Comments on: Five Reasons Why Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is Even Better on PSP

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:38:06 +0000

Definitely subjective … and you really can’t lose either way! It was great back in April, and is great now!

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:27:59 +0000

Some of the control/interface differences are definitely open to individual preferences. The DS version’s interface is great, I’d rather just play a game manually and not bother with multiple screens and having to switch between using a stylus for some actions and face buttons for others.

I didn’t notice any sluggishness with the PDA menus myself, both seemed about the same to me. I mostly noticed the longer time it takes to initially get into the game and the few seconds it takes the game to switch from playing a cutscene to getting you into the gameplay, which is pretty much instantaneous on the DS.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:49:10 +0000

I have mixed feelings …
– Graphics: in general I agree that they enhance things, but I also found the transparency worse in terms of seeing stuff.
– Screens – the widescreen is nice for some stuff, but I miss the dual screen implementation, as I found Chinatown Wars really did it nicely.
– Sound: I used the DSi for most of my playing, so I had better sound than my DS Lite. Still … is anyone arguing that the PSP is not better?
– Controls: again a mixed bag. Some stuff was sweet, other stuff I found imprecise.
– Mini-games: I liked them better on the DS in every case, but found the PSP implementation ‘good enough’.
– Loads – the PDA was constantly making me wait, and there weer definitely too many little loads. Nothing terrible, but still more non-game time than the DS.

My verdict? I loved GTA:CW on the DS and I adore it on the PSP! But there is no real reason in my opinion to buy again … unless you prefer to play on the PSP. I bought my copy on the PSN Store on day of release, and it was only ~575MB, which made for a quick download to my PSP Go. I have been playing it ever since and really enjoying it – don’t regret the purchase for a second!