Ok, I finally got my hands on a copy of GTA Chinawars and I have to say "Its great!" Alot of fans and others where unhappy with various things in GTA IV, mainly to do with the plot. To be honest, I liked GTA IV as much as I liked GTA III, VC, and SA. I would have tried the PSP version as well, but lack a PSP.
Anywho, with a borrowed DS, I'm getting to play this one, and I here is my brief summary so far:
Good points:
+ Wacky GTA humour and fun ("We're getting buggered by alot of guys, and thats just not my scene" is one very memoriable quote for me
)
+ The Cell Shader engine works well on the DS, and I think Rockstar could do well if they tried cell shading on the next GTA for the other platforms.
+ The DS's touch screen mini'games' work well and are enjoyable, and short enough not to wear on the nerves.
+ The drug trading system adds to the game and is a good subgame.
Bad points:
- The DS's monitor and size are and will continue to be uncomfortable for long gaming sessions.
- The dual screen system can make it hard to look at the minimap for directions and drive at the same time.
- The drug trading will probably cause the game to be demonised by the media, but thats not new.
Note: I've only been playing it for about 2/3 hours so far.