Chinatown Wars does things differently and looks great doing it.
Many franchises have attempted to toss themselves into the portable ring only to be spat back out, mangled and scarred with only subtle hints pointing toward the games that they were supposed to have been. Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series was never one of these. The previous two entires—while not exactly excellent—were exceptionally faithful in their realization of the series' mechanics and world.
Coupled with the unfortunate subtitle chosen for Chinatown Wars, I found the idea of this latest series installment's being released on the DS a bit worriesome. While the system is certainly capable of producing quality games, it often felt as if the graphical competence of the PSP was all that was holding Liberty City Stories and its Vice City-themed follow-up together. Because of this, I went into Chinatown Wars a bit skeptic, and was happy to have that skepticism washed away.
Chinatown Wars starts out like every other game in the series. You play some down-and-out hooligan making his arrival to a new city when bam, something goes wrong and you're completely screwed over. In this case, Huang Lee takes a bullet-graze to the head before his family's most prized posession—the ceremonial sword Yu Jian—can be safetly delivered to the local Triad boss.
By necessity, Chinatown Wars digresses from the narrative focus taken on by GTA IV. Instead, the plot takes a back seat and serves as little more than an excuse to objectify the mindless driving and pedestrian slaughtering for which the series is known. The various cutscenes are filled with ridiculous dialogue from Huang's mission-giving superiors, most of it showcasing just how pompous and stupid these criminals are. Huang spices up the conversation a bit with a few choice one-liners, but once again, the story is simply an afterthought.
The game itself accommodates its platform quite well. Liberty City has been given a stylized cel-shaded makeover that gives the entire experience a very graphic novel feel. This is further aided by the cutscenes, which take place in quasi-comic panels, complete with frame-by-frame animation. The camera is also pulled out and tilted, resulting in something more reminiscent of GTA II as opposed to the third-person perspective found in more recent titles. Despite its placement, the camera stays dynamic, panning and adjusting itself to your movements rather than holding a static position above the action. Ultimately, all of these things help the game feel very fluid. Nothing about the aesthetics or gamplay is particularly glaring, and the concessions in the portable transition are quite difficult to notice.
Chinatown Wars does borrow quite a few functions from GTA IV, most of them stemming from Huang's PDA that is accessed through the touch screen. You'll often receive emails regarding missions or tips, and driving sequences heavily involve the GPS that made everyone's lives so much easier in last year's console installment.
It's very easy for me to recommend playing this game with the stylus grasped in one hand, as touch screen sequences are frequent enough to make constantly pulling it out of its slot feel like a chore. That doesn't reflect at all on the actual segments, as they integrate surprisingly well into the gameplay. The touch screen is used for relatively simple tasks such as chucking grenades, creating molotovs, or dabbling in the drug-trading mini-game. During missions you'll occasionally find yourself using the stylus to throw objects from the backs of vehicles or to place explosives. All of these are very simple tasks that take practically no time to complete, and they're all fairly enjoyable given that you enjoy this style of mini-game.
It's not all sunshine and daisies in Liberty City. I personally took some issue with the game's automatic aiming, which is more than a little off-putting. The game seems to have some issues with targeting nearby enemies as opposed to distant ones, and firing while in a vehicle can often be fruitless if you're not driving alongside your target. It seems just a little too easy to get busted at times, as I often found myself being pulled out of a vehicle before I was even aware that there was a cop attempting to do so. Also, the missions ramp up in difficulty quite quickly, which took me by surprise.
By the cover, it's easy to brush this game off as another attempt by a major developer to cash in on its series' name. It's been done by more prestigious houses than Rockstar, but with this game they really seem to have put a genuine effort into translating the features that make GTA great. At the same time, they've made it feel right at home on the DS and have given the touch screen a real purpose as opposed to forcing the functionality in as an afterthought. If you like GTA, it's more than worth your time and money. In reality, Chinatown Wars is so far one of 2009's best games.
