Loose Threads: Is GTA on the DS really such a good idea?

Tending to puppies, starting a vegetable farm, and finding out that you have the sort of intelligence that would make Dr Kawashima mess himself is all well and good, but sometimes, you just want to beat a prostitute to death with a baseball bat and then plough an ice cream truck into a crowd of grazing pedestrians.

GTA's psychotic sandbox thrills are now the stuff of legend in the gaming industry and while the PSP has harboured two of Rockstar's escaped madmen (i.e. GTA: Liberty City Stories and GTA: Vice City Stories), DS owners have had to content themselves with, well, nothing really. All that is about to change however with the imminent arrival of a GTA DS game proper in the shape of GTA: Chinatown Wars.

Is it such a good idea though? That's what we asked you last week and - starting with danskmacabre - this is what you had to say:

"Personally I prefer the simplicity of DS games, with a few exceptions - games that try to be really complex don't work out so well on the DS. But, there's no harm in trying I guess. The DS is pretty versatile, it might work out, but I doubt it. Take for example Warhammer 40k, which was pretty dire."

Such tempered opining. Can't we have a full on flame war with braying fanboys and soft logic just once? Come on people, this is GTA we're talking about! If this was a PS3/360 debate over the game, our forums would have been given a nice warm napalm bath ages ago. A

Anyway, damning the DS with faint praise was hunter_alien:

"I don't see why the DS couldn't have a GTA game. It's actually a pretty good idea in my opinion, seeing how few M rated games the handheld has. Will it be as good as the PSP iterations? Not a chance. It doesn't pack nearly such powerful hardware, and the controls might not be the best for it either.

"But it could be fun... I hope that they don't take the game too seriously and put more attention into creating a more arcade-style open-end world, not a bloody, way too serious, boring, violent game.

"Oh, and will it sell as well as it did on the PSP? Again, I wouldn't expect that seeing as the two PSP games have sold over 8 million copies from which Liberty City Stories did over five. But it could generate a nice little profit for Take O2."

Here's a thought: maybe seeing as the game is being tailor made for the platform it will be better than the GTA games made for the PSP, which while good, were essentially shoehorned PS2 titles. Gideon B sees it differently clearly:

"If GTA on the DS was a good idea, why would they be making it? It's not a good idea, it's really only for the people who don't have a PSP, I mean, who wants to get a PSP just for a few games by Rockstar called GTA.

"It makes more sense to release the game like they did on the Game Boy Color, devoid of all of the bad stuff, just with a few people being run over, but they want to make an actual game, so let them do it. Just let another guy go on about how GTA isn't that good.

"For once, I actually should point out that this is Rockstar's first game on the DS, and it had better be good, because a lot of gamers are expecting it to be. Why can't we have Saints Row on the DS or PSP? That game is fun - but no, GTA should not be on the DS unless it contains everything the GTA series is known for, including the controversy."

So are you for it or against it? Because at the moment, we can't see which side of the fence you're coming down on Gideon B. Time to put our oar in…

GTA: Chinatown Wars on the DS will likely be a very good game, but will it really be GTA as we have known it since it went 3D? Maybe, and if there's one thing Rockstar has proven time and time again it's an ability to consistently rework the genre it created better than anyone else can.

That said, with the addition of so many new elements for the DS version - i.e. mini-games, comic book elements etc -Rockstar risks splintering the formula it has worked so hard to perfect, making it more of a reinvention. Either way, we cant wait to find out.

Elsewhere in the forum, we have a long lost member, ET3D, looking for help:

"I'm looking to buy some more games for my mobile, but it's hard to find those I like. Here are some games I enjoy. Maybe you could recommend something similar. The game I play the most is Digital Chocolate's Cafe Solitaire, but I don't think there can be anything similar I'd want. If you think otherwise, let me know.

"I enjoyed Diamond Islands quite a bit, and I would like something similar: a turn based riddle game that has good graphics. I enjoyed Doom RPG, and both Orcs & Elves games. I enjoyed Rollercoaster Rush 3D, which has nice graphics and simple controls."

Whoever this is, they have commendable taste in mobile games, so if you can think of any other titles that might fall into line with this little haul, then you know what to do.

And now, it's time to get those mind gears turning on next week's matter at hand:

Are tilt controls a fad?

That's it for now, there are more details seated in the throne of this here feature (otherwise known as the forum). If you haven't signed up already, ask someone to slap you, and then sheepishly trot off to do what you should have done weeks ago (we mean sign-up, not update your facebook picture. And remember to click 'Track It!' to be sure not to miss the ensuing discussion. Over and out.