So, what about creating a game such as this on a platform that has been so carefully positioned as a quick-fix entertainment device? The likes of Brain Training are perfectly suited to playing on the bus, but we saw from the likes of the PSP GTA games that high-intensity experiences involving missions that encompass driving, shooting and other objectives don’t travel nearly so well. “We’re always looking at those issues and trying to hone and optimise games for where they’ll be played,” says Houser. “The PSP games used some elements of code and design from the PS2 games, whereas this is done from the ground up, and we’ve tried to make the missions a bit shorter, for example. But without wishing to engage in a hardware debate, in some ways the success of the DS is about quick and easy-access stuff, and some of the complications involved with the PSP involve people trying to make console games and not really thinking it through. I always think the PSP works really well on the plane but not on the bus. We try to make it something in nice bite-sized chunks that still offers a good sense of flow and works well over longer periods, and hopefully through our past experience we’ll be better at doing it. We’re aware of it. You’ll obviously still have moments where you’re on the bus and in the middle of a massive firefight and then you’ll have to get off. And that’s unsolveable. But you can make the game autosave. It’s no different from reading a book and getting to an interesting section, then having to get off the Tube.”

We’re coming to the end of our checklist of concerns, but we’ve reached a considerable one. Just how authentic a GTA will this be in terms of its tone? It clearly hits the right spots in many of the key areas but, given that it will be running on a Nintendo platform that happens to be popular with many millions of young children, are its adult themes going to be compromised? “No one disagreed with Sam’s very clear edict that GTA has to be an M rating,” asserts Houser. “It can’t be softened to make it family-friendly – that’s not the game we’re making. We’ve never not done well by sticking to our guns. In terms of presentation this is a different game, but in terms of the themes and the language it’s very similar. We wanted the cutscenes to feel like they are almost like from a classic arcade game – then, when the characters are talking about something that is horrendous or funny or ridiculous, that juxtaposition felt very cool to us. It’s almost like GTA in another environment. We definitely didn’t do any watering down.

“Nintendo wanted us to make GTA, and we wanted to make a game on their platform. They didn’t want us to make a GTA for kids, and we weren’t interested in making a game we wouldn’t normally make. I mean, GTA is about stealing cars and shooting people – how could it not be an 18 rating? You couldn’t do GTA without that 18 – it wouldn’t feel like it’s supposed to feel. I think Nintendo are excited to have a game unlike any other on their hardware, a game that might pull in an audience that want the content that maybe they aren’t being offered at the moment.”



There are certainly few other DS games that manage to incorporate an entire drug-dealing enterprise as a kind of minigame – a surprisingly fleshed-out diversion we were not expecting. Following on from GTAIV, a game grounded more in reality in some respects than its precursor, San Andreas, we weren’t expecting flamethrower or stun-gun weapons, either, but here they are, roasting and toasting your assailants (or, indeed, any hapless so-and-so within the gameworld at which you wish to aim them). There’s even a minigun, which energetically rips perforations into targets as you spray its ordnance at a suitably cranked-up rate. Meanwhile, the missions themselves appear to have a similar capacity to deliver surprises.

“We’ve got some good, outlandish stuff in there,” smiles Houser. “We always try to put in as much variety as possible. There’s one mission where you’re robbing a bank and you’ve got to escape through Chinatown, and there’s a parade, so you dress up as a dragon. There’s lots of fun stuff like that. Not silly, but varied. Things that really work with the tone of the game.”

And so our journey ends as it began, as we try to fill in more pieces of the Chinatown Wars puzzle, imagining what further challenges lie beyond the shootouts and car chases we’ve played today. Our progress isn’t good. Fortunately, it all lies in the hands of a group of uncommonly passionate creatives who know what they’re doing with this GTA stuff…