Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

"Best Game In the Best Series"

The very first Grand Theft Auto game hit the PC in 1998. It started a one of the most popular series in gaming history. Soon later, GTA 2 and GTA London were shipped to game store. Then, Grand Theft Auto went 3D when Rockstar produced Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Playstation 2. The Grand Theft Auto series started for me back in 2001 when I picked up GTA 3 at a game store. A few years later I bought GTA Vice City, which was decent, but not as good as its predecessor. GTA San Andreas hit stores a month ago and has sold more copies then GTA 3 or GTA Vice City did. If you played this game, it wouldn't take you long to find out why. San Andreas has basically taken 3 and Vice City and added a ton of new features. In fact, there are so many new features, the game had to be put on Dual-Layered DVDs! If you still are not convinced to buy this game as soon as you can, keep on reading.

Story --- 10/10
The story in San Andreas is superb and tops all the other GTA games. Carl Johnson (CJ) heads back to San Andreas after living in Liberty City for 5 years. He returns because his mother is dead. But the gang life of Los Santos (a part of San Andreas) pulls him back in and CJ has to take back the streets from a tough and determined enemy… The Ballas. Your old friends think you are a busta (someone who chickens out), so you must gain their respect back.

Graphics/Sound --- 8/10
Easily the low end of the entire game and what drags my score down from a 10 to a 9. The character models are well done but the character's hands look like loaves of bread. Gun models are well done. The sound of weapons has been completely revamped (redone) and now sound like actual guns. The sun looks real but can be a killer when driving because it blinds you. The voice acting is very good. Young Maylay really does a good job voicing CJ and makes him feel like a true gangsta. Samuel L. Jackson voices the bad guy. He does an even better job then Young Maylay does with CJ. He plays an excellent bad guy and Chris Penn does a good job voicing his evil partner.

Gameplay --- 9/10
Absolutely amazing. Rockstar really struck gold here. The amount of things you can do in this game will keep you busy and interested for hours and hours. You can eat, do four-person drive-bys, swim, participate in triathlons, take pictures of important landmarks, buy property, run a gang, take over enemy gang territory, and of course, do the story missions and MUCH, much more.

Eating regains health and also gives you energy to sprint, swim and do other activities. The more you eat the more energy you gain. But if you eat too much, you get fat and can't run worth a darn. If you have some gang homies in your car and an enemy is threatening the car, they will open fire through windows, over the hood, anywhere they can. Swimming is a new and very welcomed feature. In other GTA games, you died instantly if you fell in the water. Triathlons involve you competing against competitors in swimming, biking, and other things. You can get a camera and take photos and add them to your gallery. You can buy safe houses to change your clothes and save your game. When you earn enough respect from doing the main story missions, you can recruit gang members off the street to help you fight. Each gang owns part of Los Santos. Later in the game you will be allowed to start turf wars in certain areas to take away parts of the city that a rival gang controls. This will give you weapon experience, which you get from firing at something and hitting, and cash that generates daily in front of your house. If you should become fat or want to get buff, you can go to the local gym and work out. You can use the bike or treadmill to lose fat and gain stamina. Do some bench pressing to get some muscles. When you get enough muscles you can learn new moves from the instructor and become more skilled in hand-to-hand combat. You can also go out with girlfriends. When you take a girlfriend out on enough dates, you will get her car. Date her even more and you will get a special outfit, like a police uniform. And of course, you can always take time off from the main story missions to do the odd jobs. Odd jobs are small missions that are activated when you enter a certain type of car. For example, paramedic missions in an ambulance.

There have been myths invented like Bigfoot wandering around in the countryside of San Andreas. You can grab a car and go look for Bigfoot out in the countryside if you believe in the myth. Some people have said they have been even attacked by Bigfoot! Be careful! The targeting system has been redone, as well. When you aim, the camera sort of rests on your shoulder and a targeting reticule surrounds your target. The color of the reticule changes colors depending on how healthy your target is.

Gameplay gets a 9/10 from me because the eating system can sometimes get in the way of missions and it can be extremely annoying. There are also a few slowdowns every once in a while, but they have never interfered with my gameplay so you are safe. There have also been reports of people's games freezing. It is rare and has also never happened to me. It might just depend on your system. People have also said that their girlfriends have disappeared and are not ever at their houses anymore. This has happened to me, but, fortunately, came back a few days later. This is very annoying because you lose hard-earned relationship points (progress you gain from spending time with your girlfriends) with the girlfriend that has disappeared.

Replayability --- 9/10
Once you complete the main story missions, there is still plenty of stuff to do. You can do the odd jobs, collect horseshoes, collect the oysters, snap the important photos and much, much more. Then, as always, you can work towards 100%. When you reach 100%, the game is basically telling you that you've done everything. Its very difficult to reach 100%, but once you feel very good since its so hard of a goal to accomplish. I give it a 9 because the story missions do not change and are same-old same-old the second time you play them, as it was with the last 2 GTA games.

Final Recommendation --- BUY
BUY THIS GAME! If you are really good at GTA games and think you can beat it in a rent… BUY IT ANYWAY! A lot of people say this game is bad because they got half way through the game in a rent and said it was bad. You have to play the game completely to give a fair review of this game. There are a ton of cool features that are not unlocked until you beat the game or get very far into it. I cannot stress this enough. BUY THIS GAME! It makes a great Christmas present. This is best game so far in the GTA series and one of the best games I have ever played in my entire life!!!!!!! But be advised: This game may NOT be suitable for children under the age of seventeen. This game contains blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/24/04