About Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Story

In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, you play as the protagonist Huang Lee, a member of the Chinese Triads in Liberty City. The story begins as Huang Lee arrives in Liberty City. While transporting his late father’s sword, known as the Yu Jian - a sacred sword - to his Uncle Wu “Kenny” Lee, he was robbed and left for dead at the bottom of the Humboldt River. The game’s storyline begins as he sets out to retrieve the sword and avenge his father’s death.

Later in the story, Huang Lee will deal with drugs, rival Triad members and Korean gangsters, aided by the helpful Wade Heston, a Liberty City Police Department detective, as well as his uncle, Wu “Kenny” Lee.

Setting

A good portion of Grand Theft Auto IV’s rendition of Liberty City is included in the Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which is impressive - it includes slightly scaled-down versions of the boroughs of Dukes, Broker, Bohan, and Algonquin. Weather and time-of-day effects, transparent car headlights, flashing weapon fire, and exploding cars are also all included. Freeways, however, have been taken out of the game as it interferes with the game’s default camera setting, which utilizes and isometirc camera angle.

Graphics

Unlike any other previously-released Grand Theft Auto video games, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is special in the aspect of graphics. It has an isometric perspective, meaning that it has an overhead view with three-dimensional graphics and a slightly tilted camera (As like in Max Payne for the GameBoy Advance). It also features cel-shaded graphics with a black border around objects, which gives an arcade feel to the game. For a Nintendo DS game, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is ridiculously detailed, although a little less detailed than it’s older cousin, Grand Theft Auto IV.

Although Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars’ isometric view isn’t fully three-dimensional, it still takes the X-Axis into account, meaning you can’t shoot across objects of certain heights. The camera also rotates 360 degrees dynamically for the optimum view at all times, which gives it a natural feelc.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars also features deep details; pedestrians will get into their cars or walk on the streets, stopping to have conversations, or buy snacks from fast-food carts. When it rains, pedestrians also pull out their umbrellas, like in Grand Theft Auto IV. Fences, street lamps and newsstands can also be smashed aside.

With Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the proportion of objects and characters will not be as realistic as Grand Theft Auto IV. Dan Houser says in an interview with EDGE magazine, “The characters on foot are exaggerated for the very simple reason of being able to inject them with character when viewed from above, it just isn’t fun otherwise - we did various experiments with this kind of thing. This way, you can actually see what your character is doing. And one of the great successes of the game at the moment is that the out-of-car action feels really fun. It was a challenge to make that seem fun in Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, and as much as we loved them at the time, I think it’s more explosive and fun that it ever was before. Part of that is simply an issue of clarity, so the explosions are really powerful, and the firefights look great. The bullet traces are obviously super-exaggerated but that help with what you’re doing”.

The 3D cutscenes that were featured in Grand Theft Auto III through Grand Theft Auto IV, with the exception of Grand Theft Auto Advance, will also not be in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Instead, a comic-book style cutscene will be used, as like in Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, two video game titles that were also published by Rockstar Games.

Music

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will contain a number of radio stations that you can tune in to when you are in a vehicle, but all the licenesed songs are mostly instrumental versions, given the storage limits of the Nintendo DS’ cartridges. A few Radio Stations will be included in the game, ranging from Hip-Hop to Traditional Chinese Music.

Interface

The Heads-Up Display in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars bears much similarity to Grand Theft Auto IV’s. The map appears on the bottom-left corner of the bottom screen of the Nintendo DS, along with the Money balance and weapon indicator on the top-right corner.

Wanted levels, however, work in a different way to that of Grand Theft Auto IV’s system (where the police search area will be shown on the mini-map and and to lose your wanted level, you’ll have to escape the circle). This time round, you will have to force designated police vehicles off the road to lower your wanted level down, which will lower your wanted level. Although controversial, it is now going to be fun losing your wanted level. You can also choose to escape from the police using the evasion style.

You will also have access to a PDA, which will be controlled through the Nintendo DS’s touch-screen function. The PDA, which will work similarly to Grand Theft Auto IV’s mobile phone, is a hub for in-game e-mails and contacts, a map, a portable music player, GPS while driving, and a stat-tracker that can upload information to the Rockstar Games Social Club through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Its buttons are also finger-sized so there will not be a need for a stylus.

Mini-Games, Side-Missions & Collectibles

Security Cameras:
In Grand Theft Auto III all the way till San Andreas and Liberty City Stories, collectibles came in forms of packages called “Hidden Packages”. However, Vice City Stories had 99 Red Balloons to pop and Grand Theft Auto IV had 200 Flying Rats to hunt down and kill.

In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, there are a hundred security cameras dotted around the streets of Liberty City, where you must destroy. This also ties in to a side-mission, which you can read more about below.

Drug Trading:
In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, there is a side-mission in which you can sell and trade drugs on the streets after the mission “Tricks of the Triad”. Like the Empire-building side-missions in Vice City Stories, you will be updated on weekly earnings (loss or gains).

However, this time round, the statistics will appear on your in-game PDA, not a Pager. The one hundred security cameras around Liberty City will also affect sales by raising prices in covered areas if they are not yet destroyed. In this side-mission, you can make a ton of cash by buying and seling six types of drugs within the game, gaining experience of market conditions and geographical nuances in order to maximize profits.

Vehicles:

Like any other Grand Theft Auto game, Chinatown Wars will heavily involve the theft of cars as well. However, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has introduced several Nintendo DS-specidic mini-games, for use with the touch-screen.

In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, if you drive your vehicle into the water, the touch screen of the Nintendo DS will show the image of the windscreen, in which you must repeatedly tap it so that you can break the glass to swim out of your vehicle to safety.

Also, hotwiring a car in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars involves using the touch screen to simulate the turning of a screwdriver in the steering column, and different vehicles may also have varying levels of hotwiring in order to start their engines up.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will also feature an assisted driving system, that automatically assists the player in staying on the road, which will help to avoid collisions at high-speed. This will be exceptionally helpful for high-speed chases with the police. In an interview with EDGE magazine, Dan Houser says, “There’s a little bit of auto-allignment, but it’s subtle enough and it’s to make the driving a little forgiving, without it feeling like you’re wearing armbands or something. In some ways it’s no different to auto-aim, really.”

Tattoos:

Many Grand Theft Auto fans like myself may remember this customization feature that was in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Missed it in Grand Theft Auto IV? Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars now gives you the ability to have your own tattoo, which utillizes the stylus.

Molotov Cocktail concoction:
Need a fire-bomb straight away? Don’t rush in to type that cheat code immediately! In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, you can drive up to gas stations to fill up Cocktail bottles to make as much Molotov Cocktails as you fancy, with a time limit.

Trash-digging:

Put aside that cheat code now, I shall say. You can now find weapons hidden around dumpsters under bags of trash, if you are lucky. Just throw away the trash bags with the Nintendo DS’ touch screen, using your finger or a stylus, and you’re good to go with your new found friend.

Others:
Taxi, Paramedic, Vigilante and Firefighter missions from the Grand Theft Auto III trilogy will all return to Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, as well as Unique Stunt Jumps, Rampages, Odd Jobs and Random Strangers from Grand Theft Auto IV. All these tells me Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be a great deal of fun, what about you?