Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

"Great Game Plauged By Bad Controls"

Introduction
So the series that made history is back on the X-Box with fairly good results. GTA3 and GTA:Vice City were both huge successes and this installment is no different. I'll be scoring the game on story, graphics, audio, game play and re-playability.

Story - 8/10
Though the story's were never huge selling points of the GTA games they have always been decent this one is the best so far. You play as Carl Johnson a.k.a. CJ. After his mother is killed he comes back to San Andreas and begins to rebuild his gang and try to patch things up with his family. There are a fair amount of twists along the way and you meet some very cool characters along the way. There are even a few cameo appearances from characters in other GTA games. Although I didn't like the character of CJ as much as Vice City's Tommy Vercetti. But overall this game has a fairly well developed plot and leaves no loose ends.

Graphics - 7.5/10
The graphics for this game a step above what was seen in the previous versions they still aren't fantastic by any means. The characters are blocky and some of the textures are fairly flat and grainy. There were also many jaggies to be found. For example I came across a pile of old tires and it looked like it was sharp and the top of the pile. It wasn't round like a hill of tires should be. That being said this is a port of the PS2 version. The graphics are improved a little bit. There is a much better draw distance in this version compared to the PS2 version. There is a nice large colour palette that was used in the game which is nice to see. Each building looks different than another which is also nice to see. Overall though the graphics are nothing to marvel at.

Audio - 9/10
This game has an amazingly large sound track and the sound effects are very well done. While you're in a car you can listen to the radio there is a large selection of stations to choose from. I found though that there wasn't really much that I liked as most of the music was rap. But heres the good thing you can listen to music that you have put onto your X-Box. There is even a setting to make it seem like a radio station. Now out of the car the gun sound effects and voice overs are all very well done. The weapons also sound good but I think they should have been louder. Overall the built in soundtrack is huge but may not be for everybody.

Game Play - 8.5/10
This game plays nearly exactly like the other two 3D GTA games, which for the most part is a good thing. You still run and gun and the targeting is perhaps one of the biggest improvements of the game you can change targets easily and you can manually aim every gun now. However, the worst part of the controls is found in the drive-by controls. To do a drive by you must hold down the black or white button to look sideways out of the car. Then you must press B to fire your gun. This is all well and good except that you only have one thumb and you have to move it so out of place to be able to pull off drive-bys. Another problem with the controls are the air plane controls, there is a larger emphasis on flying in this game which is all well and good but until you got really good with the planes they were far too hard to control. The cars control also seemed much more loose than they should have been. If you've played GTAIII or GTA:VC you pretty much know what to expect coming into this game. There is however one difference that is the size of the map. It is so much larger than Vic City's map but though they made it larger they turned sections of the map into different city's. You have your Los Angles rip-off, San Francisco rip-off and Las Vegas rip-off. There is also a portion that is supposed to be the back country. In this portion there are two small towns and for the amount of map that this place takes up not much happens there. They could have used the empty parts to expand on one of the citys, I would have personally like to see a larger Las Vegas or Los Angles. Overall though there is so much to do in the game, you can gamble, there are some DDR or Pa Rappa The Rappa like parts. There is just so much to do in this game that you cant fault it for having some bad controls and empty areas.

Re-playability - 6.5/10
There is a multi-player mode that isn't that great but its good for a sort while. There is tons of stuff to collect and things to see if you plan on getting 100%. The game also lasts about 30 hours give or take a few hours. But I can't see my self playing through it again. If you do plan on going for 100% you do get some un-lockable goodies and it will extend your play time.

Closing Comments FINAL SCORE - 8.5/10
I would highly recommend this game if you've played through and liked the two previous installments of the serise. If you are unsure about this game and have never played another GTA game rent this one just to make sure you like it then buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/05