Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

Surely GTA on Nintendo DS is just a gimmick? Far from it – this is not to be missed.

Only Niko Bellic’s hapless cousin Roman might expect Grand Theft Auto on DS to come technically anywhere close to the games on Xbox, PlayStation or even PSP. But this doesn’t stop Chinatown Wars from looking stylish, and a game you’ll be happy to carry around in your back pocket – perhaps on your bling-bling DSi.

The content truly is king for GTA Chinatown Wars; its miniature portrayal of Liberty City (comprising Dukes, Bohan, Broker and Algonquin but no Alderney) is brimming with assignments to keep you occupied. And these often vary the action using cool touch-screen controls to help you create and take aim with Molotov Cocktails, hotwire motors or else enter bomb detonation codes in nail-biting mini games. It’s clear that Chinatown Wars is a game that Rockstar Leeds really enjoyed bringing to DS.

In Grand Theft Auto IV part of the experience was appreciating the vastness of the city, during drives across the bridges and clambering over walls and fences while on foot. Chinatown Wars isn’t about that, it’s about the bite-size missions pure and simple – tasks that whenever you’ve a spare few minutes you can dip into and see if you can’t break some record times for upload onto the Rockstar Games Social Club.

That’s not to say you won’t have time to stand back and appreciate the plot as it unfolds. The superb graphic-novel presentation wittily supports the many wise-cracking protagonists, not least our main man Huang Lee the apprentice Triad. Basically Huang is visiting Liberty to investigate the death of his father while at the same time passing on a family heirloom, the Yu Jian sword, to his Uncle Kenny. In just about all his confrontations, Huang is sharp-tongued and the retorts are equally toxic. The scriptwriting and characterisation really are excellent.

Huang keeps track of his busy lifestyle via PDA, which combines elements of Niko Bellic’s mobile phone and access to the Internet. He can highlight preferred locations on the map, adding GPS waypoints to follow, and receive emails regarding missions. Drug trafficking forms the backbone of Chinatown Wars as the money you’ll earn is used to pay for weapons and leads to jobs that are essential to plot progression. In between car racing and vigilante missions, the drug deals ensure you know the city like the back of your hand. You can make certain areas more lucrative by disabling security cameras, a mini-game in itself as there are about 100 of these to track down.

The controls fall easily under the fingers for just about anything that's required: driving, shooting, hurling grenades and rapidly selecting between weapons / items on the touch screen. Everything about GTA on DS belongs to the gameplay as opposed to being a surface gimmick, the ultimate incarnation of which is the Wi-Fi service that can lead to infamy online. You won't believe your eyes when you see it all moving, and you'll be smirking to yourself as the typically Rockstar gags start to roll.

An essential accessory for any mature gamer who’s no longer ashamed to wave a pastel shade DS in public.

5 out of 5