Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Gets Release Date and Box Art

The Grand Theft Auto franchise is probably one of the most popular series of sandbox shooters out there, winning over quite a big number of fans through its intricate story and complex gameplay. The latest installment in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, took the franchise to a whole new level in terms of realism, and was met with critical acclaim among industry specialists.

But, as the hype over this game starts to fade, sandbox fans begin to anticipate the next title in the series, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the first game that will appear exclusively on the Nintendo DS. The title promises to deliver a quality GTA experience on the small handheld console, and, as one of the game producers revealed, it aims to change the way games are developed for the DS.

Up until now, details on the release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars were very ambiguous, with only the statement of Strauss Zelnick, the chairman of Take Two, the publisher of the game, confirming a release sometime in spring 2009. But now, it seems that Rockstar, the developer of the game, decided to shed some light on this subject and revealed that the game would be making its appearance on March 17 in North America, with European users getting their hands on it on March 20.

“Rockstar Leeds have once again created a game that far exceeds our standard for deep and innovative entertainment,” said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. “We are incredibly excited to share this enormous and uncompromising Grand Theft Auto experience with DS fans.”

The game promises to bring a unique cell-shaded experience, complete with various mini-games, including a drug dealing one that can help you in your adventures in Chinatown. Also, as the new box art reveals, there will be quite a lot of characters and traditional Asian weapons, like a katana. 

Considering all of these things, the game does indeed promise a lot, and, knowing the tradition that Rockstar has been keeping to, namely that of offering quality games, it will deliver on a lot of those aspects.