According to the chaps at NeoGAF, the latest issue of Nintendo Power blows the lid on Rockstar’s Nintendo DS debut, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Among the new information are some solid revelations over how Chinatown actually plays. The game will be viewed from an isometric perspective — not quite the top-down angle of the original games, but not the up-close vantage point of modern titles either. The game is also going to be cel-shaded. I guess cartoon violence is a little bit easier to get away with on Nintendo’s handheld.
It’s said to be quite a big project, with a good chunk of Liberty City represented in the game. Plenty of cars and pedestrians are also on display, with no framerate problems reported.
GTA: Chinatown Wars now officially has my attention, and if you want to give it some attention too, feel free to hit the jump where we have all the details as kindly written out by The GAF.
– True GTA game – sandbox gameplay, open-world environment, gritty crime narrative.
– M-rating
– Isometric camera angle
– Cel-shaded polygons w/ black borders
– good touch-screen implementation – “tasteful” minigames, streamlining interface
– UI based on a PDA – hub for email, contacts, map, music player, GPS, stat-tracking
– stats uploaded to Rockstar Social Club website via Wi-Fi
– finger-sized icons
– missions designed for shorter periods of play, arcade quality
– aiming with control pad, auto targeting with R button
– subtle autosteer
– if you fail a mission, you can jump back to the action sequence
– chain gun, flamethrower
– good portion of Liberty City is modeled in the game (different routes than console games)
– no probems with load times, draw-in or frame rate
– lots of pedestrians, cars, etc on screen
– Wanted system – objective is to disable police cars any way possible
– real-time weather effects, 24-hour day/night cycle
– lots of radio stations to listen to (more instrumentals than vocals)
– 800,000 lines of hand-optimized source code (hey, the people like the info, right?)
– no details yet on multiplayer/Wi-Fi features
