Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS
How do you take the vast world of Grand Theft Auto and translate it successfully over to the kid friendly Nintendo DS known for it's lack of graphical firepower and mature rated content? It turns out, you do so several different yet successful ways.
The first thing you'll notice about GTA:CW is it has adopted the stylized comic book art usually reserved for load screens and made a whole living breathing Liberty City with them. Of course the DS lacks the hardware to fit a true three dimensional burg on a cartridge, but it still manages to fit all of Liberty City in there nevertheless.
You follow your protagonist, Huang Lee, through the same Liberty City PS3 and XBOX 360 owners have already seen, only this time from an overhead view. The missions are often simple but are rarely lacking in pure fun.
Because this is the DS there are some unique features to this game that you can't get anywhere thanks to the touch screen and stylus. While many people complain that touch screen portions of games are often shoehorned unnecessarily into DS games, here it just feels like putting the capabilities to good use. Drive your car off the Callahan Bridge? You'll have to break the windshield before you swim to safety. Steal a parked car? You'll probably have to hot wire it before you can drive off (so jack a moving car if you're attempting to escape the fuzz is probably better). Make your own Molotov cocktails. Get a mild scratch ticket habit going. It's all here.
GTA has always been about the little things, side quests, and this version is stocked with cool new diversions. There is an extensive portion of the game devoted to buying and selling drugs. Buy low, sell high. Even earn trophies for being such a good little drug dealer that get delivered to your hideout. Matter of fact, you can get most things delivered to your hideout thanks to your PDA, which not only functions as your GPS system (never get lost en route again), but as a personal email machine, and a web browser. Buy guns via the web and get them at your front door!
Whether it's knocking out 1 of the 100 security cameras throughout the city or just taking a high speed pursuit joyride there is always something to do in Liberty City.
And for those that are worried the trademark Rockstar vulgarity will be toned down for the DS, fear not. This game is just as violent, foul mouthed, and tongue-in-cheek offensive as all the previous entries in the series making this the must have adult game many DS owners have been clamoring for. PS3 games or DS games, the choice is yours.