[DS] Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Review

[Doctor Setebos]

Title: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Platform: DS
Developer: Rockstar Leeds
Publisher: Rockstar Games
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
MSRP: $29.99
Editor: Nathaniel 'Doctor Setebos' Payne

What's Hot: Excellent use of stylus controls; inventive missions; involved and oftentimes humorous story; huge map that feels like a living city; graphical polish and enormous size that push the limits of the DS; drug trade system offers lots of potential and replay value; new mechanic for getting rid of cops is a welcome feature.

What's Not: Targeting in gun battles can be difficult to pull off consistently; cops are everywhere and very difficult to avoid.

One would think that when putting a GTA game on the DS, Rockstar would have to make some sacrifices. And make no mistake, they did sacrifice. The graphical quality and raw adrenaline-inducing intensity of the entire Grand Theft Auto franchise has gone up considerably from the original game on the Playstation to the most recent Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 and PS3. That level of shine and depth of programming is simply something that cannot be accomplished on Nintendo's miniature handheld. That said, it's nearly impossible to look at Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DS and see a game that required any sacrifice whatsoever.

From the very beginning, it's fairly easy to see that this is an attempt to re-create an authentic GTA experience on a handheld system. Rockstar could have easily opted to throw together a "GTA-lite" game for the casual crowd of DS owners. They might even have sold more copies of the game in the first few weeks if it had been nothing more than an uninspired collection of minigames with the "GTA" branding stamped on the cover. They didn't take the easy route. Instead they built a brand new experience from the ground up that takes everything that is great about the GTA series and mixes it with freshness and originality.

The story begins by introducing your character, Huang Lee, the son of a murdered Triad boss. You are sent to Liberty City to bequeath a valuable family heirloom -- the Yu-Jian sword -- to your uncle Kenny so that he can use it to gain favor with the Liberty City Triad boss, Hsin Jaoming. However, upon arriving in Liberty City, you are kidnapped, shot, dumped in a river and left for dead. The Yu-Jian is stolen, and it's up to you to figure out who took it, how to get it back, and to extract revenge on your father's murderers. All in a day's work, right?

The most notable element to the game is return to the "classic" GTA style top-down view. While this makes navigating the city and recognizing landmarks a bit more difficult, it is the perfect setup for the DS. It may seem like a step back from what we're used to with more recent GTA incarnations, but it is every bit an evolution in design. You view your playing area on the top screen while the bottom screen gives you easy access to your weapons and a mini-map of the surrounding area. To help out our intrepid anti-hero, you have the ability to access a PDA. The PDA contains all of the information necessary for a successful lackey to work his way up the ranks of the major crime families of Liberty City. You have: a full map, where you can set waypoints that will guide you to various destinations around the city, a direct link to Ammu-Nation, where you can order weapons and a trade statistics screen where you can view all of your drug trades and see how much extra dough you're making on the side. All of this available with just a couple of taps of the stylus.

What else can the stylus do? Lots of things! It's utilized in wonderfully inventive ways in Chinatown Wars. Every time you steal a car, it opens up a minigame where -- depending on the age of the car model -- can range from simple twisting of a screwdriver in the ignition, to hands-on hotwiring, and even using a computer to hack the controls. Your stylus may also be needed to crack open a window should you accidentally drive your car into the surrounding ocean. Maybe you might find yourself having to bust open the controls to a gate, defuse a bomb, rip open the door of a van to search for drugs or even administer a life-saving defibrillator in the back of a moving ambulance.

And the missions you will find yourself taking on are as varied as the stylus controls: breaking some goons out of the back of a SWAT van, dumping cars into the ocean, escaping from the paparazzi or blowing up a competitor's stolen goods. With every mission, you get a glimpse of Liberty City's wretched crime syndicate. Sometimes disturbing or amusing, but every interaction with the various denizens of the Triad crime families is entertaining. And if all of that content makes the game sound huge, that's because it is. This is an extremely large and involved DS game. The map of Liberty City is immense, and there are literally thousands of nooks and crannies within which to find hidden treasures. Whether that be more drug dealers, special garbage dumpsters that hold stashed weapons, or any of the many vehicles strewn about the city that hold unlockable street races and side-missions. At times, it feels like you are nothing more than an insignificant part of an enormous living city. And the DS is pushed to its graphical limit to pull off such amazing immersion.

Part of that immersion is thanks to a highly addictive feature in the game: drug dealing. You are able to make some extra money on the side dealing any of six types of drugs with dealers all over the city. A trade map on your PDA allows you to see which drugs are popular in various parts of the city. And your dealers keep you informed with periodic emails tipping you off to opportunities to buy or sell. Buying and selling at the right times to the right dealers can allow you to manage your profit margins and make some quality green. You can also skip the middleman and steal a drug van from one of your rival crime cartels. That way, you can sell your stash with zero investment dollars and maximum profit. The potential for buying and selling never ends, making this yet another element of the game that has nearly endless replay value.

You can't talk about additional features that add to the overall enjoyment of the game without mentioning how you lose your wanted level. Rest assured, you will get at least a couple of wanted stars at some point in the game. That's pretty much a guarantee. But how you get rid of your wanted level -- that's something new that makes this game really shine. Sure, you could just duck into a safehouse and wait it out until the cops leave you alone. But where's the fun in that? Chinatown Wars has included a new mechanic where you can get rid of your wanted level by crashing cop cars. If you have a wanted level of three stars, you have to crash three cop cars to get down to just two stars. Crash two more cop cars to get down to one star. I think you can figure out the rest. Crash them however you can. Smash them in a head-on collision, race alongside them and guide them into oncoming traffic, take a sharp corner and watch them fly into a billboard. It's up to you! But this functionality it important to learn. Because if Chinatown Wars has any downside, it's that there are cops everywhere. And even the slightest tap on a cop car's fender will send them chasing after you. So you have to be careful, or you have to be fast.

