Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ( DVD-ROM )

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ( DVD-ROM )

CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets. Featuring polished and enhanced graphics, visual effects, soundtrack capability, instant replay, player mod support, and more.

It may not be a splashy leap forward, but Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in its own deep, dark way does just as much to move and revolutionize video games as its two predecessors, Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. As in previous installments, here you play as a thug with problems you must steal and shoot your way out of, but the problems this time are disconcertingly more realistic. You play as Carl Johnson, known on the street as CJ, a likeable criminal type who has just returned to his hometown, Los Santos (a fictionalized Los Angeles), to find that his mother has been murdered and that the police have framed him for another murder. Reunions with his friends and a troubled relationship with his brother set off a sprawling, complex plot line, taking place at first in the immediate Los Santos area but eventually spilling into San Fierro (based on San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas).

You play as Carl Johnson, known on the street as CJ.

This is an honest effort to create an engaging story about sympathetic characters caught up in a brutal environment that is on par with a movie or novel.

Gaming Gangsters

Where Vice City took its cues, with tongue firmly in cheek, from the 1980s television series Miami Vice, San Andreas is a sincere homage to early 1990s innercity gangster films like Menace 2 Society and Boyz ?N the Hood. This is an honest effort to create an engaging story about sympathetic characters caught up in a brutal environment that is on par with a movie or novel. If that effort hits a few flat notes (you would have to be totally desensitized not to wonder if it's OK to make entertainment out of driveby shootings), it may also mark the first step toward video games growing up. The first thing that fans of earlier GTA games will notice is the range of action is much wider now: Along with shooting, running, and driving, there's now swimming, eating, working out, shopping, and, yes, getting a haircut. All this means the game has a fairly steep learning curve. But, though the pick-up-and-play appeal of Grand Theft Auto III may be long gone, your access to the action becomes fairly transparent after a little practice. My only serious complaint is that, with the controller now crowded with such previously unheard-of functions like "Gang Active" and "Talk Positive," you can drive only with the left analog stick. A minor point, but it makes cars a lot more difficult to handle.

Bicycles take on a surprisingly central role.

Vehicular Variety

It would be hard to surpass the variety of automobiles available in earlier games, and San Andreas wisely does not for the most part try to compete on that score. Instead, it's bicycles of all things that steal the show. The bikes' speed and flexibility are perfect for many of the missions, and there is something about cruising through the streets and basketball courts on a BMX that just feels right. If you play far enough into the game, you will also be rewarded with the chance to fly a number of aircraft, and flying is something Rockstar makes a greater effort to get right this time (welcome news for anyone who struggled with the planes and ?copters of the earlier games).

Lackluster Graphics--but a Real Feel

Graphics--never a huge priority for Rockstar--actually take a step backward from the luscious, tropical look of Vice City. Textures are rendered with only a cursory attention to detail, and contours are often blocky. It scarcely matters, though, because no matter how San Andreas looks, it feels real. This is due in no small part to voice work by an all-star cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Ice T, James Woods, Peter Fonda, and Outkast's Big Boy and a stellar soundtrack with tunes by Soundgarden, 2Pac, Public Enemy, and even a few country classics from the likes of Willie Nelson. But it's not just realistic, San Andreas is also vast, encompassing three big urban centers and huge swaths of rural land (complete with shotgun-toting farmers) between them. This vastness does mean, however, that there can be a lot of tedious driving to get to the missions, which, along with some awkward sequencing of the cut scenes (they are in places stacked one on top of the other), means that there is a bit too much downtime. But never mind the quibbles. Ladies and gentlemen, we have another classic on our hands. --David Stoesz

Pros:

• Astonishingly vast game space
• Vivid character development
• Complex, engaging plot
• Enormous range of available actions

Cons:

• Occasionally awkward game design
• You can no longer steer cars with the directional buttons
• Steep learning curve

What's Your Strategy?
Get mission strategies and detailed maps to achieve every objective with the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Strategy Guide.

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ( DVD-ROM ) Reviews

Buy it, play it and love it. In crafting GTA: San Andreas, developers Rockstar created something close to a work of genius for the gaming hobby. Often it is just a case of taking a different approach or perhaps going into the side missions and levelling up a required skill (e.g. Within the GTA series it is better than both Vice City (which now has a few issues running on modern hardware) and its console successor GTA4, which really had a hard act to follow. Parents be warned - even without the infamous "Hot Coffee" mod, the 18 rating on this title means what it says. Lots of reviews before this and for the console versions too. driving ability).

The beauty and depth of the game can really be appreciated on a machine with Dual Core CPU and 8800GT graphics card. Although these are optional, a fair number contribute towards the elusive 100% completion achievement, while others help in developing skills or utilities that come in handy later on. One slight niggle is that a few of these side games only become available quite late on, by which time you have been going solid for a couple of months and just want to see the end game. The missions are quite linear and always play out the same way and there are no sidesteps or alternative paths to victory - you must pass all the main story missions to see the end game. It's also very much a rite de passage as you control the main character Carl "CJ" Johnson on a journey which starts with him left penniless after arriving in Los Santos to a triumphant denouement. The very first mission can catch you out if not prepared, whereas some missions later on are relative no brainers. Even their own studio couldn't better it with the next instalment in the series, the rather mundane GTA4 It has a few issues, has courted considerable controversy but it's not so much a game as an immersive experience. This is not a game you will play through in a few evenings - in addition to something like 100 main story missions, there are numerous side tasks to attempt.

Although SA struggled a bit on lower end PC's when first released, three years on the average PC eats it for breakfast. And like many other games that combine the campaign with free play once you reach the end, the desire to go back and finish up the odds and ends tends to diminish. It's role play, after all. There are a few little glitches - when it rains all other sounds are masked - but I have never encountered any serious crashes or issues with the titles. The scale and scope of the game is immense, combining elements of FPS, RPG, driving, strategy, puzzle solving and a huge virtual sandbox to explore. Even if you avoid un-necessary slaughter, just to finish the story you will have killed several hundred people including police/FBI officers, soldiers and ordinary citizens in the wrong place at the wrong time. The difficulty level varies - there are a couple of missions where you can very nearly get stuck. (Note, although I've played through SA three times now the best I've managed so far is around 88% completion).

However I think it fair to say that GTA: San Andreas is the best PC game I have ever played. The swearing, violence and adult references are relentless throughout the game. Of course, once you've played a few times, read the FAQ's, studied the guide and maps things do get easier. As stated in other reviews, the "gangsta", "rappa" culture can be a bit off-putting but once the game hooks you it falls into the context of the overall story.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is one of my favorite games, but this page clearly states they are selling the 1st edition(the mod-able one), but I received the 2nd edition.

With the money to be able to play in hotel rooms and airplanes. I bought this for my laptop so I can take the game with me on the road, since I am a GTA addict.

The graphics are ugly, the controls horrible, the characters unsympathetic, the cities labyrinthine, the story repetitive, the language foul and the workmanship lacking. Rockstar, please, don't use braindead programmers and uninspired designers next time. A pity, because this game could have been so much better. Just about every irritating mistake that could have been made was made, especially in the controls.

It's obviously a cashcow and as such an epitome of mediocrity.

This game is *slow*, all the controls are constantly lagging.

Quite frankly, this game sucks.

This game is just not user-friendly.

without problems.

The food is bad, but such big portions.

And my machine is capable enough, it runs Doom 3 and F.E.A.R.

That's what got to me the most in the end.

The only good thing is the huge size of the landscape.

This is the version you should be playing,Hot Coffe,it was made for the Big Boys,i just love it