GTA iPhone now available in 'Lite'

By Robert Purchese Published 26 May, 2010

A free demo, in other words.

Rockstar has released a 'Lite' version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the App Store.

This is essentially a demo or free trial for the £6 iPhone and iPod Touch game.

Chinatown Wars Lite contains the first three levels of the game. These introduce you to the underworld of Liberty City, and to Uncle Wu "Kenny" Lee: a man on a dangerous quest to overthrow the city's Triad gangs.

Check Eurogamer's Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars DS review for the full story.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cianchristopher #1 2 years ago

    Wow, how big is the file? The full game is something like a 280mb download that unpacks to about 700mb of your hard drive.

  • Ryboy #2 2 years ago

    Nice one, downloading this now.

  • L0cky #3 2 years ago

    Android version please!

  • rojjer #4 2 years ago

    anyone know if this or the full game runs on ipad? I'm unclear as to whether all apps can run at an upscaled resolution

    cheers

  • mfnick #5 2 years ago

    Bought this not long after it came out. Could not get on with the controls at all.

    Wish it had a demo back then to stop me wasting my money.

  • Floppy #6 2 years ago

    @ L0cky

    I agree with you, an Android version would be cool; but you'd have to wait for the 2.2 (FroYo) ROM update to arrive before you could install it. Only after the 2.2 (FroYo) update will you be able to install apps to your SD card, which will be very welcome I can tell you. No Android phone that I know about has 700Mb of free available memory onboard.
    Edited by 1 at 26/05/10 @ 14:53

  • peterfll #7 2 years ago

    My 32gb iPhone just refused to download it saying it was too big. But then I have the memory manage option on, which means iTunes tends to fill any empty space....

  • mowgli #8 2 years ago

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    People seriously expecting an Android version?

  • gizmo #9 2 years ago

    Shortest ever demo life. Those controls do not work. The end.

    I have it on the DS, have been tempted by the PSP version, but was intruiged to see how it played on the Ipod touch and in my opinion without a thumb 'anchor point' the controls are not well suited. Shame, because the graphics engine is lovely.

  • FutureDave #10 2 years ago

    I wasted my money on the full game. Had to give up on the shit controls.

  • Felbridge #11 2 years ago

    lite?! its still about 5 times bigger then any other game file i have! bloody c&c (full) is only 106mb, this is 570mb!

  • Greebo #12 2 years ago


    I tried it on an ipad. Graphics don't upscale too badly, but I found it very uncomfortable to play as the spacing of the controls was all wrong. I'd wait for an 'HD' version or whatever the dedicated ipad refresh is called.

  • fknetwork #13 2 years ago

    Android version lol, Android is total shit hence nothing decent being released for it and nothing selling....

  • TheTrueSpin #14 2 years ago

    @fknetwork:

    Android total shit? Do you know how fast Android is expanding in the market? The Android app store saw about 10,000 new apps in about 2 months. I can't believe Apple have convinced so many people that there is no alternative to the iPhone. Mobiles like the HTC Desire (which runs Android) have already demonstrated that the iPhone is seriously lagging behind now.

  • cymro #15 2 years ago

    a HTC Desire will easily handle a slightly souped up DS game.

  • jambo74 #16 2 years ago

    @mowgli

    Considering Andriod's market share compared to Apple in the mobile phone market AND Andriod is not tied just to one vendor of phone like Apple...YES.

    Give it 12 months and it will be total domination - it's ahead of Apple's iphone OS as I type - FACT
    Edited by 1 at 26/05/10 @ 23:40

  • L0cky #17 2 years ago

    @Floppy That slipped my mind; mine has 512 on board (Desire) and others have less. Can't wait for June 22.

    @fknetwork Shouldn't really feed you but The HTC Desire and Nexus One have more than twice the processing power; double the screen res and 4.5x the RAM than the iPhone 3G. They also have nearly twice the processing power; more than double the screen res and 2.5x more RAM than the iPhone 3GS.

    Ie, it would run fine.

  • mowgli #18 2 years ago

    Yes and that means absolutely nothing.

    I could make comparisons to how any half decent PC could play any and all of the lauded console games it will never receive. I could point out that the open source nature of the platform and the massive difference in models and firmwares is actually a negative as far as developing big games for it. I could say that the high number of Android phones being sold is in no way reflected in the Android app marketplace usage. I could point out that the iPhone has only two models, so comparing it to the pile of phones that run Android is hardly fair, and that the most recent model is quite old now. I could even explain to you how the Android represents the best of smartphones, smartphones that have been around for years. The Desire is a very good and advanced version of my 8 year old smartphone. The iPhone is not regarded as just another smartphone, it is something we haven't had before. Something which people thought the market would reject, namely a completely locked down device where all content is regulated and ensured to be uniform; yet it has become the standard. Which is the reason why it has been so widely embraced by big developers. Something that no other phone - including the Android phones - has managed.

    I could do that but I'de rather just point at the shit selection of games on the Android marketplace and lol.
    Edited by 1 at 27/05/10 @ 00:12

  • mowgli #19 2 years ago

    But as it stands I hope it does appear on Android as well as all the other great games that are on the iPhone. Competition is good. :)

  • L0cky #20 2 years ago

    Standard in what way?

    Android is a standard OS with a standard interface and a standard marketplace. What's not standard across all devices is the firmware and the hardware capabilities. The exact same can be said for iPhones.

    Anyway, my point wasn't whether it was good business sense to release an A game on Android; only that android devices are capable of running them without problems.

  • mowgli #21 2 years ago

    When a variety of models are all waiting for different firmware revisions it somewhat waters down the label of 'standard'. And no the same cannot be said for the iphone. One OS, with three different models of phone (the oldest being three years old now!).

    I don't think anyone has disputed that the selection of Android phones could run all the games you are seeing on the iPhone (they could, and could probably do it better). But you can't be on a gaming website and not realise that the ability to run a game has sweet fuck all to do with whether they are going to port it or not.

  • Floppy #22 2 years ago

    @ mowgli

    The Android platform is hardly alone in older models stuck on older firmware not being compatible with newer apps. Some iPhone 3G/3GS apps don't work on the older iPhone 2G. So your arguement is largely moot.