Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Hits iPhone, Kicks It While It's Down, Steals Its Car

January 18, 2010 7:46 AM

Rockstar's top-down open-world murder and gang warfare simulator Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars arrived on iTunes for iPhone and iPod Touch priced at $10.

Originally scheduled for release in fall 2009, the 188MB port is controlled by on-screen buttons and packs the touch-based minigames of the original DS version.

Though praised by critics and players alike when it was released for Nintendo DS on March 17, 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars sold well short of industry expectations. An enhanced PSP version followed on October 20, 2009.

Alice O'Connor

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Dimmona

 reply
January 18, 2010 10:15 AM

Easily the best DS game of the last year - it's a shame no one bought it. I'd be leary of a port to the iPhone though as controls would be tough - anyone know if this is another onscreen joystick/button control scheme?
- at0micgarden
  
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  January 18, 2010 10:46 AM
  
  It is, but it seems to work well once you get used to it. There's a few options for the driving, basically it's a good mix of the PSP and DS version. IMO it's a perfect "kill time on the train" game, but it goes to that extra level because it's a pretty engaging game, too. DEFINITELY worth the 10 bucks.
  - matrixneo42
    
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    January 19, 2010 9:39 AM
    
    Is it better than the other GTA style games on the iphone? I can't seem to get into Car Jack. Does Chinatown on iphone save when you hit the home button, no matter what's going on?
- greydog
  
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  January 18, 2010 10:58 AM
  
  grabbed this on the ds but never finished it =/
  if it is a good port i'll gladly pick it up on iphone. gonna wait for some extended reviews.
- Chester Copperpot
  
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  January 18, 2010 11:01 AM
  
  Safe to assume rampant piracy on the handhelds took a huge chunk out of sales?
- feek
  
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  January 18, 2010 3:17 PM
  
  probably the best game on the platform. probably my goty last year. pisses me off no one bought it, i want more of them.
  - matrixneo42
    
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    January 19, 2010 9:41 AM
    
    Well, apparently at least 10 or so people bought Chinatown for the DS. :) I loved it. Scribblenauts and Chinatown are now what I consider must own DS titles, along with Mariokart, tetris and the latest zeldas.
- agentboolen
  
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  January 18, 2010 6:02 PM
  
  I don't know I didn't go that crazy for it. Personally I just thought the camera got me dizzy. It consistently rotates around as your driving.
  
  I also don't know why everyone that bought it went nuts for it, when the series started it was like this and it didn't have that big of a fan base back then. If you ask me the 2 PSP games before this one where more fun. I guess i'm just not that big of a fan of the top down view =P
  - matrixneo42
    
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    January 19, 2010 9:43 AM
    
    I spent a LOT of time in gta2. The multiplayer in that one is still one of the funniest and replayable lan games of all time. Yes it still holds up today. For a game to be fun it doesn't have to be 3d first person. The multiplayer in gta2 is still more fun than gta4's mp.
- Schnapple
  
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  January 18, 2010 7:40 PM
  
  For some reason I dicked around and never got this thing for the DS. And I forgot about it until I saw it was on the iPhone.
  
  Even though I have an iPhone, I went ahead and rectified this by buying it on the DS tonight.
  - matrixneo42
    
     reply
    January 19, 2010 9:44 AM
    
    Good man. Though, I have the DS one and I will consider the iphone version because it is a great game.