GTA: Chinatown Wars

[Shorty]

To be fair, I think part of the reason why the story doesn't seem to be as good in CW is the lack of Rockstar's usual high-caliber voiceovers, which IMO has been one of the great things about GTA's story. They do well within the technical limitations of the DS, but it's no great production like IV was.

[Kefka]

Laaaaaaawl at the "Take Selma home" & "Lose Selma" missions. The hotdog salesman ones were hilarious too.

My balance currently stands at $3. That said, I have 3 safe houses now and a decent stash of various drugs - just waiting on buyers! In a moment of panic and disorientation, I accidentally purchased a safehouse just down the road from another one I already owned -.- I had 50 bags of coke on me at the time and forgot where I was.

[BB2K]

IMO it's much too easy to get money, I have something like 150k with about 20 bags of each drug in my stash, and about 10 safehouses!

[Kefka]

IMO it's much too easy to get money, I have something like 150k with about 20 bags of each drug in my stash, and about 10 safehouses!

Have you done it without reloading when things go wrong? I'm not finding money too easy to earn, but that's probably because I get distracted so easy - hence on the way to/from drug deals, I tend to get side-tracked in a way which is often fatal or whatnot...

If you've got the patience and attention to trade drugs with optimal efficiency for a few days, you'll no doubt rack up a decent fortune.

[pecka_a]

last night I won the/a house via the scratch cards, and hi-jacked a Ammu-nation truck.

[Shorty]

Wait, you can win safehouses with scratch cards?

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Yep. I spent a full hour trying to win one, but no luck. You just need to find a store that has the scratch card you need. (it cost 15.00, and you can with 15.00, 200.00 or a house)

[BB2K]

I won a safehouse that way too, sometimes I just spend afew minutes continually playing scratch cards 'til I win something good.

[Stevorooni]

I got a safehouse from one of the random people missions. Guy committed suicide and I found his keys.

[Dukotoja]

having fun with this now!

tell me do you guys use the 'stick to the road' default setting or did you turn it off?

[Emilbus]

I use stick to the road, seems to make driving between traffic abit easier.

[Kefka]

I kept it on for the same reason as Ciller. It's handy.

A safehouse from a scratchy?! :O

I've been lucky with ammunation trcuks - half the time there's one driving past my secluded safehouse when I come out, so it doesn't take long to shoot it to crap, run over the driver, and nip it back home.

I've got a damn fine stash of weapons now, but most of the time stick to the sword. It's easy and effective, and looks damn cool too. I used it in the mission where you have to get dumb racer boy back to his dad's club and all the enemy triad members are there trying to shoot you... At close quarters it's easy to run up and cut them down before they get many shots off.
(although the last two had assault rifles, so I took them out from a distance with my own)

I found some ecstasy in a green dumpster once, and have found a few tenners... but overall they're a waste of time. Drug vans are fun to jack, but the only one I took back to my house only had a 2 units in it... Wasn't really worth the trip.
Do they sometimes have more? Are there parked drug vans? Or is that warehouses...

[Shorty]

There are warehouses that you can raid later in the game, but apparently they're not really worth it either. Better off buying from dealers and keeping a lookout for tips.

[Kefka]

Hehe, random little thing that made me lol:
Tried to carjack someone, but she punched me out and started to drive away. Angered, I chased her and tried again, pulling her out and slowly shunted her around with her own car for a bit until I reversed over her and she died. I then did a burnout on her corpse while the paramedics pulled up and revived her. Once she was revived, I peeled out and set her and the medic alight.

Also, random mission to survive an attack by a gang of angry hookers.

[/backslash]

Completed the mission where I can now trade drugs and quite quickly I've got an interest in drug trading :p So easy to rack up money yet fun at the same time, going to buy some more safehouses around the city

[Twisted Conspiracy]

Hehe, random little thing that made me lol:
Tried to carjack someone, but she punched me out and started to drive away. Angered, I chased her and tried again, pulling her out and slowly shunted her around with her own car for a bit until I reversed over her and she died. I then did a burnout on her corpse while the paramedics pulled up and revived her. Once she was revived, I peeled out and set her and the medic alight.
You've never done that before now?? :rolleyes:


...I've got an interest in drug trading :p So easy to rack up money yet fun at the same time...
Uh, think I'll leave that...

