Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

by Rockstar Games

Product Features

• PC game

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009IX7K8
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 7, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,521 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #4 in Video Games > PC Games > Racing & Flying
  • #84 in Video Games > PC Games > Action
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard

Amazon.com

It may not be a splashy leap forward, but Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in its own deep, dark way does just as much to move and revolutionize video games as its two predecessors, Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. As in previous installments, here you play as a thug with problems you must steal and shoot your way out of, but the problems this time are disconcertingly more realistic. You play as Carl Johnson, known on the street as CJ, a likeable criminal type who has just returned to his hometown, Los Santos (a fictionalized Los Angeles), to find that his mother has been murdered and that the police have framed him for another murder. Reunions with his friends and a troubled relationship with his brother set off a sprawling, complex plot line, taking place at first in the immediate Los Santos area but eventually spilling into San Fierro (based on San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas).

You play as Carl Johnson, known on the street as CJ.

This is an honest effort to create an engaging story about sympathetic characters caught up in a brutal environment that is on par with a movie or novel.

Gaming Gangsters

Where Vice City took its cues, with tongue firmly in cheek, from the 1980s television series Miami Vice, San Andreas is a sincere homage to early 1990s innercity gangster films like Menace 2 Society and Boyz ‘N the Hood. This is an honest effort to create an engaging story about sympathetic characters caught up in a brutal environment that is on par with a movie or novel. If that effort hits a few flat notes (you would have to be totally desensitized not to wonder if it's OK to make entertainment out of driveby shootings), it may also mark the first step toward video games growing up. The first thing that fans of earlier GTA games will notice is the range of action is much wider now: Along with shooting, running, and driving, there's now swimming, eating, working out, shopping, and, yes, getting a haircut. All this means the game has a fairly steep learning curve. But, though the pick-up-and-play appeal of Grand Theft Auto III may be long gone, your access to the action becomes fairly transparent after a little practice. My only serious complaint is that, with the controller now crowded with such previously unheard-of functions like "Gang Active" and "Talk Positive," you can drive only with the left analog stick. A minor point, but it makes cars a lot more difficult to handle.

Bicycles take on a surprisingly central role.

Vehicular Variety

It would be hard to surpass the variety of automobiles available in earlier games, and San Andreas wisely does not for the most part try to compete on that score. Instead, it's bicycles of all things that steal the show. The bikes' speed and flexibility are perfect for many of the missions, and there is something about cruising through the streets and basketball courts on a BMX that just feels right. If you play far enough into the game, you will also be rewarded with the chance to fly a number of aircraft, and flying is something Rockstar makes a greater effort to get right this time (welcome news for anyone who struggled with the planes and ‘copters of the earlier games).

Lackluster Graphics--but a Real Feel

Graphics--never a huge priority for Rockstar--actually take a step backward from the luscious, tropical look of Vice City. Textures are rendered with only a cursory attention to detail, and contours are often blocky. It scarcely matters, though, because no matter how San Andreas looks, it feels real. This is due in no small part to voice work by an all-star cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Ice T, James Woods, Peter Fonda, and Outkast's Big Boy and a stellar soundtrack with tunes by Soundgarden, 2Pac, Public Enemy, and even a few country classics from the likes of Willie Nelson. But it's not just realistic, San Andreas is also vast, encompassing three big urban centers and huge swaths of rural land (complete with shotgun-toting farmers) between them. This vastness does mean, however, that there can be a lot of tedious driving to get to the missions, which, along with some awkward sequencing of the cut scenes (they are in places stacked one on top of the other), means that there is a bit too much downtime. But never mind the quibbles. Ladies and gentlemen, we have another classic on our hands. --David Stoesz

Pros:

• Astonishingly vast game space
• Vivid character development
• Complex, engaging plot
• Enormous range of available actions

Cons:

• Occasionally awkward game design
• You can no longer steer cars with the directional buttons
• Steep learning curve

What's Your Strategy?
Get mission strategies and detailed maps to achieve every objective with the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Strategy Guide.

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really, really not for kids, but Gouranga quintupled baby!, June 8, 2005

By 

D. Parvin "dparv" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ( DVD-ROM ) (CD-ROM)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA:SA) is, simply put, a great game. The six month wait for a PC port was worth it; although still not state-of-the-art, if you've got the rig for it graphics are noticably improved over the PS2. I'm a bit biased having been addicted since the original GTA came out - Gouranga refers to the easter egg you get for taking out a line of hare krishnas in the original - but the game is probably the best of the series as the world is richer and the missions more fun. My only reservation is that the violence and plot here have no place anywhere near kids, but for adults this is the best of the genre and deserves 5 stars.

