Some details on the upcoming portable GTA game, GTA: Chinatown Wars, have dropped in the latest issue of Nintendo Power. For one, it's apparently following the sandbox formula of previous games, and will have that M label slapped on the front of the boxart.
Due to hardware limitations, these details say the game will have an isometric camera angle and be a cel-shaded affair, complete with no load times. There will be dynamic weather effects and it's reported that draw distance and frame rate are sound. Liberty City will be scaled down quite a bit, though (and changed some), but there will be pedestrians and cars about, doing their thing. Oh, and there will be radio stations, although songs are going to be focused more on instrumental numbers.
As for controls, there will be an auto-targeting system that the player can utilize with the R trigger. They can also use the d-pad to aim and bust caps that way. There's also going to be "subtle" auto-steering for when you're in a car and players can use the touch-screen to navigate the in-game PDA, which will allow you to "email, contacts, the map, a music player, GPS, and stat-tracking (which allows you to upload stats direct from the game to Rockstar's Social Club website)."
And that's basically all that's being reported right now. Sounds like a lot for such a small cartridge, and until we see some screens, we're going to remain skeptical. What about the rest of you?
[Via Joystiq; screens courtesy of Gamekyo]
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
9-19-2008 @ 10:24PM
ViRGE said...
Have you actually tried S(W)TFU on the DS? It's terrible, and not just because of gameplay. It's ugly and chugs like a fratboy. There are very few good full-3D games for the DS, it just doesn't have the power.
9-19-2008 @ 9:25PM
Kefka said...
It's not really a question of "can the DS do 3D" - of course it can, many games have done it before. It's a question of "can the DS do 3D well enough to make a modern-GTA-style game look decent and play well"... which I don't think it could.
GTA games can get hectic, they can be fast, they have large environments, and nobody likes load times... If Rockstar was to try to make a "proper" GTA3 style engine for the DS, I assure you it would look terrible in order to squeeze out an average frame rate, and even then have high amounts of fogging. Better to stick to the isometric style they've chosen and focus on making a more solid engine overall and better gameplay to boot.
I'm not saying it looks great, but people who were expecting a scaled down GTA3 on the DS need to wake up.
Anyhow, like most other people: Skeptical.
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9-20-2008 @ 12:08PM
Big George said...
Yes, I have played Force Unleashed all the way up until the end against Vader. No, it's not 30FPS, but it's an exceptionally good engine. One that could easily be adapted to GTA.
Rockstar, you guys are just lazy.
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