Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars [DS]

Posted April 2, 2009 by Cory Derry in DS, Reviews.

Reviewed on the Nintendo DS

Have you ever wanted to steal cars, murder innocent people, kill cops,or sell drugs wherever you want? Well Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is your perfect solution! The newest installation in the GTA series is easily the best handheld GTA game, and it may even be one of the best GTA games of all time. How did Rockstar do it? Well lets begin this review and find out what makes Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars one of the best Nintendo DS games of all time.

You play as Huang Lee, a spoiled son of a Triad leader who is supposed to avenge his father’s death and retrieve the ancient sword that was stolen from your father. When the game opens you are kidnapped, shoved in the back of a car, then thrown into the river whilst inside of the car. What a way to start off an adventure huh? You then make your way through the Liberty City underground crime scene where you meet a variety of people to do favors for. These people include; “Uncle Kenny” who is the current Triad boss, his two sons, a drug addict who is also a cop, and a variety of other interesting characters. The story is just as good or bad, whatever way you look at it, as any other Grand Theft Auto story.

The gameplay is nearly flawless. I found this extremely shocking, considering how gimmicky the DS can sometimes be. The actual button controls feel 100% natural to GTA, and the touch screen controls are perfectly used. This is a true testament to how the DS should work every time.  For those who have played the original GTA games, you will understand how excited I was when I found out that the controls were fixed from the previous top-down layout. No matter what direction you’re facing, when your press right, you go that direction. Whichever way you press, your character will go that direction, it reminds me a lot of Smash TV (If you know what I’m talking about, then I congratulate you). The camera moves right with you, which is mighty handy when you flip a U turn in the middle of an epic car chase. This brings me to my next point, the police chases.

Forget the traditional “escape the cop’s view” gameplay, in Chinatown Wars a whole new system is introduced which I believe will stay in the series for a long time. Remember GTA IV when you had to escape the little red and blue circle? Well in this one, you actually have to smash cop cars to get away, a little confused? Let me explain. For every star you accumulate, you have to destroy a cop car using whatever means are available. So when you get one star you must destroy one cop car, if you get two stars you must destroy two additional cars and so on. In my opinion this is a lot better than the old system, but if you like the old way better it is still an option.

Let’s not forget about one of the most controversial elements of this game, the drug dealing. The drug dealing reminds me of the Drug Lords game for the calculator, you have your in-demand products and your not so popular products. There are six types of drugs in the game; cocaine, heroin, acid, ecstasy, weed and downers. Every once in awhile you will get an e-mail on your PDA telling you that a certain drug dealer is either selling something at a low price, or buying something at a high price.

I should also elaborate on the PDA. The PDA is your main tool in GTA. The PDA is on the bottom screen and while not paused includes the GPS, weapons, and quick jump tabs to your stats, which you can upload online, your e-mail, and your mission briefs.  In the actual pause menu, your PDA has tabs for all the quick tab options, multiplayer, drug trade info and the Ammunition tab. Instead of finding an Ammunition location, it is now an online catalog where you can buy weapons on the fly and have them delivered to the nearest safe house. You can also find weapons in garbage bins around the city.

There are 18 safe houses total in the game. Most of them you buy, one of them you get from lottery tickets, and the rest you get from missions. These safe houses are also home to your drug trophies (Which you get from certain accomplishments), the whiteboard (Where you can replay missions), the couch and/or chair (where you save), and the toolbox (where you place your drugs so they are safe). The only thing they could have improved is to have included a gun case in your safe house so your weapons would not get taken away when you get busted.

The graphics are a good fit for the system. For those of you who played Phantom Hourglass, it is basically the same thing as far as graphics go being a 3-D Top Down view. This means the buildings are at enough of an angle for you to tell how tall they are. The same goes for the people and the cars.

If you own a DS, this game is definitely worth the cash. While there could be a few minor improvements, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is still definitely one of the best games on the system. The map is huge, the story is long and the additional content is mind blowing. There is literally just no end to this game, and it is all included in a single DS cartridge! If you’re a GTA fan then buy this game, if you’re not, buy it anyway. Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is definitely one of the best in the series and it definitely changes things for Grand Theft Auto as a franchise. Rockstar Leeds has truly outdone themselves this time as it they have made one hell of a game.

Tagged as Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Rockstar, Rockstar Games, Rockstar Leeds