![]() ![]() Vans are heavy and cumbersome, bikes are light and peppy. ![]() 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. 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. The way to explore the city is pretty much what made Grand Theft Auto such an addictive design. 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. 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. So while the game may take a different direction in the way it's presented, the gameplay is entirely current-generation GTA. 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. The camera returns to a top-down perspective in similar fashion to the classic Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2. 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. What isn't a spoiler is the gameplay: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is tried-and-true GTA design. 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. That's where the player begins their Liberty City underworld career on the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately for Huang, he's ambushed upon arrival, his sword stolen, and he's tossed for dead into the harbor. Huang's father, a Triad boss, was mysteriously slain and this sword must pass from his possession to his brother. Chinatown Wars opens with Huang Lee on his way to Liberty City to deliver a symbolic sword to his Uncle Kenny. 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. ![]() The same team responsible for the PSP versions hunkered down to build a unique GTA experience for the Nintendo DS platform and succeeds admirably. 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. 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. 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. Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series is easily the epitome of the open world "sandbox" game design. ![]()
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