Neil
02-22-2005, 05:28 PM
As administrator of a Grand Theft Auto fansite, I feel under pressure to review this game as well as possible, and having followed this game very closely from its announcement back in March right through to the third and final shocking trailer, I knew exactly what to expect. The hype created really is warranted - this is a good game, there's no doubting that. Quite how good really depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it, with new RPG-style gameplay elements making a significant impact on the experience.
For a start, it's now necessary to consume food on the journey across the state, in various establishments which only seem to serve the stereotypical American diet of fatty foods. Take Burger Shot for example – a traditional looking Diner where you can take the plunge with huge round slabs of meat sandwiched in bread rolls that anyone would struggle to consume. Granted, you can take one healthy option in each restaurant, but it won’t recover health to the extent of the other meals available. On purchasing (at a very reasonable price), the cashier thanks you and Carl swallows it while standing in the red tube of light that’s become a common marker for objectives throughout the series.
Of course, once you’ve finished your meal, the game’s new stat system alerts you to your character’s expanding waistline. Exercising is another new fangled addition to the series, and is the only way to burn off the calories you gained in that restaurant. Heading out into San Andreas on a bicycle; one of the game’s new vehicles, will be sufficient to drop the pounds. If you’re more interested in building a muscular frame, you’ll have to visit one of the game’s gyms. While these provide a welcome distraction to the mission structure, they require too much effort for very small results. Weightlifting is one of the notable activities you can participate in. Hammering two buttons increases a ‘power’ bar which you’ll need to fill to perform one complete rep. Increasing stats for muscle and decreasing body fat in this way takes a very long time, and it’s certainly one way to numb any player’s fingers. Missions rarely require stats to be raised to a specific level, but when they do, expect to spend a good five to ten minutes ducking underwater to raise lung capacity or lifting weights in the gym to increase muscle.
While the game’s gyms and restaurants provide a minor distraction from the main plot, the options for changing Carl’s overall look are unsurpassed. Rockstar could’ve used a basic ‘design a character’ at the beginning of the game, but instead they chose to implement a unique shopping system. Clothing stores are dotted all around San Andreas, and offer a huge variety of threads to choose from. Stores like Binco offer cheap gang wear and are located in the run down areas of the cities, while ProLaps is an expensive store offering better quality goods. Tattoo shops allow more audacious players to gain an ink inscription on their skin, which can be removed with one button press. Finally, a trip to the barber shop will provide a new look up top, which may attract the attention of passing ladies.
No game comes close to the scale that San Andreas presents. From the outset, a huge area is open, much larger than that seen in either Vice City or Liberty City. You’re immediately thrust into the life of Carl Johnson, a former gang groupie who’s returning from a five-year-long trip to Liberty. When he finally arrives in Los Santos Airport, he’s informed of his mother’s death and is framed for homicide by two corrupt police officers. Voiced by Young Maylay, an up-and-coming rapper from the real Los Angeles, Carl is a very convincing character. Through customisation of his appearance at clothing retailers like ProLaps and Binco, the game successfully manages to immerse any player into its complex plot. No sooner are you dumped from a moving police car in rival gang territory than you’re pedalling a BMX furiously. The state of San Andreas is unlocked at three intervals as progress is made through the game’s missions.
The game itself takes the same form as the previous two in the series, retaining all open ended elements. Missions are started by visiting the appropriate icon on the map, and are far more varied than previous games. Large firefights are now common, especially at the beginning of the story, where the game’s emphasis is on gang warfare.
The addition of over one hundred vehicles really opens up the terrain for exploration, with excellent flying elements being some of the best parts of the game. Helicopters gain a real purpose in the vast environment, but the real fun can be had with the many aeroplanes, which are vital for speedy intercity transport. Missions often involve specific vehicles, such as working for a haulage company or bulldozing large boulders at the local quarry.
Unfortunately, the game suffers from a number of problems which weren’t present in previous titles. Notably, the game is still based on an ageing RenderWare engine, which, coupled with the PS2 hardware, provides a limited visual experience. Framerates can sometimes drop to critical levels, where they begin to affect the gameplay, especially when there are a lot of vehicles on screen or an intense firefight is taking place. The game struggles to keep up with its own advances, with the new car headlights system being a victim of the PS2’s age. Similarly, Rockstar have added a new rain effect which besides looking like TV static, cuts framerates in half. Textures and models often fail to load correctly, meaning that driving at high speed results in blurry walls and roads which ‘pop in’ at random intervals. However, the game is a huge step forward from the PS2 version of Vice City and GTAIII, and is roughly comparable to the PC iterations of these two titles. The removal of the ‘trails’ effect has contributed greatly to the look and feel of the game.
Another gripe I have with the game lies with its sound. Clearly, a great deal of effort has been put into choosing music that fits the setting perfectly, and if you’re a hip hop or rap fan, you’ll feel quite at home here. Artists like Tupac and Dr Dre have prime slots on the in game radio stations. While this may be to some people’s tastes, the tuning dial lacks Vice City’s diversity.
Conversely, voice acting in the game is top notch. On a par with titles like Metal Gear Solid, actors include big names like Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods and Ice T. The attention to detail in selection of actors is clear from the outset. Each character fits perfectly with his or her actor, with Yo Yo, who plays CJ’s sister Kendl putting in arguably the game’s best performance.
With so many new features and the same open-ended gameplay that made Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City instant classics, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is definitely the best game in the series by a country mile.
