Way, way back in March, a little title popped up on the Nintendo DS. It was known as Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and videogame critics fell over themselves complimenting the little title that could. But in deep, dark basements across the land, PSP gamers rocked themselves to sleep while weeping. For the first time in recent memory, a portable Grand Theft Auto was coming out and it wasn't coming to the PSP.

That all changes today. Yes, Chinatown Wars is out for the PSP, and yes, it's awesome.

In typical GTA fashion, Chinatown Wars casts you as a no-good loner named Huang Lee. Huang was happy to be a rich, spoiled kid eating up all of his father's money, but when his pop is murdered, Huang must return to Liberty City to pass on a family heirloom and keep the world spinning. See, Huang's father was the leader of the Triads in L.C. and his death has sparked a bit of a power struggle in the metropolis.

How many people will die in our video review?

Of course, things are never simple in GTA. As soon as he steps off the plane, Huang is abducted, left for dead, and robbed of the sword that was his sole purpose for coming to town. With revenge on his mind, the player is launched into a tale of murder, betrayal, drugs, guns, and so much more.

If you've somehow missed all the hubbub about Chinatown Wars, this title might not be what you're expecting in terms of a traditional PSP GTA. There's no behind the back third-person perspective, no voice acting in the cutscenes, and no strive for the most realistic looking game possible. Chinatown Wars is played from an angled top-down perspective, told through some moving art cutscenes, and features a bright and vibrant look akin to an animated film. As a longtime fan of the series, there were plenty of times that I'd be blowing cars off the road with my tank or leaving foes in bright red pools of blood with my chaingun and get the throwback feel of GTA II.

That's a good thing.

There were times when I was breezing down the road on my way to a mission while following my GPS (you can set it to appear on the radar and the actual road if you like), and I would literally be taken aback by how good the action looked. The driving is fluid, the graphics are slick, and everything has polish to it.

Source: www.ign.com