Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on September 29, 2008

Previews: Is that GTA in your pocket?

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In the midst of a rather ho-hum press conference at this year's E3, Nintendo dropped a surprise bombshell: Rockstar Games was working on a new Grand Theft Auto game exclusively for the DS. Eyebrows jumped, jaws dropped and everyone wanted details. Alas, no information was released beyond that simple announcement Ц until now, that is.

In the latest issues of Nintendo Power and Edge magazines, Rockstar VP Dan Houser lifts the veil surrounding GTA: Chinatown Wars and addresses the number one concern among fans: the game has NOT been watered down to coincide with the family-friendly image of the DS. In fact, he states that Nintendo has been very supportive and Уdidn't want us to make a GTA for kids,Ф meaning you can expect more of the classic GTA Mature-rated gameplay, only in handheld form.

But why the DS and not the Wii? Houser explains that they felt the Wii wasn't a good fit right now, while the DS offered some interesting opportunities with the stylus and dual screen. However, since development is being tackled by handheld specialists Rockstar Leeds Ц who also created the immensely popular GTA Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories for the Sony PSP Ц the game should provide a true GTA experience.

Chinatown Wars is not a port of any existing GTA title; rather, it is a brand new game designed from the ground up specifically for the DS, allowing the developers to build to the hardware's strengths rather than trying to chop something down to work around its weaknesses.

Take the graphics, for example. It would be silly to expect the full 3-D experience of the consoles so the artwork is instead rendered in the classic cell-shaded style seen on the box covers, a clever touch that saves processing power yet is УtrueФ GTA. The game uses an isometric view that pays homage to the original GTA's top-down viewpoint with the benefit of a 3-D perspective and good camera angles. Sure, it doesn't look as nice as the console or PSP versions but for a DS game it looks great. As an added bonus, there are no load times and the isometric view should eliminate any possibility of pop up and draw-in.

As the title suggests, the story takes place in Liberty City's Chinatown district but will not be limited to that one small area; in fact, a surprising amount of the city will be open to you. One screenshot shows your car heading onto the Dukes Bay Bridge towards Dukes; looking at GTA IV's city map, this means the car is in Bohan. Since Chinatown itself is in southern Algonquin that means we will have access to at least three of Liberty City's islands Ц quite impressive. However, don't expect the same sprawling scale as GTA IV as there will likely be some geographic compression.

The game will be a true open world sandbox filled with pedestrians, traffic and tons of things to do. Missions will be shorter bite-sized affairs that better fit the handheld format. A nice feature is that if you fail a mission, you can simply restart from where the action begins, rather than restart from where you accepted the mission and be forced to drive back a la GTA IV.

You will play as Triad member Huang Lee as he seeks revenge for his father's brutal assassination, with the story unfolding through graphic novel-style static Уcutscenes.Ф Along the way you will engage in various missions and several mini-games that take advantage of the touchscreen; for example, when stealing a car you will need to complete a hot-wiring mini-game to start the engine. There is also a dumpster-diving mini-game to find new items, and you can even draw tattoos on your Triad buddies.

One mini-game that is already creating controversy is a Dope Wars clone where you visit various neighborhoods to buy and sell drugs (specifically acid, coke, downers, ecstasy, heroin and weed). Apparently, Rockstar has wanted to include this mini-game in GTA for a long time and the DS format gave them the perfect opportunity to finally implement it. Controversial? Yup. But if it turns out to be anything like the classic Dope Wars that we've been playing for years, this could be one fun and addicting diversion (pun intended, of course).

As you would expect in a GTA game, there will be plenty of weapons for you to play with, including a chain gun and flamethrower. Heck, even GTA IV doesn't have these! Naturally, the police will hunt you down if you get too trigger happy but the wanted system has been revised; rather than simply outrun the cops, you must disable their vehicles instead.

Similar to GTA IV, you will use a PDA to access emails, maps, GPS, your contact list and to look up your stats. The game will also feature a day/night cycle with real-time weather effects and yes, you will be able to tune into several radio stations (though we're expecting highly compressed instrumental covers rather than the original songs).

The game will support Nintendo Wi-Fi and allow you to upload your stats to the Rockstar Social Club. It is expected that multiplayer will be available as well, but no details have been released as of yet.