14 DAY TRIAL // Among gamers a lot of franchises have gained an iconic status, Rockstar's famous sandbox open world action adventure franchise Grand Theft Auto included. The series really drove the whole game industry forward and delivered great experiences in all of its iterations, coupled with top-notch, movie-like stories.
But as the latest fully-fledged iteration, GTA IV, has already been released on all the major platforms, eyes are turning to the future handheld title in the series, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. The game, which will be exclusive to Nintendo's DS portable console, is shaping up to deliver a very solid experience, with all the controversy surrounding any GTA game.
We've already learned about the drug dealing minigame that allows you to make extra money, or about how it will truly revolutionize mature DS games, but it seems that a lot of things can actually be done in the game, and Gordon Hall, an executive at Rockstar Leeds, the studio that will make the game, revealed some interesting aspects about it. He said that the team aimed to deliver an arcade-like experience, in a way that players would have fun doing crazy things.
“We've tried to make this game a much more arcadey experience. We wanted to have nearly all of the gameplay play out onscreen in a visceral way. Taking the cops out in any way you can fits this goal perfectly. It feels really cool to ram another car into a tree, or if you're good enough, force it over a ramp and into the sea. While playing, some of the guys here have managed to bail out of their car whilst jumping a ramp, having the car blow up a police helicopter in midair – these are the kind of moments game designers and players alike love.”
From statements like this, a lot of hype is bound to be generated. Although some people feared that the DS wouldn't be a platform worthy of the GTA franchise, it definitely seems that it will allow for plenty of action to take place around the player. Let's just hope that the game will be worthy of the GTA name and will live up to all the expectations. Look forward to it in the middle of March.