Because I’m such a wonderful human being, I have deigned it appropriate to acquiece to “posting” a “review” by the “dark one” Shane. It follows the Kotakuesque school of reviewing (ie. less numbers, more nitty gritty pro/con discussion) and I have to say I give a big thumbs up to the following. Hit the jump for the wall of text:

GTA: Chinatown Wars

For the last couple of days, I’ve been running around the new GTA game – Chinatown Wars. And here are just a few minor impressions (granted, at the time of writing I am only 10% through the missions, which – in true GTA style – means I’m only about 3% into what I can actually do). And just for ease, I’ll be doing this in the tried and true Kotaku style.

Pro’s

Scaled Down doesn’t mean Scaled Back – sure, due to the obvious memory limitations of the DS, we were never going to get a full 3D experience. But did that stop Rockstar? Hell no. Not only do we get a full version of Liberty City (which you will be well familiar with since it’s the same map as GTAIV), but it’s also fully open from the start. So, if you want, you could spend a week just exploring the place before you even get started on the real missions.

There is also half a dozen radio stations loaded up with rejigged versions of real songs, some of which are quite addictive (no talk radio or comical advertisement, though); a hell of a lot of speech samples from the many, many pedestrians and a great little delivery system for new weaponry, which is either time based or achievement based – I haven’t figured it out yet.

As Addictive As The Real Thing – There has been a LOT of talk, particularly amongst the more worried members of the VG community about what effect the drug dealing aspect of the game would have on it’s ability to not be demonised (as all GTA games are wont to do). Well – let me tell you, it is indeed as addictive as the real thing (note: the author has no real knowledge of hard illegal drugs and their true addictiveness, please do not judge him); and once you have made your first killing on a trade, you will just find yourself wasting days accumulating wealth – for example, my first buy was of 6 bags of coke, which I bought for something like $600 all up, then promptly sold to someone else for almost $10k. There is something like 40+ dealers in the city and each one has his own cycle of what is in demand in his neighbourhood – which should lead to some very fun management.

Die Piggy – There is a new way of shaking your inevitable wanted level. Sure, the old standard sit and wait, and get back to the safehouse methods are still active – but now, during car chases (of which you WILL have many of) you’ll notice a number of police car icons under the stars. Now, you can cause the pursuing cop cars to crash into buildings, other vehicles or each other and shake the car icons and your stars that way. Mmmm, satistfyin’

Rockstar Standard – The Compelling Storyline: Sure, surly punk teen out to restore the honour of his bismirched family, slowly rising through the ranks to become kingpin of the city…it’s not the most original story, especially not for GTA; but as always, they make it work. And they manage to make you give a damn about these characters too: there is a character introduced at some point in the game, who (in grand GTA style) is quickly removed from proceedings, and I actually felt a twinge of sadness. Bravo, Rockstar – you have done it again.

Full DS Advantage – This game takes advantage of every button on the DS (and the stylus too), and you will need them all – but don’t let that scare you. This is one of the most intuitive control layout I’ve used for ANY game system. Within 10 minutes, you’ll be running, driving, shooting, kicking, hotwiring (of which I have found 4 different systems…so far), tattooing, buying scratch cards and dealing drugs like it’s second nature.

Well, maybe not all within the first 10 minutes, but once each new aspect opens up, it falls into place so easily that you won’t even notice.

Overall Layout – In addition to the controls, the way the game is laid out is also quite intuitive, with the playfield being on the top screen and the in-game GPA system taking up the interactive screen. Once again, it won’t take you but a few minutes to become familiar with everything and be manoeuvring  around the city like you have lived their all your life.

Oh, and the save system has been greatly improved, in as much as you can now save anywhere in the city, provided you are not mid-mission; and you will restart from the nearest safehouse to that point (of which there are many, and with all that sweet sweet drug money, they will be yours in due time).

And now, a couple minor negatives.

Bad Default Settings - Before you start playing the game, you will want to go into the settings menu and switch the main screen GPA on and possibly adjust the degree of pseudo top down 2D you are greeted with in-game. But that is all pretty easy to fix, just a minor annoyance that could have been changed prior to shipping.

Too Many Cops – Even after adjusting my playfield view, I still found it too darn easy to accidentally slam into a cop car and find myself on a merry chase once more, thusly holding up what I was going to do while I shook them loose…again.

Minor issues aside, I think that by combining the ease of gameplay of GTAs 1 and 2 and the best aspects of the 3d iterations, I would have to say that Chinatown Wars has a very good chance of being one of the best DS games ever, and a more than worthy addition to the GTA franchise.

Tags: GTA: Chinatown Wars, Review, Rockstar, Shane