With little fanfare or even a press release, Rockstar’s portable GTA hit the App Store yesterday morning. The now twice ported title sells for $9.99, and from what I can tell from my four or so hours in the game, never looked better. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was a bit of a commercial dud on both the DS and PSP platforms, despite being highly regarded in the games press circles. It looks like history won’t repeat itself on the App Store since GTA:CW hit the number one position on the “Top Grossing” charts worldwide before the title was even 24 hours old.
Taking the widescreen presentation and beefed up textures from the PSP port, and the touch screen minigames from the DS original, GTA:CW looks and plays the best of the three version. The engine is silky smooth, so much in fact that other devs publishing on the platform must be wondering what manner of witchcraft Rockstar used to get this thing purring on Apple’s portables.
I’m shooting, dealing and racing my way through the title at the moment, but keep a lookout for my review here on Nukoda. You’ll also be able to hear my thoughts on the Touch of Gaming podcast, as I’m sure GTA will be making a regular appearance in our discussions there.
[Download GTA:CW: $9.99] link opens iTunes
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