Blair Space: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

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http://games.blairspace.com/reviews/109.html

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto was a good game. Then Grand Theft Auto III came out and it added a 3D world to the GTA series. Popularity shot up but it wasn’t going to stop there. Rockstar then released Grand Theft Auto: Vice City set in the 80’s with a whole role play storyline put into the game.

So how do you follow up this legacy? Well you could bring out a game that covers an entire state. Grant Theft Auto San Andreas covers three entire cities and all of the countryside that lines between them. The latest product to come out the GTA factory is no disappointment.

You begin the game in Los Santos. As ever with Grand Theft Auto it is based on an existing city, in this case it is Los Angeles. There is also San Fierro (based on San Francisco) and Las Venturas (predictably based on Las Vegas). Each one offering their unique feel and style.

Luckily Rockstar made sure it wasn’t just an overstretched Rugrats the movie style game. As the size of the game grows so does the amount of activities to do so wherever you are you will find something fun to do. It is not just a series of missions driving some one side to the other as Driver tended to be.

The storyline behind the game is that Carl heads back home after spending five years in Liberty City due to his mother being killed. Soon he finds himself back in the middle of the gang culture he left to escape from.

First order of business when you arrive home is to your gang, the Grove Street Families back on top against your local rival, Ballas. You, along with the three other leaders of the gang set out to take back the territory that used to belong to your gang. Of course that is just part one of the game.

San Andreas, like Vice City has a linear timeline behind it allowing you to RP yourself through a storyline to complete the game. The excuse for the restrictions this time is an earthquake (in Vice City it was some storms that meant they had to close the bridges for a while).

The game has familiarities with the previous games. As well as cameo appearances by old characters, you will be doing the same kind of missions as you are used to in the Grand Theft Auto series such as taking people out, driving people around, stealing things and so on. San Andreas also has plenty of none standard missions too which keeps the game interesting.

New features such as being able to do combo moves when fighting and being able to ride bicycles and gain or lose weight add a new depth of realism to the game. Your character can finally swim as well so no more drowning in three feet of water. He can also jump and climb over things rather than just running into them and wondering why he isn’t getting anywhere.

San Andreas also has the option of a two player mode. On certain missions (although it is restricted to these missions only) you can let your friend join in on the second controller. You both have to stay on the screen together but it is defiantly a step forward to massive multiplayer gang wars which I think we are all looking forward to in future games.

Though personally I didn’t think the graphics for Vice City were particularly impressive, San Andreas continues to improve these and offer quite a realistic portrayal of the areas in which you find yourself. Plus there is no loading time separating each area which is great.

As with Vice City the audio for San Andreas is top quality with a great cast put together for the voice talent. The radio stations fall short of the standard set in Vice City though (that said it was a really high standard) and there is only one talk station which I was disappointed about.

Overall, San Andreas is an excellent next generation of Grand Theft Auto. It feels almost like a whole new game rather than just a sequel, which is something Rockstar have been very good at doing in each of the previous versions of GTA. If you liked any of the previous games, get this one.