Developer - Rockstar Leeds
Publisher - Rockstar Games
Available On - Nintendo DS

Grand Theft Auto has hit the DS in Chinatown Wars, and Rockstar’s first title on the Nintendo handheld could very well be the best it’s seen. Chinatown Wars is a competent and expansive Grand Theft Auto experience not only re-creating the recognisable Liberty City in a whole new pseudo-3D world but also bringing a series of improvements and additions with it in the most mature title on the DS.

This time around it’s spoilt rich kid Huang Lee who finds himself face-down in the gutter of a city filled with more corruption, violence and deceit than ever before. Things turn sour right on arrival, as Huang is shot, kidnapped, ditched and robbed of his only possession – his murdered father’s heirloom sword. From here the story evolves into a tale of honour and deceit, with a surprising amount of dark comedy found throughout plenty of character driven and amusing text dialogue.

Chinatown Wars does indeed stick to the traditional formula of the Grand Theft Auto series. Players will choose missions focused on driving and shooting throughout an expansive urban setting easily accessed with touch screen PDA and GPS devices. If a mission is failed when a player dies or gets busted by the cops, it can be easily restarted straight away with ‘Trip Skip’ saving time and effort on the tougher missions. The touch screen is used a lot in GTA: CW coming up in many missions as extra activities for arming and disarming bombs, smashing devices, and generally acting out anything Huang would have to with his hands. The touch screen is used quite intuitively, but this continual need requires some quick and constant stylus handling from anyone unwilling to thumb all over their DS.

Chinatown Wars does a great job on the DS, running smoother, sounding better and looking crisper than the impressions given from gameplay trailers or screen art. A top-down perspective reminiscent of the first two titles is used, but in a 3D environment that allows physics and depth to be implemented for jumping and rolling cars or reflecting environmental objects. Radio stations can be cycled via the touch screen with a lot of catchy originally composed synthesized music sounding surprisingly good on the DS.

Buildings stick out in 3D and the city has an authentic feel to it, though the pixelated microscopic world can be a little tough to discern at times. Character sprites and objects such as fire hydrants can look quite similar when you’re charging down a highway at top speeds, but when played in decent light GTA: CW makes up for some blemished visuals with a polished engine allowing easy and realistic vehicle maneuvering at high speeds with intense action.

As much fun as mindlessly cruising around the city is, attention must be paid at all times as there’s much more cops around than before. One quick slip into the wrong car can start an intense chase at all the wrong times and simply racing away from the police is no longer the most viable option. Chinatown Wars enforces physically disabling enough cop cars to shake the heat, with an amount of cars required to be destroyed per wanted star and big shining indicators to make it easy. It’s an interesting system, similar to Burnout’s ‘Takedowns’, where a racer rams an opponent off the course or into some form of general oblivion to gain the lead.

Action on the streets can get pretty tough, and with so much happening around the bustling city it’s easy to lose track of an objective when another prime opportunity to seize some cash or hardware suddenly pops up. It can be hard to resist a roaming Ammunation or drug trafficking van that’s ripe for the carjacking when unknown rewards could lie inside; there’s certainly a lot to do in Liberty City. And in a town that never fails to take advantage, there’s a chance to take some back in the robust drug dealing underworld, the most time consuming and significant addition to the series.

Starting out Huang is beaten up, poor, and making very little reward from the jobs passed down from his newly disrespecting seniors. It’ll take some savvy and technical prowess to monitor a constantly changing drug market, managed by different gang dealers across the cities islands. With the touch screen PDA, Huang is able to receive instant updates on any especially profitable exchanges available and taxi over to the relevant location via GPS. Once meeting a dealer, any necessary product be it heroin, ecstasy, cocaine or weed can be passed around for profits. The drug dealing mini game is mandatory in a few missions to let the player learn the ropes, but later on it becomes an invaluable source of funds and persuasion as one of the games most addictive side games more suited for brief handheld gameplay bursts.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars exceeds my expectations on bringing GTA to the DS. Not only does it play fast and smooth, blending elements of the first titles in with the newer 3D games but it also makes several additions that’ll probably find their way into future GTA titles. It’s perfect for dealing some quick coke to Russians on a bus trip, or playing out another epic and amusing adventure in a recognisable and warming portable Liberty City. Chinatown Wars is recommended to any mature DS owner, with a variety of online features and loads of content to explore outside of the core missions, it marks one of the most valuable DS games on the market.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

92%

The Good -

• It’s GTA, on the DS.
• Though recognisable, it feels like a whole new chapter.
• Humour, content, and general polish.

The Bad –

• Some slowdown.
• Constantly mature language feels a little off on the characters.
• I never noticed the DS was so hard to play in sun glare.