The Greatest Failure Of Rockstar Games | Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars 

Honestly, the drug mechanic in this game was probably the best part; you could easily manage a viable system of trading narcotics and build up a sizable income once you figured out where the buyers and sellers were in the city and when the good stuff (especially heroin and cocaine) went on discount, though it always carried the risk of getting busted. It's something they have tried to do in GTA V with the marijuana business and other management facilities, but this one felt more personal.

Frustratingly, Ling Shan was featured heavily in promotional materials and dies very early on. Her implied competency in combat could have been used for interesting dialogue between her and Huang but they just completely dropped the ball. Had she been more relevant, perhaps maybe a double agent for the FIB with special interest in putting Huang at the top of the Triads, their flirty back and forth as well as being on different sides of the law could have kicked the writing up a notch. Instead she dies in a strange way that almost seems fishy but... She never shows back up. Such a strange choice.

Even though the sales numbers for Chinatown Wars was low, I still dont consider it a failure because the game was still awesome (especially for a portable title). To me, a true failure is a game thats just all-around bad.

Outside of Grand Theft Auto IV, this is my second most frequented GTA game. It's such an easy pick up and play, it's perfect for a portable experience.

Both the DS and the PSP were suffering from poor game sales due to the modding scene at the time with CFW and R4 carts taking over. Also people were obsessed with 3d graphics and were not interested in the retro top down style aesthetic at the time. This was before the indie scene, with similar games like Retro City Rampage which did well for an indie title. I think this game is still really enjoyable. I wish GTA 1,2, London and Advance got this treatment.

Ghostface and MF DOOM made this game worth a try

This game came out for the iPhone back in the day and it heated up the battery super fast but I thought the molotov cocktail minigame was so much fun and fit so well with the world of GTA. Since that was an entirely touchscreen adaptation of the game, there was no transition between physical buttons and the touchscreen activities. I had so much fun with this game back in the day. Now I'm downloading it on my Android because of this video. Man the nostalgia.

The Boss in Saints Row 2 is NOT a straight man lmaoo he's one of the most batshit crazy characters in the game.

Haung is like Jimmy Hopkins being dropped off into the mafia it’s great

I honestly think the definitive edition is their greatest failure but hey, still a great video as always

Love the exaggeration there. Yeah, "greatest failure" = just sold poorly 😂

Ahh, Chinatown Wars. I remember when I finished playing the story missions a few months ago. Tis a shame, I wish it could have done more

I absolutely love Chinatown wars it’s sad how little attention it got

I watched you back on your old channel years ago and this just happen to show up for me. I had to double check it was you and wow man great growth! Love ur new stuff too great work my guy

I loved watching this. As a die hard fan of Chinatown Wars it's wonderful to see it getting the attention and love it deserves. This was a great watch, thank you very much.

You talking about trying to recapture that childhood Christmas feel really resonated with me. I try to do the same thing a lot every year... and while it feels good, it just is not the same. There is some really weird stuff from my childhood that I associate with the Christmas nostalgia feel (the first two Far Cry games, GTA Vice City, the Back to the Future trilogy), and I still try to touch on at least some of those every year, despite none of them actually being Christmassy. I even picked up some other stuff since childhood, (rewatching Star Wars, the Tomb Raider reboot games, the Banner Saga trilogy, GTA V) but even revisiting that does not bring me back to at least how I felt for example 5 years ago., not to mention my childhood Every year, it just slips more and more away.

I can’t name one character from this game, but I remember this game being extremely fun.

There was a short period of time where I found this game more fun than GTA IV.

This is the most underrated and unique GTA for sure. It's like a portable GTA 4 mixed in with all the crazy shit and side-missions from the 3D universe and some of its own exclusive stuff that you won't find in any other GTA

To be honest I’ve fallen in love with this channel in under a year which is funny cause well I was looking stuff up about Twisted Metal and stumbled upon this channel and thought this channel treated its viewers like actual people and had a point of views of both what makes games a good and or bad and well I lucky I subscribed because wow this channel is really good and it’s deep dives are super good and fun merry late Christmas mate and have a good one and stay safe. (I say late Christmas because here we already had it so yeah take that as you will)

I just discovered this gem of a gaming channel and I`ve been loving every video. I`m looking forward for more awesome content in 2024! Happy new year everyone!

