Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)

For a start San Andreas itself is not a city but a whole fictional county, containing the San Francisco-esque San Fierro, the Las Vegas style Las Venturra and the Los Angeles inspired Los Santos. You can drive anywhere else you like in the countryside, between making the game four to six times the size of Vice City.

You can also now start up your own gang in the game, recruiting members and claiming territory--you can even build and operate your own casino once you get the necessary moolah. You can't just sit around and wait for the money to roll in, though--eat too much junk food and your character will grow fat and have to work out at a gym, as well as keep an eye on a new stamina meter.

The list of other additions and refinements are almost endless; above and beyond the usual claims of an improved aiming system for weapons you can now swim, ride bicycles, get your hair cut, take part in random break-ins and robberies... pretty much anything you were ever told not to do as a kid (except the getting a haircut bit). --David Jenkins

GTA San Andreas adds more of a shooting element to the game, with better firing and better aiming, unlike the sketchy shooting from Vice City.

the city is 5 times as big as Vice City and is split up into 4 areas, a town that resembles L.A., one thats like Las Vegas, one like San Fran and a relaxing countryside.

for the first time you need to look after CJ (the main character) like feed him. leave him for too long and he will be all tired and stringy, but feed him to much and he will become on the big side. you can also give him haircuts, including flat tops and afros.

with your best friend Ryder, the first mission is to get your revenge on a pizza man who keeps clearing off your graffiti, so CJ and Ryder go to the pizza parlour, but the owner pulls out a 12-gauge and chases you out of the shop. then you are no longer welcome in this part of the city. that is all i know about the missions.

you can hire gangmembers to help you take out other gangs by getting 4 of them in the car and do some drive-by-shooting, and if they all die, then you can get some more and try to kill them again. you can also get some BMXs and go round the streets in style.

well this game looks the best and i hope this helps you get a picture in your mind of how it will look.

c ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


GTA Hits Back - And this time, it's BETTER than EVER   October 3, 2004
244 out of 287 found this review helpful

The forth title in the series.
GTA: San Andreas.

This game it's just so good, it's hard for me to put a ratio on it. OK, if you think Vice City is the best game on PS2...Think again, because you are completely wrong. Remember all those highly frustrating times in vice city, when you are charging around a beach and you just fall into the water and DROWN???
Well those days are over now. You can dive, and jump in and swim all over. Another highly detailed point about his game, is as you do things, the better your character (Carl Johnson - CJ) gets at it. For example:

The more you Swim...The longer you can swim.
The more you eat....The fattter you get.
The more you shoot...The moer your aim increases.

And it goes on. But no way does it stop there. There are improved character animations. E.G if you are cruising around in your open top car and a beautiful young lady walks past, your passengers will stare. Oh yeah, there are a whole new bunch of vehicles as well...

Articulate Lorries.
Quad Bikes.
Lawn Mowers. !!!
Combine Harvesters.
Bulldozers.

The list goes on. You wanna know something else that happens with your vehicles? well remember in Vice city you could change your car colour in pay and spray? (YAY, brill!) Well in this, you can change colour, and change your alloys (Wheel Plates), turbo your car with Nitrous Oxide, and whack spoilers on it. I think I am giving you an idea of how much this game has improved. You know the taxi missions in Vice City?
Well just hop into any van at night and press R3 (Click right analog stick) and this starts burgaling missions, go around the neighborhood picking up televisions and all sorts of other good, so you can sell on and earn money. Also a great new feature alows you to make your character look great. You can buy tattoos, get your hair done, select your clothes. Don't eat too many burgers mind, because carl can get overweight, that is why the have put work out centres - jyms all around San Andreas. Well I hope I have given you lots of info about this game, I got it all from browsing the net, it comes up everywhere you will find.

Roll on the release date the 29th of October....
Have fun on this game, I know you will all love it :)


The best game on PS2, just got better.   September 19, 2004
231 out of 350 found this review helpful

Firstly, the good news for those of you without PS2's: GTA: San Andreas will be released on PC in Spring 2005. But those of you with a PS2 only have one month left to wait for the most anticipated game of all time. New to this instalment is the ability to swim and even dive underwater for short periods, although your oxygen bar will lengthen the more times you do so. Basketball and tennis courts have been spotted in the traler Rockstar recently released, although it's still unconfirmed as to whether you'll be able to play yourself. You can now drive articulated lorries in an "anything Driv3r can do, we can do better" kind of way. There is also now a really notable landmark confirmed in the form of Mount Chilliad, a massive mountain out in the countryside which will take the gamer 1 minute to fly to the top of in a helicopter. The cops can now hang on to the back of your car and jump onto your bonnet in an attempt to prevent you making a getaway and expect them to be a bit shaper than the witless buffoons which littered Vice City. The only real concern at this point is how a 4 year old console will be able to handle a game thats at least 4 times the size of Vice City without turning it into a horrible jerky mess. Still, if Rockstar North can solve this little predicament, then we're surely looking at PS2's best ever game.


