Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars review

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a full featured console game for the iPhone and iPod touch from Rockstar Games. Originally GTA Chinatown Wars was released for the PSP and Nintendo DS, and now it has been formatted and recreated to work on the iPhone. This game is really a full featured app with a fully developed scripted storyline, powerfully simple to use controls, amazing graphics and exciting 3D gameplay. If you’re a fan of the Grand Theft Auto, you’ll be hard pressed not to grab this (the 19th) version of the series on your iPhone. It is one of those games, that you will pretty much never delete from your device. You can whip it out, play a few minutes and close it. It automatically starts up where you left off in the story the next time you open the app.

The story is based on a character named Huang Lee, the son of a recently passed, notoriously corrupt mobster father. Huang travels from China to meet his uncle Kenny in the city delivering the sacred family Sword. Things take a twisted turn when he is attacked by mobsters at the airport and left for dead in the river, the sword stolen. This throws Haung into the violent chaotic and backstabbing world of drug lords and gives him a shot at becoming something of a notorious gangster himself.

Controlling the action is done with a virtual d-pad on the left while on foot, with punch, kick and drop kick buttons on the right. As you earn new weapons tap the pause button to switch weapons you’ve collected with the punch button. When driving use left and right buttons to steer along with a gas and brake pedal on the right. The camera angle is top down in GTA Chinawars but it works out to look very realistic with elegantly laid out 3D structures and dynamically changing angles as your move around the map. The game lives around a real 24 hour day with a clock with gradual shifts in day, night, rain, snow and many other subtle visual and audio effects which make things feel real.

You stay at a hidden safe house that has a living room and a garage to store your loot. There is also a whiteboard with magnetic letters which you can use to enter cheats in the game (see below for details). You have access to an email account where you get sent notes and instructions from your Uncle. You also have access to a GPS unit which you can use to navigate to any area on the island.

The communication between characters is done via cartoon like screens with closed captioning. The dialog in GTA Chinatown Wars is absolutely brilliant, and is actually entertaining and fun to read unlike most games. It does contain a plethora of slang and vulgar language which probably has led to the game being rated 17+ in the App Store, not to mention all the violence. While driving you get access to a few different radio stations for your listening pleasure. What’s cool is that if you create an iPod playlist called GTA and sync it to your iPhone, GTA automatically plays it for you when you start the game.

GTA Chinatown Wars Cheats:
Entering Cheats in GAT Chinatown Wars on the iPhone or iPod touch is simple. In your safe house, find the jumbled magnetic letters on the whiteboard to spell out the letters below to input the following cheats. You’ll see some text on the bottom of the screen that confirms your cheat was successful.

Weapons Cheats

LOADOA

grenade, nightstick, pistol, minigun, assault, micro smg, stubby shotgun

LOADOB

molotov, teaser, dual pistols, flamethrower, carbine, smg, dual-barrel

LOADOC

mine, chainsaw, revolver, flamethrower, carbine, smg, dual-barrel

LOADOD

flashbang, bat, pistol, rpg, carbine, micro smg, stubby shotgun

Money Cheats:

CASHIN

Grants $10,000 extra cash.

COPOUT

Lowers your wanted level by 1 star.

COPIN

Raises your wanted level by 1 star.

SHELLY

Refills your armor to full.

LIFEUP

Refills your life to full.

TRIPPY

Reveals all drug dealer locations.

If you prefer, you can also buy an iPhone app called GTA China Wars Cheats from the App Store for buck that reveals these codes. One last note, the super hype single song to the Chinatown Wars has also been released in iTunes featuring rappers DOOM and Ghostface Killa. (iTunes Link)

Overall, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is no joke. Its dark, grim, and has a ton of attitude. If you’re in the market for a “real” game with a ton of replay value, don’t miss out on this one.

Here is a video demo of the Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars app on the iPhone

AppSafari review of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was written by Joe Seifi on January 30th, 2010 and categorized under App Store, Featured, Fun, Games, Third Person Shooter. Page viewed 11502 times, 1 so far today. Need help on using these apps? Please read the Help Page.