Someone who doesn't know the term "Straight Man" in a narrative has no right to start dishing out any criticism lmao

I still remember my introduction to this game. A friend of mine, who was one of a few I would play DS with at school, let me borrow hers for a while. It was quite the week because it was my second but longest experience with a GTA game (first being GTAA, go figure). Ever since I got my own copy, I still held on to it deleting and creating save files to play the whole game over and over again. Even got a save file with the two extra missions. I've even thought what a new handheld GTA game could look like on the 3DS for a time. And I kid you not, I found a way to make playing the game with buttons and the stylus with a weird little crab hand technique. They made a nice cult classic in my eyes.

This game is hands down my favorite in the series, due to its blend of Modern and Classic GTA gameplay, along with it awesome chase/wanted & Drug Dealing mechanics.

IIRC, using a flash cart let's you experience flying the helicopter like shown in the video without emulation. Pretty cool imo, I think a friend of mine did that

I also replayed it with a broken L button, i just finished it on my 3ds , felt illegal to play this when i was 13. Good times

it seems like generally most people pronounce Huang like "Hwong"

I played this game almost religiously when I was younger. I also had a broken L button, which really only needed to be used once. In one of the latest levels you need to fight a Helicopter and lock it in to destroy it, with my broken L button it simply wasn't possible or if it was I at the very least was not able to do it. Luckily I borrowed a friend's DS and completed the mission and quickly the entire game. That was my first playthrough and afterwards I got a new DS and 3DS and never had a problem with the mission again

This game was the reason i bought a DS and i wasn't disappointed. "You wanna piece of my pie??!!"🤣

I am a sucker for this kind of videos. Why didn't I get notification. Coming here from your community post

I think what you said at the end of the video is 100% correct, I too have songs and games connected with my childhood that give me strange emotions I can't describe when even thinking about them Maybe that's a reason people tend to hate new generations' childhoods and just love their own but don't think about the magic that every kid has and will remember for the rest of his life, whatever the garbage he is playing now and the stupid songs he is listening to now

I always thought Huang looked like a Chinese Will Smith. Didn't make it through the whole game, but I never felt like I wasn't enjoying it. The drug trading was much better than it was on the TI-83+, and I appreciated the driving kind of "staying in lane" a bit. I'd play more "handheld" GTA's (if that were still a relevant category).

Surprised you didn't talk about the PSP version at all. Personally, I think it's the better version due to all the touch screen stuff getting adapted to buttons (eliminating the switching between stylus/mouse and buttons), and the better graphics (plus, now there's a mod to make it third-person). I think this game is really fun and so filled with content, but it's one of my least played GTA's, along with Advance, due to the driving mechanics, which I don't find very fun. I long for the day when there'll be mods adapting both of these to GTASA engine, that would make it a much more fun experience IMO. EDIT: I just remembered the Xin missions can be played in the PSP version if you have a savegame with them, which is easily found on gamefaqs and such

Why do people get so defensive of something they like selling poorly? It’s a failure because it failed to make money. Big Trouble In Little China is my favorite movie ever but I’ll be first to tell you it’s a flop.

I remember getting this game for the ds , I loved the game so much. Sadly cheat codes caused the game to start freezing or crashing after a while . Anyone experienced this ?

Bro this game slaps and is a reminder of the series roots of the overhead view

"If I have to listen to Mariah Carey one more time, I'm gonna do something that will get me demonetized." Do you have the slightest idea of how little that narrows it down?

My only memory of the game isn’t from the game itself. It was from this old Mario & Sonic Stop Motion video where Mario was guilty for doing a lot of shit, and apparently Cartman from South Park blamed Mario for breaking his copy of GTA Chinatown Wars. Not knowing that it was Silver the Hedgehog if I could remember the video correctly. But the funny thing is is that when Cartman talks about his story to everyone else, the other South Park characters call him out for being a fatass, for trying to buy the Chinatown Wars, and not GTAV, San Andreas, or even the Last of Us. For a longtime, I thought it was a made up parody of a GTA game made for the video itself, as a reference to how many times South Park parodies everything. I had no idea the Chinatown Wars was a real game until years later.

