Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Hands-On

The most detailed hands-on playtest of the hottest DS game this year, complete with HUD diagrams and new screens.

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The second mission we were shown is called Tricks of the Triad, another early mission, which introduces us to the new 'red stash box' in our apartment, in which Uncle Wu has left us heroin, coke, marijuana, ecstasy and other assorted refreshments for any good night out. But Huang's going to be selling them, not partying on them. Huang takes the drugs to a dealer, and although the margins are rubbish at this stage, it does introduce the drug dealing aspect of the gameplay. Security cameras are dotted throughout the game, and are comparable to the pigeons in GTA IV. But they're not just there to be found and shot; areas with more cameras warrant a premium on drugs prices, so there's a nice strategy element built into the drug dealing element if you want to earn more and manage the risk. There are all manner of gangs in the game, all caught up in the trade - Triads, Jamaicans, Spanish Lords, Midtown Gangsters, Mob, Irish American Killers, Angels of Death, Russian Mafia and African American. The drugs thing in Chinatown Wars, represented by a 'Turf Map', is actually surprisingly in-depth, keeping you thinking about potential profit. On completion of this particular drug deal (and we end up as a buyer rather than a seller towards the end of the mission), our dealer says: "Good choice, my man. That shit will fuck you up." Poetry.

In terms of the missions we played through, we've already kind of scattered our actual gameplay impressions throughout this preview, but for the sake of completion the missions were as follows: Store Wars, a mission for Uncle Wu where you have to stop other thugs from trashing the property he's tasked with looking after, Friend or Foe is the next mission where we need to prove we're not a rat by raiding a rival Korean Mob's safe for information on gang informants, to prove our name isn't on the list. One Shot, One Kill is a rather satisfying sniper mission to take out the 'actual' rat, who's incidentally responsible for the arrest of the Triad leader's son (and possible heir to Triad leadership), Chan Jaoming. Finally, Slaying With Fire is a more epic, multi-phase undertaking later in the game for Chan himself, that involves hurling explosives out of helicopters and an awesome chopper gunfight buzzing around the Statue of Happiness. Who's still smiling.

Elsewhere on the audio side of things, the music sounds pretty beefy, and is a nice combination of traditional eastern and modern western. In-game of course, you've got a choice of various radio stations. The radio music is all original, instrumental arrangement that makes good use of the limited game card capacity and does a good job of representing each of the music genres on offer, including electronic, hip-hop, dub, jazz, funk and rock.

There's also no messing about with relationships and romance in Chinatown Wars, so that's one less thing to worry about. And in terms of the size of the game, Rockstar is estimating "between 20 and 30 hours for the single player game" depending on the player's approach and skill level. Rockstar couldn't say at the time of the preview how many individual missions are in the final game. They also say that it's going to be the first [BBFC] 18-rated game for the DS, which means nothing had to be censored.

Who assassinated Huang's father? Who stole the Yu Jian sword? Who ambushed Huang at Francis International? How much more help will Uncle Wu need, and who'll inherit the Triad leadership once Jaoming's out the door? And exactly whose pie are we being offered a piece of?

If one of the main aims here was to combine the best elements of various GTA titles, then based on our first in-depth hands-on, Chinatown Wars may just pull it off.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is due for release in North America on March 17 and in Europe on March 20.

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