[/backslash]

Bought a place for $10,000 using my drug money, then with the leftovers I found a nearby scratchy store trying to win a house :D Just like in real life I lose nearly everytime but I'm hoping it'll pay off

edit: woo! Just won a house! Wish it was for real...

[Kefka]

I spent some time at a scratchy store and won myself a house as well - all in all you don't really lose much money trying, if any. I got enough $15 wins and $200 wins to keep playing for as long as it took without losing money.

Am loving the rampages and other random little events and races around the place. Just did the Patriot races in the park.

[/backslash]

Yeah, I'm up by about $3000. But now I'm addicted to it thinking "okay, just one more to get another house" and 10min later I'm still scratching. When you see the first 2 pics of houses you think you have a really good chance at winning

[Dukotoja]

So easy to rack up money yet fun at the same time, going to buy some more safehouses around the city

dont really find it worth my time unless ive got a tip off, the tips are great money makers.

[/backslash]

Yeah I look out for tips too but sometimes you can make $100 per bag quite easily without it

[Dukotoja]

Yeah I look out for tips too but sometimes you can make $100 per bag quite easily without it

thats scraps! scraps for dogs and hookers!

[Antwandemarco]

Wow drug dealing is addictive, i wanna continue doing missions but then i get a tip off and have to pick up some cheap product :P It's great fun using the trade map to get good deals. They should have had this in GTA4 - would have been awesome.

[Shorty]

Wow drug dealing is addictive, i wanna continue doing missions but then i get a tip off and have to pick up some cheap product :P It's great fun using the trade map to get good deals. They should have had this in GTA4 - would have been awesome.

So you'd have even more money to spend on hot dogs and ammo? :p

[/backslash]

So you'd have even more money to spend on hot dogs and ammo? :p
Yeah there's not really any incentive to buy safehouses :p I use the scratchies to score free guns, ammo & body armour anyway. Already have the shotgun, assault rifle and 15 grenades :D Tried stealing the Ammo truck but the guy either somehow caught up with me and tossed me out or it'd resort on the truck catching on fire (more common when you're trying to stop it)

With the safehouse I won (Star Junction) I noticed that the apartment is actually different to the ones I had before, more upmarket - sweet. Also I like how it keeps track of what cars are in your garage so I can remember I've got a police vehicle in Boabo

edit: lol, whilst buying scratchies I witnessed a dude (top screen) shooting at a police car which eventually caught fire and then another car past it and burst into flames, sweet. I love random occurances, do they have planes crashing? I still didn't get to see that in GTAIV

edit 2: also tried to do as much tattooing as I could at the parlour, got a bronze medal for doing 11 of them but my hand was getting a bit stiff trying to do some of the more tricky stuff. Not worth the trouble, you only get about $10 per tattoo

edit 3: also I love how you can buy things on the internet (like the Ammu Nation store) and get it delivered to your house. makes it feel more like the real thing :D

edit 4: goddamn, how many more scratchies do I have to buy to win another house?! I swear I've done like 2000 of these things and my first one only took 20 attempts

[pecka_a]

I just brought the taser last night zapping people untill they catch fire is fun.

[Kefka]

I did some massively profitable coke deals and am now rolling about in 170k or so. :D
Am buying up safehouses when I see them, just for kicks. My weapon stash is pretty nice - 400 flamer (from ammunation vans), 999 SMG (from gang members), 999 assault rifle (from ammunation vans), more molotovs than I need, decent amount of shotgun... Although I still use a sword most of the time. :P

I've got double armour from getting a gold medal with police car missions, and am planning to do ambulance and fire engine ones for what I assume will be double health and fireproofness.

It also took me ages to find the gun range (It's E/SE of the first safehouse, off a big coastal road) and enjoyed getting golds in all the weapon ranges I have access to - can't wait for the sniper rifle.

Am loving the missions - they're short and sweet, but always fun and varied.

[/backslash]

Really getting into the drug trading business now, won 3 drug medals and I've found 41 dealers so there's usually some good deals going :D

I've got 30k but accidentally offloaded some ecstasy to the wrong dealer (GPS was screwed up) but I still got 5k for that and I wanted to save my game anyway since I'd been playing it for a couple of hours, found a safehouse nearby and bought it. I think I must have about 20 safehouses now

And to top it all off I'm still only at the mission where I just found out about the drug trade

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Have you got the turf map? It makes buying and selling much easier.

