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GTA Chinatown Wars [DS]: Because WarioWare will never have molotov cocktail minigames
The Reverend Dr Galactus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
GTA on the DS? How's that gonna work?
Stuffed in between the not-for-core-gamers talk at Nintendo's E3 keynote last summer was a white-hot glimmer of potential awesomeness, the news that Rockstar was working on a GTA game exclusively for the DS. No screenshots, no gameplay details, just a logo and a promise that great things were to come.
Gradually, promising details and screenshots slipped out here and there, but overall, Chinatown Wars had a fairly opaque development cycle. On paper, everything sounded like it would add up brilliantly: A GTA built from the ground up for Nintendo's handheld, leveraging the platform's strengths.
The trailer
But did it work?
Survey says...
Eurogamer: 10/10
X-Play: 5/5
IGN: 9.5/10
Also
OP v.1.0 archive:
Stuffed in between the not-for-core-gamers talk at Nintendo's E3 keynote last summer was a white-hot glimmer of potential awesomeness, the news that Rockstar was working on a GTA game exclusively for the DS. No screenshots, no gameplay details, just a logo and a promise that great things were to come.
Gradually, promising details and screenshots slipped out here and there, but overall, Chinatown Wars had a fairly opaque development cycle. On paper, everything sounded like it would add up brilliantly: A GTA built from the ground up for Nintendo's handheld, leveraging the platform's strengths.
- Instead of going way retro to GTA 1-2 top down view or trying to cram III-IV's close third person view onto a DS, Chinatown Wars opts instead for a slick, slightly-isometric 3D perspective.
- Cut scenes are rendered in comic book format; the whole art style draws heavily from the series' post-III illustrations.
- The touch screen is neither ignored nor used purely for gimmicks -- there's a San Andreas-level of depth ranging from scrounging through dumpsters for weapons to doing tattoo art.
The trailer
But did it work?
Survey says...
Eurogamer: 10/10
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a triumph, not just in terms of bringing a difficult game to a new platform intact, but because it actually improves it in the process, and demonstrates a mastery of DS form and function.
X-Play: 5/5
It’s a great comfort to know that Rockstar Games not only makes great games, but understands what makes them great. Chinatown Wars is the culmination of years of work as well as the spirit of ingenuity to bring one of the biggest series to the smallest screen.
IGN: 9.5/10
There's so much to do in this Liberty City, and it's hard not to be impressed and amazed at some of the things the developer's managed to pull off on the hardware. GTA: Chinatown Wars is easily one of the best Nintendo DS games on the platform.
Also
I don't think this was meant to happen but it was so awesome:I forget what mission I was in, but I had to drive to a helipad to escape the police and get some people onto a helicopter. Anyway, the cops do a good job of messing the car up and as we reach the helipad I smash into one of the more persistent law enforcers. We both set on fire. As I hit the checkpoint, my fire automatically turns off so it'd all work. The cop, however, continues in a firework fashion as the end cutscene starts and he smashes straight into the helicopter, blowing it up. Then my passenger gets out of the car and casually walks right up to the decimated inferno, promptly setting himself on fire. As the cutscene ends, my friend starts running around in a fire-induced panic.
Edit: here it is in pictures
Even when this game goes wrong it does it so well.
OP v.1.0 archive:
Certainly you've heard of it by now: Stuffed in between the not-for-core-gamers talk at Nintendo's E3 keynote this summer was a white-hot glimmer of potential awesomeness, the news that Rockstar was working on a GTA game for the DS. No screenshots, no gameplay details, just a logo and a promise that great things were to come.
As of late however, more details have surfaced, and may I say, things are looking rather good:
Kotaku also has a nice list of known details right now.
Also, these guys have screenshots!
--edit--
Trailer's up.
--edit 2--
It's out!
Reviews are popping up all over, and one of the classiest gaming sites, Eurogamer, has posted a truly glowing review. While I generally avoid placing much weight on numerical review scores... I must mention they gave it a genuinely rare 10/10.
As of late however, more details have surfaced, and may I say, things are looking rather good:
- Instead of going way retro to GTA 1-2 top down view or trying to cram 3-4's close third person view onto a DS, Chinatown Wars opts instead for a slick, quasi-isometric perspective.
- Cut scenes are rendered in comic book format; the whole art style draws heavily from the series' post-III illustrations.
- Your protagonist will be able to deal in illicit substances, like the classic Dope Wars game.
- There will be wi-fi multiplayer.
Kotaku also has a nice list of known details right now.
Also, these guys have screenshots!
--edit--
Trailer's up.
--edit 2--
It's out!
Reviews are popping up all over, and one of the classiest gaming sites, Eurogamer, has posted a truly glowing review. While I generally avoid placing much weight on numerical review scores... I must mention they gave it a genuinely rare 10/10.
The Reverend Dr Galactus on
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In any case, I loved the old top-down GTA games, so hopefully this one continues that trend.
PSN: super_emu
Xbox360 Gamertag: Emuchop
Something like this would be fantastic for me and my DS, which I only seem to bring out when I'm traveling anywhere.
Rockstar Leeds as well as Rockstar North. Not sure which talent from each is involved though.
PSN:RevDrGalactus/NN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
If not, we'll see.
In fact, why doesn't GTA have parkour/free-running yet? It's such an obvious thing to do.
It's not totally in the old style, the cars are full 3D and not just sprites, I like that. I also like how it's sort of cel shaded, that works way better than the PS1 pixelly crap.
http://kotaku.com/5089600/more-details-emerge-on-chinatown-wars
Apparently those screenshots earlier of signs saying "Dukes Expressway" didn't lie: this actually will be taking place in GTA IV's Liberty City.
