Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

A Cognoscenti being stolen, while the player holds a 3-star wanted level. While in other Grand Theft Auto titles, the main technique to evade from the police was to leave a certain vicinity, away from them entirely, Chinatown Wars introduces a new mechanic which requires the player to destroy a specific number of police vehicles, thereby lowering the wanted level.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment. It has a different presentation from previous games in the series, by partially resembling the first Grand Theft Auto titles. Instead of a ground-level view behind the protagonist or a top-down perspective, Chinatown Wars uses a fully rotatable camera angled down at the action.[13] 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 a scaled-down rendition of Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City, with the exception of Alderney.[14]

Unlike Grand Theft Auto IV, the player can disable as many police cars as possible to escape the police instead of leaving a "wanted zone." The more stars the player has, the more police they have to take out for each level. For example, for a six star level, they have to take out six police cars to get down to a five star wanted level, and so on.[15] There is also a drug dealing sub plot which allows players to peddle heroin, acid, ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine and depressants around the city. Players can make a profit by recognising market conditions and demands based on geography and plying their wares accordingly. CCTV cameras work as this game's secret packages, destroyed by throwing a Molotov cocktail bottle or a grenade. This also decreases the chances of being caught while making a drug deal[16] and provides discounts for buying drugs. Chinatown Wars applies many Grand Theft Auto IV features such as the next-gen HUD. Ammu-Nation returns in the form of an in-game website where the player can order various weapons through their PDA to be delivered to their safehouse. Players will also get emails which they can read either from the PDA or the laptop present in their safe house.

While stealing a moving vehicle is similar to that of previous Grand Theft Auto games, Chinatown Wars uses a different system for stealing parked vehicles. Depending on the car, it can be started in one of a few ways. Older cars require a few turns of a screwdriver in the ignition, while other cars require hotwiring. Newer, more expensive cars (with the exception of a bulletproof van) require the player to "hack" the computerised immobiliser. It is still possible to flip cars or set them on fire. The player is unable to pilot any of the aircraft in the game, but he can still see the ones at the airport or flying above him, although if a player uses a certain code on the Nintendo DS by using "Action Replay DS" the player can acquire a helicopter and fly it.

In 2009, Triad member Huang Lee travels to Liberty City to deliver the Yu Jian sword—a family heirloom won by his recently murdered father—to his uncle Wu "Kenny" Lee. Upon arrival, Huang's escort is killed by unknown assailants, who steal the sword and leave Huang for dead. Kenny, outraged at the theft, reveals that he intended to hand the sword to Hsin Jaoming, the elderly head of the Liberty City Triads, in order to secure his position as his successor. Feeling dishonored, Kenny instructs Huang to assist in keeping his business afloat while he is in the city, causing him to be slowly drawn into the drug trade. At the same time, he learns that two others seek to become Hsin's successor - his son Chan Jaoming, and underboss Zhou Ming - and finds himself working for both men besides his uncle.

During a job, Huang is intercepted by Wade Heston, a corrupt LCPD detective under surveillance by the Internal Affairs, who offers to assist him in finding the sword, believing that apprehending the culprits will help clear his reputation. Huang agrees and the pair investigate a Korean gang that is allied to the Triads, soon discovering that there is a splinter group within the gang called Wonsu Nodong, whose leader has been causing problems for the Triads with the help of an informant amongst them. Hsin later contacts Huang for assistance, concerned about the news of an informant within his syndicate. While working for Hsin, Huang investigates the Angels of Death biker gang in addition to continuing his investigation on the Koreans, and deals with a mobster who tried to deceive him, but fails to uncover any new information. Heston eventually brings news that an informant of the Federal Investigation Bureau (FIB) can help, but is forced to back down due to pressure from the Internal Affairs, leaving Huang to retrieve some FIB files that name both Zhou and Chan as informants.

After discussing with his uncle about his findings, Kenny convinces Huang that they must be given to Hsin. Out of disgrace at the possibility his son is betraying the Triads, Hsin steps down as leader and names Kenny his successor. Meanwhile, Huang kills both Zhou and Chan, though both deny the accusations against them before dying. Heston soon contacts Huang with news that the information he retrieved was fake, and that the Wonsu leader is meeting with his allies, including the informant. Upon spying on the meeting, Huang is shocked to discover Kenny betrayed the Triads and orchestrated the theft of the sword to shame Hsin. As the LCPD and FIB ambush the meeting, Kenny makes his escape, but Huang and Heston pursue him to Hsin's penthouse.

Upon confronting his uncle, Huang learns that Kenny killed his father to secure the sword for Hsin. However, after suspecting he would not honour his agreement to make him his successor, Kenny instead sought to undermine Hsin as leader so he could take over, and framed Zhou and Chan to eliminate any potential rivals. After Kenny stabs Hsin, he is in turn killed by Huang, shortly before the LCPD arrive. While everyone at the scene is arrested, Heston ensures Huang is left alone, as repayment for his help. Before being taken to the hospital, Hsin praises Huang for his loyalty, and offers to name him the next Triad boss; Huang's response is not revealed.

Music for the opening titles of gameplay is the track "Chinatown Wars" performed by Ghostface Killah and MF Doom[21] and produced by Oh No of Stones Throw Records.[22][23]

The DS version of the game features music by Deadmau5 among others.[24] On top of the soundtrack featured in the DS version of the game the PSP version features music by Anvil,[25] Tortoise,[26] DFA Records,[27] Turntables on the Hudson[28][29] and DJ Khalil.[30]

The iOS and Android version featured all the music from the DS and PSP version and allowed the player to customise a music playlist using songs from their music library.

On 15 July 2008, it was announced at a Nintendo press conference that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars would be released to the Nintendo DS in the following Winter.[31] According to Nintendo World Report, Chinatown Wars contains over 900,000 lines of "hand-optimized" code.[32]

Chinatown Wars continues the series' tradition of controversy because of a drug dealing minigame that includes heroin and ecstasy.[73] Protesters against the game include Darren Gold of the anti-drug abuse charity Drugsline, who stated: "Anything using drug-dealing as entertainment is sending out the wrong message. Glamorisation doesn't help our work trying to educate kids of the dangers of substance misuse."[74] In an interview with Edge magazine, Dan Houser said "we wanted to have a drug-dealing mini-game in lots of the GTA games. [...] We played with it a little in Vice City Stories, because it worked really well juxtaposed with the main story. It works well with what GTA is, with driving around the map, and it gives you another thing to think about – another layer or piece of the puzzle to keep you motivated... It does intersect with the main story and things you learn from it work with the story, but it mostly runs on its own."[75][76]

• Official website