GRAND THEFT AUTO San Andreas Review
One of the greatest games of the PS2 era.
Introduction
GTA San Andreas (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) is Action — Adventure open world video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games and was released October 26, 2004. It is widely considered to be the best Grand Theft Auto game and one of the greatest open world games ever. It was for its time one of the biggest milestones in video games ever. So the main basis of this article’s existence comes from my thirst for nostalgia about this game as it was one of the first video games I had ever played and secondly to see if this game still holds up in this day and age of video games.
Story
I would like to begin this article with the story of the game. The story of GTA San Andreas is very enjoyable. It is a really delightful experience. It may not be the most emotionally potent stories from Rockstar certainly when compared to Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2, Max Payne 3 or Grand Theft Auto 4 but it is a memorable story in its own right. It is a simple story that takes you across the state of San Andreas, the fictional version of California and with that presenting a lot of interesting characters to us during our long journey. There is a lot of good humor in the game though some of it is kind of corny, it is expected due to its large scope of the story and the huge amount of dialogues this game offers. I still feel this burst of shock when I see the story and the atmosphere of this game and realize that this was a PlayStation 2 era game. This games atmosphere still holds up superbly and is even better than a lot of modern era open world video games. That is thanks to the amazing writing from Dan Houser and incredible performances from the voice actors.
I feel like there is a clear relationship, a dichotomy if you will between seriousness and silliness in the storytelling. For example at the start of the game, when we return to Carl Johnson’s neighborhood. We see Carl in an emotional distress when he enters his old house after five years. We hear the distant echoes of his sister and his dead brother Brian, a time where CJ’s life was simple. But after that when we arrive in San Fierro after Carl’s brother Sweet gets locked up, we start to meet a lot of comic relief side characters and in general the game’s atmosphere turns comedic and light-hearted after that event. To me this one of the strongest if not the strongest tool that makes the story of this game so unique. It is miles better than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto 3. It is one of my favorite things from the game.
The side characters in this game are amazing. They are incredible. In my opinion they are one of the best side characters in a Rockstar game if not the best. I would not say that they have a lot of but they leave an impact on you regardless. Most of the side characters leave you with an emotional mark. You got guys like Big Smoke and Ryder who in the early parts of the game are shown to be completely loyal to Carl and Sweet until it is revealed that they were the people who were behind their moms death leaving a big mark of betrayal inside Carl. My favorite side characters are Mike Toreno and Wu Zi Mu. Just the evolution of the relationship between Carl and Mike Toreno, how Carl went on to do sucide missions for him so he can see his brother again hating Mike in the process to feeling a sense of humility after Toreno actually delivers his promise of getting Carl’s brother Sweet out of jail. Those same feelings of Carl about Toreno got transferred to me in the most seamless way possible. Wu Zi Mu is also an incredible side character. If you think about it, Wu Zi Mu and Cesar Vialpando were the most loyal people. If it wasn’t for Wu Zi Mu, Carl wouldn’t get the investments that he got in Las Venturas. After that you got so many other side characters to experience. I would not be surprised if other people had their own favorite side character. That just shows you how great and varied the side characters of this game are.
If I have to describe this game’s story thematically in one word, it is loyalty. In my opinion the game’s story has a large emphasis on loyalty. I see Carl as a very selfish character. But a relatable one. All his life he wanted to do something big. More specifically he wanted to make big money. Something that was bigger than the ghetto environment he was living in or could provide him with. He was a big fish in a small pond but his mind to me was still small. He put his selfish desires first instead of looking after his environment just like his brother Sweet said which I think Sweet is completely naive for it. The game essentially revolves around the selfish personality of Carl and the naivety of Sweet and both of them working together and settling their differences, taking revenge on those people who were disloyal to them like Ryder and Big Smoke.
Overall the game’s story is awesome with great side characters, plot, music and atmosphere. One thing that the game has a massive issue that you can criticize it on is that the game’s massive ambition in atmosphere often plays to its own detriment. It is changing
the atmosphere so much makes you forget all of the previous unresolved issues in the whole plot up to the point. Unlike Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto 3, game’s that had a consistent atmosphere throughout their storylines, but that does not mean they are better than GTA San Andreas storyline because San Andreas story is easily miles better and more ambitious than those games.
