Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

[3tt0]

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a game for the Nintendo DS developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with Rockstar North. It is the thirteenth game in the Grand Theft Auto series and the fourth released on a Nintendo console, after Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2 for the Game Boy Color and Grand Theft Auto Advance for the Game Boy Advance.



Developers
Rockstar Leeds
Rockstar North
Publisher Rockstar Games
Series Grand Theft Auto
Platform Nintendo DS
Release date
North America March 17, 2009
PAL region March 20, 2009
Genres Sandbox, action-adventure
Rating
BBFC: 18
ESRB: M
Media Nintendo DS Game Card



Synopsis

Plot

The story begins when a triad boss from Hong Kong in Kowloon (the father of Huang Lee, a spoiled, rich kid used to getting everything he wants without having to do the footwork) is assassinated. Now Huang Lee needs to bring the Yu Jian (a sacred sword won by Huang's father and now an heirloom) to his Uncle Kenny to assure the inheritance of the Triad Bosses. But Huang is in for a big surprise when he reaches Liberty City and is thrown into the Humboldt River in the trunk of a truck by the two assassins of Mr. Lee and left for dead. This is where the game begins with your new Hong Kong protagonist.

Characters

Huang Lee

Huang Lee is the main protagonist of the game. He is 25 years old[7] and is returning to his hometown of Liberty City. His mission is to deliver his Family heirloom, the Yu Jian, to his uncle. The Yu-Jian is an heirloom and sword that Huang's father had won in a card tournament.

Wu "Kenny" Lee

Uncle Wu "Kenny" Lee is Huang's uncle. He usuaully has his "work with guns" done by Ling. Towards the beginning of the game, Kenny gives Huang his missions. Kenny is now leader of the triad organization and likes all his payments in green. He is in the competition with Zhou Ming and Chan Jaoming for the replacement of Hsin Jaoming as Boss until he finds out about the Yu-Jian being gone.

Chan Jaoming

Chan Jaoming is the son of Hsin Jaoming, and a member of the Jaoming Family. Chan is also a part of the Algonquin Triads, a friendly gang. Chan wishes to be escorted in one of the early 6 missions. Chan is in the competition with Zhou Ming for Hsin's replacement as boss of the city. He thinks he will automatically get Hsin's place because he is son of the boss.

Danny

Danny is drug dealer though you buy drugs from him and sell them to someone else in a different city as confirmed by one of the Interviews with Rockstar Leeds. In the third mission, you are a buyer instead of seller, also confirmed by the same interview with Rockstar Leeds and Kikizo.

Wade Heston

Wade Heston is a Liberty City officer in who is saved by Huang Lee during an ambush. Wade Heston is the good cop but he's doing bad stuff in Liberty City.

Mr. Lee

All that's known about Huang's father is that he was assassinated by two men right after giving his son, Huang, a sacred heirloom, the Yu Jian, to give to his uncle.

Hsin Jaoming

Hsin Jaoming is the father of Chan Jaoming and the boss of Liberty City. The story of the game is mostly made up of Uncle Kenny's loss of the Yu-Jian. Both Hsin's son and Zhou Ming are in the competition for replacement of him as boss of LC.

* He's 73 years old.
* He's the leader of the Jaomings and the Algonquin Triads.

Zhou Ming

Zhou Ming is the 30-year old head of the Triads. He was arrested for doing 4 different crimes during a portions apart from each other equally in his life. Zhou is also in the competition with Hsin's son to become his replacement as boss of the city.

* The 4 different arrests were in 1989 and 1995 (Trademark Counterfeiting), 1997, and 2005.

Ling

Ling is a young woman who helps Huang get around Liberty City and Uncle Kenny with guns. She is shot dead within the first few missions of the game and last seen having her corpse carried off in a body bag.

Gameplay

Chinatown Wars has a different presentation from previous games in the series. Instead of a ground-level view behind the protagonist or a top-down perspective, Chinatown Wars uses a fully rotatable aerial camera angled down at the action. Chinatown Wars also uses cel-shaded polygons with black outlines to produce a comic book-like aesthetic — a first for the series. The title takes place in the Grand Theft Auto IV rendition of Liberty City, sans Alderney. The player will be able to recruit new Triad members from the streets, initiating them as Triads by tattooing their bodies on the touch-screen.

Unlike Grand Theft Auto IV, the player must disable as many cop cars as possible to escape the police instead of leaving a "wanted zone." For most of the driving and on-foot action, the touch screen is styled after a PDA interface. Disabling cars however is not the only way to lose the cops. The traditional flee the scene works same as always. There is also a drug dealing minigame a la Drugwars, which will allow players to peddle six types of drugs around the city. Players will make a profit by recognizing market conditions and demands based on geography and plying their wares accordingly. Shootable CCTV cameras will work as this game's secret packages which will also lower the drug prices when destroyed. Recent updates had shown that the top screen shows the game, while the lower screen will let players control elements like the PDA, GPS, the radio (mostly instrumental along with regular music), access to the people on the map, or using Molotov cocktails and grenades. Chinatown Wars applies many Grand Theft Auto IV features such as the new next gen HUD and taxi whistling supported by DS microphone. Ammu-nation makes a return in a form of an in-game website where the player can order various weapons through their PDA, and Ammu-nation will deliver selected weapons to their safehouse. Official Nintendo Magazine described the game as "one of the largest, most complex DS games ever made", with over 800,000 lines of code.

Vehicles

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars uses a different vehicle theft system from other games in the Grand Theft Auto series, in which the player must use their stylus as a screwdriver in the key slot to hotwire the vehicle. After doing so, the vehicle's alarm can be set off, which can be deactivated with a special device. Different cars need different tools to be hotwired.

Social Club

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has been confirmed to use Rockstar's Rockstar Games Social Club. Players will be able to use this to upload their gameplay statistics as well as Wi-Fi Connection mode head-to-head and co-op multiplayer mayhem.

+ YouTube Video

[xnewbie5]

I really hated this game. I never knew to do and was very clueless in the beginning. I immediatly returned it back. I think the GTA games on the pc are far more superior than china town wars for the DS.

[Iccy]

ya in my opinion i didn't like it as much such i was so attuned to the wider screen ones since i didn't really have to squint as hard during China town one. (my own bias against handhelds) i liked the angle the game was starting from like an azn instead of the typical italian mafia type, but still didnt feel as fulifulling.

[reimaru]

if you played the first two GTAs you would appreciate it, if not, well i guess you wouldn't like it...they also released a psp version of chinatown wars..the graphics looks good, but if you played the DS version first, you might be disappointed as there are no new additions to the psp port, but if it's your first time to try chinatown wars, you will like it as it reminds you of the classic version

[GP.]

Ya this is a nice trip down memory lane with the old GTA's from the PS1.

[reimaru]

yeah...the only complain i have on the psp port is the camera angle, there are times that it's hard to view your character when in a car chase

[haelikoth]

dont think i'll be getting this. the graphics look nice, but the life of crime seems to get more tedius and boring after each iteration of GTA. dunno, maybe its just me.

[reimaru]

Originally Posted by haelikoth

dont think i'll be getting this. the graphics look nice, but the life of crime seems to get more tedius and boring after each iteration of GTA. dunno, maybe its just me.

yeah, same old story: lone guy wants to become the most powerful crime boss in the city with added drama and suspense