$20 Game of the Week: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Nintendo DS)

I can’t blame anyone for being leery about another Grand Theft Auto on a Nintendo portable. After all, the first effort, a Game Boy Color version of GTA 2 was horrible, and while 2005’s Grand Theft Auto Advance was slightly better, it still wasn’t anything to write home about. So how does The Nintendo DS entry Chinatown Wars succeed where others have failed? Simple, it combines classic GTA action with stylus driven gameplay to make a fun package that’s every bit as engaging as its console cousins.

GTA:CW takes place in the ‘new’ Liberty City that was introduced in GTA IV, sans the island of Alderney. The camera is top-down oriented and it rotates with you as you move and turn corners. The graphics are cel-shaded and cinematics are done in a comic-book style. It’s unique since every mission giver has their own theme music. You play as Huang Lee, the spoiled son of a Triad boss. When his father is murdered, he is tasked to bring the gang’s symbol of leadership, an ancient Chinese sword, to his uncle to make him the new boss. Seems simple right? Well nothing is rarely simple in the world of GTA, as his uncle’s bodyguards are ambushed and murdered and he is shot, kidnapped, and left for dead in a car that’s sinking to the bottom of a river. After making your way to safety, you set out to find out who tried to kill you, who killed your father, who stole the sword, and get revenge.

The bottom part of your screen functions as a PDA, which serves the same functionality as Niko Bellic’s cellphone in GTA IV (although thankfully you won’t have to deal with people calling to ask you to hang out out every 5 minutes). You can check messages, check your GPS, and enter the game’s multiplayer modes. Rather than shoehorning stylus functionality into the gameplay, it is used for several minigames. You’ll use your stylus to do everything from applying tattoos, scratching off lottery tickets, hot-wiring cars, sabotaging engines, and applying C4. Nearly every parked car requires you to either hot wire it, jam a screwdriver in the ignition, or hack the computer, adding to the tension when you have police chasing you. The main function of the stylus however, is the drug dealing minigame which you’ll have to do to make money. You’ll sell weed, pills, ecstasy, cocaine, acid, and heroin to various dealers around the city. There are times when some dealers will sell to you for a lower price of buy for a higher price, so the key is to buy low and sell high. Oh, and watch out for cameras and police busts too.

If there was one issue with the game, it’s that the characters just aren’t as memorable as the NPCs in other GTA games. Part of this is due to the fact that there is no voice acting, but most of these people just aren’t likable, and that makes it hard to care about the story. Even the ending is a bit anti-climactic. Even so, GTA:CW manages to finally makes Rockstar’s flagship series work on a Nintendo platform, and provides some much needed M-rated fun on the DS. Hopefully this will open the door for a Wii GTA game. This is also on PSP as well. The stylus minigames have been replaced by quick-time-event-style games, and there are all new graphics, missions, and an all-new soundtrack.