The Grand Theft Auto franchise has been on an epic journey over the past few years offering two fantastic PSP titles with huge 3D sandbox environments as well as last year’s unmatchable GTA experience with Grand Theft Auto IV. 2009 brings the series to new platforms and, quite literally, new heights with Chinatown Wars being released on the Nintendo DS. But how smooth is the transition from touch-screen to wide-screen?

Once more we return to the familiar territory of Liberty City and are put in the shoes of Huang Lee, who arrives in Liberty City to avenge his father’s death and deliver a precious sword to his Uncle. As always, things never go according to plan and the sword gets stolen which drags Huang into a Criminal Underworld and he is left to do the odd-jobs for a variety of Triad organisations. This “Zero to Hero” storyline is common to nearly all GTA games but past games have proven that Rockstar Leeds’ winning formula does not need any further alterations. You will get a good 10-15 hours out of the main story by completing a huge variety of missions for different criminal organisations. There is plenty of diversity and, along with your typical steal a car or assassination missions, you will have lots of unique and memorable moments in the game.

On top of all the story missions in the game, you can spend plenty of time exploring, buying properties around the city and make some money out of delivery missions. However, the most lucrative business of all is the drugs trade. The are many dealers scattered around the city who are more than happy to do business with you, providing the cops aren’t on your tail. Buying low and selling high is the name of the game and it gives you a huge margin to boost your profits. Alternatively, if you manage to get hold of the drugs for free then its easy money. Other than that you get your usual street races, unique stunt jumps and even “Rampage” missions make a warmly welcomed re-occurance. 

The actual city itself looks great from a bird’s eye view and it is still very easy to navigate around (especially since vehicle GPS systems make another re-appearance). The map is identical to that in GTA IV, the only major difference being that Alderny Island no longer exists. Although the game was originally designed for the DS, it fits in well with its new system. It has kept its conventional and comfortable control layout and offers a few neat little features such as auto-aim when performing a drive-by. Cycling through weapons and tossing projectiles has been made easier and does not rely on you hammering at the touch creen. However, one of the key areas where the DS version stood out more was with the mini-games. The touch screen control did offer a rather more engaging way of hot-wiring a car or constructing a sniper rifle rather than just tapping a button repeatedly.

Another great feature to Chinatown Wars that should also have been introduced into the games many predecessors is the option to replay missions again and create some dearly missed out on “what if” scenarios. The “trip skip” option is great feature to the game and prevents too much tedious navigating around if you fail a mission. It will take you straight to the objective/point of interest.

The most obvious feature of Chinatown Wars is the pixelated 2D aerial view, last seen back in the 1990s with GTA 2. You might think that this unfamiliar perspective could distort your gameplay and become an inconvenience. Well actually its quite the opposite. There will be the odd occasion where the tall buildings will obscure your image but for the most part, the camera does a fantastic job of rotating at the correct time and getting around corners. If you ever do get completely blocked by another structure then you can hit the D pad to restore the fore-facing view. The PSP version does have a better resolution than the DS one and the textures are also of better quality. Lighting and shadows also tens to stand out a bit more. The 11 radio stations offer a decent array of music types including Pop, Jazz and Hip-hop.

As in every GTA game to date, you get to use a vast assortment of weapons as you climb your ladder through Liberty City. You get your low level SMGs, pistols and shotguns but once you get further into the game you can pull the trigger on a few of the game’s really “Big Gunz” such as the flamethrower, rocket launcher and minigun. If you’re prepared for a hijack, you can steal a passing Ammunation Truck and loot its contents of weapons.

When GTA IV came out, the entire Police Wanted Level system changed so that you have to escape the search zone rather than just hide in a Pay ‘n Spay. Chinatown wars uses a similar way of evading the cops but puts further emphasis on the actual police chases and high speed pursuits. You can destroy pursuing cop cars by ramming into them or by forcing them to crash into other structures. For every 2 or 3 police cars you take down, you wanted level will drop by one. This new feature works perfectly and makes those intense chases far more entertaining. This feature should definitely be implemented into future GTA games. 

GTA IV was a tremendous spark to the mulltiplayer game modes. In a City where anything goes, there are loads of possibilities for online multiplayer. There a re a variety of game modes which include Liberty City Survivor (basically a one on on deathmatch) and some more innovative games such as Stash Dash in which on player makes deliveries around the city in a van and the other does everything in their power to stop them. You are also able to connect to the Rockstar Social Club where you can upload your personal achievements to the online leaderboards. Although the game modes are fun to play, the actual online component of the game could definitely be improved as you are limited to only 2 players. This is an area that should be polished up in future games but its still better to have it as a bare minimum than not have it at all.

When comparing the overall differences between the two versions of the game, the main area where the PSP one triumphs is in presentation. Although using the touch screen was a well though out element of the game, the basic PSP button configurations make it much easier to play. Ultimately, you are left with one of the best GTA experiences made to date and fans of the series should definitely not miss out on Chinatown Wars.

+ Fantastic gameplay environment.

+ Interesting story.

+ Loads of side missions and activities.

+ More fluidity with the controls.

- Online play is limited to 2 players.

- Minigames are more fun to play on the DS.

9.3/10

By Ian Ratledge Posted Saturday, October 31st, 2009 6:01 pm