Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on April 10, 2009

Review: My early vote for DS Game of the Year Ц heck, Best DS Game Ever.

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GTA:CW sees the return to the crazy, over-the-top arcade action that was sadly abandoned in favor of increased realism in GTA IV. GTA:CW has far better weapons, including flamethrowers, miniguns and the oh-so-fun chainsaw. The wildly fun side jobs we all know and love return: Rampages are back, as are paramedic, firefighting, vigilante and taxi side jobs. In fact, there are so many side jobs you could spend your entire time doing these and ignore the story missions. Deliver take-out noodles or courier packages to customers while rival companies try to take you out; take part in dozens of races, including some on a go-kart track in the Firefly Island amusement park; blast rival gang members with a shotgun-wielding NPC teammate on the back of your pickup truck; survive increasingly stronger waves of killer hobos; test your skills at the Liberty City Gun Club; and more.

But the most addicting side job is dealing drugs; in fact, it is so fun it could be a game on its own. There are 80 dealers hidden across the city, and your goal is find them to buy low and sell high. You will receive emails on your PDA about special sales or shortages, and will literally be running from one end of the city to the other to take advantage of these and rake in the profits. Be careful, though, as security cameras (which can be destroyed) can alert the authorities. As you can imagine, the drug dealing is the most controversial part of the game (which is odd considering no one has a problem with the fact that you kill people) but you won't care when your business savvy nets you $50,000+ in one deal. In fact, I probably would have had this review written a week earlier if the drug dealing hadn't sucked up so much of my time; it's that much fun.



Like the cell phone in GTA IV, your PDA (which uses the touch screen) is your link to the world. You will receive emails from main characters, drug dealers, and even spammers. You can go online to Ammunation's web store to order weapons which are delivered to your safehouses (of which you can acquire 21 in the game, far more than GTA IV). Your PDA's primary use is for the GPS, which works the same as in GTA IV. However, even though there is only an inch between the top and bottom screens, flicking your eyes back and forth to see where you're going pretty much ensures you're going to crash into something multiple times. Fortunately, you can set a GPS trail to appear on the top screen but this should be the default setting, not something you have to find and turn on.

Cars have an auto-straightening system so you don't have to constantly fiddle with the twitchy D-pad, which is good. The many side streets are way too narrow, though, which is bad because one tiny bump into a police car and you'll gain a wanted star. And since there seems to be police cars and beat cops on every block, you'll have cops chasing you a lot.

Unlike GTA IV where you simply outrun the police, in GTA:CW you have to disable their cars by making them crash into walls or drive into the water. The number of stars you have determines how many police cars you have to disable, so if you have three stars, you have to disable three to get down to two stars, and so on. It's actually quite fun since you're more engaged in the chase as opposed to simply outrunning them. Don't be surprised if this new system makes its way to the console versions.

Complaints are few but notable. The high angle camera (which can be adjusted, but only in very slight increments) can block your view when it rotates behind a building Ц not a good thing when you are in the middle of a firefight. You can sometimes lose track of your tiny character or car when the action gets hectic, and it is often hard to tell when you are taking damage.

The weakest part of the game is the audio. Beyond the random remarks from pedestrians there is virtually no spoken dialogue. The story cutscenes are done in static graphic novel-style panels with text dialogue and minimal animation that actually works quite well but misses the subtle nuances of good voice actors. On the plus side, the story is full of classic GTA humor and even pokes fun at itself at times; there are no burst-out-laughing moments but you will be chuckling throughout.

The radio stations suffer the most with no funny commercials or wacky DJs. There are five stations each playing a unique musical style, but the songs are all instrumental and non-licensed. The music is enjoyable enough and given the technological limits of the platform this is all perfectly understandable, but the lack of your favorite artists, DJs and commercials is sorely missed and makes you realize how important they are to the overall GTA experience.

The game features multiplayer over Wi-Fi, but is local only; sorry, no online play is available. You and a buddy can compete in various deathmatch and race modes, and even a co-op mode where you fight against waves of AI enemy gang members. The only online features are linking your stats to Rockstar's Social Club, which also unlocks bonus missions.