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Genre: Action

Reviewed on: Nintendo DS

Available for: DS

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Rockstar Leeds

Rating: 18 (BBFC)

It’s the perfect in between that nobody could have imagined but everybody should experience.

It’s no surprise that the DS cant harness enough power to let players run around in a fully 3D city like the PSP would allow, so it would have been easy for Rockstar to have created a game similar to the original Grand Theft Auto. Camera straight down, crude drawing, that kind of thing. But they haven’t rested on their laurels; they’ve bought players the perfect blend of the two major playing styles that the GTA series is so popular for.

Chinatown’s graphics are closer to that of a comic than the series is used to, but this has enabled Rockstar to create 3d surroundings that give the game more depth. It really feels as though you’re peering down into this sprawling, hellhole of a metropolis that’s living and breathing within your DS Console.

The cell-shaded look of the artwork that people have come to associate with GTA is the same kind of look that is achieved in the plentiful cutsscenes that seamlessly sandwich themselves between the action.

Use of the two screens is well executed with the bulk of the action happening on top, whilst the touch screen below provides easy access to the GPS system, phone, contacts and more. The touch screen is also used for mini-games like hot-wiring cars or filling up glass bottles with petrol – no prizes for guessing what they will be used for.

Expect the usual drug dealing, gun totting, prostitute exploiting action that Grand Theft Auto has always delivered, but enjoy it on a brand new format.

The DS was unfamiliar ground for Liberty City – don’t let Liberty City be an unfamiliar ground to you.

SCORE: 9 / 10