Music
When it comes to music in their video games, Rockstar Games always delivers. The Radio Stations are detailed and are filled with great music with a good variety of musical genres. The game has Jamaican music and Dancehall music on K-JAH West, Soul, Funk, Rhythm and Blues on Bounce FM, Master Sounds and CSR Radio, Gangsta Rap and G Funk on Radio Los Santos, East Coast Hip Hop, Boom Bap on Playback FM, Country K Rose, European Dance Music, house and electronic on San Fierro Underground Radio. You got radio stations like Radio X featuring Mainstream Rock for the most part with a dash of heavy metal and other sub genres of rock. They got classic tracks like Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n Roses. My personal favorite song from that radio station is Killing in the Name Of by Rage Against the Machine. It is a great track with an awesome guitar riff. K DST is a fantastic radio station featuring classical rock. Tracks like A Horse With No Name by America, Eminence Front by The Who and many more. By accounting all of the great radio stations in this game, I got to say that my top 3 favorite radio stations are Radio Los Santos, Playback FM and K DST. Radio Los Santos is easily one of the best if not the best radio stations in the whole Grand Theft Auto Series. Not even a single radio comes close to the quality of the tracks on this radio. You got a song from Tupac Shaukar. You got two tracks from N.W.A . Then you got tracks from Ice Cube, DOC, Da Lench Mob, Dr Dre. There are so many classics on this radio that I can’t comprehend the fact that Rockstar were able licence all of these tracks to build the game’s atmosphere. Though Playback FM is not that close to beating Radio Los Santos, it still is a great radio in its own right. I mean you got tracks like The Godfather by Spoonie Gee, Slick Rick’s Children’s Story and Gangstarr’s B.Y.S . There are tracks from Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim. All of these radios did their job incredibly well by being a very important module for the atmosphere of the game. When I was in Los Santos I listened to Radio Los Santos while in San Fierro I listened to Playback FM as it was more suited to the atmosphere of that city. While in Las Venturas and its outskirts I listened to K DST the most.
Open World
The open world in this game is nothing short of amazing and jawdroping. Sure the visuals technically have kind of aged badly but in terms of atmosphere, it still holds up in its own right and is still better than other Triple A game’s of the newer generations like Watch Dogs 1, Sleeping Dogs, Watch Dogs 2, Mafia 3, Just Cause 2, Just Cause 3 etc. It might be the best open world in all the Grand Theft Auto game’s. One of the main factors that make the open world of this game so incredible is its different locations and its ability to give each location a clear distinction by using atmospheric elements like music, weather and day/night cycles etc. The game can be essentially divided into five parts in terms of location that is the following:
- Los Santos
- Outskirts of Los Santos
- San Fierro
- Outskirts of Las Venturas
- Las Venturas
Right at the beginning of the game, we get treated with Los Santos, specifically Ganton, a place that has seen better days. It has a hot streak for being the main territory of The Families, The gang ran by Carl’s brother Sweet. The environments of that area look very rough and rugged signifying that this is an extreme example of a ghetto environment. The houses here look small and cheap. Same conditions can be applied to the gang territories belonging to the Ballas, one of the long time rivals of The Families. Same goes for Vagos and Los Hermanos which have the worst, the most cheap environments ever but when you go outside the gang territories you see a very clean, modernized Los Santos especially the Vinewood area, the fictional Hollywood of the game is super clean. There are well maintained trees in those areas, the roads also look really great.
The next area we see is the outskirts of Los Santos. The outskirts are very consistent when it comes to their visual quality. This is also the area where the game shows its bad aging in the technical side of the graphics. The textures of the hills and trees look really odd near their edge points. You have a couple of cool spots like Mount Chiliad and Angel Pine. There are also little towns in the outskirts that are really similar to each other. They have an Ammu Nation and a couple houses you could buy but they don’t offer a lot. Overall this is my least favorite area in the game. It seems like it was made as a connector between Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas. But despite all of that, I still don’t mind it. Even the worst area in this game does not disappoint me. It is not like a San Fierro or a Las Venturas but it still is good in its own right. After that we go to San Fierro, the fictional version of San Francisco. It is probably my favorite area in the game. It has a very clean structure to it. Things do not feel very cheap. It doesn’t feel filthy rich in its structure like Las Venturas but it is certainly better than Los Santos.
Gameplay
The gameplay of this game might be its weakest part of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas but it is not a huge deal. It does not ruin the game in my opinion. The overall structure of the gameplay in San Andreas is pretty much the same structure that was used in Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City, that very same structure is still being used for Red Dead Redemption 2. The gameplay gives you linear missions that are there to show you the story and immerse you to the world. The linearity of the game is there to immerse into the story and offer you a more of a cinematic experience but this plays like a double edge sword. On one hand you have a way to experience the story the way it was intended to but on the gameplay side, you do not have a flexible gameplay experience that gives you a lot of ways to interact with the story like a great example of a game with flexible gameplay is Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. This problem is still in Rockstar Games gameplay design philosophy but as I said before that it is not a huge problem. Yes there are missions that are bland or just plain frustrating or there are some missions that should have been just scrapped from the game but just like Red Dead Redemption 2, they have great dialogue, fantastic side characters and awesome story development in exchange for that. So overall I feel like there are glaring problems in the gameplay but they don’t have a huge negative impact on the overall game but they are the weakest part of it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is one of the best games that have come out of the PS2 era. Though the game has a lot of flaws. Those flaws seem miniscule if we compare it to the countless things it does right.
