This is the thirteenth game in the Grand Theft Auto series and the follow-up to Grand Theft Auto IV, and the first game released for handheld consoles since 2006's Sin City Stories. Set in modern-day Liberty City (a fictional satire of New York City), the single-player story follows young Triad member Lee Wong and his efforts to recover the sword gifted to him by his late father after it was stolen from him, while inadvertently becoming embroiled in a power struggle between the Triads of Liberty City.

The fundamental purpose of the game is to allow players to interact significantly with objects on DS and smartphone systems via touchscreen controls, while providing unique gameplay elements not found in other entries in the Grand Theft Auto series. The most compelling element is the ability to buy drugs from suppliers and sell them to distributors for money, the

The game revolves around Lee Wong, who has a simple mission after his father's murder: to deliver an ancient sword to his Uncle Kenny to ensure his family maintains control of the Triad gang in Liberty City. Huang is a spoiled rich kid who expects everything to go smoothly, but his trip doesn't exactly go according to plan. After being robbed and left for dead, he will seek honor, wealth, and revenge in the most dangerous, morally corrupt city in the world.

This is an action-adventure game set in an open-world environment. It has a different presentation from previous games in the series and is partially similar to the first Grand Theft Auto game. Unlike the ground view or top-down view behind the protagonist, Chinatown Wars uses a fully rotatable camera that tilts down to capture the action.

Unlike Grand Theft Auto IV, players can disable as many police cars as possible to evade the police, rather than leaving the "wanted zone". The more stars a player has, the more cops they must take on each level. For example, for a six-star level, they would have to drive six police cars to get down to a five-star wanted level.

Players can profit by identifying market conditions and demand based on geographic location and placing their wares accordingly. CCTV cameras serve as the secret package of this game and are destroyed by throwing molotov cocktails or grenades.