grand theft auto chinatown wars

[Curlypaul]

All DS games look better running on the machine than they do in exploded screen shots. I think I will be getting this, I love cell shaded art and it looks like its gonna play like the old games.

[jonathang]

No, I may get it once it goes to the 5 dollar bin but for now, you cant beat Vice City Stories on PSP.

if price goes down 10 dollars i am going get it.same as vice city stories and liberty city stories was cheaper on ps2 in 20 dollars when it came out

[Niode]

It looks pretty cool. I'm probably gonna get it. It's not that bad for a DS game.

Saying the graphics suck on a DS is like saying the PS1 sucks because it's graphics aren't as good as a PS2. DUH O RLY?!

[Lanfear]

Anyone who says its looks bad or dumb doesn't have the retro love in them. The older GTA's are classics in their own right, and this seems to be a return to that style of gaming.

And the ds was in fact made for 3d .. see Mario 64. A launch game.

mmk.

[jonathang]

if chinatown wars was on the ps2 i would get it

[bobbynewmarkiii]

Older GTA's were proper fucking hard - I remember being able to get to the second city and that was about it...

[jonathang]

Older GTA's were proper fucking hard - I remember being able to get to the second city and that was about it...

i have gta 1,2,london for playstation 1 they were hard games but they were very good

[Niode]

After Mozgus tipping me off that GTA:CW was leaked I immediately downloaded it.

Impressions so far:

The top down view works really well and it's almost like playing GTA2.5. The camera system follows you rather than sticking to one orientation and following the car/player directly above. It's also angled back a little more so that you can see what is coming a lot better than you could on the old '2D' GTA games.

The extra stylus features are great and it beats watching an animation while your character breaks into a car. Plus the more expensive cars are harder to break in to which makes sense.

The targeting system works great however it's a little tricky to switch targets. It's not really a problem since you're going to want to kill targets one by one anyway. It does have a little trouble choosing what target you want aim at. Sometimes it chooses the target based on who you are facing rather than who is the biggest threat/closest to you.

For a DS game the graphics are great. The engine moves very smoothly. I've not encountered any slowdown yet and I've been up a 4 star wanted level with plenty of fire and explosions.

The DS version introduces a lot of extra content not seen in a GTA game before like the drug peddling side quest which you get introduced to early on. It's not just a minigame as it can be one of your biggest sources of income in the game aside from missions. It's almost a game in itself where you are constantly looking for the best places to buy and sell drugs. You are also tipped off with emails occasionally with some people getting big supplies of coke or heroin for cheap. Sometimes you get set up and have to fend off your wanted level but most of the time it's worth the extra risk.

GTA:CW brings back rampages, which are always immensely fun! If you haven't come across these minigames in a GTA game before they basically entail you bring given a task such as "kill 25 rival mob members" and giving you a special weapon to accomplish said task.

The only weak part of the game is the cutscenes. The story is a little lacklustre in places with some dialogue being a little trite. However, for the most part it keeps the same level of humour and wit that the GTA games are famous for. The presentation in the cutscenes is similar to comic book panels and consists of single frames with text. It's a shame that they couldn't have done something a little more visually stimulating but with the limited space on the cartridge causing dialogue to be in text form only. Anything more complex would probably distract from text. I would have preferred something more akin to comic book panels rather than seeing the same face but with slightly altered expression for most of the cutscenes.

There's lots to differentiate GTA:CW from it's bigger console iterations but all in all I prefer that they have gone back to their roots with this version. I think the technical limitations has forced Rockstar to concentrate on rock solid gaming mechanics rather than relying on flashy graphics and complex set pieces. I'm definitely going to be purchasing this when it's available in this country.

[Mozgus]

I'm pretty much split down the middle, like I always am with GTA games. Dumbass AI, frustrating combat are the usual suspects, but the DS iteration brings in new problems as well.

Yeah the stylus actions are nice, but like many DS games, I find it a pain in the ass to juggle the stylus around why trying to play normally. Only a select few touch screen actions work well with just your thumbs. (Your apartment, trash cans) Most of them are absolutely unplayable that way.

The frequency of cops on the roads are absolutely insane. Every 4th car is a cop. What the hell?

Honestly the graphics are underwhelming. I see everyone acting super impressed about the graphics, but I've sampled a ton of DS games that rank higher in this regard. I guess the biggest issue is simply that there's no Anti-Aliasing. It really could have benefited. Yes, there are DS games that use 2xAA if you look closely at their polygonal edges. Quite a lot actually. Maybe I just miss the beautiful detail of GTA2 (which I just ordered the Dreamcast version of from dsheinem here).

A lot of the touch screen gimmicks get repetitive real fast, like hot-wiring cars.

And yeah the cutscenes are very dull, and I don't even like the characters for that matter.


The good stuff? I like the sound. For some reason IGN rated the audio lower than the video. I think they're on crack again. The city sounds very alive, for a portable game.

I like all the technological enhancements. All the PDA related stuff. It's quite nice. It changes the formula a lot. It's crazy going online with your PDA to order guns to be delivered to your house. It keeps track of a lot of stats too. And the map system is absolutely tops here, better than ever, even if the pathfinding is sometimes retarded.


Like with most DS games, I wouldn't justify paying full price for it, so I won't. Even the best games on this platform remain average to good. It just cannot compete with GBA.

[Niode]

I love how you can double tap on any icon on the minimap and have it plot you a route straight there. That's a great feature.

I don't mind getting my stylus out. It's only an issue when you need to do things quickly in my opinion.

The PDA is great and it's the next step up from the mobile phone in GTA4. I like getting emails about tip-offs etc.

The way you can get rid of police cars by forcing them to crash is a nice touch which I think should be adopted for the console versions. So even though there are more cops they are easier to get rid of if you know what you are doing. This balances out nicely in my opinion.