GTA: San Incrediblus!!!   October 31, 2004
151 out of 161 found this review helpful

This is amazing. If you like the previous gta's you'll be in heaven with this one.
Plus's
- Three huge cities to explore - built-up areas scattered among vast countryside.
- The visuals and landscapes are amazing.
- The fact that you can swim and climb adds a whole other dimension to the gameplay. Just running about simply isn't enough to get the job done.
- You can go to the gym and work out, making CJ more athletic. The more you work out, the greater his stamina and power.
- Similarly, the more you use weapons / vehicles, etc, the greater your accuracy / reloading / handling becomes.
- The police are smarter, as are gang members.
- Great new vehicles! Bikes - chopper, mountain bike, bmx (with amazing bunnyhops), police bike, forklift truck, campervan, parachute (!), loads of new cars, etc.
- Two player gameplay!! You can activate the second controller for some double-team mayhem.
- Fight against other gangs to gain territory across the city. When your land comes under attack you must go back to guard it.
- You can buy car upgrades - body parts, nitrous oxide, etc.
- Take pictures and save them to your memory card!
- Great music ranging from Alice In Chains, Ice Cube, Billy Idol, James Brown.
- Unlike in Vice City, when you reach a blocked bridge at the beginning of the game simply jump off and swim across! You're under police instructions to not leave the area so when you get to the other side you'll have a 4star wanted level! Try exploring new ground prematurely with a few cop friends!

Minus's
- I don't think there's quite as much humour compared to vice city, but it's still really funny.
- Some of the blue 'blip' markers on the map are hard to spot when you're trying to speed across town.
- There is a girlfriend 'sims' aspect, which I find a bit annoying. You have to keep taking her out to keep her happy, which is kind of dull. I personally play these games to escape from female nagging, so understand my annoyance when this needy chick turns up on the scene!
- You can carry around a spray can or a camera - but not both at the same time - annoying!

Not many faults I've found so far. There are still all the plus's from the past games, but now other little gems like a skate park for your bmx skills, a fully-usuable basketball court, and usable arcade machines! The music's still great, the visuals great, the missions are much more varied than before - not just shooting and driving, but now challenges such as rescuing peeps from housefires and rhythm challenges along the lines of pa rappa the rapper.
Buy it now or be sorry later.


Hype. All hype!   November 13, 2004
Some call me... photoshop
127 out of 150 found this review helpful

Having completed the storyline missions and a significant portion of the side missions - I feel I can state with authority:
- That the character building is completely non-intrusive and has not once interrupted a mission, or anything else, for that matter. Building muscle to the maximum level takes two gym visits, and the muscle will stay for the rest of the game unless you starve yourself. Also, hunger and/or starving is not a problem because eating has almost entirlely replaced health pickups - now to replenish your health you simply buy a meal and the fat it provides stops you from getting hungry for more than long enough.
- The missions are absolutely breathtaking - each one is a memorable event, each one introduces some new vehicle, skill or set-piece, and they almost never require simply one task. The missions are multi-layered and involving, not to mention very hard in places. There are also so many missions that the story of the character's life starts to take on some real significance, something which was sadly lacking in VC and GTA3.
- The game is Many times bigger than previous installments - if you remove the large stretches of water, and the huge flat beach from vice city, I'd say San Andreas is literally four times bigger. In other words, you can bomb down a freeway on a PCJ superbike for 10 minutes before having to change direction, and a round tour of the three city centres takes well over half an hour.
- The graphics are significantly better than vice city, particularly in the much more realistic car reflections, and the excellent use of particle effects. This does take its toll on the poor old PS2, however, and slowdown is noticeable in the more frenetic pile-ups or high-speed shootouts. That said, it has never hindered me during a mission, the game runs smoothly enough at all times for me to move and shoot quickly.
- The vehicle physics has been subtly but skilfully reworked and the result is a much more satisfying feel to all cars and planes, and a much better damage-modelling system.
- There are still issues with the targeting system, and i have to admit that one or two missions were harder than they should have been simply because the auto-aim kept going for the furniture instead of the mafia guy shooting me in the face. However, this is not a serious problem. It only shows up very rarely, in all other circumstances the problem is that you are not familiar with it.
- The city design is fantastic. I can not believe that a small team has produced this in less than three years; the level of detail, the realism, and the atmosphere are spot-on every time. Whether you like driving in the cities, or tearing around the countryside on a fast bike, there are hours and hours of fun and genuine exploration to be had. Even after God knows how many hours playing, there are still large areas of countryside I haven't got round to, but i know are packed with interest and careful design. In San Andreas, no space is wasted.
- The radio stations are decidedly inferior to Vice City - I don't know why, but the humour just isn't as sharp. The music initially put me off altogether, but I am now warming to certain stations like KDST and Master Sounds, as well as K-Jah which is not as tedious as in previous installments.
- Anyone who went through hell to get 100% in vice city will be pleased to know that its going to take a lot more time for this one. I don't even know where to begin on this, because there are so many side quests I have stumbled upon but 'put off till tomorrow' that I don't know if I will ever be able to complete them all. Put it this way, in terms of freedom of activity, San Andreas makes Vice City look like Crash Bandicoot. Actually, thats putting it mildly.

In conclusion, San Andreas has flaws. However, they are all superficial. A person who plays this game and comes away blabbing about the mediocre graphics, or the targetting, or how much better it would have been on the xbox (because _I_ have bought an xbox and How could my choice not be the only sane one??), or how you occasionally need to go on dates (even though this is completely optional and there is no penalty for simply killing your girlfriend), or any one of these trivial problems, is a profoundly foolish person. This is the most expansive, most immersive and most detailed game world ever created, and I would recommend that you buy it as soon as possible.