Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Welcome to America!!!

Rockstar Games could have taken the easy way out with their newest Grand Theft Auto game. Add some new characters here, put some songs there, add a few missions, and you got a final product that will sell millions. But that’s not the case for San Andreas. Instead, Rockstar wanted to prove that they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Their latest trip through the Grand Theft Auto world finds the company fine tuning many gameplay elements and including new features that increase the longevity and complexity of the game.

Story
San Andreas is tale about family and friends. The main character, Carl Johnson, returns home after hearing the news of his mother’s death. Once back in his familiar surroundings, Carl reunites with his sister and older brother. From there, the gamer is introduced to the neighborhood and its inhabitants. Carl stumbles upon old friends and now must participate in the street life he left behind years ago in order to find answers about his family and problems occurring in the hood. The story unfolds with the use of cut-scenes and dialog during missions. Corrupt cops, drug dealers, gang members, and bank robbers are all interwoven flawlessly to tell a long and interesting story.

Gameplay
Unlike previous GTAs, where characters are quickly given high paying jobs, CJ starts out with no financial connections. But once he's established a name for himself, he'll get phone calls from individuals requesting his services. Anyway, the first few missions pay no money. Instead, respect is earned from fellow companions. Missions are as varied as ever. Sure there’s the typical stuff like retrieve an item and drive a person to a certain location. But as you move along more elaborate tasks arise. You’ll have to use stealth tactics to get by guards in a mansion. A lowrider competition presents you with a Dance Dance Revolution setup in which you have to press the correct buttons that appear on the screen. Later down the road you find yourself steering a forklift and placing crates of stolen merchandise into a getaway truck. But the thing that sticks out the most is that many missions are cinematic and action packed. There are some awesome chase scenes with enemies flying left and right across the screen.

Landscapes
San Andreas is a replica of metropolitan areas found in California and Nevada. The first city you start out with is Los Santos (Los Angeles). Each neighborhood is given a generic name that fits that area’s characteristics. Downtown is filled with skyscrapers and shops while East Los Santos contains rundown houses, gang members, and dilapidated streets. The other two main cities are knockoffs of San Francisco and Las Vegas. Surprisingly, it doesn’t stop there. These big cities are connected by long freeways that span dynamic countrysides and miles of desert land. You’ll be able to drive by small towns filled with farmers and cowboy hat wearing police officers. Trees, rivers, rocks, bridges, railroad tracks, tunnels, and a few rural houses make up the rest of San Andreas diverse landscape.

Stats & New Features
One of the biggest changes to the series is the use of stats for various aspects of your character. Some include stamina, fat, respect, sex appeal, and muscle. Each stat affects the way your character performs. Take stamina for example. Stamina allows you to sprint over long distances. In order to increase this stat, you have to go the gym and hit the treadmill or bicycle. If you eat too much fast food your character will get fat and as a result loses speed and mobility. So that means you have to watch what you eat and make sure you’re running around every now and then. You can also gain muscle by lifting weights. This will help increase the power of your physical attacks. Speaking of stats, driving and guns now have skill points. These points are earned by using your guns and different vehicles frequently. Using a machine gun regularly means improved targeting and faster reloading. Driving motorcycles earns you points that will help you withstand crashes and spinouts.

A few more spicy ingredients have been added to the recipe. Clothes, haircuts, and tattoos can play a role in your street credibility. Even what you drive can increase your stats. Getting your car custom fitted with a new bumper and a slick paintjob can help you gain points from your crew. Simply put, the better you look the more respect you’ll get from your gang and strangers. That respect can then be used to aid you in your confrontations. If a rival gang is trying to take over your territory, you can approach your fellow members and ask them to join the fight. A high respect total means you’ll have more members in your group.

Upgrades
A lot of problems that plagued previous GTAs have been fixed or are better executed. For starters, gamers have a few more options with driving visibility. Moving the right analog stick up moves the camera above the car giving you a view of what’s ahead. This is useful when you’re climbing a hill and can’t see in front of you. The left analog stick gives you the ability to move the camera completely around your car for a helpful 360 view. Cars have a tighter feel and a greater sense of speed on the road. As a result there are less flip over accidents and recovering from accidents is much easier. Character actions have also been improved. You can now climb fences, swim underwater, and crouch walk. The targeting system for weapons has been greatly improved, and there’s even a manual aim cursor for guns.

Problems
When it comes to the game's flaws, there's not much to cry about. Most of the problems I have with the game probably won't bother other gamers. My first complaint is the size of the game. San Andreas is huge! I mean, freaking huge! Driving from one city to the next can easily take 10 to 15 minutes. Some of the long driving missions are overwhelming at first. Luckily, there are handful of missions in which you can skip the traveling. One thing that gets to me is that you have to repeatedly check your map. There are just so many icons, streets, and freeway exits that you must double-check the map constantly if you want to reach a specific location. My last gripe is the difficulty with some missions. A majority of them can be beaten in a couple repeats. But a few of them can get frustrating and take an hour of retries to complete.

Graphics
Visually, the opening scenes and first footsteps on the streets weren’t impressive. It’s not until you hop into a car and start roaming the city that you start to see all the details. The city layouts are well-constructed and almost every area has a different feel. Car models are similar from previous games, and a couple new vehicles such as a BMX bike color things up. Character models are nearly identical to what we’ve seen from the series. There are some new animations and of course more details for clothing and personal accessories. Overall, everything looks good. Problems like slowdown and pop-up are still noticeable, but considering everything you’re getting at once, it’s easily overlooked.

Sound
Sound has played an integral part in every GTA, and San Andreas’ effort is no joke. Great acting talent was used to move the story along. Samuel L. Jackson gives a great performance as a corrupt cop. Charlie Murphy adds some style and shadiness as a certified pimp and strip club owner. A handful of other well-known actors make up the rest of the cast. Dialog has changed the most however. It seems like every conversation utilizes the “F” word. And if that’s not present, then you’ll be treated to other not so polite words. Sound effects are sufficient. Engines vary from car to car while explosions and gunshots do their job.

Music
The soundtrack is incredible. It’s an enormous collection of early 90s tracks and classics from decades ago. Hip-Hop seems to play the biggest role. There are solid songs from Public Enemy, Slick Rick, and Eric B & Rakim. Things get gangsta with a load of west coast tracks from Dr. Dre, Tupac, Ice Cube, and NWA. Other station genres include House, Soul, Alternative, Classic Rock, Country, and Reggae. With over 150 tracks, it’s really hard to find something you don’t like. A cool feature is that when you jump into a different car, the radio station is tuned to the same station you were listening to before. I really wish I could go more in depth with the music, but hey, you’re just going to have to wait for my box set review of the soundtrack next month.

Overall
In terms of replay value and bang for your buck, you can’t go wrong with San Andreas. The game will easily take 40+ hours to complete, and that’s just the story aspect. Fooling around with the numerous customizable features, participating in mini-games, performing side quests, or simply cruising the city streets will kill just as much hours. The amount of things you can do are almost endless. The game is a small step toward revolutionizing the series. Features such as keeping your character in shape, gaining respect by the actions you take, and the sheer size of San Andreas is just a tiny glimpse of what the series is capable of. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the best GTA and the best game of the year.