[Antwandemarco]

So you'd have even more money to spend on hot dogs and ammo? :p

Well this of course leads to fact that they should have included stuff to actually buy in 4, cars, houses etc etc

[Shorty]

Well this of course leads to fact that they should have included stuff to actually buy in 4, cars, houses etc etc

Yeah, I know. I guess having maybe the option of buying a nice townhouse in Alderney or something would have spiced things up without making Niko into a property mogul like previous GTA protagonists.

[Kefka]

Yeah, I know. I guess having maybe the option of buying a nice townhouse in Alderney or something would have spiced things up without making Niko into a property mogul like previous GTA protagonists.

Nico needed a split personality, then as this personality you could buy houses and fill them with impressionable men who you mould into domestic terrorists in order to enact your idealistic plans.

[Shorty]

Nico needed a split personality, then as this personality you could buy houses and fill them with impressionable men who you mould into domestic terrorists in order to enact your idealistic plans.

Would these men possibly meet via an underground fighting organisation? :p

[Kefka]

Would these men possibly meet via an underground fighting organisation? :p

I'm not allowed to talk about it.


...Not that there is an "it", or that I know what "it" is...

[Stevorooni]

Holy **** I've just spent the last 3 hours doing drug deals without even realising it.

I've got over 250k now

[BB2K]

And nothing to spend it on :p

[Stevorooni]

And nothing to spend it on :p

Yeah I think I've bought all the safehouses.

At least now I'll always be able to afford ammo.

[Kefka]

How much do you guys notice the slowdown when there's lots going on at once? Typically when you've got more than a couple of wanted levels...

I find it pretty noticeable - the game gets quite sluggish for extended periods... Personally, I don't mind too much since it makes things easier to handle, but it does make you wince a bit at the struggling DS hardware.

Also, how the heck do you get a 6 star wanted level? I've sat there slaughtering cops and molotoving cars and choppers for ages on 5 stars and they just don't seem interested on bringing in the tanks.

Peeling out is the best anti-cop mechanic ever. And if that fails, exiting your vehicle with sword swinging madly just before you get pulled out and busted works a treat.

[Filthy Old Drunk]

I've noticed slowdown about four or five times. Noticeable enough, but it has never caused a problem for me.

Anyone becoming lazy like me and just getting taxis around? (story mode). I've given up drug dealing and am concentrating on the main missions and it's rather annoying to drive to the various characters. It can get frustrating calling a taxi. Half the time they don't even bother stopping.

[Kefka]

Anyone becoming lazy like me and just getting taxis around? (story mode). I've given up drug dealing and am concentrating on the main missions and it's rather annoying to drive to the various characters. It can get frustrating calling a taxi. Half the time they don't even bother stopping.

I've taken a few taxi trips, usually to get to far away drug deals without risking a Drama on the way... If they're not stopping, make sure you're signalling one with it's vacant light on - I think the occupied ones wont stop for you.

[Shorty]

I get taxis to everywhere. The most I've ever paid is $90 and compared to $4k profit on a drug deal, it's nothing.

[Antwandemarco]

Handy tip: Put your GPS on the top screen, that way you get little arrows on the road and you don't have to keep looking at the bottom screen. Also stealing drug vans is awesome :)

[Kefka]

Handy tip: Put your GPS on the top screen, that way you get little arrows on the road and you don't have to keep looking at the bottom screen. Also stealing drug vans is awesome :)

Ooh, I ignored that option since i assumed it would just be a minimap style thing! Cheers for the tip.

Just did the sniping mission - was fun. Managed a gold at the gun club too - it's not too hard once you figure out where your crosshair will be if you just move it left/right or up/down. Many of the target patterns have a symmetry to them which lets you swing past popping them off with nice smooth single direction movements.

I also did all of the fire fighter missions and am now fire proof :D You don't have to do them in one sitting, you just need to complete 10 of them all up :) The gas station / tanker fire in Lancaster (8th one I think) was a bit buggy on me a few times, not recognising that I had extinguished all the fires...

