game Features:
- Audio and Video Upgrades - Utilizing the superior audio and visual
processing power of the PSP, Chinatown Wars is reborn with noticeable
boosts in graphic and sound quality.
- An Expansive Liberty City at Your Fingertips - Contemporary Liberty City
is a massive world complete with pedestrians, weather and traffic patterns, five
different radio stations and four different sprawling boroughs to explore.
- Endless Gameplay - Mature storyline with over 70+ story missions; plus
dozens of side quests, collectibles, contextual mini-games and the all new
mission replay feature.
- Street Economics - Addictive drug dealing side game with 6 different drug
types, 80+ drug dealers and a supply / demand driven narcotics economy.
- Play with Friends - Take your game online with the PSP's Wi-Fi
capabilities for head-to-head and co-op multiplayer mayhem.
- Bragging Rights - Chat, trade guns and commodities with your friends, and
compete for glory via online tournaments and leaderboards on the Rockstar Games
Social Club.
- PDA Interface - Use the touch screen as a PDA device to set GPs
waypoints, change radio stations, communicate via e-mail with in-game characters
and order weapons on the Internet.
Online Bragging Rights and Multiplayer
Care has been taken to ensure that players can share their PSP Chinatown Wars
experiences with friends and fellow players in different ways. First, players
will have access to the Chinatown Wars as well as the greater Grand
Theft Auto communities through the Rockstar Games Social Club. Here they can
chat, trade commodities, purchase special in-game items with in-game currency,
check the leaderboards and compete in online tournaments. The PSP's Wi-Fi
capabilities also gives players the opportunity to take their game online as
they battle for supremacy in their own little corner of Liberty City in both
head-to-head and co-op multiplayer battles.
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