Back in the 2000s, Rockstar Games was firing on all cylinders when it came to the Grand Theft Auto series. It started in 2001 with GTA 3 when it made a 3D open-world game that evolved from its 2D top-down perspective. GTA: Chinatown Wars, however, brought back the 2D formula and made some interesting changes to the Grand Theft Auto series that haven’t been replicated.
Chinatown Wars made a lot of use of the Nintendo DS touch controls like when stealing a car, you’ll need to do a hot-wiring mini-game. What I thought was genius was how it implemented a drug trade. Across Liberty City, there are drug deals and you can buy certain drugs from them for a price and look for other dealers who are willing to buy those drugs for a higher price. It was such a novel idea that you had to wonder why it took so long to get implemented.
It was easy to dismiss GTA: Chinatown Wars at the time for not being a 3D title, but those who did missed out on a great game.
Release Date: March 17, 2009
Platforms: Nintendo DS, iOS, Android, PSP
Genre: Action-adventure game
Developer: Rockstar Leeds