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Just finished the predictable story. Now to have some fun.

[Kefka]

Woot, finally finished/got gold in HoboTron. Took a few attempts. The following strategy works well:
First few levels, just use flykicks to wipe out weak enemies en mass.
Once you start getting high damage sword wielding enemies, use pistols/smg where needed to make sure they don't get too close.
Once you start facing the explosive enemies, run them around in circles to set all the other enemies alight, then shoot them to make a chain explosion.

Still loving it :D

[/backslash]

Funny how sometimes the side-missions can be more entertaining than the game itself :D I've still only completed about 5 or 6 missions yet I've bought every house and destroyed 66/100 security cameras which is increasing my drug trading profits by a large margin. I also won a wooden spoon award for making a -$500 loss. I'm also picking up some of the bystanders that usually involve driving them someplace or getting attacked by girl thugs and finished the ambulance mission so I never get tired when running

Need to do some fire rescues though so I don't have to worry about accidentally setting myself on fire (which happens quite often)

[Shorty]

I thought destroying the security cameras lowered your profits by lowering the potential selling price of your drugs.

[Nic Xtreme]

I thought destroying the security cameras lowered your profits by lowering the potential selling price of your drugs.

Nah, they're the pigeons of this game, though this time with a tangible reward!

[/backslash]

I thought destroying the security cameras lowered your profits by lowering the potential selling price of your drugs.
Nope, it keeps prices high when you're buying stuff if you don't destroy them

[Stevorooni]

Finished the main story tonight.

As usual with GTA games I now have 8 billion things to still do. Only got 14 cameras :(

[/backslash]

Destroyed 86/100 security cameras now :D Getting really hard to find since I'm sure I've been everywhere but on the plus side I'm finding more new dealers. Do you get an award for finding all the dealers? I've already got the binoculars (which was ages ago)

Time spent on game: 7hrs30min

Also I got an email ages ago when I begun the game saying Kenny needed me to earn $5000 to buy a house at a certain location but I still haven't found it. Do you have to do one of his missions to activate it?

[Natrak]

IIRC you need to have done a certain amount of missions for two of the other characters before Kenny will message you about bringing him the money.

[Kefka]

I'm at about 50 cameras. Got 400k or so, so I've stopped bothering with drugs and just roam around looking for jumps/rampages/races/etc. Trying to rack up as many gold medals as possible.

I love rampages - it's nice to just cut loose and go on a killing spree. Once you rack up a 15+ combo you can get a gold in most of them quite easily.

I'm annoyed at the ambulance missions, since there doesn't seem to be any way to restart them - so if you miss a single patient, you have to go through all 5 waves before you have another chance at the gold. :( I missed one damn patient!

[/backslash]

I'm annoyed at the ambulance missions, since there doesn't seem to be any way to restart them - so if you miss a single patient, you have to go through all 5 waves before you have another chance at the gold. :( I missed one damn patient!
Ha, well I was even more annoyed since I did all 5 waves and got the endurance reward but I thought I was supposed to be getting double health, so I did another 5 waves but didn't unlock anything and all of these was from using one beaten up ambulance after I rolled it but managed to keep going :p

I've done a few of the main missions now, did one where I had to steal an ambulance at the airport and lose a 3 star wanted level after I had to shoot at the police after they initially pulled me out of the ambulance. Think it was only meant to be 2 star but instead I had about 4 police cars and a helicopter after me and the patient kept on having to be revived nearly every 2 seconds, meanwhile I kept getting stuck in corners since I can't do 2 things at the same time aside from just accelerating and hoping for the best (which usually meant crashing into a wall)

[Kefka]

I've done a few of the main missions now, did one where I had to steal an ambulance at the airport and lose a 3 star wanted level

Missions that require you to lose your wanted level can be annoying, but if you find a nice long street with trees planted along the verge, cop cars will line up to disable themselves as you drive up the edge of it. Some of the roads around central park are good for this.

I've found 79 dealers - No idea where the final one is.. wonder if there's a trophy for getting them all. Go the wooden spoon trophy after seeing it mentioned here - took me a while to actually make a loss, though. :P

Done more story missions - at around 80% complete now. Just finished the Rat Race mission - mmm, sitting on the back of a truck with a minigun was fun.

