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XGD > Xbox > Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
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Reviews Grand Theft Auto at its best. Boyz in the Hood + GTA = Heaven., October 23, 2005 Rating: 9.0/10 By Mitch To get things started, let me say I've never seen such a superb improvement in gaming in my entire life. GTA: SA is more than just a sequel. Not even GTA3 and GTA: VC combined could equal the immense, brilliant world of San Andreas. There's no point in rambling about how good this game is, read for yourself to discover why San Andreas is a truly brilliant game.
The game revolves the character you assume control of, Carl Johnson. He's now back in San Andreas's toughest city, Los Santos, to attend the funeral of his mother, after living in Liberty City for five years. He once escaped the life of a gangster, and made it out of the ghetto, but after seeing his former gang is now in shambles and barely brought together, he makes the decision to stay, to put the set back on top where it belongs. Of course, GTA: SA isn't all about being a gangster. In the beginning, the first ten or twenty missions revolve around the ghetto, where Carl, AKA CJ is barely making any money, making it hard to buy the things you'll need to keep CJ in shape and up to date. I'll narrow each subject down, and give you an explanation to how it's changed, and how it's better or worse than in the past Grand Theft Auto games.
Landscape: Previously, before the release of GTA: SA, we were given many clues that San Andreas would indeed be the next game in the series. For one, it's the third city in the original Grand Theft Auto, and there is a tiny reference on a Vice City talk radio station. People still gave their own opinions, the next big one being "GTA: Sin City," based off of Las Vegas. No one was disappointed when San Andreas was released, namely because both parties were correct. San Andreas isn't a city. It is a massive, three island state based off of California. The environment is extremely realistic, and features three massive cities, along with over ten small towns between them, as well as various different locations, such as farms, trailer parks, and a gigantic mountain. The first city we visit is Los Santos, based off of Los Angeles. Remarkably, Rockstar Games accurately recreated the city, and morphed it into what we would expect to find in a GTA game. There are many familiar locations, and suburbs play off of LA rather accurately. For example, Compton is Ganton, Inglewood is Idlewood, and even Hollywood is present in Los Santos as Vinewood. As we progress, we'll move onto the country side, which accurately portrays the rural areas of the United States of America. Each town is very detailed, and pedestrians often have accents and wear clothing reminiscent to a hillbilly's. In fact, there are quite a few rednecks drifting through the towns, passing on odd comments to CJ as he walks by. The second city you'll make your way to is San Fierro, the twin to San Francisco. My only gripe about San Fierro is that it really doesn't play off of San Francisco's locations, but it does look the same. As one would expect, SF is covered in various short to steep hills, making driving fast a bit rough on your car as you'll sometimes be flying through the air and landing on an unlucky pedestrian. When leaving SF, you'll report straight to Las Venturas, the Las Vegas substitute. Las Venturas is the most accurate city recreated in Grand Theft Auto, and clones exact casino models from the actual city itself, and only changes its name. For example, the Mirage looks exactly the same; however it's cleverly been named the Visage. There are hardly any independent casinos in Venturas you wouldn't find in the actual Las Vegas, and those who have visited the city itself will probably be as stunned as I was. To add on to the realism, Las Venturas is surrounded by a massive desert area, filled with mountains, boulders, and dead plants… anything you'd find in a desert really. San Andreas may not be the biggest MMORPG, beaten by a few games, but it is most certainly the best.
Gangs: Where we start in Los Santos, CJ discovers that the gang he was once heavily involved in, led by his brother Sweet, has now been overrun by the arch enemy gang, the Ballas. The gang you will become reacquainted with is the Grove Street Families, now a small gang which now just simply operates out of some of Ganton, and more particularly, Grove Street itself, Carl's former neighborhood. Of course, the gangs of LS are based off of real time Los Angeles gangs. Gang colors are involved here, and Families wear the color the green, and Ballas have claimed purple. To blend in with your set, you may want to go and purchase some green clothes to get more respect from your fellow gang members. These gangsters are nothing compared to those of GTA3 and Vice City, either. Now, instead of charging at you, and firing at you point blank until you die, things operate a little more realistically. If you're spotted by some Ballas, who will conveniently be standing on a street corner, smoking and drinking, bullets won't fly right away. You'll be confronted, most likely harassed before attacked. Usually, you can stand there for a good few moments before they draw guns and knives and attack, and if you run, they'll chase you for a few seconds before shooting. Of course, both Families and Ballas have an incredible hate for eachother. If a car filled with Ballas is to pass you and your gang members, your men will flash their gang signs at the car, before chasing it down to pull the passengers out and knock them around for a while. All of this makes the world of Grand Theft Auto incredibly realistic, and a lot more fun.