That is to say, the whole city except Alderney. Which, even with DS graphics, seems to me a lot of city for the DS. The title had me thinking this would be a sort of walled playground, south-Algonquin sort of thing, but this is really a surprise.
PSN:RevDrGalactus/NN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
I have to say this game is looking great.
Hey, I have a blog! (Actually being updated again!)
3DS: 0860-3240-2604
PSN:AlexE777
This is basically my 'buy/don't buy' decider here. The only GTA game where I've actually felt like I was in control, rather than fighting them, was GTA IV. If they make this control well, then they have my money. Make it handle like a quadruplegic dog on an ice-rink, and there's no way in hell I'll have it.
It'll probably control like the original 2D gta games.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I haven't played it either.. but I'm just assuming it will control as such. Nobody ever complained about the controls in the other games at least.. so there's that... I guess.
I know, hahah. Hopefully there will be an alternative to actual, microphone whistling for this purpose. I'll just assume that there is.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Been so long I don't remember if it was Tank controls (forward moves your character in whatever direction they're facing, back backs up, left and right rotate) or each direction moving you in the direction. I have a gut feeling saying it was tank though.
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
Nice to know that there are trains, but can we ride on top of them? Climb on the tracks and get run over? Drive onto the tracks?
Too many unanswered questions.
Secondly.. ugh, I hope not. It was top-down and you used the left and right arrow keys to turn, up and down to walk forwards or backwards. Aiming to shoot was something of a pain, because you could never quite tell if you were lined up or not.
See, this is what I'd hope, but it doesn't sound like it. Convince me Rockstar, sell me your games.
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
I love it when you are totally ignorant of a game, then learn about it, and then realize it might be awesome, especially on a platform you rarely use.
It's like someone tells you, "Wait, you didn't know about the other christmas we have? There's another christmas, a new one. Check it out."
Oh, yeah! Preorder from GameStop and get a free broken gameplay balance! Less challenge, more power fantasy!
PSN:RevDrGalactus/NN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
PSN:RevDrGalactus/NN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
I think that just made me convinced to buy a DS, just to play that.
I found other GTA games slightly frustrating because of the load times, especially when you restart a mission, not so much here. In GTAIV, when you die, or when you are teleporting around via taxi, it would take about 20-30 seconds to finish the loading, it takes about 2-3 here (that's right quick travel with taxi is back, no need to drive back to your mission marker everytime you fail a mission). The fact that the game is on flash RAM cartridges really helps with the loadng.
The game takes place in the same Liberty City found in GTAIV, which is pretty massive, it has the same layout and everything. I think Alderney is missing though (the last island) but it's still pretty big. Traveling around the city is a breeze because the GPS feature is included in this, and it's even better because you can mark your destination by touching the screen. Also you can save anywhere so you don't have to be at a safehouse.
One of the drawback to this game is in the audio department. The car music is just MIDI tunes, although they don't sound bad it's not the same licensed music we're used to hearing. There's no voice acting or in game cutscenes. You just get a picture of the character and a dialogue box. However, thanks to good writing, it is actually interesting to read. I actually laughed a few times from the stuff the characters would say. You do hear voices from pedestrians when you run them over however so that's nice to have.
I've always found the bottom screen of the DS useless and felt that 80% of the game on the DS can be made with just one screen. This game, however, actually made good use of the bottom screen. The radar with GPS directions and health bar can be found on the screen. Dialogues are shown as well. It also acts as a PDA, you can check your objectives, emails, change weapons, change radio, and a few other things. What you end up getting is a nice clean game screen on top. When you are stealing parked cars, you would have to do minigames like picking the cars' lock or pulling wires out and tieing them together to jump start the car. It is all done with the touchscreen and you would drag things around with your thumb, it is actually pretty fun. One thing to mention is you can whistle into the mic to call a taxi. And you can go to a store to buy lotto scratchers. When you are scratching the tickets you bought to reveal your symbols, you can actually blow on the mic to remove the aluminum residue that would come off as you're scratching. Yeah I love little details such as this and it's scattered all over the game. You can go up to a dumpster and search it by dragging garbage out of it and see if there's guns or food to get. Oh yeah and you don't die when you fall into water.
Overall, this is a top notch GTA game, it's enjoyment is really improved by the features Rockstar added in GTAIV.
I've got the game preordered and I'll buy it on Friday (UK release), but I had to "get" it sooner because I'm impatient.
And I've got to agree with bakatrinh, this game is awesome in every way. I've not played any missions because I'm saving that for my *real* experience with the *actual* game, but I've had fun killing people and dealing with cops.
The driving controls are really tight, darleysam:
D-pad: left-right steers, down uses horn/siren
X to enter/leave a vehicle
A to shoot
B to accelerate
Y to reverse
And the steering is perfect. Tapping the direction will have you turn slightly before auto-steer brings you back in line with the road, making for good lane changes. Hold it longer and you'll be turning like a pro.
The touchscreen 'minigames' are really classy. They're easy to do, making for non-frustrating 3 second breaks from button pressing and they feel really rewarding.
I've noticed that if you drive the fastest cars through the busiest areas, there's sometimes split-second texture pop-in, but it doesn't affect gameplay in any way.
I can't wait until this game comes out!
Also: hello this is my first post
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
I think it looks cool I hope to hear good things about it.
Oooh, buy me one!
i wonder why rockstar hasn't shown more of the game other than a few trailers?
Best price is at Amazon, btw - I just have a ton of ShopTo credit.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!