This review was published using Gamespot.com's reader reviews feature. Did you find it helpful? Why not trust my judgement? Head over to the review page (http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/reader_re view.html?id=2394286) and hit "trust user" at the bottom.
For a start, it's now necessary to consume food on the journey across the state, in various establishments which only seem to serve the stereotypical American diet of fatty foods. Take Burger Shot for example – a traditional looking Diner where you can take the plunge with huge round slabs of meat sandwiched in bread rolls that anyone would struggle to consume. Granted, you can take one healthy option in each restaurant, but it won’t recover health to the extent of the other meals available. On purchasing (at a very reasonable price), the cashier thanks you and Carl swallows it while standing in the red tube of light that’s become a common marker for objectives throughout the series.
Of course, once you’ve finished your meal, the game’s new stat system alerts you to your character’s expanding waistline. Exercising is another new fangled addition to the series, and is the only way to burn off the calories you gained in that restaurant. Heading out into San Andreas on a bicycle; one of the game’s new vehicles, will be sufficient to drop the pounds. If you’re more interested in building a muscular frame, you’ll have to visit one of the game’s gyms. While these provide a welcome distraction to the mission structure, they require too much effort for very small results. Weightlifting is one of the notable activities you can participate in. Hammering two buttons increases a ‘power’ bar which you’ll need to fill to perform one complete rep. Increasing stats for muscle and decreasing body fat in this way takes a very long time, and it’s certainly one way to numb any player’s fingers. Missions rarely require stats to be raised to a specific level, but when they do, expect to spend a good five to ten minutes ducking underwater to raise lung capacity or lifting weights in the gym to increase muscle.
While the game’s gyms and restaurants provide a minor distraction from the main plot, the options for changing Carl’s overall look are unsurpassed. Rockstar could’ve used a basic ‘design a character’ at the beginning of the game, but instead they chose to implement a unique shopping system. Clothing stores are dotted all around San Andreas, and offer a huge variety of threads to choose from. Stores like Binco offer cheap gang wear and are located in the run down areas of the cities, while ProLaps is an expensive store offering better quality goods. Tattoo shops allow more audacious players to gain an ink inscription on their skin, which can be removed with one button press. Finally, a trip to the barber shop will provide a new look up top, which may attract the attention of passing ladies.
No game comes close to the scale that San Andreas presents. From the outset, a huge area is open, much larger than that seen in either Vice City or Liberty City. You’re immediately thrust into the life of Carl Johnson, a former gang groupie who’s returning from a five-year-long trip to Liberty. When he finally arrives in Los Santos Airport, he’s informed of his mother’s death and is framed for homicide by two corrupt police officers. Voiced by Young Maylay, an up-and-coming rapper from the real Los Angeles, Carl is a very convincing character. Through customisation of his appearance at clothing retailers like ProLaps and Binco, the game successfully manages to immerse any player into its complex plot. No sooner are you dumped from a moving police car in rival gang territory than you’re pedalling a BMX furiously. The state of San Andreas is unlocked at three intervals as progress is made through the game’s missions.
The game itself takes the same form as the previous two in the series, retaining all open ended elements. Missions are started by visiting the appropriate icon on the map, and are far more varied than previous games. Large firefights are now common, especially at the beginning of the story, where the game’s emphasis is on gang warfare.
The addition of over one hundred vehicles really opens up the terrain for exploration, with excellent flying elements being some of the best parts of the game. Helicopters gain a real purpose in the vast environment, but the real fun can be had with the many aeroplanes, which are vital for speedy intercity transport. Missions often involve specific vehicles, such as working for a haulage company or bulldozing large boulders at the local quarry.
Unfortunately, the game suffers from a number of problems which weren’t present in previous titles. Notably, the game is still based on an ageing RenderWare engine, which, coupled with the PS2 hardware, provides a limited visual experience. Framerates can sometimes drop to critical levels, where they begin to affect the gameplay, especially when there are a lot of vehicles on screen or an intense firefight is taking place. The game struggles to keep up with its own advances, with the new car headlights system being a victim of the PS2’s age. Similarly, Rockstar have added a new rain effect which besides looking like TV static, cuts framerates in half. Textures and models often fail to load correctly, meaning that driving at high speed results in blurry walls and roads which ‘pop in’ at random intervals. However, the game is a huge step forward from the PS2 version of Vice City and GTAIII, and is roughly comparable to the PC iterations of these two titles. The removal of the ‘trails’ effect has contributed greatly to the look and feel of the game.
Another gripe I have with the game lies with its sound. Clearly, a great deal of effort has been put into choosing music that fits the setting perfectly, and if you’re a hip hop or rap fan, you’ll feel quite at home here. Artists like Tupac and Dr Dre have prime slots on the in game radio stations. While this may be to some people’s tastes, the tuning dial lacks Vice City’s diversity.
Conversely, voice acting in the game is top notch. On a par with titles like Metal Gear Solid, actors include big names like Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods and Ice T. The attention to detail in selection of actors is clear from the outset. Each character fits perfectly with his or her actor, with Yo Yo, who plays CJ’s sister Kendl putting in arguably the game’s best performance.
With so many new features and the same open-ended gameplay that made Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City instant classics, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is definitely the best game in the series by a country mile.
This review was published using Gamespot.com's reader reviews feature. Did you find it helpful? Why not trust my judgement? Head over to the review page (http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/reader_re view.html?id=2394286) and hit "trust user" at the bottom.