GTA: Chinatown Wars - Catch All

Yes, it's an older game from last year originally released for the DS. I searched, and did not find a thread for it, so here's a new one. It has recently been re-released on PSP, and when the Bay Bridge went out last week, I totally picked it up thinking it'd be a great way to spend my commute time on BART. Hooray for digital download and semi-immediate gratification!

I love that the game is played from a top-down view. It's a total throwback to the original GTA back on the PlayStation. Of course the downside is that it can make it difficult to see the action. Especially when playing near any of the elevated train tracks! More than once I have gotten busted or wasted just because I couldn't properly make out the environment.

For me, though, the real star of this game is the dope-wars-esque side game. I have literally spent hours driving around Liberty city finding the hidden dealers, just so I can find out their prices, and then buy low and sell high. The story seems kind of "meh" so far, but then again I didn't really pick up this game for the story, anyway. I've played four or five missions, and honestly, I'm not even sure that I'll play much more of them. If I did nothing but play the dealer game, finding all the dealers and buying all the property without playing any story missions, I'd be a happy camper.

So, anybody else played it; on PSP or DS? Anything to watch out or be prepared for?

I'm excited to see how this is going to play out when they release it for iPhone later this year (which is running out of days.) It did piss-poor on the DS despite it's high marks across the board and I haven't heard anything regarding the PSP version. I can't imagine it doing significantly worse.

Well after another 4 hours of playing I can totally say that the story missions seem to suck. I mean, they're literally just short of being utterly ridiculous and unplayable. I've played all the GTA's, though, and this sort of thing is common. You get to a mission, you think you're doing the right thing, then they insta-spawn 10 guys around a moron that you have to protect. Meanwhile, I hate the moron so much, I'd actually rather kill him myself. Not exactly motivating me to either protect those waste of pixels, nor to keep playing those missions, that's for sure.

But, again, I am loving driving around the city making money. I decided to spend every cent I had on a deal for dirt cheap acid. Since then the demand for acid is in the gutter, so I have no way of recouping my investment yet. That means lots of exploring while I wait for prices to change. But, while that may sound crazy, it's still where I'm having the most fun!

Wow this is really the only thread? I just picked this up for Android since it was on sale for under a buck. Had always meant to get it for DS, but never got around to it.

Plays pretty well. Very much like the original GTA 1-2 on PC, but with a lot of added in things.

I, too, enjoy the heck out of dealing drugs. Great little side game to the main game, especially after you get the drug territory map. Then you have trends of what to buy/sell and where to search for dealers. Starting to roll in the cash now.

Stele wrote:

Wow this is really the only thread? I just picked this up for Android since it was on sale for under a buck. Had always meant to get it for DS, but never got around to it.

Plays pretty well. Very much like the original GTA 1-2 on PC, but with a lot of added in things.

I, too, enjoy the heck out of dealing drugs. Great little side game to the main game, especially after you get the drug territory map. Then you have trends of what to buy/sell and where to search for dealers. Starting to roll in the cash now.

How does it control with the phone? Never even knew I could get this on Android, got a PS Vita so might check the price on the store too.

RNRClown grabbed this for his DS & sparked my interest.

Driving is kind of rough. Not sure if it's me or the controls. There's gas/brake on the right and left/right on the left. And I spend a lot of time crashing into things.

But moving around on foot and the gun combat and dodging and stuff is great.

And the actual car stealing minigames are great.

Spikeout wrote:

How does it control with the phone? Never even knew I could get this on Android, got a PS Vita so might check the price on the store

I played it on iPhone 4s, 5s, and iPad. The controls kill the game. I've read that it's supposed to be better with an MFi controller, but I don't have one.

Cheers guys, looks like it will be the PSP version played on the Vita if it's a good price. I remember playing Mario on an emulator on my phone, the controls were hectic, couldn't play it at all.