Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Review - IGN (original) (raw)

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series is easily the epitome of the open world "sandbox" game design. Other studios have tried to capture that same vibe in their own titles with various levels of success, but for better or worse none have been able to dethrone GTA as the game that's synonymous with the open world genre. So when Rockstar branches out its series in new directions, you take notice: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a GTA game specifically tailored for the Nintendo DS platform, and while the Nintendo DS may be the weakest current generation system in terms of hardware power, Rockstar doesn't let that get in the way of producing one of the deepest and extremely fulfilling chapters in the Grand Theft Auto saga.
We've already seen handheld renditions of the Grand Theft Auto open-world design: the PlayStation Portable has supported two games in the series that came extremely close to the quality of the PlayStation 2 renditions. The same team responsible for the PSP versions hunkered down to build a unique GTA experience for the Nintendo DS platform and succeeds admirably. GTA: Chinatown Wars might shift some things around and pair the big picture down, but the scope remains the same: it's a tremendous game, both in scale and in fun.

Chinatown Wars opens with Huang Lee on his way to Liberty City to deliver a symbolic sword to his Uncle Kenny. Huang's father, a Triad boss, was mysteriously slain and this sword must pass from his possession to his brother. Unfortunately for Huang, he's ambushed upon arrival, his sword stolen, and he's tossed for dead into the harbor. That's where the player begins their Liberty City underworld career on the Nintendo DS. The story takes some bobs, weaves, twists and turns in the single-player campaign, and we'll leave the surprises for you to discover on your own. No spoilers here.

What isn't a spoiler is the gameplay: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is tried-and-true GTA design. Rockstar Leeds took nearly every aspect of the console design and jammed it into a Nintendo DS cartridge, tweaking the presentation to fit the restrictions and limitations of the Nintendo hardware. The camera returns to a top-down perspective in similar fashion to the classic Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2. It's similar but it's not the same: though the viewpoint is above the action, the visuals down below are nearly entirely 3D: buildings, cars, obstacles are fully rendered in 3D, and this is important to note because objects interact and react in the same way as they would in the latest renditions of the series: cars flip, jump and tumble if you're a little wild on the gas pedal; light poles topple over into traffic. So while the game may take a different direction in the way it's presented, the gameplay is entirely current-generation GTA.

Liberty City tends to evolve with each game Rockstar creates, but for Chinatown Wars the DS development team matched up its version of the city with Grand Theft Auto's metropolis pretty closely. The DS city is still its own layout with its own back alleys, shortcuts, and bypasses, but the game retains the regional "boroughs" idea, and the entire city is open from the start for players to explore at their own leisure. The way to explore the city is pretty much what made Grand Theft Auto such an addictive design. If you see a car, simply take it and drive – there may be some repercussions for your thievery but anything with wheels is yours to have. In the DS game there are several dozen different vehicles roaming around and parked in the city, and each of these vehicles has distinct handling – they're not the same model with a different skin. Vans are heavy and cumbersome, bikes are light and peppy. It's common to find yourself losing hours jacking the different cars just to see how each one feels as you zip through the city streets.

Of course, you can simply walk the avenues and alleyways, and in Chinatown Wars you'll be doing a lot of that in the various missions that require more guns than gas. The Nintendo DS has just as huge a focus on weaponry as Grand Theft Auto 4 – pistols, machine guns, flamethrowers are all available from the tried-and-true Ammunation merchant, and players use a "lock on" system to target the enemies (or bystanders) and take them down with rapid-fire ease. It might be a little too easy at times, though – the controls will take a bit of getting used to, but once you learn the lock-on system you'll probably find ways to exploit the system to make missions a bit of a cakewalk.

Where the cellphone was GTA IV's tool of the trade, the PDA is Chinatown Wars'. Anything and everything you do in the DS version of GTA revolves around your touch-screen personal data assistant: GPS waypoint selection, weapons ordering, email tracking. The system is designed extremely well and makes it easy to move from place to place within Liberty City: if you receive an email from one of the many characters you meet up with, you can simply tap on the link at the bottom of the note to link their location on the GPS to find them easily.

