"The best PS2 game ever? Read the review, homies!"

We're all quite aware that the Grand Theft Auto series is one of the most popular game franchises currently out there. Way back on the PlayStation, the first Grand Theft Auto game was revolutionary, dishing out the classic birdseye view and definitely in the Top 10 PS1 games of all time. Due to its success, a sequel was released; Grand Theft Auto 2, which actually was more interactive (different gangs with different styles and their respect for you) and more graphically sound, but didn't really knock off the instant classic that was GTA1 (I'm not even going to comment on GTA: London's disappointment). After the ultra successful PS1 campaign, Grand Theft Auto III hit the brand new PlayStation 2 console in October 2001, this time in fully 3D and, well.. what can I say? This game revolutionized the games industry and was an instant classic - a definite 10/10 game which everybody would be immediately addicted to. Then, with even more fans than ever after the mass success of GTA3, Rockstar than released a sequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which was set in the 1980's and you played as a more interactive character that actually spoke. But despite improving in areas, GTA: Vice City just didn't have the mass impact and draw ability that GTA3 had at that time, so it didn't really beat it's predecessor. Now, finally, 2 years later in 2004, Rockstar released the third and final city (Liberty and Vice City being the previous two settings, respectively) San Andreas. Will the game actually be a let down or could it knock off the greatness that was GTA3 and Vice City? All will be answered in my review of, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

GamePlay
What can I say? Grand Theft Auto is one of those games that has some of the best Gameplay elements in this genre. I'm sure we're all aware of the greatness that the GTA series possesses, so I'll focus on the new Gameplay additions added into GTA: San Andreas. First off is the now the ability to eat to survive. If you don't eat you'll become very skinny but if you eat too much you'll become obese, so it's now up to you to maintain a suitable diet. You'll generally have to eat before a mission because not eating during a mission might actually force you to have less stamina and become drowsy. You have quite a lot of choices for food, mainly the fast-food places like Burger Shot, Well Stacked Pizza and a place for Chicken which I have oddly forgot the name of right now. But aside from this, you'll also find small food places on trolleys scattered across San Andreas, which is good for a quick pick-up if you're desperate.

Finally, you now have the ability to swim. Me, and every GTA gamer out there, would become heavily frustrated with previous games when you'd accidently plunge into the water in car or on foot and just die. Thankfully, you don't have to worry about that anymore, which definitely brings a sigh of relief when in a major chase. It's just a delight if you compare it to the previous games as you can just escape your vehicle and swim back to the land.

Another fantastic addition is the ability to now modify your CJ (main character). I'm not talking about the fat/thin stuff I stated earlier, but the fact that you can actually enter gym's and work out. Yes, that's right. You can use a variety of machines like the Treadmill, one of those machine bikes or lift weights to build up your muscle (the others increase stamina). This is yet another excellent, grade A addition that Rockstar North have put in. On the topic of modifying your character so it looks different than everybody elses, you can give your CJ new haircuts and tattoos. I'm not deeply into the tattoos, but I love going to the barber's and picking up a new haircut (even an afro!).

There's also new places to visit aswell. In San Andreas you've now got your betting shops where you place money on a horse and watch it race. If it wins, you'll win big, but if you lose, you'll lose big. This is one of my personal favorite places to make money and favorite places on the game - a great addition yet again. Who can also forget the casino's? All the regular games are there such as Blackjack, Roulette and Slot Machines - very fun games to play and bet your money on. What about the cool addition of videogames? Yep, you can actually play arcade games in the shops or bars and even play pool in the bars aswell or basketball in certain areas! There's about 3 videogames in total and they're actually quite fun and definitely add to that early 90's theme. A car mod shop is also now put into the game, where you can take your car and change the color, add nitro, hydraulics and many more modifications to your vehicle. What about the new addition of acquiring actual car, boat, plane and bike licenses from their schools? Seriously, I could go on all day about these new and absolute fantastic additions to the already great GTA franchise.

The controls are very much the same, except that the D-pad now has a more 'interactive' role. When talking to a person, you can press left or right on the D-pad for a negative or positive response, respectively. In the car, up and down on the D-pad now scroll through the Radio stations which used to be L1 and R1 (L1 now has more of an Action button role). So that's pretty much the differences in the controls, everything else is the same as previous Grand Theft Auto's on the PS2.

