Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Nintendo DS Nintendo Review

From what I've played (which is only a short time due to my general dislike of GTA games) it definitely is a technical marvel - easily one of the best looking DS games around.

Looking at its US sales over the first two months on the market, sales have indeed been steady, so I reckon it'll accrue strong enough sales to warrant another entry being made. After all, it'd be a shame to waste the engine they've created.

I wonder when Capcom will strike a deal to bring this to Japan? It's brought the other recent GTAs over, so I don't see why the DS game would be any different.

I played it and thought it was good. Hate to pick on one aspect of the review, but it's worth mentioning. 'Weasel words' such as the following..

Cubed3 said:

Wisely, rather than attempting a GTA with a purely 3D-viewpoint on DS (which would surely have been possible, but not necessarily for the best), Rockstar have gone for a compromise between new and old.

.. don't really have any place in a proper analytical review. How can you know that it 'surely would have been possible' to do the game in the GTAIV-esque full 3D view? One would point out that the top-down view on the DS could in fact be to eliminate any problems with draw distance, since the DS only has to render a tiny little square rather than way off into the horizon.

If even when just rendering the little square there's evidence of slowdown now and again, the frame-rate would absolutely nose-dive if it had to render a lot more, would it not? Anyway, decent review, just be careful about making those sorts of off-the-cuff claims that can in no way be based on any facts to hand.

Perhaps Rockstar started out with the traditional view, and switched to the overhead one at some point during development?

THe risk paid of as far as quality is concerned. They are one of the best game developer out there (for what games they put out) Not sure in the long run it will pay off for them as devs. At this rate the guys will be old or dead before it reaches a million sold. UK charts , seems to have slid to far to be a worthy slow burner

Is it not selling that well? Maybe it'll be the first and last game of this type on DS from Rockstar. It's a shame, since it will probably influence their decision on any possible games for Wii.

I'd say it's doing pretty well so far. In the UK it's been slowly dropping down each week, but has remained in the charts since launch and only this week has it been bumped down to No.15 on the DS Top 40.

As for US sales, it's already had two stable months of sales so far...

That is such a nintendo rep thing to say LOL. Its not in the UK top 40 multi platform so does it really matter where it is in the DS top 40. So im guessing less then a few 1000 a week

On another note those horrific sonic and mario sports crap are still in the top 40. tragic.

Nice review Mason! GTA just isn't the type of game I play, but its still nice to hear it turned out well.

Martin_ said:
Is it not selling that well? Maybe it'll be the first and last game of this type on DS from Rockstar. It's a shame, since it will probably influence their decision on any possible games for Wii.

As Adam has alluded to, its not necessarily selling badly, its just selling like DS games sell. Slow but steady. We're just hoping the steady part stays, because of it doesn't it hurts the likelihood of further M rated DS games.

Martin_ said:
I played it and thought it was good. Hate to pick on one aspect of the review, but it\'s worth mentioning. \'Weasel words\' such as the following...

I see your point; it was a presumption, so yes, incorrect choice of words. I take that on board and apologise for the misdirection, however I maintain that it could have been possible had they not taken the route they did. I wouldn\'t be surprised in the least if it did start out in that way and was altered at a later date, or experimented on at some point. The rare slowdown is usually when you\'ve got loads of police cars on your tail in addition to the high volume of regular traffic, so if it had taken a GTA3 route and had less cars on the road, as well as a smaller map, I reckon it may have been doable. As it is, I think they took the better option in positioning the viewpoint as they did to limit the amount on screen to allow themselves more room to maneuver with traffic amounts and city size.

( Edited 26.05.2009 18:38 by Mason )

Yeah I didn't mean to sound overly-harsh with my criticism. Sorry if it came across that way. You've kept it simple, and you've covered most of the important aspects - which makes it a good review. You might have gone into a little more depth over the visual-style of the game, which is not akin to any other GTA I've ever played. It almost looks cel-shaded, but not quite.

No problem; I'd rather be criticised than be ignored, afterall, and it was constructive. It's a nice style, isn't it? Getting closer towards the cartoonish drawings that've been used on GTA boxes for years, and in the cut scenes for this. It didn't get brought up because I felt the review was already erring on the side of being too long.

Good review Mike, this a solid game - decent story and good style

There were people saying: "WTF? A GTA game on a DS? It'll turn bad!"
I think it turned out well, a good M rated game for the DS... but I have to ask, is it fun to go rampaging, killing people through the city, like in the previous GTAs?

No really hoped less. Good going Rockstar, and good review too Mason >.

Rampages do make a comeback, actually - it's still fun to attack, but driving over people is better and produces a delightful squelch.

I want this. Probably one of the few games aimed at a more mature audience.

(I STILL CHECK C3 =])

Good to see you zcollvee - hanging around for E3 at all?