I was first introduced to Grand Theft Auto at my best friend’s house. He had the original game for the PlayStation and the two of us would spend Saturday afternoons taking turns mowing down people, shooting up crowded streets and trying to complete the various missions we stumbled across. We never bothered going far into the story of the game, a trend that continued with Grand Theft Auto II and London 1969. Grand Theft Auto III was the first game to really get me to pay attention to the world Rockstar had created. It remains my favorite game in the series and made it impossible for me to return to the top-down perspective of the original titles.
I tried and failed with Grand Theft Auto: Advance, but Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was more successful, if only for one gameplay element: drug dealing. How funny it was for me that a company most famous for its family friendly persona was home to a game where I could deal acid and cocaine in basketball courts and parks.
If video games are vessels for people to indulge in activities they’d never perform in real life, drug dealing in GTA: Chinatown Wars was my goddamn Nautilus. I racked up probably 40 hours playing that game, only 10 or so of which I spent with the story. The rest of the time, I was working to become the biggest coke dealer in all of Liberty City. The economy of this side-task resulted in many pages of notes, tracking who to buy from, who to sell to and the best escape routes for when the fuzz showed up.
I couldn’t completely get into Chinatown Wars due to years of fully realized 3D worlds, but dealing drugs is easily the greatest and most entertaining thing I’ve done in a Grand Theft Auto game. In fact, it’s my favorite side-quest ever and I don’t think anyone can name one that is better.
via destructoid http://ift.tt/2nuUk5U