, while the player holds a 3-star wanted level. While in other
Grand Theft Auto titles, the main technique to evade from the police was to leave a certain vicinity, away from them entirely,
Chinatown Wars introduces a new mechanic which requires the player to destroy a specific number of police vehicles, thereby lowering the wanted level.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an
action-adventure game set in an
open world environment. It has a different presentation from previous games in the series, by partially resembling the first
Grand Theft Auto titles. Instead of a ground-level view behind the protagonist or a top-down perspective,
Chinatown Wars uses a fully rotatable camera angled down at the action.
Chinatown Wars also uses
cel-shaded polygons with black outlines to produce a comic book-like aesthetic—a first for the series. The title takes place in a scaled-down rendition of
Grand Theft Auto IVs Liberty City, with the exception of Alderney. Unlike
Grand Theft Auto IV, the player can lose wanted stars by destroying police cars to escape the police instead of leaving a "wanted zone". The more stars the player has, the more police they have to take out for each level. For example, for a six star level, they have to take out six police cars to get down to a five star wanted level and so on. There is also a drug dealing sub plot which allows players to peddle
heroin,
acid,
ecstasy,
marijuana,
cocaine and
depressants around the city. Players can make a profit by recognising market conditions and demands based on geography and plying their wares accordingly. CCTV cameras work as this game's secret packages, destroyed by throwing a
Molotov cocktail bottle or a
grenade. This also decreases the chances of being caught while making a drug deal and provides discounts for buying drugs.
Chinatown Wars applies many
Grand Theft Auto IV features such as the next-gen HUD. Ammu-Nation returns in the form of an in-game website where the player can order various weapons through their PDA to be delivered to their safehouse. Players will also get emails which they can read either from the PDA or the laptop present in their safe house. While stealing a moving vehicle is much similar to that of previous
Grand Theft Auto games,
Chinatown Wars uses a different system for stealing parked vehicles. Depending on the car, it can be started in one of a few ways. Older cars require a few turns of a screwdriver in the ignition, while other cars require
hotwiring. Newer, more expensive cars (with the exception of a bulletproof van) require the player to "hack" the computerised
immobiliser. It is still possible to flip cars or set them on fire. The player is unable to pilot any of the aircraft in the game, but can still see the ones at the airport or flying above him, although if a player uses a certain code on the
Nintendo DS by using "Action Replay DS" the player can acquire a helicopter and fly it.
Platform differences • The
Nintendo DS version of the game takes advantage of the touchscreen with functions such as controlling the PDA, GPS, the radio, access to the people on the map, or using Molotov cocktails and
grenades. The top screen shows the game and storyboard. Taxi whistling is supported by the DS
microphone or by holding the X button. Competitive and co-operative multiplayer modes are only available through DS to DS local wireless. • The
PSP version features updated graphics, which are no longer cel-shaded, thus sporting a more "classic" look akin to previous games in the series (however, cutscenes are stylistically identical).
Minigames (such as drawing tattoos, unscrewing the car and boom panels) have been adapted from their touch-screen functionality to simpler,
QTE-like minigames. The PSP version also features extra missions and exclusive radio stations not found in the Nintendo DS version. However, PSP multiplayer supports only 2 players. There is an additional character named Melanie Mallard who is an independent news reporter working with one of the main characters of the game. Melanie and her missions are absent from other platforms. • The
iOS and
Android versions of the game, based on the PSP version, includes on-screen touch controls and mini-games that have been adapted to work well with capacitive touchscreens. Both iOS and Android versions have the same radio stations as the PSP versions, though the iOS version features a custom radio station that uses the iTunes library. ==Plot==