A Gaming Diary
Posts tagged gta
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 30th
Finished the story over the weekend. The missions stayed fun and never got to hard, possibly because I was spending all my drug-dealing profits on guns. Lots of guns.
I didn’t stop playing now the story’s over, though. I dealt some more drugs – finally getting rid of one hundred ecstasy tablets I’d had for several days. Then I found the car dealership again and bought myself a tank and went on a fairly short rampage in it. Got a six star wanted level for the first time. I didn’t survive, but dying’s no real problem. (It’s getting Busted that hurts, as you lose all your drugs and weapons.) I’ve done about a third of the stunt jumps now, so lots more to find. I’ve hardly touched the ambulance and taxi missions. And I got attacked by a tooled-up gang of prostitutes who had finally had enough of being killed for their money after providing their services. All very meta.
A truly excellent game and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the seventeen hours or so I’ve put in. I just wish there was even more, despite it being one of the most generous games on the DS.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 26th
Three more story missions done. All three great fun. No annoyances, boredom or unfairness.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 25th
My goodness, but this is great. This lunchtime I did a couple of story missions (sniper rifle!), some drug dealing and worked as a taxi driver for a bit. It’s just so, so good.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 24th
Played some more missions, including the world’s strangest bank heist getaway.
GTA IV: The Lost and Damned (360)
Mar 23rd
Okay, phew, I’m loving this now. Not so much for the missions, though they are very enjoyable indeed (and the game has opened up a whole lot of side missions now), but I’ve been reminded of how much I just love Liberty City. Shooting bikers, blowing up helicopters, escaping from cops, it’s all good, but I think my favourite parts of the game are the drives to the missions. No pressure, just me, my bike and the city around me. Just existing in Liberty City makes me happy. It looks astonishing, it feels exceptionally solid and I just plain love it.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 23rd
Had great fun with this and my concerns about the possible balance issues caused by the drug dealing and my fears for the length of the game have been put to rest. Basically, the missions have not got quite hard, so I’m having retry them quite a few times and I’m having to spend a fair amount of cash at Ammunation. So the money now has a point and the missions have got difficult – but not too difficult. Good stuff.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 20th
Been doing a lot of missions. I’ve done enough drug deals to set myself up with a big pile of money that I’m not spending, so I’m concentrating on progressing the story. The missions are very short, so I’m a little worried that this will be a one of those games I love for a week and then put aside. Which is better than most games, obviously, but I was hoping this would keep me going for a long time.
Last mission I did was Raw Deal, which was awesome. It’s an escort mission, but a hugely violent, exciting one. Took me a few tries as it was such utter carnage, but I enjoyed every attempt. And it’s nice to have a mission that takes a few tries, it’s been a very easy game so far.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 19th
I have learned how to make molotov cocktails. I’ve also made a lot of money from drug dealing, but lost most of it after a series of busts. And I’ve tattooed a new gang initiate.
It’s a wonderful game, absolutely packed with stuff to do and a technical miracle.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 18th
Got busted after crashing a petrol tanker while carrying $35,000 worth of coke. That’s a big hit to take, but less than half my vast fortune. Drug dealing is an excellent way to make money and it’s a lot of fun. So much so that I haven’t done any missions in hours. I’m slightly worried that the huge profits to be made from high-value drugs will unbalance the game, but I’m sure the developers have got that covered.
This is, I think, probably the best game to hit the DS in years. So many nice touches – optional top-screen GPS arrows, ordering from Ammunation from your PDA, being able to save anywhere, easy access to information about which dealers are selling and buying cheaply, etc.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
Mar 17th
Don’t want to say too much about this ahead of release, but it’s very, very good indeed and if you get it from the right place (Play.com, Amazon.co.uk) it doesn’t cost much more than The Lost and Damned. And first impressions are much better for this than the GTA IV add-on. The game engine is amazing, it uses the DS sensibly and it’s dead good fun.
If you’re not sure whether or not to buy it, think on it no longer – go buy now. If you like GTA and have a DS I don’t think you’ll regret it.
And you can hail cabs by shouting “yellow car!” in a drunken fashion. You don’t actually have to, but you can.
