Misconception is the dark cloud hanging over the success of this game. There's an assumption that Chinatown Wars is just a quickly made, cut-down GTA on a technically limited console. But don't jump to those conclusions. We recently popped down to Rockstar's London office and came out genuinely surprised and positively impressed. This is a very serious take on GTA.
The game is being developed at Rockstar's Leeds studio, with a helping hand from Edinburgh-based Rockstar North who did GTA IV. This team, Rockstar highlighted at the start of the presentation, is surprisingly "double the size" of the team that worked on the PSP games, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. "We think of this as the biggest DS game that's ever been made," said our Rockstar rep.
The opening is cinematic, with the camera panning down a fully 3D street as the hip-hop begins and the game's credits fade in and out. Our attention was quickly grabbed. During the intro alone we observed busy roads, vehicles with headlights, working indicators, reverse lights and their own physics. Buildings were detailed, as were trees, bins, boxes and lamp posts - all breakable. Pedestrians also littered the pavements going about their business. Attention to detail and overall level of bustle is incredible for a DS game.
Chinatown Wars uses the same Liberty City as seen in GTA IV. Three of the four huge districts - Broker, Dukes and Algonquin - are present and correct. That alone gives you a fairly hefty city to explore on the small screen and it's all open right from the start.
The game retains IV's weather system, with sun, rain and gloomy cloud, all affecting the physics and handling of vehicles accordingly. The day/night system is also in, with buildings casting real shadows that you can see gradually receding as the sun goes down.
Vehicle damage mimics that of GTA IV in that headlights smash, bodywork crumples, tyres can be popped, and the vehicle's handling (not just its speed) suffers as a result. The radio stations are in - there's no speech or licensed tracks for obvious size reasons, but the selection of beats that reflect the musical genre of each station does the job.
Also from IV is the on-screen map with the same path-finding tech. In fact it's better in this version, as you have the option to bookmark locations that you can return to later on. You'll never forget the location of that stunt jump you thought you saw. It's great to see that, not only does the game achieve technical feats we never expected, but it also strives to take advantage of the console's unique features by introducing gameplay elements new to the series.
You start the game a kidnap victim, playing dead in the back seat of a car as your tormentors drive to a river ready to dump the vehicle with you in it. As the car plunges into the water, its rear window appears on the lower screen and you have to tap it rapidly with the stylus to smash it and make your getaway.
The game wastes no time in demonstrating one of its clever context-sensitive uses of the touch screen; a reoccurring element throughout the game. In a few hours of hands-on time, we saw plenty of other uses. Opening and searching through bins for hidden weapons, throwing Molotov cocktails and assembling a sniper rifle were some of the best.
One mini-game sees you go to a petrol station with some empty bottles, pay for a certain amount of fuel and control the fuel nozzle with the stylus to fill the containers, while stuffing a cloth into the top of each one. You can buy pre-made cocktails, but it can work out cheaper this way if your aim with the nozzle is good and you don't spill too much petrol. That's the sort of depth in here.
So you escape the sinking car and, of course, it's time to steal a car of your own (or whistle for a taxi - literally by whistling into the DS mic). Again, the stylus controls come into play. Leap into a car and the dashboard appears on the bottom screen. Now the stylus becomes a screwdriver which you have to stick into the on-screen ignition slot until the motor starts.
Each car has its own specs and handling. But to make things easier the game automatically (but very subtly) straightens your car up in line with straight roads as you speed along - a welcomed option that can be disabled if you wish.
New to Chinatown Wars is a burnout mechanic which, by holding accelerate and handbrake, you can spin your wheels and then burn off leaving a trail of fire. The fire, hilariously, kills nearby people, which is as useful as it is funny in police chases. But overdo it and you can pop your wheels. Do that and you'll need to steal a new car, but the more fancy the car you steal, the more difficult the touch-based mechanic is to get it started.
We hijacked a sports car that required us to loosen four screws and remove a panel, exposing two wires that needed to be ripped out and connected to start the engine - all on the touch screen. Imagine the tension during a heated chase.
