While XBox owners salivate over “Halo 2” and Gamecubers rock back and forth in dark corners assuring themselves that sooner or later there will be another Mario or Zelda game, PS2 gamers have something to rejoice about.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you’ve almost certainly at least heard about “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” the latest entry in Rockstar Games’ hit series, as well as the most ambitious. But does it live up to all of the hype surrounding it? In a word, yes.
Always striving, Rockstar has chosen to not limit itself to what were already decent-sized cities of the earlier games and this time set the game within the confines of an entire state. This state, San Andreas, includes three main cities (Los Santos, San Fierro and Los Venturas) and 10 or so little towns scattered around the map. Even more impressive is the fact that there is absolutely no loading time when traveling around areas, with the exception of a brief load upon entering buildings.
The plot centers on the life of Carl Johnson as he returns to his childhood home following the murder of his mother. He finds his former hometown in absolute shambles and decides to move back in an effort to fix things. From here on out, it’s basically up to gamers to decide what kind of guy CJ is going to be. Rockstar picked up on some aspects from RPGs and now almost everything players do will have an effect on the character. Eat junk food and never get any exercise? CJ will get fat and people on the street will make fun of him. Hit the gym for hours on end? CJ will become more ridiculously muscular after a while. Players can get him new haircuts, tattoos, clothes and so many other things too numerous to mention.
This style of gameplay lends itself well to the series, as CJ becomes better at anything with more experience. Toward the end of the game he is shooting like a skilled marksman and weaving in and out of traffic effortlessly, as opposed to the green chump he starts out as. Some aspects of the game, like taking girls out on dates, aren’t exactly the most captivating things to come along in recent memory, but they provide distraction from the main quest. Mini-games such as dancing in clubs (similar to DDR), playing pool, shooting hoops, betting on horse races or just gambling in casinos add seemingly infinite replay value to an already long game.
Missions are varied and quite entertaining this time around. Whereas past games saw basically the same few missions with a little variety here and there, missions in “San Andreas” seem to be a new experience every time. Whether players are sneaking into a military base to steal a secret experiment, parachuting out of a plane they just sabotaged or simply running away from attacking rival gangs, gameplay is fast and entertaining.
A common complaint about the last few Grand Theft Auto games was its hit-or-miss targeting system. Rockstar listened to these complaints and this time around introduced an overhauled targeting system that, despite a few minor issues, works amazingly. The game senses the most dangerous target within CJ’s range and aims at them when prompted by the player. There are a small number of times that players will find themselves aiming at a picture on the wall instead of the guy five feet in front of them, but they are few and far between.
At the same time, getting around has never been easier. Included in San Andreas are fully-functioning freeway and railroad systems, as well as the ability to hop a plane between cities for players who can’t waste 10 minutes driving. Apparently there are some impatient gamers out there.
“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” has the most impressive voice-acting credits of any game ever made, hands down. Granted that’s not saying a lot, but Rockstar really pulled in some major stars to throw down voices for this game’s characters. Among this star-studded cast are: Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction”), James Woods (“John Q”), David Cross (“Mr. Show”), Charlie Murphy (“Chappelle’s Show”), Ice T (“Law & Order: SVU”) and many others. Johnson is voiced by Young Maylay (real name Chris Bellard), an aspiring rapper from Los Angeles. He’s no Ray Liotta, but Maylay does a great job of giving the character real depth, with quite a bit of attitude.
Graphically, not a lot has changed from the past games. This isn’t a bad thing at all, as “GTA: San Andreas” maintains that semi-realistic yet still cartoony look while adding some new explosion and weather effects. Like its predecessors, it has some minor issues with pop-up of some objects, but it’s forgivable. The lighting effects are greatly improved, with a blinding sun actually hindering missions at certain times. While it can be annoying, it really adds a sense or realism to the in-game events.
Solidifying its place as a pop culture icon yet again, no entry in Grand Theft Auto series has never been this spot-on in all aspects. While there are a few shortcomings here and there, they don’t take away from the absolute mind-blowing fun this game provides. This is the definitive game for this generation of consoles, no doubts about it. If you own a PS2, get this game … now.
Grade: A