Chinatown wars and soulcalibur were the staples of my school yard psp/3ds gaming era, good days

Coincidentally, my playthrough of this game was during winter as well, in 2022. I had a lot of fun.

the villain with the weirdest character dev. is rudy d avanzo. alot of peeps complain about him, even after he died no one mentions him anymore. he only served as an example to not mess w/ huang lee

The low sales might had to do with the consoles itself, while NDS and PSP are one of the best and high selling consoles, the audiences for these consoles are none other than Children especially the NDS, PSP is a bit 50:50. I don't think any parents gonna buy a game where you dealing drugs for their kids and the usual GTA fan might have or not have NDS. The game is still very well-made and well-thought, there are passion behind it, creating an almost exact GTA IV's Liberty City and squeezed into this artstyle is still amazing in my opinion.

The game was fun imo, played it on DS and because it had that auto pause feature everytime i opened it i would hear a quote, the best was “you wanna piece of my pie?!” That was always a laugh😂

honestly was just thinking about if there's a video essay bout this game lmao

your not gonna make a video on valhalla or what you think of david jaffe's opinion on modern kratos

I really like to play GTA 3 for nostalgic feelings. It was mu first GTA, and I remember the happy feeling I got when the bridge was fixed and I could finally go to the second island!

What about the psp and android version Are they better than the ds version

I remember that I traded a few Lego mini figure to get that game, best trade ever

I used to play this on my cousins psp back in the day, good times

First time I ever played this I won the lottery on the scratch off mini game I was so hype

Ah yes i remember this game

Ahem. “Cause the good ol’ days weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.”

One of the best games to have on a mobile phone tbh

So they pretty much went really old school with this one and remade the gameplay like Grand Theft Auto 1&2 with the birds eye view, but with a better story line. I can dig it!

Loved playing this as a kid!

I liked the game as a kid. Especially the drug trade part.

This was the first gta game i played and beat. Got it on my psp

I'm ignoring my kids opening gifts just to watch this.

Such a good game. My dad bought it for me when it came out the worker asked if was for me he said no, soon as we got outside my dad handed me the game.

Me and my friend both bought ds's just to play this. Played the multi-player on it for like a weekend and never played it again together 😂

When i used 2 play this mini game in real life id play this mini game in game and i swear it was universal law attraction

The thing is ... GTA CTW is the most underrated GTA game of all time (at least in my book) is because it was overshadowed by GTA IV because CTW came out a year later after GTA IV's release, plus it was on the DS and the fact a game that is for adults and only on the DS didn't see the light of day as any Mario or TLoZ game Other than that it got at least it got some popularity in 2010 with the PSP release and Mobile release, with the PSP being the best but I still prefer the DS version because I own it and I played the game at least two dozen times, yes that's how much I love the game, I even used one of the save files to replay the story over and over again while the other save file to complete the game when its about minigames and collectibles, now I just wanna mention that the DS version isn't 100% finished? I should say? because on the DS version for whatever reason you don't have access to two mission contacts which is weird, and the Xin missions are available you just need to find one of the Chinese dog statues, Xin sends you an e-mail to find the other one and that's it Now about Huang Lee, he's one of the most underrated characters of all time (again at least in my book & and yes I know there isn't a lot about character development), the reason why he's so straight is because he's already from a rich family, surrounded by assholes and possibly had a strict father but still loved him which is also one of the reasons why he takes honor so serious, not as a son of a triad boss but also a triad himself, but of course because of culture About Huang, he does have a personality, like yes he's straightforward, always looks not interested and so on, again he is surrounded all the time by idiots, selfish people, and assholes, which is the reason why he uses sarcasm a lot which is funny in my book, to be honest, almost forgot to mention that Huang is never interested in making money like Tommy Vercetti, Michael, Trevor, Tony, etc. well that's because Huang is already from a rich family back in Hong Kong but it's not wrong for him to make in a country where he got ambushed, almost drowned, helped out a lot of idiots to find his father's killer and reclaim the sword. I seriously wish R* could make a 3D remake of this game but I highly doubt that it would ever happen, I still find it cool that GTA CTW is in the HD universe just as GTA IV, V & VI as well, and the story takes even place one year after the events of GTA IV, you can even find the first apartment, Roman's taxi business, one of the strip clubs and so on So yeah, the drug dealing activities are unique, and yes it's the easiest way to make money but I don't know any other GTA game that has this "feature"/"minigame", the car hijack minigames are also unique and yes the timer sucks, but on the PSP & mobile version (if I remember correctly about the mobile version) there is no time which makes the hijacking quite boring in my book Now what about the story? was it cheap? was it obvious who stole the sword? well to be honest back then I didn't know who stole the sword until it was revealed, I was kinda bit surprised until he explained his motive and went "Ah yes classic jealousy" The Professional played GTA CTW on mobile and has his whole playthrough up on his channel and when he played through the story, he thinks either Chan, Zhou, or Wu (or Kenny if you wanna call him) stole the sword, that is until that one mission where you kill three traitors with a sword (hella OP btw) and Uncle Kenny stops Hsin from killing you, leaving the player to believe that Kenny isn't the one who stole the sword, leaving only Chan and Zhou on the list Chan is the biggest moron you would come across in any R* game, a bigger idiot and lack of brain cells than Russel from Bully, as TBP mentioned, Chan thinks it's his birthright to become the next triad boss of Liberty City but again he's an idiot and he's even aware of it unless he's drunk or high which also leaves him to be a suspect that he stole the sword But there is Zhou, one of the most cold-hearted characters and able to rip your heart out with a single knife, literally at the end of his 2nd mission he kills an "old friend" of his who was about to leave LC because of his heart and Zhou literally opens up his chest and rips his heart out, so Zhou is smart, cole & selfish which makes him an obvious suspect that he stole the sword and claim the role as the next triad boss However surprise surprise it was neither of them, like TBP Wade Heston (best character theme in all of GTA games in my book, well except Niko's maybe) & Huang work together to find out who stole the sword so the both of them can benefit from this bust, Wade becomes clean, or more likely that no one in the FIB or IDA comes after him and Huang gets the sword back spoiler on a 14-year-old game: When Wade tells Huang that his FIB contact told him that Chan and Zhou are traitors Huang goes after them, kills them, and doesn't find the sword, Hsin chooses Kenny to become the next triad boss, later on, Wade contacts Huang that his FIB contact is a traitor and working with the guy who stole the sword, Wade and Huang find the guy, and shocking news its Kenny, revealing that Huang's father was supposed to become the next triad boss, Kenny was jealous and killed him, and Huang swore to find and kill who murdered his father, in the end, Huang kills Kenny, reclaims the sword, Hsin dies, Wade gets his bust and Huang's fate is unknown like he might've become the triad boss of LC or went back to Hong Kong Other than that GTA CTW is THE most underrated GTA game in my book and yes I know that GTA VCS is also underrated, but CTW could've become also popular if it was made in 3D and released on Playstation and Xbox and I still hope for a 3D remake but R* won't do that because of GTA VI, possibly Bully 2, possibly Manhunt 3, possibly RDR3, etc. but yeah, GTA CTW underrated as hell and my most fav GTA game of all time. ... ... also have I mentioned that the theme of GTA CTW was made by Ghostface Killa & MF DOOM? don't believe me? look it up and let your mind be blown by this fire track!

This game is in my top 5 GTA games of all time

Playing GTA : ChinaTown Wars on the psp has to be the best game i ever played. It was so cool and unique and the mini games were the best for me. Very underrated game in my opinion, could be cool if they do a second one but 3D. Over Underrated Game wasn’t bad

This game deserves another chance

I played this game on Android so many fun game mechanics so many Concepts that would fit and hold your attention in GTA V the Android phone cannot hold my attention like that maybe if I played on DS I would have liked it more.

I remember jailbreaking my old ipod touch, and pirating this game to play it lol.

Emulated this on my steamdeck peak😂

Maybe if Nintendo didn’t copyright claim my video of me playing Chinatown Wars when I was nineteen it might’ve promoted the game and help sell more copies.

Ballad of Gay Tony is surprisingly the Best story of the entire series but i got love for the OG San Andreas ❤️ My Aussie version of Chinatown wars was like GTA5.. Wasnt like what u show

Good delivery

5:00 OH MY GAWD i can't believe you suggested he likes females, the outrage i feel within right now, runs deep to my core, this will not go unheard of sir, i will call the wahmbulance.

Imagine if they had remade this game for the 3DS when that handheld was popping off.

Bro told a whole book about his life in this video

Weirdly enough, this is a genuinely good game. Ive been playing the mobile port, and while i dont trust google play store that your "purchase" of the game will last forever (so uh, I recommend you to sail the high seas). There's no feeling of half-ass shit in the game, like it's made for the initial platform it came out on and eventually mobile. It's honestly impressive, while the gameplay is pretty much the usual old school GTA 3- GTA vice city missions

When you grow up your heart dies.

i'd like to see all GOW bosses ranked

One of my favourite gta games, and my favourite when it comes to police chases and combat (especialy sword - it's top down and simple but that kinda makes it better gameplay wise than mediocre combat in the rest of the series). Although i have one small issue with it - the fact that while the city is great, it wasn't made with top down in mind, so it might be even better if this was a new place made with just that in mind - but it's still great overall, just a little little bit of wasted potential.

I think I spent more of my time selling drugs than doing missions - it was just extremely fun, and I hope we get a feature of a similar kind in GTA VI. One can only hope and dream.

I actually enjoyed this game a lot and I hate top down games.

Christmas loses its spark when you become responsible for making Christmas happen.

I have to do it WHO HIT ON WANG WHOM DAMN YOU

Thiss game is an absolute classic. Just sad that like 90% of gta "fans have literally never played it and some dont even know it exists.

Dont know why it was phenonmal.

Well i suprisingly he didn't play PSP version that was the definitive version you can play the atmosphere and graphic in PSP such a great and add new mission for the PSP only and fun fact they really want add the third island in this game but because of limitations for DS they cut third island I was hope when they port for PSP version they add third island because you know PSP has more limitations than DS does but no is still same like DS version and I still liking it

What a love of Game

Nah, this GTA Chinatown Wars is just a waste of time, just like all the Top View GTA games. :) You want the true GTA Chinatown experience? There is already one. Sleeping Dogs, the underrated masterpiece

The fact he has to explain what Straight Man is in a storytelling context is disconcerting. I can only imagine the cringe comments he's gotten from clueless kids.

Wasn't Chinatown Wars one of the best selling games on the DS. I remember that being a big promotional thing when they released the PSP update and the iPhone/Android port. I looked it up. It was one of the highest rated. Not sold. Honestly it's one of my favorite GTA games for it's simplicity. Gives the vibe of early goofy GTA.

I played this game on all platforms. It’s a fun, but ok game.

I actually loved this game on PSP

Actually GTA Advance was the biggest failure

I love the GTA games with a top down view. I just prefer to drive with that camera. The PSP version of Chinatown was way better than the DS. The DS touch controls seem like a neat trick at first, but play this game on the PSP after the DS and you realise how non of it was necessary and that life is just easier without all those gimmicks.

comparing this game to other Gta titles is disengenious but even with its small size it still has every known gta ingrediant, map of the game is pretty nice fans of gta 4 will find it very familar and entire game looks for diffrent features in the game, comparing this game to other mobile or psp games it stands like a giant

Failure? This is like one of the best portable gta games in fact it’s starting to become rare / collectible way better than LCS and VCS (psp version has better graphics but ds has funner mini games avoid the mobile ports!)

If it wasn't top down it would've done GREAT.

Just me who wants to see a 3d remake of the game?

THIS VIDEO WAS RELEASED ON CHRISTMAS DAY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🎅 🤶 🎄 🌲 ☃️ ⛄ 🌨️ ❄️ 🦌 11:43a.m. 12/28/2023

This game should’ve just been in third person. The story is great but having it not in third person kinda takes away the badassery the story and gameplay could’ve been

Sleeping Dogs is the only REAL GTA game that takes place in China and is actually good.