If you find yourself getting bored with the main game (and there's very little chance of that happening), you can spend some time playing with or against a friend in one of the handful of multiplayer modes offered in Chinatown Wars. There's some run-of-the-mill street racing modes available. Along with that, you can also try the excellent head-to-head and co-op "protect the base" modes. Another mode has you stealing a van and racing it back to your safehouse while your opponent attempts to steal it back from you. The modes are a bit on the light side, and require local multicart play only as opposed to online via WiFi. It's a somewhat limited feature, but when you consider how much content the entire game holds, the multiplayer modes are really just a bonus feature.

But that doesn't mean the game is completely without online capabilities. Connecting to the Rockstar Social Club website gives you even more features. Enter your friends' Chinatown Wars friend codes and you can sync up your stats to the Rockstar Social Club website. On the site, you can compare your stats to those of your friends and see who is doing a better job at tearing up the streets of Liberty City. You can also gain access to another final mission once you have completed the main Chinatown Wars game that is only available through connecting with the Social Club website. You can also connect with friends who are playing online to chat, trade drugs, weapons, and cash, or even waypoints on your PDA map. The ability to play some online multiplayer would be a nice addition here. But its omission doesn't take anything away from the emjoyment of the main game.

From beginning to end, top to bottom, Chinatown Wars is every bit a true Grand Theft Auto game. Though it's slightly smaller in scope, it leaves nothing behind, and even adds additional features and gameplay elements that combine to make a brand new experience that is unique and engaging.

Score: 5 out of 5 CoGs


Nathaniel says, "Putting a game like Grand Theft Auto on the DS could have turned out one of just two ways: spectacular failure, or surprising success. Chinatown Wars does just about everything right, making it a very surprising -- and very welcome -- addition to the DS library."

- Check out the co-op review of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars over at Co-Optimus, part of the CoG Network!

[National Kato]

I agree entirely with the review rating. This cart hasn't left my DS since I bought it and is the go-to game when I'm in a waiting lobby, airport, bathroom, or any other place where I want to get in some quick gaming. The only problem: I'm usually so engrossed in the game that I forget whatever I'm supposed to be doing in the real world.

With the addition of the 'sleep mode' of the DS and a save anywhere feature, this is the total package.

[headhunter228]

Originally Posted by National Kato

The only problem: I'm usually so engrossed in the game that I forget whatever I'm supposed to be doing in the real world.

I hear you. I'm starting to go to sleep later and later. I keep thinking to myself, "Just one more drug deal" or "Gotta lose these cops first" but then I find myself still playing two hours later. I need to get more sleep.

While I'm here, could someone tell me if there's a special trick to jacking the Ammu-Nation vans? I walk up to one and try to pull the driver out, but he can't seem to get the door open. Little help?

[National Kato]

Originally Posted by headhunter228

While I'm here, could someone tell me if there's a special trick to jacking the Ammu-Nation vans? I walk up to one and try to pull the driver out, but he can't seem to get the door open. Little help?

You can't jack them by simply trying to open the doors. Think of them like armored bank cars: you have to get the driver out first.

So unload ammo on them, preferably while in a vehicle as they'll try to get away, until the driver gets out and starts firing back at you. Kill him and steal the van. Be careful, though, to stop firing on the van once you see the van stop and the driver get out, 'cause you don't want to blow up the van, as I've done many times.

[Bone]

Great review Doc, I am in full agreement with you on all points. Except I didn't find the aiming to be a problem- I sort of "Robotron" it- I quickly point the D-pad in the direction I want to shoot, while clicking the target button. I can lay waste to huge swaths of thugs (there is good practice in the graveyard side mission).

Headhunter: you can't jack the ammo and drug vans directly. You have to shoot them a little first. I typically drive alongside and try to get my gun in their window- hoping to shoot the driver and leave the van as pristine as possible. They will get pissed and climb out of the van with heavy firepower: you must do the same, trying to draw them away from the van to avoid exploding it when you take them out.

[CptTripps]

Great review, great game, great value!!!

I did not mind the aiming as I robotron it as well. My one gripe, trying to target a helicopter when other enemies are present.

[Evil Avnovice]

What's this? Doctor Setebos actually getting props from GoNintendo??

Playa, playa!

I'm considering getting a DS just beacuse of this game.

[Purple Santa]

Originally Posted by theman

I'm considering getting a DS just beacuse of this game.

It would be a wise and worthwhile purchase.

Great review Dr. S. Kudos for landing on GoNintendo too.

[Doctor Setebos]

Originally Posted by Evil Avnovice

What's this? Doctor Setebos actually getting props from GoNintendo??

Playa, playa!

It wouldn't be the first time.

Of course, it helps when you send the link to Kevin Cassidy.

[NSFW]

Originally Posted by National Kato

I agree entirely with the review rating. This cart hasn't left my DS since I bought it...

This.......

[National Kato]

Originally Posted by NSFW

This.......

I actually thought I had lost it while packing before a recent business trip. Then I realized it was still in the DS and hadn't been removed since I first put it in.