Another excellent improvement from the previous PS2 games is the artificial intelligence (AI). Thankfully, you will now see police officers chase after other criminals but not just on foot this time, you'll see them fly by in cars aswell and may witness a big gun battle if you're lucky. There are also police helicopters patrolling the skies and chasing down other criminals. Also, a thing that really ticked me off in the previous GTA's is that if another person attacked you and a cop was nearby, he wouldn't do anything at all and just walk by as if you're ghosts. Now the cops will actually take action on the person if you don't attack back. Pedestrian AI has also been upgraded, allowing people to talk on the street to each other about random stuff, but sometimes conversations can be a bit odd and last about 5 seconds, but it's not a major problem.

You've still got all of your extra stuff to get after completing the missions to acquire the magic 100% completion (with the missions in total about 70% of the game). But instead of collecting just 100 packages, you now have to spray tags, collect horseshoes, oysters and take photographs with your camera. So as you can tell, there's plenty more to do than previous games.

Graphics
The graphical features isn't where the GTA series dominates, but does it really need to? People complain that the graphics are poor, when they're actually pretty good and nothing to complain about. The pedestrians in the game stick look the same, but with different clothing and appearances, of course. The cars now look more cellshaded than in the previous two games and graphically are improved.

I'm thankful to say that I really haven't encountered any major glitches in San Andreas yet. In GTA3 and Vice City you'd sometimes bump into glitches that could take you under the whole city and into darkness. I've heard many stories of things like ghost cars in San Andreas, but I haven't encountered any of that as of yet.

The locations now look better than before. Each place is unique in some kind of way. For example, Los Santos is the place where gang rules and not the most polished place of all, San Fierro is the kind of working city with tall buildings and Las Venturas is, of course, the rich place where all the casino's are located and all the bright lights are. I am delighted with how they all look. For the places in between, the Countryside and Desert, they too are modeled out pretty well and look to scale. I enjoy driving around aimlessly in the Countryside because it actually looks good, the same for the Desert. I'm very impressed with the visuals in San Andreas, I don't understand why people complain about them.

Sound/Audio
You should know by now that GTA games offer great radio stations each with its own style. Of course, San Andreas is no different and there are around 10 radio stations that you can listen to while driving or when it's on pause. There's the usual stuff like Rock, Rap and Chat but there's also other minor genres like Country and Dance included. The radio should fit everybody's tastes as if they like rock music, they'd tune into Radio:X or if they're into rap music (which certainly fits this game) they'd tune into Radio Los Santos. Unfortunately on WCTR (the talk station), Lazlow isn't the focus point but he hosts a show called 'Entertaining America' which is better than nothing, at least. The radio isn't as effective as GTA3 or Vice City, but it's still pretty good and not worth muting.

As for the voice acting goes, there's a few well known actors in there who voice some characters. Definitely Samuel L. Jackson is by far the most popular and really does a fantastic job. But no matter how popular the actor, every voice fits each character tremendously well. Most may not of known of Young Maylay before his voice in this, but he really does a great job as Carl Johnson. I'm really impressed with the voice acting and it definitely brings you into the story more.

Story
Carl Johnson returns to Los Santos after 5 years in Liberty City. He finds out that his mother has been murdered and upon his arrival, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. The cops inform Carl that they're watching him and drop him off in Ballas territory (the rival gang). Carl then returns to Grove Street and sees it's in a mess since he left.. so he'll have to make a name for himself again. The story is certainly very good and one I got hooked by, especially as it progresses. Some of the characters you will absolutely love and get pulled in by, so it's extremely effective. Well done again, Rockstar.

Replayability
You should know by now that it's not an easy road to get 100%.. and even if you do, you will have tremendous fun just roaming around and messing about or doing some of the new improvements in San Andreas like betting and gambling. There's a hell of a lot to do, even if you complete the game, so the replayability factor is huge.

Buy or Rent?
Don't dely - buy this game now! Even if you don't own all GTA games like me or haven't even played any of the games, pick it up - you certainly will NOT regret it. The mass fun you can have is just immense and will tickle anybody's tastebuds. You'll simply be drooling as soon as you start playing, so definitely, 100% buy.

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is yet another excellent game to the GTA franchise. It's better than Vice City and also beats my precious gem that was GTA3 aswell, so it's definitely a must have game for anyone's PS2 collection. GTA: San Andreas is probably the best game ever on the PS2.. but definitely in the top 3 at least. Hours and hours of fun yet again in a GTA game. Thank you, Rockstar and Rockstar North.

Overall: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/04