Vehicles: San Andreas features such a significant change in vehicles; it almost looks and feels as if you're playing as a different game. Of course, 98% of cars from Vice City have made it to San Andreas, some of them remodeled for an early 90's appearance. A huge improvement is that they've all been remade. It's fairly hard to explain. The cars are the same model, but the design on them has increased heavily. We'll use the Washington as an example. Obviously, when you first encounter it, it's the same exact model from Vice City. However, it seems larger, more appropriate to the characters size, and certain things look more realistic, such as the tail lights being wider to make them look realistic. Not only have all the cars been remodeled, but the have extra features which make them a lot more realistic. When we brake, instead of a big blob of red light appearing behind our car, each tail light lights up in a proper and realistic manner. Like before, we can knock out one of our headlights, but all of us have noticed in the previous games that the road lights up on both sides in front of the car, despite the fact that one of the lights has been shattered. Now, that's changed, and if one is shattered, that side of the red will be respectively dark, absent of light. There are so many new cars featured, a majority of them based off of real life cars. I've had this game for months now, and I still haven't memorized all of them. For those of you who wished we had more customizing options, you're in luck. 90% of the vehicles here can go into the Transfender body shop, and be equipped with your choice of rims, spoilers, lights, roofs, and more. There a select few cars that are able to be taken to a more advanced shop, known as Arch Wheel Angels, which have massive customizing options, such as extremely detailed boy kits and rims. There are many more options, but I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. There are more interactive and realistic vehicles across the state that you'll encounter, such as tow trucks, tractors, harvesters, and even bull dozers. Many new motorcycles are featured, and the police have also been given once. Not only do they cruise the streets in squad cars, but they now have realistic looking police bikes. Did I mention we also get a bicycle? Oh yes, no explanation needed. You can pedal fast, pedal slow, bunny hop, and crash into things resulting in flipping over the handle bars and getting a couple bruises.
But if you're like me, and don't like traveling long distances at a constant pace, planes and helicopters will probably take your interest. Forget the single Skimmer in Vice City that traveled at a slow pace as if there wasn't any gravity. The Skimmer does return, however, behind it are six or seven brand new planes, such a small crop duster, a large cargo plane, an extremely fast fighter jet and a gigantic 747 reminiscent plane that reaches high altitudes easily. Helicopters have become harder to fly, but there are also a few more of them. Sadly, this makes no difference, as they all have the same controls and stats as the basic Maverick from VC. Despite this, it is better to know there is a few more lingering around, to make the environment more realistic.
AI: Rockstar Games injected the artificial intelligence system with ten grams of speed, and burnt it onto the San Andreas disc for us to witness. Cops and enemies don't just run up to you and fire from three feet away. Now, they've all gotten smarter and rather clever at times. Some tough-guy cops will insist on standing close by and firing, yes, but a majority of them crouch and run, making them harder to fire at, and duck behind vehicles before firing. This is probably my own favorite improvement.
Weapons: Rockstar didn't really treat us with any new weapons here, sadly. Instead, they've modified them to be used in two ways. Now, we not forced to auto aim with specific weapons. All guns have the ability to be aimed in any direction you please, if you want to go freestyle and start gunning down groups of people at your own will. Alternatively, if you're experienced enough with a certain single handed weapon, you're able to hold two of that weapon. This only works with pistols, sub machine guns and the sawed off shotgun, but really, what else more could you ask for?
Sub Missions: We've got vigilante missions, fire fighting missions… all the same as before, but we've got some nice additions, such as the ability to take the bulky Boxville at a certain time of night and rob houses. This is a very fun mini game, in which you park outside, and sneak into a house, looking for goods. If you find something, such as a VCR, you'll pick it up, and sneak outside, storing it in your truck, where it can later be sold for some extra cash. Money doesn't come too easy in San Andreas.
Diet: Ever disappointed with how boring eating was in Vice City? All you did was eat a $50 meal to have your health restored, which was as uninteresting as eating in real life. Now, we have several fast food areas through San Andreas, with different variations of meals that do more than just restore your health. We now have stats in San Andreas, going from fat, to muscle, to sex appeal. If we eat a meal with too much fat, our meter will possibly go up, not only changing your stats but your appearance. Eventually, if you keep eating like a prick, your fat can go to its max, making CJ a walking mountain of fat. Sprinting and running is out of the question, and the only way to lose weight is to ride a bike, run, or go to the gym. In the gym, we can use the treadmill to gain stamina and lose weight, whereas the weights allow you to gain more muscle. Sex appeal goes high when CJ starts pumping more iron, turning out to look more like Vin Diesel, with one hell of a punch.
Interactivity:- If you've got enough respect, you can recruit Grove Street gang members to follow you and ride with you. In addition, while in a car, they'll hang out the windows and fire at any rival gangs or the police if they're on your tail.
- If a pedestrian says something to CJ, you can now respond. Use the analogue button left for a negative response, and right for positive. This is also how to pick up prostitutes.
- Aside from diet, CJ can buy up to 100 different items of clothing and apparel, and mix them up as we'd wish. This means no more outfits from Vice City, and we could mix an Armani like jacket with cheap shorts and sandals if we desired. There are also a huge range of haircuts to choose from.
- We can swim!
- The environment has a lot of interactive features, including the ability to climb over fences, and onto high ledges such as building roofs.
So, there's a lot more to San Andreas, but why ruin it for you? This game is an experience, with a detailed storyline, environment… hell, everything is detailed. Want to learn more? Play it for yourself, the bible says so.
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