E.G. Quitter: GTA: Chinatown Wars
Sometimes sadism isn’t worth the trouble.
Joystiq has come up with a brilliant idea called “Joystiquitter.” Essentially, Joystiq found a way to “not” review a game they didn’t finish. The ugly truth is that not all people finish games. In fact, there are simply too many games that are impossible to finish either due to length, difficulty, or just being simply terrible.
However, it wouldn’t be fair to give a game you didn’t finish or didn’t play enough an official review. So in the interests in being fair, I decided to forego a normal review in lieu of something that is shamelessly ripped off from Joystiq: the E.G. Quitter. Clever title, I know.
For the first E.G. Quitter, I thought I would talk about a little game titled, “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars” (GTA:CW). CW is the first, high-profile, M-rated game for Nintendo’s family-friendly handheld. It’s been out for nearly two months and sales have officially been disappointing. Some speculate the low sales were due to the actual M-rating. Although highly probable, I would like to think it is simply because the game isn’t all that great.
I’m in the minority here. Take a quick look at an aggregate score for CW, and you will see how well received it was received critically. I will try to refrain from sounding too “reviewy,” but I have to go against the grain here.
I didn’t really enjoy the game. I put in about four hours of gameplay, and, truth be told, enjoyed very little of that time. One of the biggest thing that kept me from enjoying the experience was the camera view. The top down look was too limiting and, at times, made me a little nauseous. It is difficult to go to such a view when you are used to seeing things in full 3D, third or first person. Could this be done in any other way? Due to system limitations of the DS, I would presume safely that the answer is “no.”
The other major reason I couldn’t keep on playing was a morality issue. I knew what I was getting into when I bought this and other GTA games. I kept telling myself that I can overlook the violence and sadism for the sandbox-type gameplay. The problem is that with every new GTA, the violence and sadism kept increasing and permeating every square inch of the experience, and, as a result, it was harder and harder to ignore.
I am a, at my core, a humanitarian. Do not get me wrong: when it’s needed, I will bust a cap in an invading alien life form or asshole who had it coming. However, deep inside, as cheesy as it sounds, I want to help humanity. I cannot, as a result, ever play an evil side of a game that offers a morality choice. I thought I could play GTA in a “nice way,” but it is simply not possible.
In CW, the trademark blood shed is kept in tact. However, to up the ante, Rockstar decided to add drug trading in the mix. Due to my career choice and involvement with recovering addicts, this did not sit well with me. I made the excuse that, if I could shoot people, I might as well sell drugs. The problem is that, if I had to kill, it would be for a good reason whether it be to save lives or stop destruction. There is little reason to kill in GTA other than to protect your interests. As for selling drugs, there is not a good reason aside from making money. I felt dirty in aiding people in feeding an insatiable hunger that would lead to their demise.
I judge a protagonist’s worth by seeing how much good he can do for humanity. For Huang, the protagonist who is really an antagonist in CW, he does more harm than good. For that reason, I decided to stop playing. I couldn’t finish the game. I couldn’t stomach doing so. Such is the case with CW.
-jj
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