Earlier, I somehow managed to jack a drug van but not actually toss the driver out. So it drove around by itself, with me trapped inside with no controls working. Although it inherited my wanted level and was using my ammo to fire at cops while all I could do was watch. Most odd.

[tau]

I'm up to a mission where I have to run away from police in a boat. The game has been incredible up to this point. This mission, however, just seems frustrating. Yay for the boat stopping randomly and having an unresponsive touch minigame thing to start it up again while i get rained on with bullets! :D

[Antwandemarco]

Last night i did the mission where you have to kill the paparazzi for the dude in blue(cant remember his name). Can anyone tell me how far through that is?

[/backslash]

Found another 2 security cameras and completed the taxi missions to get bulletproof taxis from now on. They certainly don't give you much time to get to the destination, these side-missions seem a bit tougher. Also did 1 rampage that involved having a henchman, I had the flamethrower and set myself on fire numerous times (still got a gold medal though). Really need to do those fire missions

I haven't had this much fun since GTA:VC/GTA3 :D Didn't enjoy GTA:SA or GTA:IV much

[/backslash]

Is there an easier way to find the fire & police station rather than driving around aimlessly? I'm trying to find a fire truck, it was so much easier in GTAIV since you could report a fire. Should be on the foldout map

edit: goddamnit this is getting really annoying. I even got instructions of how to get there on a playguide and I still can't find it! why the **** is it so hard to find when you need it?!

edit 2: found it, going to put it in a safehouse >_>

edit 3: damnit, too big

[tau]

why not just add the location as a favourite? Can you rename the favourites markers? if not, oh well!

[/backslash]

Never thought of that :p Anyway I completed the 'Fire Retard' award, still got a few side-missions to go

I know that you can buy weapons using the email service but can you actually get permanent weapons at your safehouses during those times you get busted and have to start over again?

[Kefka]

why not just add the location as a favourite? Can you rename the favourites markers? if not, oh well!

You can't rename them, but you can recolour them by touching their little marker in the favourites list.

I didn't stress out to find a fire station - I just drove past one once and faved its location in the GPS, came back later when I wasn't busy with anything.

Bulletproof taxis and endless running sound good... gotta do those missions.



I know that you can buy weapons using the email service but can you actually get permanent weapons at your safehouses during those times you get busted and have to start over again?
Unfortunately not - It's always been something that annoyed me in GTA games... can you do it in GTA:IV? I think the general technique is to reload if you get busted. It's cheap, but bugger losing your whole hard-earned weapon/ammo stash. :P

[/backslash]

@ Kefka, I don't think you can do that in GTAIV (relating to weapons)

99/100 cameras destroyed now! Noticed there's one place I can't seem to get into so I bookmarked it, its on the northern island, to the west next to the bridge. There's a gate there but compared to the other ones it seems to be locked, I figured you must need a particular vehicle to get past or just wait until one of the later missions?

Also I've found 79 dealers :D This last dealer is going to be hard to find

[Kefka]

Finally got the last dealer! There's a map here (http://imgur.com/84MWB.png) if you can't be bothered finding them all yourself.

About 85% complete - just did the missions where you (and this is actually a bit of a spoiler) kill Zhou and Chan.

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Is there an easier way to find the fire & police station rather than driving around aimlessly? I'm trying to find a fire truck, it was so much easier in GTAIV since you could report a fire. Should be on the foldout map

edit: goddamnit this is getting really annoying. I even got instructions of how to get there on a playguide and I still can't find it! why the **** is it so hard to find when you need it?!

edit 2: found it, going to put it in a safehouse >_>

edit 3: damnit, too big

You can start a fire with molotovs in the game.

[/backslash]

You can start a fire with molotovs in the game.
Ah yes of course! I've been throwing molotovs at all the security cameras but never really bothered throwing it at something else

Kefka you should've used spoiler tags like this I could still read it without highlighting when I was viewing it in the reply box :( Thanks for the dealer location though, you get a pep & a nep so you break even and therefore don't get anything :p

Where was the last dealer for you? For me it was
west island, southern bridge - just a tad north from that (fishmarket south)

I earned the Titanium Briefcase now. What does it do? No idea yet

edit: it does nothing, I was hoping for a weapons stash :(

[Kefka]

Kefka you should've used spoiler tags
Always forget we have those, no button for them...


