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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas arrives on the Xbox, fashionably late of course. The Xbox version fares well – it is technically better than the PS2 version, although the gap is not as large as it was for GTA III and Vice City. The controls hold up well on the Xbox, despite being designed for the Dual Shock. Custom soundtrack support and a 30-second replay feature round up the package.
Before I get further into the review, I’ll admit: I’m a huge Grand Theft Auto fan. Well, while the original Grand Theft Auto games were pretty interesting, I didn’t really get into the series until Grand Theft Auto III. That game could arguably be considered the most influential game of this generation, the new Super Mario 64. After GTA III’s enormous success, publishers relished the opportunity for the press to call their game “Grand Theft Auto meets…”
Somehow, in less than a year, Rockstar North followed up GTA III with vice City, which added some wrinkles to the gameplay and made it a lot prettier. Naturally, I was anxiously anticipating San Andreas, and devoured the original screenshots and story Rockstar Games released just prior to E3 this year. The more and more I learned about the game though, my enthusiasm started to get mixed with caution since these guys were adding so much to the game that I was worried that some of it would be rushed and affect the overall gameplay negatively. Thankfully, my concerns were unfounded since Rockstar North has done it again. They have created the game will take up many hours from my days for months to come.
As you know, GTA: San Andreas takes place in the fiction state of San Andreas which consists of three main cities – the Los Angeles-based Los Santos, the San Francisco-based San Fierro, and the Las Vegas-based Last Venturas – in addition to a large amount of a lot of countryside, which enables San Andreas to eclipse the size of the already-massive Vice City. Each of the three cities pretty accurately reflect their source, so you’ll find many hills in San Fierro and the signature fog and gang violence in Los Santos while Las Venturas has a never-ending glow of neon.
While GTA III was clearly inspired by The Godfather, and Vice City was pretty much a play-by-play for Scarface, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is clearly inspired by hip-hop films like Menace II Society. In it, you control Carl Johnson, as he learns that his mother has been killed and goes back to Los Santos after spending a few years in GTA III’s Liberty City. You begin in Los Santos, and most of the gang gameplay found in trailers will take place here but sooner or later, CJ will need to bail from Los Santos due to an unfortunate incident.
As always, it is entirely possible to get through San Andreas by simply completing the story missions which are received from points in the map. The missions range from completing simple drive-bys and getting your gang back on the map when you enter Los Santos, to much more complex and interesting ones later in the game. The game makes it a little easier to perform these missions as you’ll know exactly what to do and when to do it. The story mode should take something like 35 hours to get through for most gamers, although if you play solely the story and don’t take all of San Andreas in you could drop around 5 hours from that number. But, you will only complete about half of the game. Additionally, this number could spill into the hundreds if you take your time and cause mayhem in the many cities. The number of time also extends if you partake in the vigilante missions, optional races, robbery missions (all you need to do is hop in a van at night), dating missions (which typically require you to take a girl out to eat without upsetting her), dance missions (DDR-like rhythm games), and even a fully-functional game of pool complete with its own physics.
The Xbox version has left the two-player co-op missions intact. As before, the whole game cannot be played in this mode but you’ll find certain points in the game that allows another player to join you for that particular mission.
A main update to the series is the new RPG-like leveling up that CJ goes through. As CJ, you need to eat to stay alive (but not too much that you’ll become obese), work out to become more athletic and stronger (which will make you more powerful in combat, and nimbler and more enduring while running) and give you abilities like being able to climb fences. Additionally, CJ can get better at driving cars, motorcycles, and bicycles and controlling airplanes (you can also parachute off them!). Getting better gives you more control over the vehicle. Another transportation method in the game is the swimming, which is new to the series.
Moreover, the game’s targeting system has been improved and very reminiscent of the developer’s Manhunt, which overall makes it more cohesive. The game allows you to get better with guns and you’ll have different phases, which will give you more control over your shooting abilities.
On Xbox, San Andreas is a bit prettier than its PS2 counterpart. The game still boasts excellent and reasonably accurate versions of the three cities and all of the countryside in between them. Every area of the game is populated with people and buildings, including landmarks for the cities. The character models are decent, a bit better than before but nothing all that great. The Xbox version improves the framerate, draw-in, and increases the texture resolution but though the game is a bit clearer, the framerate and draw-in problems are still present albeit less. Compared to the Xbox versions of GTA III and Vice City, San Andreas didn’t receive nearly the same attention. The Xbox version of the game supports progressive scan and the widescreen aspect.
The game’s audio component is excellent. The soundtrack is extremely varied and full of great tracks from artists like Dr. Dre and Tupac but it is varied enough to include a country station, a rock station and talk-radio, among others. These stations are hosted by notable personalities like Andy Dick, Axle Rose, among others. The voice acting in the game is just as strong and includes personalities like Samuel L. Jackson, Charlie Murphy, Ice-T. Young Maylay voices CJ in the game. The sound effects in the game are all believable and sound pretty good. Additionally, the PC and Xbox versions include custom soundtrack support.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be many different things to different people. Despite the technical flaws here and there, the game is incredibly fun. It will surely take up hundreds of hours to even the most casual of gamers. If you liked GTA III and Vice City, this is a must buy. If you are simply looking for a game that wraps up gaming in this generation, San Andreas is perfect. Everything from the gameplay to the superb presentation merges into an excellent game. So why the same score as the PS2 version if the game is better? Well, the Xbox is a more capable platform so those changes are expected. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Jun 8, 2005
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