Though you'll use the directional pad and face buttons of the DS to drive and shoot in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the game also utilizes the stylus in a few special situations. A new gameplay trailer released by Rockstar Games highlights how you'll use it to hack terminals and snipe enemies.

When it comes to hacking, you'll basically break through the face of an electronic keypad by tapping your stylus and then manually connect the wires underneath by dragging them together. While aiming your sniper rifle is done by D-pad, you'll actually assemble the gun with a stylus. You'll drag each piece out of its briefcase and then snap them into place. You'll even have to swirl the stylus to screw in the barrel.

I don't know how much these little stylus episodes actually add to the gameplay but the sniper rifle thing did make me chuckle during my hands-on demo at NYCC.GTA: Chinatown Wars will be released on March 17th exclusively for the DS. You can check out the previously released gameplay trailer entitled "Hot Wiring & Peeling Out" here.