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Tuesday, March 17, 2009 |
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Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
By NutMan @ 4:40 PM :: 1265 Views ::  :: DS
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At first glance Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars looks like a “dumbed-down” GTA game for the DS. This is far from the truth. The top down perspective will remind you of Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2, but there is one key difference between those titles and Chinatown Wars is the fact that almost everything in the game is 3D like buildings, cars and other miscellaneous objects in the environment. Rockstar has done something that not many other developers have; they have bested Nintendo on their own turf.
Chinatown Wars is easily the best-looking DS game to date. The art style makes it feel like a Grand Theft Auto graphic novel or a cartoon movie based on GTA. Not only is it impressive graphically, but there is also a lot going on in the city. For instance, you have the same amount of traffic and pedestrians on the streets that you would expect from a console GTA game. Chinatown Wars takes advantage of the DS hardware and appears to get more out of it than any Nintendo game on the platform.
Rockstar did not give DS owners a “dumbed-down” story either. The story is just what you would expect from a GTA game, which can be good or bad depending on your opinion of GTA story lines. The main character of Chinatown Wars is Huang Lee, a member of the Hong Kong Triad. He comes to Liberty City to bring his Uncle the sword Yu Jian, a family heirloom. Things go bad for Huang, he is ambushed, the sword is stolen and he is left to die, which starts the game.
Also, this is the start of Rockstar’s fantastic use of the DS touch screen. Huang is trapped, he is in a car that was driven into the water and to escape you tap the back window with your stylus to break it and swim to the surface. This little “mini-game” will be triggered each time you drive into the water. The touch screen is also used in other instances such as filling bottles with gasoline to make a Molotov cocktail. Rockstar knew what they were doing here. None of the touch screen elements feels forced. It has the perfect mix of touch screen mechanics and traditional buttons + D-pad game play.
One of the features of Chinatown Wars is a drug dealing mini-game. However, it is not as bad as it sounds. The drug deal is similar to trading stocks except instead of shares of a company you are trading weed and acid. Okay, so maybe that is not a good comparison, but that is all I got. You buy drugs from dealers at low prices (if you are smart) and then sell it back to other dealers in order to make a profit. The game also sends you emails via your PDA, complete with graphs that show how profitable your drug trading has been. It adds something new to the franchise and it is a good way to make money in the game. Because let’s face it, driving people around in taxis to make extra cash isn’t fun.
Chinatown Wars is a great Grand Theft Auto game. The transition from console to handheld is nearly perfect and the “sandbox” style game-play is left intact, although the game pushes you to a more structured path for the story. If you only have a DS and want a well-made mature game then this is something you have to pick up. Nevertheless, even if you have a next-gen console and GTA IV, this is still something to check out. It is a fantastic game in its own right that pushes the DS hardware farther than I thought possible. Hopefully Chinatown Wars is a success and we’ll see more efforts in the future to appeal to the core gamer on Nintendo’s handheld. 9/10
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| Comments |
 By
Sheep @
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 5:20 PM
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Great review, man. I'll have to check this out.
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By
SegamanXero @
Thursday, March 19, 2009 12:05 PM
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nice, im going to have to check this game out
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By
emdroid @
Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:04 PM
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sounds like drug wars on the TI-89! good review.
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By
SegamanXero @
Friday, March 20, 2009 11:12 PM
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I got ahold of a rom of this for my CyclopsDS evo... I actully love the game, the drug parts remind me of the old drugwars game I had on my TI-83plus that I used in high school. Over all I love it, and plan on buying it to show my support for such a finely made game. It was so good that even before playing it, watching videos and reading this review convinced me to blow the dust off of my DS to try it
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By
Scoop20906 @
Monday, March 30, 2009 11:31 AM
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My gf loves this game and has been playing it constantly. Seems the police are alot harder to lose in the game as compared to GTA4. This is a buy.
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By
NutMan @
Monday, March 30, 2009 11:56 AM
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Yeah you're actually not supposed to try and lose the police. You CAN, but what they want you to do is make the cop cars crash. Once a certain amount explode you lose the cops.
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By
JamesPatrick @
Monday, April 06, 2009 7:17 AM
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Been playing it. More and more stuff to do the more I play.
Cop, Paramedic, Firefighter, etc... missions when you steal that car. Go cart races with different tracks and medals you can earn. Plus doing stuff like 5 cop missions gets you double Armour.
Cars handle very differently. Stuff like bull dozers, etc... are here. Melee weapons are upgradable, or you can find them if you look. I got a police baton, and than a Chain Saw.
Flame thrower I got from a cop mission I did, with the Shotgun every once in a while are my main weapons though.
And losing the cops by hiding or crashing into them can be easy. But if you get 4 stars it can be hell trying to lose them. Especially since you can get all 4 stars back if you're not carefull. It's crash 4 cars to get it down to 3 and s on down the list.
Surprisingly I think I am having more fun with this than the PSP entry. Something I didn't think would happen. The camera angle being dynamic and not necessarily always fixed like I thought it would be is probably what's helping me like this. Plus the attention to detail with the graphics is very surprising.
I would definitely recommend a buy for this. I think Sony might try and throw a huge money hat at Rockstar though to get another PSP game. Reports have them being shocked and scared after last years E3 announcement.
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By
wow gold @
Friday, June 05, 2009 7:50 AM
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This really looks interesting. I've never continued playing GTA since I got attached to playing with my Death Knight. Great review by the way, it inspired me to try this one out.
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By
Driving Lessons in Milton Keynes @
Thursday, September 17, 2009 5:14 AM
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What a post, it’s really good to read, please send me some more relevant article on that topic, also if you can provide any other information then its pleasure to having a great blogger.
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By
joeyjuviyani @
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:24 PM
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Grand Theft Auto is a traditional single player experience, but the creators of Chinatown Wars has nevertheless incorporated several game modes that will allow four players to compete provided they have a cartridge each. Course, “Gang Bang” survivor SC, defending the base, racing booty tournament … There’s something for every taste, often race to frag, conquest or area of cooperation, but with small variations, or vehicles when the cops come to mingle with all this gay brothel. The game is local but we can still enjoy online to exchange goods or favorite GPS….
For more in details you may visit at:
http://www.techarena.in/guide/23590-grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-walkthrough-cheats-tips.htm
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By
abhi @
Monday, January 25, 2010 7:02 AM
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By
soha @
Monday, January 25, 2010 7:31 AM
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