When it comes to Grand Theft Auto, each entry in the PS2-era 3D trilogy would include a couple of improvements to the original recipe. The biggest change was never that, however. In fact, some might say that the upgrades were usually superficial, with all three titles being essentially the same. For the most part, that’s true since the biggest difference between them was the setting and their overall vibe. GTA III was a New York-themed mafia tale, while Vice City was an ‘80s-smelling ode to Miami Vice and Scarface. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the gangsta entry. Ghettos, hood tags, hip-hop, and tons of weed and bullets, in a state inspired by California and Nevada, and by extension the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, the third 3D GTA has frequently found itself at the top of lists of the best games in the series for its gargantuan world, storytelling, and polished gameplay. The reality is somewhat different…
Liberty City was New York. Vice City was Miami. San Andreas is a whole state, and it combines miniature versions of California and Nevada! The adventure starts in the crime-ridden ghettos and richie-rich neighbourhoods of the Los Angeles-inspired city of Los Santos, and it is easy to see that this is a step up from what came before. Highly detailed, complex, and quite large, you can spend hours upon hours getting immersed into this microcosm – and that’s only the beginning. There’s a gargantuan countryside to get lost into, the desert of Las Venturas and its neon-lit casinos, as well as a copy of San Francisco by the name of San Fierro.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is very, very, very large. Sadly, it still has the same problem as before, and due to the size of the world it’s now even more obvious. The whole thing is an enormous sandbox, with most of the area available being completely empty. The whole thing remains visually impressive, even if the improvements from Vice City aren’t that obvious. Don’t forget that the series always had to sacrifice visual quality to handle the scale of the world, so it wouldn’t be fair to compare it with the likes of Half Life 2 or Doom 3. That being said, San Andreas feels real.
The amount of care given to the design of the world is exceptional, with each region having its own distinct character – although later areas haven’t seen the same level of care as Los Santos. Tons of different NPCs, myriads of sound effects that give life to the game world, and many little details, from billboards advertising/parodying all kinds of stuff, to cops saying crazy things when they use their radio. The soundtrack remains top notch, with the stations ranging from hip-hop and soul and funk, to country, house, more country, and a talk station – all with their own DJs this time. Oh, and by the way, lots of funny, satirical commercials that make fun of…well, everything.
Okay, GTA: San Andreas is fun. There’s no doubt about that. The problem still persists, however: there’s not much to do, or to be more precise, nothing of substance. Aside from the main missions (which are now surprisingly varied) most of the things that can be done will be done just to tick a box. Taxi missions, pimping, burglaries, train robberies. There’s even a dating sim of sorts included, where you take a girl out for a drink, a bite, or a shootout, and then go back to her place for some “coffee.” Fun, right? Err, not really. The inclusion of a lite-RPG system is also something that feels out of place, and like many other things here, isn’t really that crucial to the game.
The player character can work out to get stronger, get fat by eating too much, and change his attire or haircut. Moreover, he can get better at various skills, from driving to running, usually by simply doing all these for a long time so that a gauge slowly fills up. Some are definitely helpful, like the bigger health bar, or the increased bike riding skill as it makes it harder to fall off when hit, but others, like sex appeal or lung capacity (for swimming) are pretty useless. Oh, and you are finally able to swim, so water is no longer an instant death spot.
A couple more things have been included, but most are either insignificant or simply don’t work that well. The “Stealth mode” for instance rarely gets the chance to shine, and when it does, it’s easy to see that it hasn’t spent much time in the oven. Concerning the vehicles, cars as well as motorbikes (plus normal bikes) probably are at their best here, but everything else is bad, bad, bad. Whereas boats are pieces of Styrofoam that are just annoying to handle, anything that flies will give you an aneurism.
When it comes to the setting and the themes explored, San Andreas heavily revolves around gangsta culture, which means that those who find that laughable rather than cool, will roll their eyes at every complex handshake or F-word dropped. Players assume the role of Carl Johnson, who just got out of jail and returns to his neighbourhood, only to see that crime has increased and that his “family” of homies has lost the respect it once commanded.
Is the story good, bad or mediocre? Irrelevant. The important bit is that this tries to be the most “serious” in the trilogy and, to be honest, kind of fails, as all three PS2-era GTAs are at their best when they are ridiculous. Simply put, while there are attempts to make people sympathise with CJ, few will. His momma died? A friend betrayed him? A corrupt cop (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) is not letting him stand on his feet? Boo-freaking-hoo. More of the crazy secret agent, the moronic, worthless MC, and the arrogant pimp Jizzy B, please!
Besides the story, the whole gangsta theme adds one more thing, though. CJ will be able to recruit members of Grove Street, and then try to capture rival gang territories. This begins as quite the addictive deal. You’ll forget about the main missions and start going from enemy area to enemy area to gain control of it…but the issues will soon appear. First of all, friendly AI is a joke. Go solo. After all, enemy AI is a joke too, so it will be easy to fight wave after wave of those if you have enough bullets. Secondly, the whole thing is extremely repetitive, and occasionally it’s hard to even engage a rival gang, as there will be no one in the area to shoot in order to do so.
As a whole, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is pretty much “just another GTA.” Even with the various additions and improvements, it’s very similar to what came before to really make a difference. Those who loved previous entries will love this too. All those who have grown tired should go straight to Grand Theft Auto IV.
