Review by Scott Woods for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Rating:
This is more like a 4.5.

I’ve mostly just scratched the surface with this game so far, but it’s pretty darn impressive.

It retains much of the engine of the previous two versions, so it isn’t as mind-blowing as its earlier incarnations; this is mostly tweaks on a good thing that make it even better.

The list of things that you can do in the game is incredibly expansive, and you’ll find yourself in some interesting positions thanks to additions like being able to swim, eat, work out, learn how to fight and shop for clothes. Even the first city is pretty huge and detailed, with lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

Graphically, it’s about the same as what you’re used to, and the character animations and skins are probably less than what they were in Vice City, but the game compensates by being so large, so much more involving, and offering so many more options to address your style of play. If you’re the meticulous type who likes to look good and have people notice your new shoes, you can create a path that maintains such a lifestyle. By contrast, if you’re a hoodie who likes to bum around and spend their time down at the local bar playing pool and video games, you can do that too (literally: I lost $50 on a pool game that I got to PLAY, but set the high score on a game down at the carry-out around the corner THAT I ALSO GOT TO PLAY).

Every version of this game has used racist and sexist imagery to varying degrees, so if you’re suddenly offended by the material in this game, you’re about 5 years late. At the same time, this game does up the ante on the negativity vibe, so to speak, and will -justifiably – raise questions about how offensive a game should be. For once, I’m not taken aback by the violence; this is pretty much par for the course for the series, and it isn’t amplified significantly here graphically or otherwise. But I haven’t been called a n!gger so much in my life, and I’m black.

So the gameplay is top-notch, the graphics about what you’re used to, the replay value fairly high, and you really could make an almost Sims-like life in there.

Review by for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Rating:
Alright heres the stuff i read in the official Playstation 2 magazine (some of the stuff you may already know but oh well):
-The game is set in 90′s San Andreas, which is a whole state that contains cities like Los Angelas, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and a bunch of country stuff in between like deserts, mountains, rivers, and lots and lots of interstate highways.
- You are CJ who decides to come back to his old Los Santos gang called the Orange Grove Family after spending a couple of years in Liberty City…
-YOU CAN: eat in restuarants (get fat), Work out in the gym and get buff( get too buff and you move slower), improve CJ’s skills, get haircuts, ride a bicycle, wear lots of outfits, buy and build buildings (many more things to do with this than in Vice City), Gamble at casino’s, break into houses and steal money, swim,dual wield mutliple guns, recruit your own gang to help you out, do 4 person drive by shootings.
The improvements: -five to six times the size of Vice City, game comes on a rare dual layer dvd, no more loading between cities, new graphics engine with 35-50% more polygons on screen, longer view distance, more realistic relections, shadows, and animation; every character has a “brain”, a bunch of more detailed indoor locations, more mini games, man hunt style gun targeting, better hand to hand combat, each weapon is detailed and has its own realistic experience, rag doll physics, wider range of vehicles with improved physics, and the vehicles get rusty and dirty over time.
The average pedestrian in San Andreas will have up to six times more dialouge than in Vice City. Another thing is that the game will automatically adjust the level of difficulty if a player gets stuck on that impossible mission. However this doesnt mean you can fail and then it will be easy, the changes are supposed to practically invisible and very small. IF you get fat the insults will be pretty mean. You can ride a bicycle by pushing x real fast to go real fast. There is free aiming with any weapon. Also your rival gang are the Balla’s and if you go in their territory you are dead meat. The cops provide a greater challenge and are very determined. I got all of this information from a very good magazine that is 100% Play Station 2 called PSM, I strongly recommend this magazine if you are interested in upcoming games and reviews on games. From what i read in the magazine this is going to be a great game and I am preordering it right now… you should too!

Review by Jason R. Arnold for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Rating:
To start out simply: Whatever your viewpoints on the value of this game, the problems with it, and the sometimes lack of inhibitions dealing with language and other factors, you almost have to admit that besides certain RPGs, Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas is one of the most engrossing and grandiose games that has ever been released.

There are many arguments here dealing with problems with the gameplay, or problems with the story. I’d like to get those out first, because then I can focus on the positives.

To start out, because the world of san andreas is so large, you may find yourself taking ten minutes to get from where your mission ended, to where you can start again. Even for the most Die-hard fan, this long trek can sometimes seem alittle tedious. Many of the Racing missions in this game cause you to travel across half the map to get to the finish. While this can be a good thing, if you screw up, you may have a problem finding your way back.

Car handling feels alittle “slippier” than in Vice City. If anything, the controls feel more similar to Liberty City but not wholly the same.

There are many parts in the story that include references to drugs (and the actual taking of these substances), sexual innuendo, Language, and violence. While these things can add up to a truly classic story (take scarface as an example) sometimes the story here overdoes itself. The game holds nothing back, and it uses language realistically. It doesn’t sugarcoat everything, which seems to be the tendency of current american media.

There are minor graphical glitches (such as a unstable framerate when things get crazy) and sometimes you’ll find yourself in a sea of building where only flat land existed a second or two before (due mainly in part to the speed which you travel at). There aren’t too many of these though, so most problems dealing with this issue aren’t all that bad.

Now, the good parts of this game are so numerous, i’d be hard to list everything. Im not going to tell you that this game is the best game ever, no matter what you think. This is merely my honest opinion of it.

One of the coolest features that has arisen from this game is the motion blur when your speed is up. This is such a small thing, but it makes such a difference for me. Not only does this occur in cars, but when you are falling a large distance this also occurs. Try going to the top of Chiliad, and jumping off. See if your feet don’t tingle at the prospect of hitting the ground (which is still unrealistic if you are currently in a vehicle.) It can be a really interesting thing.

Another cool feature is that of gang wars. How to initiate a gang war attack on another gangs territory is to shoot and kill two to four gang members simultaneously (within 2 to 3 seconds of each kill, kill the next member). This will cause repeating waves of gang members to attack you. Without support, this can be a hard task indeed, but you can still accomplish this on your own due to the health and armor that the game feeds you. Still, even with the latest weapons, armor, and support it won’t be a walk in the park to take things over.

The last feature that i’ll speak on is the different odd jobs that you can perform. The most interesting (actually, the most original) is probably the ability to be a pimp. Imagine my suprise as I hopped into an old style hermes-like car, and the screen gave me a classic “push R3 to start” the pimp missions. I never actually tried these, but as an example this is something I hadn’t heard about. Other Odd jobs like stealing things from houses at night, and lowrider challenges dot the world with things to do even if your not participating in the story at the time.

This game has almost infinate replay value. You experience will be different almost every time you play depending on what you are doing with the game.

Overall, this game is very large. It does have some downfalls, but it is generally a true first-rate game, and im sure that it will someday make it’s way into the playstation classics category.