The success of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has certainly made fans of the series – as well as the rest of the gaming industry – expect big things from San Andreas. The open-ended, free-form gameplay allowed you to play as you choose; a style that everyone today seem more than happy to imitate.

Rockstar North knew that there was know way that San Andreas would be nearly as successful as the previous two games unless they did something drastic to bring the series forward. And thankfully, the development has been given a two-year development cycle to do just that, and some. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas isn’t merely the same GTA formula you’ve come to know; it has gone leaps and bounds beyond; what a true sequel should be.



Within the time that has passed since the release of Vice City, Rockstar North has taken virtually everything you know about the series, and expanded on it in every way possible. You want big? You got it. San Andreas is a state, made up of three cities and all the countryside you could ask for in between. Even better, GTA as a game has expanded as well, becoming just as much a true role-playing game as any free-roaming RPG you’ve ever played. Virtually everything in the world of San Andreas can be interacted with, and there is so much to see and do that was never available before – or thought of, for that matter.

The story in San Andreas is much darker, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a “serious” game. GTA: San Andreas is still very much a satire, and the developers have gone out of their way to assure that the game makes fun of every aspect of real life. The story begins with the main character, Carl “CJ” Johnson, returning to Los Santos after being away in Liberty City for five years. His former gang, the Grove Street Families, has fallen apart, and holds little influence over the city. CJ’s mother has been killed, and his siblings are at each other’s throats. From there, the story only intensifies as CJ sets out to gain respect from his siblings and former gang members. A little revenge may be on his mind too.



Grand Theft Auto’s obvious Menace II Society-style storyline may turn off some, but know that the storyline lightens up after a while of playing the game. San Andreas is a monster of a title, containing a vast assortment of missions and minigames; all that contribute to make the game more tangible. In fact, San Andreas may very well be one of the most engaging games out there. Mainly because there is so much the player can do. Indeed, there is so much to this game that you may not notice something interesting when you pass it by, only to come back a week – or month – later to discover it yourself. There is so much content packed onto this one disc that you and a friend could both play the game and have a very different experience, showing one another things that the other hasn’t seen or did. In fact, you could probably have ten or more friends do the same thing, and chances are, there will still be discoveries to make. Yes, San Andreas is that big -- and intimidating.



The biggest gameplay change, aside from the size of the massive landscape, is the building of your stats. While something RPG fans surely know enough of, in San Andreas, the game’s main character’s different abilities (and there are a lot of them) will change depending how you play the game. But instead of assigning points to your character, San Andreas takes a page from the book of Morrowind in that you get better at something by practice. Rather than awarding the player with points to manage, San Andreas rewards the player by letting him play the game how he wishes, and then get better at what he does most. Use a shotgun a lot? The more you use it, the longer your range may get, or the gun may be easier to use. Like pistols? Use them enough and you’ll eventually be able to dual wield a few, and you may even be able to move while shooting. CJ can swim (finally!), but the more you do it, the longer you’ll be able to hold your breath and the faster you’ll go. Eat a lot of junk food, and your character will get fat. Work out excessively, and you’ll tone your personal CJ into a hulking muscle head. The system is pretty deep too, as each of the forms that CJ can take will affect other skills too, like how fast and how long he can sprint, or how attractive he is to the ladies.

The world reacts to CJ as well. Pedestrians will often comment on CJ’s build, and there are certain things that CJ won’t be able to do depending on how physically fit he is. What’s more, the world itself is much more alive than ever before. Tons of minigames are scattered throughout the state of San Andreas, and many of them are very involving. For example, walk into a bar, and you may find yourself in the mood to shoot some pool. Not only can you play a full game of eight-ball, but the game even comes with its own set of physics, which are very realistic by itself. You can dance, spend money on erotic dancers, and even pimp your cars out with new performance and cosmetic parts. You can go on dates with a bevy of different women, each who has their own likes and dislikes. What’s more, you can date a woman long enough for her to become your girlfriend. And should she get suspicious, she’ll tail you around the area. Its little things like this that add to the game world, making it feel much more tangible. You can even spend hours just clothes shopping for CJ, as you can now don different clothing garments that you either earn or buy.

Jacking vehicles are taken to an all-new level in San Andreas too. Sure, you could settle with pedaling a bicycle around if you wished, but there is also the option of jacking a train, as well as dozens upon dozens of other vehicles. You can even take to the air and bail out via a parachute if you wish (which continues to amaze you when you think of all the places you can land that you normally couldn’t. Head out into the country, and you’ll discover the satisfaction of tractors too, which add a little charm in itself.

Because San Andreas has three different cities, each are tailored to suit different missions and objectives, but even your starting city, Los Santos, is a better-designed city than what Vice city was. All three cities have their own look to them, and are designed in much more detail that the cities in previous games.

There is a small two-player addition that amplifies the fun in San Andreas, although it feels like more of an experiment than a fully fleshed out mode. At certain places throughout the game, a second player can join in on minigames like rampages and such. The only problem is, these games are incredibly fun, and at the end, you’re just left wanting more.

Most complaints have been addressed in San Andreas from that of the previous titles, but the game is far from flawless. The targeting system has seen a significant overhaul, taking a page from the Manhunt school of targeting. In addition, controlling CJ on foot isn’t too different from that of a first-person shooter. Still, the controls remain on the loose and sloppy side, and the camera can still get in the way, especially when on foot.

Graphically, San Andreas seems to be a step down for the series at first. Much of it has to do with the smoggy style of Los Santos, but once you leave that area, the visual quality is increased. Reach the Vegas-inspired Las Venturas, and the bright, vivid lighting is simply jaw-dropping, or at least, for a GTA game, which never prided itself on its graphical fidelity. The draw distance has increased, though the framerate is still on the so-so side; always playable, but far from perfect. Weather effects, such as rainstorms, are a particularly nice touch. In all, a game that is over three times the size as the entire game of Vice City (and still manages to improve the graphics) is quite a feat.



On the audio side is where the GTA series has always stood out, offering some of the very best music and voice-overs to be found in videogames. Oddly enough though, the soundtrack is San Andreas’s biggest disappointment. The music, which suitably, is from the early 90’s era, is good stuff, but the sheer variety makes the soundtrack unable to properly gel. Rockstar North had taken into account that lots of different music styles were popular at the time, and that lots of different personalities would be playing the game. But somewhere along the line, the developers tried too hard to include something for everyone that the whole package isn’t as cohesive as it was in previous titles. There’s a rock station that plays Depeche Mode, Faith No More, Danzig and L7, and yet sitting next to a country station that harkens back to Willie Nelson’s Crazy just doesn’t feel right.

The voice-over cast and radio commercials are still as good (and funny) as ever, though the game’s darker tone makes some of these commercials feel out of place. Still, props must be given for the solid voice work all the way around. From the star-studded supporting roles to the little-known rapper who voices CJ, the package stands up to the insane quality standards that the developers have always strived for.

We don’t have the space to list everything here that San Andreas packs onto a single dual-layered disc, but then again, you probably wouldn’t want us to, as half the fun of GTA is discovering things for yourself. Just take it from us: we’ve seen the game, from first city to last, and we’ve seen everything in between. And we’re still amazed that there is still so much out there than we can see and do. The new additions make you feel like you’re a part of the game like never before, and just the RPG-style aspects will have you busy and addicted. Make GTA: San Andreas a priority buy, and we guarantee you won’t be disappointed.




Article By: Brendon Hivner