GTA has fully evolved from a pure-action game in the original GTA to an RPG with a good deal of action in GTA:SA. The majority of the game revolves around completing missions rather than simply jacking cars and running over people as in the early versions. The good news is that the RPG works. Missions are funny but brutal.

It's important to note this isn't the tamer, slightly cartoonish Scarface-inspired Vice City. Instead, this is the very nasty world of early 90's South Central LA with a gangbanger-influence and language that many will find disturbing. With the revelation that interactive softcore porn is included, this very much deserves the new AO rating. (All the infamous 'hot coffee' mod does is unlock some hidden but pretty rough sex simulations and take off the computer-generated clothes of those involved - if you're disturbed by the gangbanging the in-genre scenes will make it even worse.) One wonders if the rumor that TakeTwo leaked information about the hidden code to the hacking community as a marketing stunt is true - if so, it's massively backfired and it's hard to argue they don't deserve at least some criticism for at the very least not being far more upfront about its inclusion. Even before hot coffee this was pushing the upper limits of an M rating and probably deserved an AO one. Then again, any parent who let their kid near this game - or incredibly, a litigous grandmother buying this for an unsupervised 14 year old when M is clearly marked for 17 year olds - really isn't doing their job either as its incredibly obvious this is not a game for kids. Caveat emptor, and it looks like the AO version is about to become a collector's item.

Regarding content, there are so many more things to do compared to even Vice City. The world is, in a word, huge. It takes at least 20 minutes to drive from one end of the world to another (although if you're creative you just jump the airport fence and fly a plane for 2 minutes instead). Sure, there are standard GTA missions, like mugging drug dealers and drive-bys. But there is a lot more. Want to play death from above? Complete a ton of missions and get the easter egg of a Hunter gunship that can blow anything in the game away. Want an insanely fast car? Don't steal one; go to the docks and import a Super GT. Want to show off your moves? Enter the lowrider contest or go dancing with a date. Where the change from action game to RPG is most noticeable is in the addition of skill-based character advancement. CJ needs to eat and be in shape, but more importantly needs experience with weapons if he wants to hit something besides his foot. It's not onerous by any means, but it's a noticeable difference. One other note for veteran GTA players: this is probably the first GTA in which you'll use your keyboard a bit. The shooting missions are easier with mouse control for targeting, although I definitely prefer my Logitech gamepad for driving.

The PC port is clean although several of the PS2 cheats I tested don't work. Several things are better than the console versions. Besides making your own radio station from MP3s (although the GTA ads still air in between songs), graphics are improved. If you have the hardware to run it, high end tweaks like shadowing and draw distance (meaning you can actually decipher signs among other things) are nice. This isn't a showpiece game like Half Life 2 for your 45" LCD monitor by any means - the PS2 development still shows in a vaguely polygonish feel - but the port is a definite improvement over the consoles and the previous GTAs. (If Rockstar insists on an exclusive PS3 contract going forward, hopefully the 1080p PS3 will force improvements in the next game.) I like the special guest voices (like a corrupt Samuel L. Jackson) and the 5.1 surround in general, and have fortunately not experienced any of the numerous reported sound or running problems. (I'm running a 6800GT and a dual Opteron 246 setup which probably helps.)

It's probably not the best PC game of the year based on the legacy limitations of developing this for the PS2, but it is a genre defining game and is a must play for anyone who likes being bad. Five stars.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great game, July 21, 2005

By 

S. W. Kanode (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ( DVD-ROM ) (CD-ROM)

I hope amazon does not submit to the pressure to stop selling this game. With the recent change to the rating on this game it's making it very hard for ADULTS to find this great game. I'm tired of the retail industry thinking all games are suppose to be for kids. There are grown adults who enjoy playing games. These are the same adults that grew up with video games and now want games that reflect their age. The rating system is to educate people on the content of the game, not to punish the publisher by refusing to sell it. I don't want the retail industry telling me what I can and can't buy.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome story, July 28, 2005

By 

S. FINK - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ( DVD-ROM ) (CD-ROM)

This is my first time playing any of the GTA series. While I expected all the violence and crime, I didn't expect the great storytelling with some occasional positive messages (CJ is trying to get drugs OFF the streets of his neighborhood. His methodology is more of baseball bat sneak attacks rather than a neighborhood watch, but the strong anti-drug sentiment can be felt.)

Midway through the game, the missions start getting harder... and somewhat more similar. The story advances, but the gameplay stays the same. If you are a casual gamer and haven't been improving your skills throughout the game, you will get stuck with only two options: quit or cheat. Cheat codes are plentiful, but as soon as you type one... man, it just kills the game.

I am glad I got to play this epic experience first hand rather than just listen to people say how fun it was (or how disgusting and vile it was). A milestone in gaming.

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