Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars surprises on DS

Plowing through a billboard after discovering one of the unique jumps in Liberty City. Photo / supplied

Travelling over Easter, it's been a good time to try out how one of the most successful games can be adapted to a little gaming machine.
It's amazing how well GTA works on DS.
After the successful Liberty City release on PSP, it was intriguing to see how Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (R16) would pan out on Nintendo's small device.
We've been spoilt by GTA as a next-gen release with great graphics and strong storyline so this feels like going back to the earlier PlayStation days.
But the cell-shaded 3D environments are detailed, the fun scenes have a cartoonish style as GTA humour emotes a cackle as you play. The port to DS even makes full use of the DS features and a stylish 'desktop' menu system for your PDA.
The story is also an original which is a big bonus.
You play as a murdered gangster's pampered son who seeks revenge in the middle of a gang family breaking at the seams. You make use of the seedy atmosphere of the city and the usual GTA crooked underworld scene with its gangs, drug dealers and cops in endless supply.
Rockstar have shown how well they can technically master the small console as well as the big ones. They haven't just adapted GTA to the DS but created an exciting game for it.
You use the DS top screen for playing - driving, shooting and your various criminal activities. The touch screen is your PDA and shows the GPS map, weapon choices, a way to email people and mission brief, save points etc. To shoot you fire with the A button.
When you're driving, because you are seeing things from a birds eye view, the camera zooms to show you the road ahead and an auto-correct ensures you're headed straight up the lane. Dialogue is primarily text but the dark GTA humour is coarsely maintained. But don't think of this as some poor man's GTA. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
Check out here how you use touch to do things like hotwiring and carjacking.







The DS version of Liberty City looks large and impressive, the missions have such great twists like brawls and street races where the driving handles well.
This is a contender for the best game ever on DS and full marks to Rockstar for an original and technically well-crafted GTA for the handheld.
MadGamer rating: 9.5 / 10
Pictured above: Racing through Chinatown in Season Race.