Where was the last dealer for you?
Mine was right at the most northern point of the map... up a little road in Northern Gardens.

I don't think any of the trophies do anything, they're just trivial rewards.

Zero Punctuation reviewed this today - http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/657-Grand-Theft-Auto-Chinatown-Wars


Had anyone else found themselves pretty much using the sword all the time? With the enemy AI, it's so easy to just run up and slash them... It's quite overpowered.

[/backslash]

Zero Punctuation reviewed this today - http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/657-Grand-Theft-Auto-Chinatown-Wars
Does Zero Punctuation ever like anything? Doesn't matter what it is he always has a lot to complain about (which is why I normally avoid whatever he says since its mainly about the 'jokes' he makes). Yes its on the DS but its still an awesome game

[Kefka]

Just finished the final story mission :)
Any tips on finding these lions? I assume they can appear at any two of the swirly purple places? Or are they for multiplayer things?

[Filthy Old Drunk]

They're possible locations for the Guardian Lions. I think the Rockstar Social Club has a map of the possible locations.

[punkgorilla]

Does Zero Punctuation ever like anything? Doesn't matter what it is he always has a lot to complain about (which is why I normally avoid whatever he says since its mainly about the 'jokes' he makes). Yes its on the DS but its still an awesome game

Yeah Yahtzee's reviews are almost always painful at best.

[/backslash]

44.7% completed now, the last mission was a bit annoying. Basically I had to steal a van from a turf gang base which involved breaking the lock on the gate.

When it said 'this van would be a viable target' I thought it basically meant 'destroy the van' to get their attention/whatever so I threw some molotivs at it and nothing really happened so I killed the guy next to the van, then went back around to the front and threw some more molotivs and by the time I cracked the gate everybody but the dude on the roof was dead. Very easy but then I found out I had to take the van back with me and it already had black smoke & sparks thanks to me. Lets just say I didn't last long after the gang chased me :p

2nd time I learned from my lesson and didn't touch the vehicle but then when I got out I thought it'd be better to waste the enemies in cars, yet this caused me to slow down a lot and the van caught on fire and exploded, metres away from the garage. 3rd time I just avoided them completely and swerved wide of their path which was really effective. Wasted a LOT of bullets though and spent $30,000 on ammo to recover (900 sub-machine gun and 600 double pistols bullets). Stupid targeting system

[Kefka]

Does anyone know what the 'auto drive by' option does? I keep meaning to fiddle with it and see if it lets you choose which side of the car to fire from rather than auto selecting a target - which can be a bit hit and miss.

I went back and did the tank checkpoint race near the airport for the medal, and realised that if you press select twice to cancel it once it starts, you can then get back in and drive it around as you please :D Tank rampaaaaage!

I ended up getting busted, but just made an 80k Ammunation order to give me back full ammo of all the weapons I wanted :P

Is is possible to hijack tanks once you have 6 stars? The clever sods lock their doors!

[PrattP]

Can you fly aeroplanes in this? I've been trying for ages at the airport. :p

... while molotoving a few baggage handlers in rage.

[/backslash]

Don't think so, I've tried it too :(

[Kefka]

Nah, no choppers or planes - I'm not sure that it would work well from that perspective anyhow, or that the DS could handle it if you zoomed out too much to make it worthwhile...

Was a bit annoyed you couldnt take the train, since it's THERE. But I guess the taxis are more convenient anyhow.

[/backslash]

I was hoping for a chopper at least but its easy to tell it wouldn't work with this game.

Did the Noodle Run and after delivering 20 orders I wondered why I hadn't unlocked anything. Turns out you have to do the other side of the map too with another Noodle Van. I got busted at 21 orders, avoided a 2 star wanted level and only had 1 star left but inbetween changing cars before it blew up my guy got into glitchy mode and could only spin around in circles which led to an easy arrest and I had to buy $40,000 worth of weapons again

You only need to get the gold medal on each run so you can quit after 15. Once that's done (both areas) you can regenerate your health over time. And if you complete 'Excess Delivery' side-mission you'll get Big Pants and have doubled the storage capacity for drugs (50 instead of 100)

[D.C.]

Grab this game today with the DSi, and storyline issues aside, I'm already convinced that it's the best GTA game ever. I've always been a big fan of the top-down view (particularly in comparison to the pop-up plagued, glitchy 3D sequels); the implementation of the stylus for jacking cars, cooking up molotovs, etc. is ingenious, and city is both immense and absolutely fantastic.

I've already put in about four hours and completed about ten per cent. Favourite mission thus far has definitely been blowing up the mob cars and burning down their building - I found myself out of molotovs pretty quickly, so when the fire-trucks rocked up I had to madly jack them before their extinguished the flames. Good fun. :D

[Lazlow]

I had to madly jack them

http://i42.tinypic.com/333he8p.gif

[Kefka]

1 guardian lion found, roamed across a fair chunk of map in search of the other. :)

Gave multiplayer a quick spin, and it was quite a lot of fun!

[Gameboffin]

I love being fireproof!

[Twisted Conspiracy]

...I'm already convinced that it's the best GTA game ever.

Personal preference aside; *ENVY FOR THOSE WITH DS's*

But you can't have everything I suppose... :cool:

[McChimp]

I haven't played a lot of this yet, but I've just been doing some drug-running and.....HOLY CRAP is it awesome! I didn't get what the fuss was about reading the previous pages, but gaaaaaaaawd. SO awesome.

[Kefka]

It is :D
Did taxi missions today and got my bulletproof taxis... Had another stab at ambulance missions but got out when i saw a camera to destroy (only just realised you can toss molotovs etc while driving! :O) and failed it...

But in the end, you can just tap the run button to run endlessly anyhow, so ambulance missions are no biggie.

Have finished the game and found both of the lions, uploaded my stats to the social club and the site told me the Xin missions are unlocked... but how do I get them? There's no mission icon on the map or anything...

Any ideas?

[Shorty]

Rockstar announces PSP version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (http://ir.take2games.com/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=390972) for UMD and digital download with "upscaled widescreen graphics", "enhanced" lighting and animation and "all-new" story missions.

[Stevorooni]

I wonder if they'll remove the mini game touch screen features, or adapt them to dpad/buttons

It might be tempting to rebuy it, especially if they add proper radio stations and more missions

[Starscream]

Not sure if Rockstar can milk this (it's not Pokemon)

Handheld console owners will most likely own both a PSP and a DS.

[fearofthesky]

Isnt the PSP GO touchscreen? Please forgive me if wrong, CBF looking it up. That would be very cool if so...be a good launch title in the PS store.

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

You can touch the screen but nothing will happen.

[Nic Xtreme]

Isnt the PSP GO touchscreen? Please forgive me if wrong, CBF looking it up. That would be very cool if so...be a good launch title in the PS store.

You might have gotten that impression from what the console looks like closed up - you have slide out the controls to use them, as they are stored under the screen.

[Stevorooni]

Might as well wait for the inevitible PS2 release so you can play it on the big screen

[TrinityJayOne]

Interesting! Alas I shan't be touching it unless it gets rid of the horrible I-hope-you-have-reflexes-comparable-to-a-guinea-pig-on-his-15th-espresso camera angle.

[banjoeskimo]

So what are the thoughts of the PSP version from those who've played it on DS? Do you think there's anything that will be ruined without the inclusion of a touch pad, or is this worth waiting for, considering the visual upgrades and extra missions?

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

I've only ever driven cars around and crashed them, maybe hot wired one or two, but I believe most people think the touchscreen stuff was unnecessary.

[Shorty]

Rockstar have done alright for themselves when it comes to GTA games on the PSP, so I'd expect this port of CW to be decent as well. Graphically it shoud definitely improve, with the cel-shaded visuals becoming crisper. I was concerned about how they would adapt the touchpad portions of the gameplay to the PSP's decidedly non-touchpad controls but I'm sure they'll figure something out.

[Stevorooni]

I'm wondering if it'll be a cheap and nasty port of the DS game or if they'll go all Liberty/Vice City Stories on it and make it a full 3D update. I'm thinking the former though

[Shorty]

Rockstar generally aren't the "cheap and nasty port" types. Even their admittedly rudimentary PS2 ports of the Stories games were certainly no worse than their PSP counterparts.

