Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Review

Post by Steve Farrelly @ 01:16pm 19/03/09 | 11 Comments

Rockstar's beloved series finally lands on the most successful gaming platform in the world, Nintendo DS. Don't go expecting some half-assed Liberty City experience though, there's as much depth and scope here as any of the other GTA games on the bigger, more powerful consoles.

To see what all the fuss is about though, hit this link for our full review, and this one for our game page, but heed the closing part of the review - screens and the like here aren't going to sell the game; it needs to be played to be appreciated in full.

Buy now from Aussie Gamer Only AUD$65.00!

(compare all prices)

Latest Comments

Link

Mantorok
Posted 01:35pm 19/3/09

What's with the no actual music comment? The radio stations are simply instrumental tracks.

Link

Steve Farrelly
Posted 01:53pm 19/3/09

yeah, it's all instrumental - so no actual songs - it's all midi-based. But works fine because there's no other speech in the game anyway

Link

Mantorok
Posted 02:07pm 19/3/09

But it's not like they're in-house productions, they're by artists like Deadmau5, Prairie Cartel and Ticklah.

Link

natslovR
Posted 04:12pm 19/3/09

With a review like that I think I will have to fire up my borrowed ds and give it a go.

Link

ViscoS
Posted 07:05pm 19/3/09

I actually want to buy this now.

Link

Zak
Posted 07:24pm 19/3/09

I played it very briefly yesterday - looks good. A lot of cutscenes, but you can skip through them. It's a top down view like the original GTA's, and the touch screen isn't in use all the time. When it is required though it's quite fun. Again have only played it for a few minutes so far, but it's already one of the best games I have played on DS.

Link

MatchFixer
Posted 09:51pm 19/3/09

That actually looks like fun, and looks good graphically as well.

Greazy, you know what do!

Link

Khel
Posted 10:23pm 19/3/09

they're by artists like Deadmau5, Prairie Cartel and Ticklah.

Who?

Link

Mantorok
Posted 10:28pm 19/3/09

Deadmau5 and Prairie Cartel were both on the GTAIV soundtrack. Ticklah is part of the Easy Star All-Stars who made Dub Side of the Moon and Radiodread.

Link

Lynx
Posted 10:56pm 19/3/09

I�ve been playing it myself over the past week. It's a bit rough on some edges, but that's almost totally forgivable because it is a great game; sits right up there with Mario Kart DS.
The lack of decent audio tracks is a non issue. What music there is, does well enough, and you wouldn�t get good enough audio quality out of the DS�s speakers to do songs justice anyway.

Gripes: Some slowdown and texture pop-in. Cut scenes are boring.
The AI of humans who need to follow you is quite annoying; they often get stuck behind walls, etc, and can�t figure a path around the obstacle.
There is no clear way to know what you can climb over and what you can�t. Money you get for completing missions seems pointless compared to other ways of making money.

Pros: Physics are surprisingly good. GPS is as good as GTA IV's, and sometimes better.
Touch controls are used well and not over done and gimmicky. Very little of the important things from the console GTA�s seems lost on the conversion to portable.
Driving feels great and the new way to lose cops is actually fun, though a bit time consuming; very burnout like.

last edited by Lynx at 22:56:34 19/Mar/09

Link

jum
Posted 11:26pm 19/3/09

im about 7 hours / 35% into it. i'm enjoying it more than i did gta4. i think it will have a longer lasting appeal too, i haven't really touched gta4 since i beat the main story line

i love the return to the style of the first 2 games, but still mixing in a lot of new things so its still a unique gta experience. the way you lose the cop is definitely the most fun out of any gta game

their isn't really any depth to the story, but the characters and humour are really well done

Commenting has been locked for this item.

11 Comments

Show

Features

Reviews

ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 WiFi 6 Mesh System

User:
Pass: