Overview

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Review

Release Date: 10.18.2004
Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games

Reviewed by Samuel Altersitz on 11.9.2004

Review Rating: 10/10

User Rating: 8.22/10

Ah, 1992. How I remember it well. I graduated high school in '92. Grunge had just really hit the mainstream of music (as opposed to the "Alternative" it was marketed as). Gangsta Rap became big. MTV started to really suck (and sucks even worse now), and The Real World was about the only Reality TV show that existed (oh, how I wish it still was the only one, too). It was also the beginning of the Political Correctness era.

And it is during this pivotal year that the newest in the Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, is set.

San Andreas is the newest and largest of the now nearly decade old GTA series. And, suffice to say, it is also the best one in the series to date. Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) knows a winner when it makes it and, in order to keep the winner going strong, they know to not fix what isn't broken. The GTA formula used in GTA III has worked and continues to work to this day. Large areas; more or less open ended gameplay--at least in the fact that you can often do certain mission strands in any order, the main story missions are linear though; memorable characters; the radio stations; and, just an overall sense of having so much to do at any given time have made the GTA series on the PlayStation 2 a hit. Nothing here was broken, and Rockstar followed that old adage and didn't fix what wasn't broken.

This is a good thing.

Of course, you can't just release the same game over and over again and expect it to sell... well, unless it is a sports game, I suppose... So, to this effect, Rockstar North has always added new gameplay elements to the GTA games. Unlike some other series, where new gameplay elements are added and really feel tacked on like an afterthought, the additions to the GTA series have always flowed nicely and felt completely natural as a form of progression for the series. For instance, people had said after GTA III that motorcycles would be a cool addition; and GTA: Vice City delivered these two wheeled vehicles in spectacular splendor and semi-believability; also added were various helicopters you could fly, leaving the wingless Dodo from GTA III a distant memory.

Also, with Vice City Rockstar was able to get actual songs licensed for the soundtrack, and to a great effect. Vice City was set in the 80's, and had some memorable music from that decade as well. The final aural addition to Vice City was the voice of the main character: In GTA III, your character was mute (a thing they actually make fun of in San Andreas), in Vice City he was voiced by Ray Liotta. On that note, a lot of Hollywood talent has lent their voices to the Grand Theft Auto series since GTA III and it has worked wonders on making the characters come to life and be more believable.

The areas available to players have become larger in each instalment since GTA III and San Andreas is no exception. And, of course, the ability to purchase new safe houses, as well as businesses and then collect money from them, was an added boon in Vice City.

This brings us now to San Andreas. People who have played the games since their first incarnation on the PSOne will note that all three areas were in the original top down 2D Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City (GTA III), Vice City (Vice City), and San Andreas (San Andreas); which really goes to show that Rockstar North has had a ton of ideas from the get go.

The new additions to San Andreas will be explained a bit later.

GTA: San Andreas introduces you as Carl Johnson; a gang banger from Los Santos, San Andreas, who has spent the past 5 years in Liberty City (1987-1992) to get away from his pains and problems. He gets a call from his brother, Sweet, letting him know that his mother has died and Carl sets out on the trek home. Of course, trouble hits him almost as soon as his plane touches down as a corrupt police officer named Tenpenny and his partner Pulaski pull his cab over and immediately frame him for the murder of another police officer. From here you take Carl on a wild ride of gang banging, syndicate busting, and casino romping, all to get even with the people who murdered his mom. The twists and turns in the plot along the way help to keep the story fresh and involved, and to keep you interested in playing through it.

The fictional state of San Andreas is a mix of the real states of California and Nevada: consisting of Los Santos, modeled after Los Angeles; San Fierro, modeled after San Francisco; and Las Venturas, modeled after Las Vegas. In addition to these three cities, each roughly the same size as Vice City in GTA: Vice City, there is a large and expansive countryside surrounding each city. This makes San Andreas almost 6 times as large as Vice City was and Vice City was around twice the size of GTA III. The size creates tons of opportunity to do stuff in as little, or as much, time as you wish to take.

For example, I decided to take my time on the game and by the time I opened up the final area, Las Venturas, I had already put in over 70 hours of play time. I wasn't willing to rush through at that point just to finish the main story, but players could obviously get through the whole main story in under 30 hours if they really pushed it. But where's the fun in that?

Besides the main story missions, you have a ton of side missions you can choose from, including the new trucking and pimping missions, and old staples such as the vigilante, fire fighter, and paramedic missions; all of which give you different rewards when you reach their required goals. When the option becomes available, you can also take over gang territories for you own, pick up the ever famous prostitutes of GTA, kill drug dealers to keep crack off of your streets, go to the gym, enter races, learn how to fly, visit strip joints, eat, swim, and much, much more.

Yes, I said swim. No longer is water some highly toxic substance that kills you instantly, like in GTA III and GTA: Vice City (although other people do immediately get killed if they fall into deep water; I guess no one else in San Andreas can swim). This addition to the gameplay of San Andreas is a wonderful thing, adding new gameplay elements, some missions have you swim, and certain hidden prizes can be found under the water. The real bonus is that you can get out of a vehicle you 'misplaced' in the deep blue and swim to shore. In addition to swimming, there are many boats to drive around in just like in Vice City.

Speaking of vehicles, San Andreas has a TON of them. Multiple types of ground based vehicles--including motorcycles, cars, construction vehicles, and bicycles-- are found throughout San Andreas and its cities, planes and helicopters you can fly, and boats. Some vehicles return from the previous instalments, and there's a lot of new vehicles to use as well.

Now, we should talk about the things that have changed to make San Andreas different from it's predecessors; there's quite a few.

The first thing you will notice is that there is a new way to sprint while running. While you can hold the X button down, like before, that is just the slower sprint. Tapping the X button repeatedly will super sprint you. This also is how you pedal on bicycles, hold X for a steady pedalling, or tap it to go faster. This same method is used for swimming, as well.

Next up we have a 'new' targeting system taken from Manhunt, another Rockstar game, that makes firing your guns a lot easier than before. Another borrowed innovation is the ability to do stealth kills, but only with the knife equipped. And, since good things come in threes, they brought over the ability to hide in the shadows to escape detection.

Also new to the GTA series with San Andreas is a pseudo-RPG style method of stat gaining. As you do certain things you will get points added to statistics, such as respect, weapon skills, and driving. These skills go up as you use them in play, and they work fairly well, except that the driving stat doesn't really seem to make cars handle any better, even though it is supposed to. I have mine maxed out and I still spin out left and right. Get your weapon skills up to Hitman level and you have a longer lock on distance (and can get head shots at a farther distance, which helps in quickly taking out enemies), faster reload times, and can move while targeting; and for certain weapons, you will go guns-a-kimbo (2 at once). Keeping with the pseudo-RPG theme, you can have CJ respond positively or negatively to conversations.

The newest main part of San Andreas, and it's a stat as well, is Respect. For most missions, especially in the beginning, you earn Respect. Respect is how much people in your mindset like what you do, and affects how they react to you and what you can do with them. Gaining respect allows you to actually recruit your Grove Street gang members to come along with you as you run around and do things. The more respect you have, the more gang members you can recruit at one time. Besides finishing missions, you also gain respect by killing drug dealers and rival gang members. If you are like me, you can have your respect maxed out fairly quickly; being as I have killed upwards of over 5,000 rival gang members in San Andreas (yeah, gangs are kind of big), and a ton of drug dealers as well.

Other stats include muscle--which helps your melee and fist damage; stamina--which allows you to sprint longer, pedal bikes longer, and swim faster; fat-- which says how fat you are; bike--less chance of falling off of a motorcycle; cycle-- less chance of falling off a bicycle and you can bunny hop higher; driving--more control when driving (supposedly); and lung capacity-- which allows you to stay under water longer. Each sat builds up by doing things related to it, obviously, and for some things the progression is much faster than others. Also, for driving, boating, and flying, there are schools you can go to, once opened, which will allow you to try and build up your skills in those areas.

Your max health does not start at 100 at the beginning of the game. As you play, you have a red bar that represents your health. As you spend time playing and your stamina goes up, your max health will also increase until it reaches 100%.

Building off of the stats comes the eating part of San Andreas. I know some people might fear that you might have to worry about eating all the time, and that it would make the game not fun to play, but it works well in practice. Eating restores your health; like a real person you will have to eat periodically in order to keep your strength up. If you go 48 game hours (48 minutes) without eating, you will begin to lose fat; lose all your fat stat and you will begin to lose muscle (which is how it works in real life as well); lose all of your muscle and you begin to lose health directly. Just eating once in a while though, helps to not let you lose any of your stats. But, again, it's not like you need to eat all the time, so don't let that turn you off from playing the game.

There's dating, too... but, it's not the most fleshed out part of the game. And all it really consists of is having a high sex appeal stat, and being the way the girl wants you to be, physically, and taking them on ‘dates'. Still, it is something to do and is completely optional.

One thing to note is that it is a lot easier to get weapons early on in San Andreas than in previous GTA games. Since you are in a constant state of gang warfare, basically, you can get weapons by killing rival gang memebers. Look for the Ballas with their purple, or the Vargas with their yellow colors, in Los Santos, and other gang members in other cities. Killing them gets you their money (if any), as well as any weapons they have. You can pretty easily run around with over 3,000 rounds for mini SMGs and pistols early on, if you just spend some time gang banging.

In addition to gaining Respect, if you want some easy money early on, just look for drug dealers. You can tell who they are, they are either dressed in a black tank top or a grey hooded sweat shirt, and just stand around and move a few steps waiting for people to come up and buy drugs off of them. CJ hates drug pushers, and so you not only get to tell them to run if they talk to you, but each one has a pistol and $2,000 on them when killed. It's quick and easy money, especially because they always have the same amount of money on them, and I've used this tactic many times to get enough money to buy safe houses and other things things that being a man with bling might want. This tacic also works well, early on, because most early missions do not give you money for completing them, just Respect.

The radio stations are more dynamic this time around, with certain parts of the stations changing when you complete certain objectives, especially the news on the talk radio station (also some of the shows have different episodes depending on when you are in the games). Some familiar voices can even be heard on the radio, which is always a good thing.

You can also customize your own look for CJ, by buying clothes and getting new haircuts and tattoos. Play dress up and look how you want to look.

We also can't overlook the ability to climb up small walls and over fences. This is an invaluable asset to have, and one that I make use of often.

On the graphical side, this game is kind of hit and miss. The classic GTA look is still there, but this game needs more contrast and less brightness. There are times that you are either blinded by the sun or the shadows are so dark that you can't make out anything that's going on with your character and others around him. Also, the familiar GTA pop up is here. Sometimes it's not so bad, other times it's horrid. It can get so bad that -- if you are on a really fast motorcycle -- you can actually enter an area a good few seconds before the area loads and be riding along on nothing until you suddenly hit something that literally pops up right in front of you.

On the good side, the cars and such look great and the lighting effects have all been enhanced to look much better than they ever have before. The rain effect also is worlds better than previous instalments. And, in a nice touch, when you reach top speed in a vehicle, a motion blur happens to the rest of the board, which can be really helpful for knowing if you have enough speed to get that unique jump you just found or not.

Something that's always been a strong point in the GTA games is audio, and San Andreas is no different here. The voice acting is superb, as always, and we have a host of star power here including James Woods, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, David Cross, Ice T., Peter Fonda, Bijou Phillips, Wil Wheaton, Andy Dick, Chuck D, Axl Rose, George Clinton, and of course, Lazlow; all of whom make the radio and the cut scenes really work. New to the game is Chris Bellard, AKA rapper "Young Malay," as Carl "CJ" Johnson.

I'm really impressed with Bellard's voice acting. He really brings a lot of life to CJ and makes him a believable and likable character. You get the feeling that CJ is actually a good guy, deep down, but circumstances have just been against him. I crack up when I hit or get hit by another car and he insults them, especially by saying, "Why you allowed to drive when you blind?"... it's classic.

With songs from the early 90's, such as Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus, L7's Pretend We're Dead, Helmet's Unsung, Dr. Dre's Nuthin' but a "G" Thang, NWA's Express Yourself, Public Enemy's Rebel Without a Pause, Sisters With Voice's (SWV) I'm So Into You, Boyz II Men's Mowtownphilly, and others; as well as some REAL country (not this pop-country crap that gets played now a days) like Willie Nelson's Crazy, or Hank William Sr.'s Hey Good Lookin'... the radio stations are something I can listen to for a long time. Of course, the commercials are back, which is half the fun of listening to GTA radio in the first place.

One thing, though: if you are offended by cursing, don't pick this up. San Andreas probably has more uses of the F word than Scarface or South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut. In fact, I think they use all of the seven forbidden words from TV at least once, each, in the game. Also, the racism that is sometimes portrayed by certain characters (like white cops saying they "have a home boy in sight" and excessive use of the N word, for example) could be considered offensive to those who really are sensitive to any sort of possibly off color remarks (mainly those who are extremely Politically Correct). There is a very good reason the game was rated Mature (17+).

The gameplay is classic GTA all the way, just with the additions I mentioned earlier. So, those who like it will love it, and those who don't won't.

One change to mention is the hidden packages from GTA III and Vice City; they're gone. Instead, each city has its own set of things to look for and collect. In Los Santos, you have to find 100 gang tags and cover them up with your own Grove St. 4 Life tags. In San Fierro, you have to take 50 pictures of certain things and in Las Venturas, you have to find 50 horseshoes. There are also 50 oysters to find throughout the areas, as well as 70 unique stunts to find. Those bastards at Rockstar North even fool you by putting in what are really just plain ramps and making you think they're a unique jump, only to be let down. Bastards.

Still, nothing is perfect and, as such, I have a few gripes.

The biggest one is that San Andreas is glitchy, even on my brand new slim PSTwo. Some sound glitches, or glitches with the cell phone conversations forcing you to reset the console (the cell phone conversation screws up and CJ never puts his cell phone away, leaving you unable to do anything, even enter buildings or get to the game menu); as well as graphical glitches like people appearing halfway buried in the sand, or spawning high up in the air and falling to their deaths all make me say that even with the time it took to develop San Andreas, it still seems slightly rushed out to market to meet the Christmas season. A few more months of bug testing would have helped immensely. The game is great though, and we all know it will sell well, no matter if it's released in October or in January or February.

Speaking of spawning people and cars, San Andreas has simply got to stop the spawning of cops every 5 seconds in the cities. You can look around before getting into it with another gang, see no cops, and all of a sudden get a wanted level for your first shot because the game decided to spawn a cop behind you right there and then.

Going with the cop problems, they don't often spawn when you expect them to spawn; like when you have a high wanted level. I suppose it's because Rockstar took out the slight loading screens between major areas, but there have been times I ran around with a 5 star wanted level without a cop to be seen yet, while running around with a 1 star wanted level, I was surrounded by shooting cops. Officers start shooting on a 1 star wanted level now, something that makes taking over territories hard to do at times. Not only do you have the three waves of rival gang members to deal with, but also the cops from the area when you started the gang war. But, if you shoot the cops, you risk having a higher wanted level at the end of the gang war.

There were times when a level 1 wanted star will disappear in a matter of seconds, and others where I have literally run around for 10 minutes not killing or hurting anyone and that damnable wanted level simply will not go away.

I like the fact that they took away the loading screens between major areas (they are still there for buildings, though), really I do. However, if it's going to cause other problems, I'd rather have the few seconds of loading over the troublesome glitches from the game. Blame it on the PS2's hardware and lack of adequate RAM, if you want; but I'd rather have the game run smooth, even if it meant having loading screens when I crossed bridges.

Control-wise, GTA enthusiasts will pick it up without a hitch, but the setup for flying is brutal. I know it's the same controls from Vice City, but I hated those controls in Vice City for flying as well; although they were easier in that game since you only had to worry about using a plane one time in the entire game (one required mission, the rest of the time you could never use it again if you chose). Unfortunately, there are required story missions that force you to fly planes in San Andreas. I'd much rather if they reversed the rudder and pitch controls, as it would be much more intuitive. It is trying to control your pitch/banking that throws you off while trying to fly.

Still, any complaints I do have are minor compared to the sheer fun I had, and am still having with San Andreas. That's why I am giving Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a 10; not because it is perfect, because it isn't, but because the game is just so much damn fun to play. It never gets old, just like Vice City or GTA III, and that's the sign that the formula still works.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And, Rockstar North, the GTA formula ain't broke.

Box art

Media

11.7.2004 - Screenshots