PLINK, PLONK, BOOM

Playing "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Edition" on the child-friendly Nintendo DS is a bit like "putting vodka in a baby’s bottle," writes Tom Standage in his latest gaming column ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Summer 2009

Wherever two or three children are gathered together with nothing much to do, whether in a dentist’s waiting room or an airport lounge, you will hear the plinky-plonk tones of the Nintendo DS, with its merry games featuring Pokemon, ponies or puppies. And now this safe and cosy world has been invaded by a stolen car, driven by a drug-dealer, with a gun in his hand. “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars”, the latest instalment of the most notorious of video games, is available on the DS. It’s like putting vodka in a baby’s bottle.

Borrowing my eight-year-old daughter’s DS, I slotted in the cartridge and was soon running over pedestrians, fleeing from the police, shooting at rival gang members, running drugs and hotwiring cars (using gestures with a stylus on the DS’s touch screen). The action, set in the murky underworld of Liberty City, a stylised version of New York, is rendered in a cartoonish graphic style which cleverly remains true to previous versions of the game without overtaxing the processing power of the DS. And it’s great fun. Better still, you can play it on the train—there’s an extra illicit thrill in doing all this on the 8.39 to Charing Cross.

The player takes the role of Huang Lee, the son of a murdered Triad boss, who heads to Liberty City to deliver a family heirloom to his uncle and finds himself drawn into the conflict between rival gangs. The script, as usual with “GTA”, is cynical, witty and well written. The game world manages to be large and immersive even when squeezed into the tiny DS. As unlikely as it sounds, given the sorts of game usually found on the DS, this is the genuine, controversial, ultra-violent article, with no corners cut.

And that is a good thing, not just because it’s an excellent game, but because the “GTA”-DS collision is a useful reminder to parents of the importance of paying attention to age ratings. As this is the first DS title to receive an 18 rating in Britain, its very existence declares that you cannot assume that all games for a particular console are suitable for children, any more than you can assume (as some do) that all games are violent and unsuitable. Indeed, generalisations about gaming as a genre are as worthless as generalisations about whether films or books are suitable for children. Some are, and some are not. Always read the label.

Illustration: Max Ellis

(Tom Standage is the gaming columnist for Intelligent Life and business editor for The Economist. His last column was on good films and bad games.)

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Comments

i was quite impressed with

November 17, 2009 - 20:54 — Atlas America (not verified)

i was quite impressed with the game, its similar or i would say its basically like Grand theft auto 1, its a combination of all grand theft autos. The use of touch screen is amazing, i was disappointed with the role of Ling she just dies in the very beginning of the game itself, they could have delayed it for some more time, anyways i like the game, overall experience is 7/10

GTA of course not a game

November 30, 2009 - 03:43 — George (not verified)

GTA of course not a game that I would like my kids to play. This is a game for adults and aspects of morality can be discussed again and again. But in order to know what actually is a certain game, you can play it, that is to stay up to date and be aware and decide whether that game is suitable for your children. But kids are kids and they want to play popular games...