Chinatown Wars is the full GTA experience squished into a DS cartridge, without compromise. Pedestrians roam the streets, bumping into each other, buying hot dogs, getting into cars and driving around a vast playing area that comprises two out of the three Liberty City islands seen in the acclaimed GTA IV. It’s viewed in full 3D, from an overhead chase camera positioned slightly behind the lead character. The camera rotates to keep the action mostly facing up the screen, and tapping the right shoulder button will re-center it if necessary.
To escape from the police after committing a random crime, you can either try to outrun them and bust through their roadblock, as in previous GTA games, or actively disable their cars by slamming them off the road. It’s difficult to get the hang of, but your wanted level will decrease much faster if pursuing cops are taken out safely rather than killed. Of course, most of the time it’s all about killing things. All of the missions we played involved a great deal of carnage, delivered via an auto-lock aiming system that enables fast cycling between targets via a press of the right shoulder button. The touch screen shows the current weapon’s ammo counter – touch it and the game pauses so you can switch to a new weapon. There are also grenades that you can use whenever you’ve got them in stock – simply touch the grenade icon with your right thumb and drag 360° to position a green line that shows where the ’nade is going to land. This can even be done while driving.
