Criminally Good
The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise is no stranger to this generation of portable systems. There have already been two great GTA titles released for the PSP in both Liberty and Vice City Stories. While each of these games still provided an entertaining GTA experience, they always felt like scaled down console experiences. However, while these titles were clearly meant to closely ape their console brethren, GTA: Chinatown Wars (CW) actually strives to take several steps towards originality.
Some of these unique choices were perhaps made necessary by the technological limitations imposed by the DS system itself. Since the DS is graphically less powerful than the PSP, the same third-person over-the-shoulder approach used in its games just wouldn’t have been possible. Instead, CW adopts a more top-down angle, looking like an equal mixture of a three quarters and a directly overhead view. Although this view can prove helpful for scoping out more of your immediate surroundings and rarely gives you a bad angle, it often makes seeing oncoming vehicles and obstacles while driving rather frustrating.
Of course, this slight drawback is understandable and is about the only sacrifice that GTA: CW suffers due to the system it’s on. Actually, CW manages to more than make up for this by squeezing just about every ounce of functionality and power out of the fairly aged DS. The game’s presentation is second to none, making use of an interesting and beautiful cel-shaded aesthetic. While this does make the game look more cartoony than realistic, it looks great in motion and is quite impressive when compared to other DS titles.
Being exclusively a DS entry, CW obviously also tries to make use of the system’s touch screen. For anyone worried that the majority of gameplay would be complicated by these controls, fear not. Throughout CW the touch screen is actually used quite intelligently, usually being reserved for various mini-games or for quickly navigating menus. Most of the mini-games that utilize these controls are also quite entertaining, such as making Molotov cocktails at your local gas station by positioning a spraying gas nozzle above an empty bottle, filling it, and then cramming a rag into its neck.
Another good example of the touch screen’s use comes whenever you attempt to steal a parked car. Upon entering the vehicle, one of three timed mini-games will appear on the bottom screen. Players will need to either ram a screwdriver into the steering column and twist, unscrew a panel and splice wires together, or hack a number lock before a time meter depletes in order to avoid setting off a car alarm and attracting unwanted police attention.
If you do manage to attract a police pursuit, CW allows for a new way to deal with this situation. In previous GTAs, a player’s only option was to run from the police, hopefully finding a secluded place to hide or a pay and spray along the way. Any further aggression towards the police resulted in making matters worse and driving up the player’s wanted level. Thankfully, in CW players are actually encouraged to take out the police cars that follow them Burnout-style to help lose the pursuit.
As your wanted level increases, so will the number of police cars that need to be ran off the road or slammed into other cars. With a three star wanted level, taking out three cruisers will reduce your stars by one. At two stars, two cars will need to be crashed to reduce it to one, and so on. This actually makes quite a bit of sense considering that there shouldn’t be an infinite number of police cars following you at any point. Aside from just making logical sense, this also allows for some very enjoyable car chases that may have otherwise become too frustrating due to the game’s unfriendly camera angle whilst driving.
While this is a bit of a departure from previous GTAs, the story and missions in CW are exactly what you would expect from the franchise. You will play as Huang Lee, a character trying to figure out who killed his father. Your attempt to deliver a symbolic sword to your uncle in Liberty City utterly fails when you are immediately attacked at the airport upon your arrival. This results in a lengthy story that has Lee stuck in the middle of a power struggle to control the Triad in Liberty City following his father’s death.
Surprisingly, CW also takes place in the Liberty City from GTA IV. The geography should be instantly recognizable to anyone who has already played Niko’s story. All of the real estate is present, minus the entire island of Alderney. This is pretty respectable and impressive considering the size of the city and the limitations of a DS cartridge.
Throughout the course of the game, you’ll find yourself traveling all over the map for missions but you’ll also likely want to spend time seeking out the game’s many drug dealers. Prior to the game’s release, much was made about the ability to buy and sell drugs in CW. Besides perhaps feeling shady when dealing and having the real names of illicit drugs in the game, the drug dealing is actually pretty harmless. This aspect of CW essentially boils down to an illegal, makeshift stock market. Players will need to follow emailed tips from dealers to find where to score these illicit substances the cheapest, and then turn them around for a huge profit. While the game won’t force you to do this past an introductory mission that serves as a tutorial, it really is the best way to earn cash in the game, especially considering you can make thousands of dollars in one deal and most of the early missions in the game only provide you with fifty dollars apiece.
Even after you’ve made yourself rich by becoming a drug kingpin and have completed the entirety of the single-player campaign, there’s still plenty to keep you coming back for more. Every mission in the game can be replayed for a chance at a better score or finishing time. There are also a few multiplayer modes offered that provide a nice distraction from the single-player campaign. Players can take part in single races as well as a series of tournaments, compete to find randomly spawning vans before your opponent in Stash Dash, and work together to protect a base from enemy gangs in the Defend The Base mode. While these options aren’t playable over the internet and require multiple copies of the game to be played, they can be quite fun if you happen to have a nearby friend with another copy of CW.
I have to say, while I was fairly worried about a DS version of GTA, CW delivers above and beyond what I expected from it. The visuals are great, the gameplay is entertaining, and all of the new things that were tried in the game are welcome additions. The semi top-down view can take a little getting used to, especially when driving, but CW does a great job of compensating for this and just about any other issue you’ll run into with a handful of assists that can be turned on and off. If you are looking for a great new GTA experience on the go, look no further than CW. It is easily one of the best GTAs in recent memory.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.6 Graphics
The cel-shaded look used in the game is beautiful and endearing. 4.5 Control
Good uses of the touch screen mix perfectly with the familiar GTA controls. 4.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The sound effects are great and the music is excellent, although it is entirely instrumental. 4.8
Play Value
With a lengthy single-player story, tons of side missions, a deep drug trading economy, and a few multiplayer options, CW will keep you tooling around Liberty City for a ton of hours.
4.6 Overall Rating – Must Buy
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
Game Features: