Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #4 (Conclusion)

June 15th, 2009

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Close to 8000 words later, Steve and I are finally wrapping up are group discussion on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. This final installment has been slow off the blocks since I accidentally wiped my save file when switching off the game while saving. It was a foolish move, I admit. If you take anything away today, besides are concluding thoughts, be sure to remember to follow those warnings about turning the power off while saving.

It’s been a good run and I’d like to thank Steve for participating with my on this little experiment. Be sure to take a squiz at his blog Raptured Reality. Hopefully we can do this again sometime.

Need a refresher?
Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #3
Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #2
Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #1

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Daniel: That’s a great summary of Chinatown Wars, very fitting. It is this stop gap in the franchise that sucks everything together and spits it out in a new and interesting way. Chinatown Wars also seems like the ideal title in the series for any newbie looking to become acquainted with the franchise as a whole. The gun club is just opposite the airport (far right hand side of the map) by the main road.

The end game is actually quite good, there’s a series of missions that build up to an exciting conclusion and the story actually ends on a positive note; the bastards get what’s coming to them – all of them. Huang gets a lead and proceeds to chase down the suspects, once he narrows it down, the game features a series of set pieces that act as boss battles. Kicks the game off on a high note. So I was rather impressed with how the game concluded.

GTA: Chinatown Wars is a contemporary incarnation of previous games and plays accordingly. It’d be fair to speculate that the framework for the original titles was built to avoid rendering the large city in 3D, if that’s the case, Chinatown Wars realizes this design and retools it. Having the city rendered in 3D makes the game feel relateable to GTAIII onwards, yet since the camera remains overhead, the feel of the original games is also present. It’s an game that balances the feel of both varieties in limbo, metaphorically represented by the camera both is halfway between overhead and low. The latter allowing the 3D models to stand out, the former to give a pseudo 2D appearance. As we’ve discussed, it’s likewise for the mechanics; a mix and match of previous titles.

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What the game does differently or completely new from the previous games is what gives the title a unique identity and strengthens it as a whole. The flashy graphical style is the epitome of all this. It’s a style of it’s own that is unique to this installment. The driving mechanics are tweaked and feel inspired by other games but unique in it’s own right due to the slight assistance it provides. The narrative too, it’s lite and full of jokes yet presented in a series of transitioning renders with text. Finally, the DS interface is what marries it all together and individualizes the title more than anything else.

The feeling is therefore a combination of those from the prior games. The game feels like a huge world of mayhem contained within such a concentrated space. The new graphical flair makes the on-screen drama visually stunning, it’s a greater feast to the eyes giving the intensity of chase sequences a unique exuberance. The camera allows you to witness everything in close proximity, emphasizing the contained feel of the game. The camera locks the player away from the action. This feels a little constricting but serves to remind the player that this is indeed a portable title and there are restraints imposed. It’s not a bad thing, but it comes with the property and instills any feelings attributed to the hardware. Overall, GTA:Chinatown Wars feels like a culmination of clever concepts wrapped in a visually attractive package uniquely geared for portable play. What’s your final take?

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Steven: My final take is a fairly obvious one given the things I have said in our previous exchanges; GTA: Chinatown Wars is an impressive game both in the technical achievements Rockstar Leeds managed, as well as how fun and exciting it can be given the completely different platform it is on. Before playing it, I did not think a Grand Theft Auto title could work on the DS and it was nice to be proven wrong. Before playing it, I didn’t know what to expect and as a result, I had no expectations going into the title. I came out of it surprised, impressed and with an even deeper level of respect for Rockstar as a whole for doing what they did with the game.

Chinatown Wars is to me, as I’ve mentioned before, a summary of the entire franchise, with Rockstar using it to make a clear and concise example of what they believe GTA is about. They mixed and matched various elements of the series to demonstrate the core of the franchise whilst also proving that it had legs, that it was open to experimentation. You could almost call it Grand Theft Auto: Greatest Hits.

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Sure, not everything was as enjoyable as it could have been, with my main gripe being the story and how irrelevant it was. Characters were boring, their dialogue more so and all they were useful for was providing my next mission. Even the end of the game, while fun to play, wasn’t all that compelling (I guess we disagree there). The ending was predictable and I totally saw it coming. The story just didn’t seem to be a priority this time around, which is disappointing for me after seeing what they attempted with GTA IV. That said, it does not detract from the experience at all. Sure, it may be disappointing, but you soon forget about it once the actual missions start thanks to the unique and varied objectives we’ve already alluded to. Taking full advantage of the DS’s features proved to be beneficial to the game overall and I sincerely hope that from now on, all GTA games contain the same level of variety that Chinatown Wars does.

Overall, I am happy to have played this game and I’m eager to see where Rockstar take the franchise next. It begins with the second downloadable episode for GTA IV, The Ballad of Gay Tony, and no doubt I will have some opinions on it once I’ve played it. Beyond that, I’m keen to know if they keep offering different perspectives within Liberty City, or whether they choose to go in another direction again. I’d also like to see another DS game in the future, though after the lack of buzz surrounding the title and the lackluster sales, I’d understand if that wish doesn’t come true. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for participating in this exchange as well as sharing the experience with me. It was fun and I hope you enjoyed it too. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.

Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #3

April 28th, 2009

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I bet you were thinking we’d packed up this charade already. I mean after all, GTA: Chinatown Wars has hit the wall when it comes to games sales, it’s perhaps a month old now, it’s never going to see any further discussion until the game is channel though a series of crusty, cliched retrospectives.

No, Steven and I aren’t like that. We see our work through to the bitter end. There’s nothing bitter about this round though, I think we’re hitting some nails on the head. It’s just a pity that there’s been a complete lack of discussion surrounding this title (I mean seriously, what’s up with that?!). Nevermind, the GTA Power Duo^TM have dished out another serving, so get tucked in, and if you’re enjoying this sleeper hit then why not join in too?

Need a refresher?
_{Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #1

Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #2}

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Daniel: The music initially bothered me as it just sounded like irritable chip tunes with some overlayed synthesizes, but it’s not actually too bad. It loops regularly like you said, but I don’t find that it grates too often. I particularly enjoy the music as played in this trailer, sounds perfectly suited to the cops-and-robbers nature of this game.

All of my in-game options are default, so I have the drive assist on and I don’t use the on-road arrow markers. Driving is mostly great, the biggest issue is the headway the camera provides, but it’s not too problematic and you can always refer to the mini-map as you drive. Occasionally the screen switching will make driving hazardous. The feel of the driving reminds me a lot of Micro Machines on the Megadrive and PSone, particularly when you’re stuck in a pursuit with the police. I also like how it’s easier to drive and fire, which was always a problem for me in the other titles.

I think Micro Machines is a pretty good comparison to make with this title, particularly with the visual design. The props and architecture littering the landscape jump out at you, it’s like a digital pop-up book (you remember those right?). Even more so in GTA: Chinatown Wars with the broader lines and more intricate architecture. The original two GTA games weren’t so much like this were they? Although buildings were 3D models, the camera was strictly top down, giving the game a different aesthetic vibe. Can you speak a little more about the differences here, as well as any other ties to the early games?

It’s interesting that you don’t feel so compulsed to explore the environment. Perhaps the opposite will occur when I play GTA IV and realize that the map is the same. Are there enough changes in the environment to keep you interested, that is with the new perspective, rendering and CW specific areas (gas stations, safe houses etc.)? Or does it just feel wholly derivative?

Lastly, one of the commenters in the last post mentioned that you can drag the icons from the PDA menu onto the quick launch. I tried this but it didn’t seem to work, maybe I’m doing it wrong. What about you?

Steven: Despite looping fairly frequently I have to say that I quite like the game’s soundtrack. It manages to cover different genres surprisingly and if I get bored of one station I can easily (and perhaps more importantly, quickly) change to a new one. I have to say that I was very curious as to how Rockstar would approach radio stations and the game’s soundtrack in Chinatown Wars, given the limitations of the DS. I knew they would find a compromise but I was expecting a lot less variety than what we got in the final product. Like the rest of the game, it’s quite a technical achievement when you consider that it also features some voices that come from the pedestrians. Let’s be honest, they didn’t need to include any voices in the game, it wouldn’t have affected the experience in any way and yet they did anyway. They sure do love their attention to detail. I also like how a lot of the game’s tunes are real songs, with the main theme song being created specifically for the game (as far as I know). That’s pretty cool if I say so myself.

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I agree that the game gives a Micro Machines vibe while driving and as you say, for the most part driving around Liberty City is great. I liked how the way cop chases work kind of taught you how to drive around the city better, avoiding cars and objects at higher speeds while also allowing you to lose the cops fairly quickly if you accidently touched them. Of course the driving assists help here, making sharp corners a lot easier than they otherwise would be but with or without the aid, weaving in and out of traffic and reaching a destination is a lot easier than it arguably should be in a top-down game like this one. I also found that changing the game’s GPS options so that arrows would be displayed on the top screen helped out as well, as it meant not having to glance down to the bottom one occasionally in order to make sure I was still going the right way. Firing at enemies while driving is easy too, as you say and I like how when you are side-by-side with another vehicle the shots you fire are aimed at that vehicle rather than randomly. It’s a nice, subtle touch. I find what you say interesting when you compare Chinatown Wars – particularly the visual style – to Micro Machines, using a pop-up book as an example. While I can see where you’re coming from, my (admittedly foggy) memory of Micro Machines is that the objects surrounding the tracks were quite simple and kept that way to ensure that you followed the track and didn’t get confused by any clutter. Chinatown Wars is refined in a similar way but is certainly not simplistic with a lot more on screen and of course attention to detail. In fact I am still constantly surprised by just how much detail is in the game. It’s just, stunning.

As for comparing it to the older, isometric GTA games, I will be honest and say that I can’t. It has been a long time since I played those and my memory just would not be able to do any comparisons justice. Playing through Chinatown Wars has sparked an interest in playing those two titles again though (plus GTA: London) so I can relive some childhood memories. In fact, I think it would be awesome to see the games released on the PSN/XBLA services. It would compliment GTA IV (and beyond) nicely I think. Hopefully we see something along those lines happen shortly but if not, I’m sure I can find copies of the games on the net somewhere.

There are enough changes in CW’s version of Liberty City so it hasn’t been derivative at all. As I explained in one of our earlier exchanges, there is less motivation to go out and explore because I do feel like I already know the city well enough, but subtle things like road changes and locations of certain things such as service stations are enough that whenever I am out on a drive the place is never boring. Add in the random events that can happen (again, something I’ve mentioned in a previous exchange) and the game remains compelling the entire time. I guess I am just approaching the city differently this time, not looking absolutely everywhere for hidden cars or things like that because I feel like I already know whether a car is going to be there or not. Yet I also feel like I am missing things, like possible easter eggs or hidden goodies. I feel like I have only scratched the surface of Liberty City and because of this I’ve started to explore a little bit more thoroughly in recent sessions with the game. What about you, how are you finding the city and have you stumbled upon anything cool or hidden? Based on what you have heard from me, do you think you will explore GTA IV when you play it or that you will be a bit more blasé because you will recognize some locations?

Daniel: Before I get into it, I did actually get the quick launch shortcuts working, so big call out to lis for sharing that with us.

I dig the pedestrian voices too, they really chip away at sad social stigmas and all that. Always gives me a chuckle. I agree, Micro Machines often pushed most of the household commodities to the side, unless they created the track design itself (acting as ramps, markers and so forth). Chinatown Wars is much more dense in that regard, which as you nudge at, is what forms part of its beauty; there is so much to visually take in. Sometimes I just want to quit a mission just to mosey around at some of the visuals for a bit. Last week on Co-op (online video games show, ex-1UP’ers) they discussed this title with unfortunately less enthusiasm than I had hoped. One of the interesting commentaries was that Chinatown Wars is a continuation of the design from the Tony Hawk threesome for DS, which I also think is very true.

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Actually, you can download the original two GTA titles through the RockStar website free of charge. I have trouble accessing it though, might be an Opera thing, I’m not sure.

Recently I finished the main selection of missions and have been off attempting to round out the last 30% or so in hidden extras. One of the biggest surprises was the Liberty City Guns club, where you can participate in 5 or so small, arms-training mini games. The same goes for the go-kart track, with the four time trial races. Very neat. Early on I found the chainsaw which is my weapon-of-choice, very effective, doesn’t waste bullets and makes light work of enemies.

I think that when I play GTA IV, I’ll likely explore at a similar rate, it’s just a play style that I’ve adopted in recent years – gather as you go. I use to leave all extras until the end of a game for a while and then realized that it’s just better to mix the main quest and off-time activities, it’s like cheese and biscuits; they’re made to complement each other.

As I’ve discussed with you outside of these posts, I adore this hybridized approach to game design that’s been put to clever use here. Rockstar have approached old material and freshened it up with modern perks. I wouldn’t label it Neo-Retro or anything like that, but the game certainly has vintage blood running through its veins. Do you find playing this pokes at nostalgia lane a little? Is this title more of a GTA 1,2 and London or a GTA IV and San Andreas? Where do you draw the line on this spectrum?

Although I don’t have an extensive history with the series, here’s how I slice it. The overhead camera almost forces one to group this together with the earlier titles, but once you start playing, the small quirks from the newer titles begin to seep in. The density of the city, the PDA system, the set piece crashes etc. You’ve got the two games living inside one another. The DS functionality almost feels like the glue between the two. It connects the overhead play (GTA1-2) with the PDA system (GTA4), the conventional way of play (retro-esque) with the touch screen interaction (modern). There’s no doubt a push and pull effect going on, it’s marvelous and along with the presentation, colours this title a brand of it’s own.

Steven: Yeah the pedestrian voices are hilarious and hearing something like “I’m still a virgin” after you accidently bump into someone makes me smirk every time. The off-handed comments hearkens back to the more juvenile humour of the original games, which conveniently brings me to the hybridized elements that you mention. It’s almost as if Rockstar intended GTA: Chinatown Wars to be a summary of the entire franchise, combining everything you allude to (and more) in order to effectively convey what they want the series to be about. Simple additions that weren’t in GTA IV such as Rampages and the emergency services missions are staples of the series and their inclusion in CW is just one small example of something that is, arguably, a defining feature of the franchise. Throw in a handling system for the various vehicles that is quite similar to IV’s more tighter controls (Chinatown’s inclusion of assists to help make tight turns easier reminds me of the refined handling from IV); the PDA that has similar functions to the phone from IV, as well as IV’s version of Liberty City and you have a combination that, to me anyway, seems to summarise what Rockstar believes the series is about, the core of it anyway. The unique interactions using the DS stylus, as well as other DS-specific inclusions also demonstrates that while the series has a core, it also has mass potential to head in unexpected directions and constantly redefine what it can be. Whether you’re talking about using a platform successfully when no one thought it could work (Chinatown Wars) or changing one’s perspective on something ultimately familiar (GTA IV: Lost And Damned); the series has already been reinvented in unpredictable ways and I can only see that continuing with further installments. Returning to Chinatown Wars though, do you agree with me in that it seems like a summary of the franchise or if not that, then something along those lines?

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To answer your question, it does poke at my memories a little though I wouldn’t call it nostalgia. I was a kid back when I played the original games and as I’ve mentioned before, memory of them is a little hazy but subtle things here and there definitely do remind me of my time with those games and as a result, playing Chinatown Wars is almost charming. Hard to believe when you’re constantly stealing cars, killing people and being a drug dealer, but I guess when one reminisces one remembers the good old times, or something. Anyway, it’s an interesting contrast because as I’ve also said, including these past elements while also basically being a handheld version of IV (minus a decent narrative and other things though, of course) is a little weird for someone like me who has been with the series since its inception.

On Co-Op’s discussion of the show, it definitely wasn’t as in-depth as I would have expected from those guys (long time watcher of both the 1up-Show and now Co-Op) but it was still nice to hear what they thought about it and to see it being discussed when, of course, the game still seems to be flying under the radar. I’m glad the guys managed to work out a way to feature DS games in the show again too because I remember when they first started Co-Op, they mentioned that it wasn’t easy to do. Unfortunately for me I can’t comment on the comparisons to the Tony Hawk DS games as I haven’t played them.

Weapon of choice so far for me has been the flamethrower – there’s something strangely satisfying about burning the citizens of Liberty City to the ground, not to mention their cars and anything else I can set alight. If I may ask, where is this gun club? I keep on hearing about it because a little message pops up from time to time informing me of a new weapon I can try, but I haven’t stumbled upon the club throughout my travels yet. I have done the four Go-Kart time trials though which were fun and a nice addition after seeing the track in GTA IV and not being able to really do anything with it. Without spoilers, do you have any final thoughts on the story of the game now that you have finished it? What about the characters? I’m not as far as you with my progress sitting at roughly 45-55%. My thoughts on the story so far have remain unchanged; I still feel like it is just there to serve as a mission provider and nothing more which is a bit disappointing.

Finally, I have been asked a few times to try and describe what it feels like to actually play this game so perhaps it’s time we tried to do just that? To begin, I will say that at first playing Chinatown Wars felt surreal due to the reasons I’ve mentioned above: the combined elements of the series — The perspective of play on the DS; familiar inclusions such as Rampages and Vigilante missions; Liberty City from Grand Theft Auto IV – all of it feeling new and yet strangely familiar at the same time. That feeling comes from experience with the franchise though, how does it feel to someone like you who doesn’t have the same background that I do?

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More soon (no really!)

Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #2

April 9th, 2009

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This is the second round of shared commentaries between myself and Steven O’Dell from the Raptured Reality blog regarding the recently release GTA: Chinatown Wars. You can read the first part of our conversation here.

Daniel: I reached 25% progression on my last play through before I started to write this response.

On the story, it’s pretty pathetic. What surprises me is how long some of the pointless dialogue dribbles on. It’s intended that the gatekeepers to the missions come across as arrogant criminal hypocrites. They’re meant to be annoying pricks because literally they are annoying pricks that murder and beat people, but in Chinatown Wars they roll around in it too much. Yes, we know that the Chinese guy is going to protect honour through means of murder, theft and villianary but why does he need an extended script to get this simple message across. I remember the characters in GTAIII were frankly too busy to bark orders, they just told me to piss off (often literally) and the game filled in the gaps. I was originally bothered that Rockstar had to promote the protagonist Huang Lee as an spoilt, mature age brat, fortunately though he doesn’t have an exerted amount of character, and is fine.

Hmmm…the Chinese angle. Yeah I reckon that I’ll probably discredit any cultural investigation. Most of the cast is Chinese, making it feel like GTA: Shanghai, although in Shanghai they don’t speak like typical American thugs. Beyond some minor cultural tie-ins, the cast could be re-skinned as Americans and it wouldn’t make a difference. Not sure why the Chinese are at war with the Koreans though, I guess Chinese living in America haven’t caught onto the latest K-Pop/K-drama phenomena sweeping Asia. ^_^

I wanted to ask you if the game’s map is a mirror of GTA IV, that is a smaller, pocket-sized mirror. Also, in terms of scale, how do the size of the two game worlds compare? Obviously GTA:CW is smaller, but to what extent?

I found it interesting that the whole map is free to roam from the beginning. The lack of restriction sometimes loses me actually. I head in one direction and then realize I’m lost in a district I’ve never visited before. It plays around with the dynamic, don’t you think?. In previous games you use to familiarize with the game world piece by piece, now it’s delivered all in one gulp. Is this troublesome do you think? The missions tend to congregate in pretty close proximity, but drug tip-offs can send you from one island to another, and with the police on high alert it can make the venture out a little risky I find. A game like GTA encourages the player to explore at will, and with no constraints, I lack familiarity with the environment, it’s a bit concerning.

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Steven: I’m also at 25% completion at the time of writing this response and, to put it simply, I agree on the story so far. I’m leaving myself open to the idea that it is still early days and it has the potential to go places, but until it does (or does not), it’s just been the excuse to participate in and tryout the unique missions we’ve already discussed. The characters aren’t compelling at all, including Huang Lee who as you know, we play as. It is like his role in the story so far is to throw in a one-liner here and there, to interrupt the boring and long ramblings of the characters that give you missions. Perhaps I am spoiled by GTA IV’s narrative so it will be interesting to see whether Chinatown Wars’ one improves or continues to be there for the sake of acquiring missions. There seems to be a disconnect between what the characters talk about before a mission and then the objectives you end up doing as well. I know that has been the case in all of the GTA games but I guess the boring dialogue just makes it more obvious or something.

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To answer your question about the game’s map, it is fairly similar to the Liberty City in GTA IV though there are of course subtle differences and changes in Chinatown Wars’ version. The entire state of Alderney (where downloadable expansion The Lost And Damned takes place) is missing, so that’s one big omission there that I assume was made due to technical reasons. Roads sometimes branch off in different directions as well, though for the most part it isn’t a problem for me because it is mostly similar to the GTA IV version. In fact, I felt right at home as soon as I fired it up (one of the first things I did was go for a drive to see what was or wasn’t different) and had no hassles realizing where I was within the city. Reading about your unfamiliarity surprised me actually, though obviously you haven’t played GTA IV like I have. I found that having the GPS display on the top screen as well as the bottom one, helped in the areas where I did get confused or lost, though. Having the entire city open to explore isn’t unique to Chinatown Wars, it was all open from the beginning in GTA IV as well so it feels no different here, though I understand where you are coming from about gradually learning the city. I never thought about it like that before you mentioned it though, which I will put down to my photographic memory. Going back to the story, then, have you met the two characters that appear at around the 25% mark yet – the ones who look like they could lead the story into a more interesting area? I’m looking forward to seeing where these particular characters take the game and I seriously hope the story starts to pick up as well. Though, if it doesn’t, I’ll still be happy to continue exploring Liberty City and participating in all the side missions.

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Daniel: I probably wouldn’t hold out much hope for the story. I don’t think I’ve run into those two characters you speak of, is it before or after the point where the Korean gang enters the narrative? Story-wise I’m around that mark. I’ve been spending a good half of my play time hunting down the hidden security cameras, buying property and partaking in rampages, the latter which I thoroughly enjoy. I can’t help but feel that I immerse myself quite heavily in these distractions as a means to better familiarize myself with the boundless environment. As I said in the last response, I don’t feel completely comfortable with the territory, at least as much as I did with the other games, due to the game world being fully open from the start (rather than gradually revealing itself). My familiarity is now spread over a much larger surface area and is naturally thinner than it would be if that area was contained.

I think this has other implications too. For example; exploration is meant to be one of the game’s freedoms, yet with such a large area to explore, I feel that my “off-time” out of missions to just mess around and explore has to be managed, otherwise I’ll explore endlessly and it’ll get tiresome/I’ll get lost. This for me, places a burden on what I consider to be the strongest element of this series. It’s by no means a flaw I don’t think, just how I’m personally responding to this change.

While we’re looming over some complaints I wanted to know what you think of the PDA system which manages your missions, map, drug trade and so forth. This tool plays an integral part in the exploration element, and it mostly works effectively. I have a couple of quibbles though and wanted to know if you share them.

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I find myself wishing that you could just guide the mini-map on the bottom screen, rather than it prompting the larger map to appear. I usually only want to see what’s around the local area, I only need to peep over at the next few blocks. Secondly, I wish that there was a quick launch to the inventory of your drug stash, at the lower right hand side of the screen. I rarely ever need to quickly check the mission ‘brief’, and the inclusion of a quick launch into the stats menu is simply unfounded. There’s no reason for me to want to quickly activate my statistics. In contrast I have to slide through the menu to reach the Trade Info and from there tap through to see my inventory. It’s clunky. The Contacts and Music options are also useless inclusions that clutter up the interface. I just find these things slow down the flow a little. Any harsher criticism on your side of the fence?

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Steven: The two characters were Hsin and the cop and, after playing a little more of the game since my last response, I agree with what you’ve said. To be a quarter of the way through the story and not interested in it whatsoever is, well disappointing to be honest. Again, perhaps I am spoiled by GTA IV’s narrative but unless something unexpected happens, Chinatown Wars’ story will just serve as the provider for the game’s unique and interesting missions and nothing more. This doesn’t bother me as much as I originally thought it would, though; Chinatown Wars seems to be a combination of all of the fantastic elements from the series. It has the fun factor covered by random Rampages, races initiated by entering certain vehicles and a return of the Vigilante, Ambulance and Fire-Fighting missions. It has exploration covered thanks to the hidden cameras, not to mention the unique situations and interesting places you can stumble upon. And, as we’ve discussed previously, it takes full advantage of the DS’s features to make an exciting game. Honestly, we don’t need the story to be decent but I still can’t deny that it’s a shame that it has been relatively boring so far. That could change though so we’ll see how it goes.

Returning to exploration for a second, I have to say that I haven’t had the desire to explore as much in this game. That surprises me a little because I always explore my games thoroughly and the GTA series has always been one of the most enjoyable to gradually explore. It’s not that the city is boring, far from it in fact, but rather I think that because I am already so familiar with Liberty City thanks to GTA IV, I just don’t have the urge to see what I already have.

I agree with you on the location of some of the features in the PDA, specifically the drug trade info you mention. Bringing it up to see who is selling a certain drug cheaply, or who wants to buy a bunch of something I may have, is clunky and I definitely wish it was more accessible. It does work how it is, but I’ve found that I am buying/selling drugs a lot more than I expected to and having to bring up the PDA, slide to the right menu and then click through a few times becomes tedious after a while. Especially when I then usually back out of it all, bring up the map and then look through the list of dealers to find their location on the map so I can set the GPS waypoint. It wastes a few minutes and I agree that your inventory should have a shortcut option on the bottom screen instead of the Brief menu option. Another minor criticism I have is the music. It’s not bad, so don’t get me wrong, but it is repetitive and I wish there was a little more to it. I realize that the DS’s limitations are probably the reason for that, so it isn’t of major concern. Other than that, I guess my biggest gripe is what I’ve already discussed above, the story, so there’s no point repeating it here. So, a random question for you: how do you feel about the cars, the handling (do you use the assists or not?) and the visibility while driving on the top screen?

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More discussion to follow shortly.

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