[Grubdog]

The game is so good i'm tempted to buy a PSP for it depending on how it turns out. I'd rather a brand new 2D GTA though, it's a shame Chinatown Wars did so poorly, they could easily churn out some more on DS with the same engine and i'd love it. Gamers drop the ball yet again.

[Stevorooni]

Screenshots of the PSP version (http://kotaku.com/5346933/what-gta-chinatown-wars-looks-like-on-the-psp/gallery/)

Looks like everything has just been sharpened up a bit and there's some more texture detail and better lighting

[McChimp]

I wonder if 'old-style' GTA will appeal to the masses that've probably grown-up with the 3d style. The DS version kind've bombed, didn't it? Unless that was just about it being on the DS, rather than the step-back in presentation.

[Stevorooni]

Just comparing the PSP and DS versions

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/7366/gtacwcompare.jpg

Textures look a lot nicer, less cel shading, almost like LCS/VCS but stuck on overhead view.

If they add some extra content (Alderney please!), voice overs and proper radio stations with real music I'd buy it a 2nd time.

EDIT: Woohoo got all 100 cameras

[Stevorooni]

PSP Impressions (http://kotaku.com/5352678/gta-chinatown-wars-psp-impressions-minus-the-stylus-strain)

The touchscreen mini games have been converted to stick/button based ones that work pretty well.

6 new radio stations, but they're still instumental like the DS versions :(

Nothing new on the map but there is some variation to the side missions.


If I get this then I'll be waiting for it to be in the $30 pile at JB I think. I'd like updated graphics and it's apparently easier to control but there's not enough new stuff for me to buy it straight away.

[TrinityJayOne]

That really looks quite good! It's a pity that they probably haven't included an option to hold the PSP vertically, cos that would really help. My biggest problem with the DS version was that you couldn't see anything infront of you.

[Shorty]

Eurogamer has just posted their own impressions of the PSP version (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-psp-hands-on).

[Filthy Old Drunk]

For mine there's not enough additional content to justify another purchase.

I've only ever driven cars around and crashed them, maybe hot wired one or two, but I believe most people think the touchscreen stuff was unnecessary.

The touch screen stuff really added to the game. Putting together the sniper rifle, throwing change into the toll, filling up bottles to use as molotovs, breaking the window to escape when you crash your car into the ocean - small little touches that add to the experience. The hotwiring stuff is probably the worst of the bunch, but even it wasn't so bad. Unnecessary? Well most touch screen/motion games are unnecessary imo.

[Stevorooni]

g4dE_L6gtcI

[Bokracroc]

The touch screen stuff really added to the game. Putting together the sniper rifle, throwing change into the toll, filling up bottles to use as molotovs, breaking the window to escape when you crash your car into the ocean - small little touches that add to the experience. The hotwiring stuff is probably the worst of the bunch, but even it wasn't so bad. Unnecessary? Well most touch screen/motion games are unnecessary imo.
Real GTA4 did similar little things really. I liked the Breaking windows touch.

[RunningMild]

The touch screen stuff really added to the game. Putting together the sniper rifle, throwing change into the toll, filling up bottles to use as molotovs, breaking the window to escape when you crash your car into the ocean - small little touches that add to the experience. The hotwiring stuff is probably the worst of the bunch, but even it wasn't so bad. Unnecessary? Well most touch screen/motion games are unnecessary imo.

I don't remember a toll booth minigame.

[Filthy Old Drunk]

It's not really a mini game. On the DS version if you want to pay the toll you can flick change with your stylus.

[Stevorooni]

Got the PSP version of this for review, compared directly with the DS version it shits all over it graphically, the mini games convert to button presses pretty easily and it's good that you're not constantly switching between stylus and buttons.

Only downside is the loading times between missions and menus and the PDA stuff is a bit clunkier to get around.

[tau]

Been playing this over the last few days on my iPhone. Fricken love it. I finished the DS version, but somehow I'm hooked all over again, and noticing so many more touches that make the game awesome.

Teehee, just found the random character that needs you to drive his limo to a porn shoot while chicks "fluff" him in the back. The whole way the limo is rocking left and right. I giggled.

The touch controls are possibly the best I've encountered too. They're not absolutely perfect, but definitely the first game to convince me that touch controls can work in a proper game, and not just shitty iphone "games".