This system works extremely well for the game's new addition: the drug trading element. Much of the economics of Chinatown Wars revolve around buying and selling drugs all over the city – you buy low, and sell high. Throughout your life in Liberty City you'll befriend drug dealers, and many times they'll hit you up with tips of where the bargains and the most needy dealers are in the city. The trading is integrated so well within Chinatown Wars that it's more than a mini-game, and you'll find much of your time will be dedicated to driving all over town finding where the best deals are. Of course, surprise drug busts could end your dealings right quick, and all that time could be lost if you're pounced by the fuzz. Good thing you can store an overstock of goods back at your hideaways.

There are other DS-centric elements peppered all over the GTA experience. Some cars aren't as easy to jack and may need a little grunt work: wrenching, hot wiring the ignition, or hacking the theft deterrent system might be necessary, and that could be a real drag if you're running from the cops and pick the wrong vehicle for your getaway. Driving through a tollbooth without dropping coins into the basket might trigger an undesired wanted level. Gate locks will need to be cut, explosives will need to be positioned…all through the use of the touch screen. It might seem like these are all unnecessary gimmicks, but after a few surprises along the way your stylus begins to feel like a tool of the underworld trade as you pull it out and put it away.

What doesn't work well on the touch screen: lobbing grenades and other projectiles. If you want to toss one out, you need to tap the stylus onto the icon and slide it around the radius to lob it in a 360 degree fashion. If the mission calls for tossing explosive weapons exclusively, then it works and works well. But it's very cumbersome to be in a firefight with the normal weapons and reach down to throw a grenade. If you use your fat thumb to do it instead of the stylus, you might find that you've accidentally dropped it at your feet. Whoops.

We do miss the fully animated, acted cutscenes of the console and PSP Grand Theft Autos, and we'd much rather have those than the somewhat rushed, visually awkward comic book-and-text dialogue intermissions that are in Chinatown Wars. It's very difficult to read the attitudes of all the various characters in the game, and the sarcastic nature of the personalities don't come through in the text nearly as well as they could have if they were professionally voice acted. And the music, while decent in its own right, definitely lacks the punch of a licensed soundtrack with the humor of fake commercials interspersed. At least the writers had fun putting the jokes in the e-mail system.

But we understand the limitations that the Nintendo DS put forth: the cartridge medium isn't very friendly to the extensive GTA design. But Rockstar Leeds did an outstanding job in every other way. Though the game doesn't look as eyepopping gorgeous as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 GTA titles – and it's not even up as high as the PSP editions, either – Chinatown Wars' visuals are outstanding for Nintendo DS standards and shouldn't be dismissed in the GTA comparisons. The 3D engine runs 30 frames per second almost the entire time, only slowing down when the screen fills to the brim with cops during the intense three or four star wanted levels. You really have to appreciate the little things in the game: the physics engine in particular is really excellent and breathes life into the action as you knock over structures or send your vehicle off a jump into the drink.

Watch out for the stray bug in Chinatown Wars: in our 20 hour playthrough we encountered two glitches, both involving the game's object scripting that required us to quit and restart. Luckily the DS game saves frequently and it was only a minor inconvenience to get back to the start of the mission and try again, glitch-free.

One of the coolest additions to the GTA design is Chinatown Wars' updated wanted system: instead of evading the cops to lose the stars you've earned, you now have to aggressively go after the police vehicles and disable them by your skillful driving. It's an element that really adds a level of offense and intensity, and it's incredibly rewarding to coax a cop to slam itself into the wall of a building with a satisfying dead siren sound effect. Don't be surprised if you see this element added to the next generation of GTA games.

The story's over in 15 hours depending on how little or how much you're distracted by the little things in Liberty City (gambling with the scratch tickets were our bane), but even when the tale's over there's still plenty to do in town. You've got races, you've got drug trading, you've got side missions, you've got Rampage mini-games, you've got hidden security cameras to destroy. Everything you do in Liberty City is tracked, and you can upload the stats to Rockstar's Social Club and compare your scores with friends. New missions will also unlock using the online function of Chinatown Wars. There's also a multiplayer aspect if you connect locally with friends, so you've got plenty of gameplay in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Multiplayer is a huge aspect of the GTA: Chinatown Wars, but requires multiple copies of the game to take advantage of the various game modes. As many as four players can enter the competitive options, which include standard races as well as a "capture the flag" style mode where you race for a Van hidden in the city and drive it back to your base. There's also a cooperative "Defend the Base" mode. Each of these options are easily more fun with more players -- try to gather a nice crowd before taking part in the wireless multiplayer. It's unfortunate that these modes aren't online, but considering what's going on in the games -- and the DS restrictions -- it's understandable.