You have no mobile phone this time. Instead you have a PDA where you can check email when a character is ready to give you a mission. In true Rockstar fashion there's plenty of spam too. You'll also receive mail when drug deals are going down, as part of that controversial drug-dealing side mission.
We call it a side mission, but the whole drug dealing mechanic boasts surprising depth. You can buy any number of substances, including weed, cocaine, heroine, acid and whatnot, from various gangs.
Selling these in different areas gets you varying levels of profit. So it's up to you to hunt out good buying and selling deals to maximise profit. Keep an eye out for undercover cops posing as dealers though. Ambushes aren't so easy to escape. You can get caught up in this side of the game for hours.
The game's main mission structure remains largely unchanged. Key contacts are marked on your map. You start off knowing just one person, but make other contacts as you progress. We played four missions. Store Wars saw us fighting to protect a shop from armed attackers. First you have to create a roadblock by parking cars in designated areas, then wait for the bad guys to roll in, gun cocked.
You see them appear on the radar, which can be displayed on either the top or bottom screen (your choice) as a red dot. Here it controls like GTA IV. The R button locks onto a target, A shoots, and a tap on L changes your target. It all worked well.
A typical selection of guns is available. Uzi, assault rifle, pistol and, best of all, an ultra-powerful chain gun. That last baby can explode cars in seconds - before the goons can even jump out. But if you're too close to the explosion it'll kill you. We learnt that the hard way.
In the second mission we had to drive to a gang's base concealing a list of spy names. To do this, we had to place an explosive charge on the wall - another cool stylus mechanic - and blow it. Then we needed to park a van backed into the wall and ward off incoming swarms of bad guys as our people sneak in, grab the list and bail into the van before we make our frenzied getaway.
Chase scenes on DS are just as manic as in the console versions. There's a new escape mechanic in which ramming police cars off the road can lower your star rating. Hit a cop car hard enough to break it and a big 'X' appears over the car. Tally up Xs equal to your star level (three Xs for a three star level) and your total level drops one. It's not realistic, but its fun and that's what this cel-shaded, OTT rendition of GTA is all about.
Mission three saw us assemble a sniper rifle on a balcony near a park, then using a top-down sniper scope view, hunt out and shoot a guy described as wearing a white top and blue jeans. His head explodes, police go nuts and you can guess the rest.
Our last mission took us on a helicopter ride. Instead of piloting it ourselves we had to lob Molotovs at fools, some wielding RPGs, on the ground below. There's an over-the-top hilarity as you chuck an unlimited number of cocktails on the streets below with little regard for who gets burned.
It's so brilliant, in fact, that it's easily our most anticipated DS game as of RIGHT NOW. If you're expecting an experience similar to the now-archaic PSone originals, you couldn't be more wrong.
This sounds better and better the more I hear about it; didn't appeal at all at first. Got to take my hat off to Rockstar for not doing some toned-down, half-arsed version. Nice one!
What stands out to me in this preview is the reporters' surprise that so much can be "squeezed" out of the DS.
Okay its not the most powerful handheld, but it says a lot about the general standard of releases that popping in a bit of weather and physics can wow people so much. Clearly, the DS has always been capable of such things, but noone has bothered to see how far they can push its performance.
It reminds me of how blown away people were by RE4 on Gamecube. Why?! It was always clear that the Gamecube was being under-used. It just saddened me that there weren't more games of that graphical standard coming from third parties. I suspect the Wii is in a rather similar position.
Rogue Squadron is indeed a lovely looking game, but I seem to recall opinions on Wind Waker's visuals being very much divided (though personally I like cel-shading).
I just meant that journalists always seem surprised when games on Nintendo consoles look great.
yes i've played both of em. I thought they were dull add ons to GTA 3 and Vice city. The only reason I kept Liberty city stories in my Psp was to use the exploit to play emulated games and homebrew on.
now the Ds does that better too.
My initial comment was more about the fact that the ratio of really good original titles and sales greatly favours the ds.
The PSP is just awash with crap and bad ps2 ports.
I know there is a great lot of crap and ports on the ds also but there is also alot more quality games i the mix too.
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