This review is for the PSN version of the game.
For me, this is the first enjoyable game I've bought for the PSP. If you own a PSP and you feel like there are no good games for it, you might want to give this one a try. It's the perfect way to kill time while travelling or even when you're just sitting at home.
Presentation
GTA: CW's presentation is similar to the original GTA games prior to GTA 3, meaning you'll be playing the game from a top-down perspective. The PSP version was released about 7 months after the DS version with improved graphics and some new missions and of course an emulated control scheme to fit the PSP's controls. It was released both as an UMD and a downloadable PSN version, the latter having shorter loading times. I haven't tested the UMD version, but from what I've experienced the load times aren't very long, especially when you're manually saving your game, it saves it instantaneously, while the autosaves take a tad longer. The story is entirely told using subtitles and still images with a similar style to the usual GTA box art/loading screens.
Story and characters
The main character is a snotty rich kid called Huang Lee, and just like most Rockstar games, this one also deals with a revenge story. The problem I've had with all GTA games is that there's always way more money than you can spend in the game. Well that problem applies to this game as well, except that there's a lot less money you can achieve with just the missions. I finished GTA IV with over $500,000 but in GTA: CW I only had about $50,000. There's still not enough stuff to spend your hard earned money on. And besides, it's a bit weird that Huang, coming from a rich family, has to start with $0 and earn money doing jobs for other people. It definitely made more sense in GTA IV when Niko immigrated to Liberty City and had to earn money.
Speaking of GTA IV, Huang's rich wise guy persona isn't as interesting a character as Niko's story about the false American dream. Come to think of it, Huang is pretty much the least interesting character I've seen in a GTA game. He's always being sarcastic and he only seems to have one or two facial expressions. Most often he will be staring at the screen with this "rich snob" -look where his eyebrows are raised and eyelids half shut. Previous GTA games have handled character developement excellently, but GTA: CW is somewhat lacking in that department. The only dialogue in the cutscenes is presented as subtitles, with no conversations between characters you're driving or walking with. Also the fact that there's no voice acting in the story makes the characters a bit forgettable.
Setting
Based on the title, one might expect the game to be mainly in Chinatown area, but GTA: CW is located in Liberty City, the one most fans of the series should be pretty familiar with. Looking at the map, the area looks very similar to the Liberty City in GTA IV, with the exception of the missing easternmost island. The city doesn't try to mimic the GTA IV city very accurately, though. I noticed some familiar looking areas or landmarks, but mostly it feels like a different Liberty City altogether.
Gameplay
The controls may seem a bit awkward at first because of the new-to-the-series addition of auto-piloting, to keep you lined with the road when you're driving. Also the top-down angle should take some time getting used to because it is often difficult to predict what's ahead. You'll definitely crash or scratch a lot of cars while driving. I think I destroyed, or nearly destroyed every car I drove during the game. I personally preferred using taxis as a means of travelling, because it's too difficult to drive fast while avoiding damaging your vehicle or even more frustratingly, hitting a police car and then having to lose the tail. However, losing your wanted level is easier this time around, as not only do the old methods of spray painting your car or driving out of sight work, but now you can also lose them by destroying their cars by forcing them off the road into walls or whatever that should destroy a car.
The on-foot controls work fairly well. There are sometimes some issues with the camera angles though, but you can manually reset it to rotate the angle to look at where you're facing. The game will do this automatically as well, but sometimes it's just not fast enough. The combat is somewhat hit-or-miss, though. Just like the previous GTA games, this one uses auto-aim, but unlike in the previous games, it's pretty difficult to switch between targets and sometimes that's bad enough to get you killed or taking lots of damage.
The missions are similar to the ones in other GTA games, driving people to places or killing bad guys. What's definitely been improved though, is the mini-games, which are much like those Warioware games for Nintendo DS and Wii. There's a lot more of them and they are basically everywhere, from starting the car to assembling a sniper rifle. The controls in the mini-games try to mimic the motions seen in the cutscenes, which usually require you to flick or spin the analog stick according to the instructions represented in the cartoony still-image cutscenes. Even though there are a lot of mini-games, they don’t seem repetitious – there are 3 different mini-games for car-jacking alone – and they’re neatly implemented and fun to do, although I can only imagine how fun they would have been with the Stylus pen on the Nintendo DS.
Graphics
The game looks great but not spectacular. The visual presentation is definitely more fitting than that of the previous GTA games for the PSP, due to hardware restrictions. The environments are essentially 3D even though the top-down approach would suggest a 2D world. Sometimes the camera zooms closer to street-view to prove it really is 3D. Also, you can tell that the game has a physics engine as well, when sometimes you crash so hard into vehicles that they flip over, or when you’re doing stunts. The game also has the usual day-night cycle from previous GTAs with different weathers for variety’s sake. The vehicles are detailed enough to be recognizable for the series, but pedestrians, on the other hand, don’t look so hot.
Sound
Like I mentioned earlier, there's no voice-over acting in the cutscenes, but there's still a handful of pedestrian comments that are voiced. However, I noticed that they get repetitive soon and kind of ironically the developers seemed to be aware of this as the most common phrase I hear is "You always say that!" The lack of voicework also carries over to the soundtrack department as the game's 11 radio stations are completely instrumental, making the game playable with or without sound, perfect for situations where there's too much background noise to hear anything anyway. If you happen to be a fan of electronic/instrumental artists or DJs, there are some recognizable artists involved with their own radio stations, for instance, Tortoise, The Alchemist and Anvil.
Quantity of content
I finished the story in about 8 hours, even though I wasn't always focusing on the story. There’s still a truck-load of things to do once you’ve finished the story. You can even replay missions from the story mode. Of course there are stunts and races scattered around Liberty City. Vigilantes, firefighting and taxi missions haven’t gone anywhere either. A new addition is the ability to buy and sell drugs to earn money.
Conclusion
If you especially love the voice work and dialogue in GTA games then you might get a bit bored with what GTA: CW has to offer. GTA: CW is a fantastic title when it comes to PSP games and I definitely recommend it if you have love for the series. But still, despite the graphical improvements, I can’t help but feel that the game is superior on the DS with the two screens and Stylus pen. However, if you don’t own a DS and you don’t have anything else in mind for the PSP then definitely get this game.