DS Critic Reviews

This is Grand Theft Auto the way you love it: all of the innovation, charm and thrills from its past installations neatly tied together in a creative package worthy of any DS owner.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a triumph, not just in terms of bringing a difficult game to a new platform intact, but because it actually improves it in the process, and demonstrates a mastery of DS form and function.

Great scope, nice car handling, awesome multiplayer – Rockstar delivers extraordinary GTA quality on a small display.

Shameless developers trotting out shallow minigame anthologies and SNES era RPGs should stand in embarrassment at just how much potential Rockstar Leeds managed to wring from a console this late in its lifespan. Gentlemen, it’s time to beg your girlfriend for that DS back. Perhaps you could trade in your PS3 - it’s not like that’s getting more GTA anytime soon.

A pocket rocket that's sumptuous to look at, riotously funny and deeply rewarding. GTA: Chinatown Wars is one of Rockstar's and the DS' best ever.

It’s a great comfort to know that Rockstar Games not only makes great games, but understands what makes them great. Chinatown Wars is the culmination of years of work as well as the spirit of ingenuity to bring one of the biggest series to the smallest screen. Nothing in the game feels half done or forced. If anything, the game feels like a development team having fun with a concept.

Probably the best DS title on the market currently, Chinatown Wars shows Rockstar can master not only next-gen console and PC, they know a thing or two about handheld gaming as well.

Chinatown Wars is an achievement. It's not the typical kind of game you'd expect on the DS - the learning curve is steeper than normal thanks to the small help text (expected on a portable) and the legions of police and it's a very adult game. Still, I'll gladly take the time to learn if it comes with the entirety of Liberty City, a working drug economy plus people, cars, boats, and the occasional helicopter and next to no loading times.

Besides being an extremely competent and fun experience, the game can bring the maximum potential of the console. All this combined with a duration that exceeds several hours, between missions, challenges and exploration.

The developers at Rockstar Leeds were very smart about which elements of GTA to carry over and which would just drag the final product down. The end result is a game that feels new and fresh, even though it largely relies on the concepts forged in GTA's past.