You could hear a pin drop when Nintendo announced that the next iteration of the Grand Theft Auto franchise would be heading to the Nintendo DS. The silence was a mix of shock and amazement, speculation and surprise. Each bit of information in the following months went on to solidify Rockstar’s stance that it wasn’t a cheap cash in on GTA IV’s success, but an entirely new game, running on a 3D engine built around the DS’s unique features. That information, although exciting and positive, has leaked out on the developers’ typically slow schedule, so I was extremely pleased to see the game in playable form at the New York Comic Con. I was even more pleased after I played it.

It doesn’t take long to see why Chinatown Wars was put on the Nintendo DS. The oftentimes-complicated console versions have been the definition of pick-up-and-play gaming for years. The DS version runs smooth, employing the top-down view of the earlier Grand Theft Auto games. I found it easy to figure out the controls, which avoid unnecessary use of the touch screen in favor of a more typical setup. As hoped, running is done with the D-Pad, while shooting/jumping/getting into vehicles are all mapped to buttons. There are touch-screen mini-games, but the only one I ran into was scratching off lottery tickets. Apparently there are others later, which will task you with assembling sniper rifles and using the stylus for all manner of things, but when it comes to the core gameplay there’s nothing of that sort. 



During my play session I tried several vehicles. I stole a police car, commandeered a truck, and even borrowed an SUV. Each felt different, but good, and none had the “boat” feel that many complained about in Grand Theft Auto IV. Since the game is rendered in 3D, the vehicles can flip, skid, and lean, just as they would in a console game. The only difference is the fixed camera, and that isn’t a bad thing. On several occasions I took turns that were too sharp, launching the car into the air and barrel rolling down the street. It looks gorgeous, and smashing into cars to knock them over is awe-inspiring.

My time with the game was short, I didn’t complete any missions, and most of my experience was spent running over civilians and shooting at cars. In other words, I did exactly what most people will do with the game when it comes out later this year, and I have nothing but hope that Rockstar’s latest might be their best portable outing yet.

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