The hottest game on the PS2 GTA San Andreas!!!! (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2))

Member Name: elmosgotagun

Product:	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
Date:	15/02/05 (665 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: terrific soundtrack, great story, graphics are awesome

Disadvantages: Saving points, map guide

Game: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Rating: M for Mature
Where to get it?: ebay.co.uk, amazon.co.uk, electronics boutique , gamestation in the uk and Rockstargames.com
Avg. Price: about £32.99


Story:
CJ is a guy with a trouble past Grand Thett Auto San Andreas is the long awaited next chapter in the Grand Theft Auto series. Wow , this is quite a game of epic proportions. It is one of those long PS2 game thatll take a you a month or two to digest while you drink up the world that is San Andreas.

The Reactions for the Game thus far
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San Andreas has gotten almost nationwide attention by gamers of all generations, they are all in agreement that it is the hottest game on the PS2 right now and I cant disagree. The game is very hip, very cool, very sexy and above and this is the key ingredient to selling games ,its highly addictive!!! The game has a wide variety of missions (both in story mode and side missions) and has a bizarre list of characters (most of them psychotic and corrupt) too keep you entertained for hours and months. Yes , months!!! San Andreas is not the easy game where you willl pick it up from your local video game store and finish it in a week, no sir, this baby packs quite a punch and part of the appeal of the game is that the world of San Andreas is so freaking huge that you will be exploring many areas and many scenarios.

The Players
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CJ (Young Maylay):
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Is the main character here, the gang banger and , the guy whose had a terrible homecomingof sorts and is out for blood , revenge and retribution.

Officer Tenpenny (Samuel L Jackson):
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One of the leaders of corrupt cops that exist to make CJ's life a living hell Samuel L. Jackson’s character is a trip to say the most complementary things about it. CJ wants him dead for this is the lead cop who is out to exploit CJ. Tenpenny as you will find out and learns will use CJ for all sorts of criminal activity which will take of some of the eyes of the corrupt police department.

The Ballas
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The Ballas are your rival gang, they are very weak though and can be easily overtaken . They constantly attack in their own areas such as Jefferson, Glen Park, and Idlewood near CJ's house in Ganton

Other Gangs
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They are other gangs in the game, and their names except at the moment however just like the Ballas they seem tough at first when you have limited weapons but as you accumulate more power (you can recruit gangs) and firepower, there is no gang in San Andreas that would be considered invincible.

In essence the gangs in San Andreas an exact parallel to the mafia in Vice City except for the obvious different backgrounds and culture.

CJ’s Posse (The Grove Street Gang):
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Sweet Johnson (Faizon Love )(Cj’s brother):
Yes just like in the mafia it all runs in the family here!!!
Sweet is the lesser and the weaker link in the Grove Street Gang (that’s your gang). Sweet is nothing more than pot smoking dopehead with occasional good ideas of striking it rich via the gang.

Kendl Johnson (Yolanda Whitaker) and CJ’s sister:
She has a mild role here, you don’t really do any sort of important missions with her at the beginning she serves to put a storyline with her and her boyfriend Cesar Villapando another gang member who helps CJ’s with his problems. Actually Cesar appears a lot in the game, as he and CJ’s form a partnership to stop the corruption in San Andreas with their own brand of justice.

Smoke Harris (Clifton Powell):

The last real member of the Grove Street gang, he appears many times in the game as well. Just like Sweet though, “Big” Smoke is all talk and all crap. lol Anyways those are the major main characters and there are many other characters which I wont mentions that will appear in the game but I will leave it as a surprise to you gamers who haven’t played the game yet.

Now on to the real critiques of the game:

Graphics ****
(Good to Excellent)
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The graphics are good taking full capability for the most part of the PS2 3d capabilities, its hard to find any sort of fault here with the exception that some of the character models if you examine them closely in some situations look the same. Rockstar games though for the most part has developed pretty real, flesh out environments and characters to gamers content since games like Max Payne premiered and San Andreas isn't any different. The game also comes with a bunch of movies too so you can just sit back and watch them while you play, their all highly entertaining. You get a good back story into CJ and from there , dude, it just breaks loose and you get a full intro into the world that is San Andreas.

Control *** (Good close to perfect)
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The control is ridiculously simple, now for a newbie that may not be the case. This is the firstgame that I played in the series with regularity so there was that obvious "feeling out" process thatmost gamers feel, but I can tell you, anyone can master the controls in the game. Within no time,you be zig-zagging from one button to the next and pulling out a combination of moves to overcome your enemies. But here is a basic rundown of the controls:

Triangle- Primarily used to get objects
X- Primarily used to run or to speed up while driving
Circle –Primarily used to break
R1 - Used to zoom in on objects , but when used in conjunction with X, this results in targeting
enemies automatically So R1 is really the important button as this is your basic trigger button
L1- Toggles between your weapons inventory and believe me you will do a lot of toggling in this game, because not only will you have to pick the right weapons, but often times you will have to what’s called “tagging” in the game with a spray can which is basically where you mark your territory in the game and show the other gangs who really is in control.
You will also many times have to use a camera (like Peter Parker, haha) and take snapshots both out in public and in stealth mode, so its really to your benefit to memorize all the buttons that way you won’t get creamed in the game.

The Gym
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The Gym is a new aspect I believe to San Andreas, you can work out in a gym and grow some muscle and beef up so you can kick butt when you aren’t armed with a weapon. Rockstar is trying then to present it’s characters more realistically. Besides working out, you have to many times take CJ’s out to eat and buy food. In several points , you often burn calories very fast and thus develop those muscles and biceps, so you have to watch yourself and not try to burn of too much fuel and conserve your energy. When you gain muscle it also affects many attributes such as stamina, endurance, swimming and running so before you ask , the gym is important so get used to working out before setting out on your next mission, you’ll be glad you did.

Challenge *** and ½
(Good to hard)
San Andreas just like Vice City as I talk about is a massive , huge game that will take you hours if not months to complete, this is in part due to the challenge.

You will do all sorts of whacko and sometimes impossible missions, where you will literally have to be perfect in order to move on to the next objective. I particulary found hard the stealth missions, because you are vulnerable and your prohibited from using any sort of force or make any sounds in the game. Some of these missions are real nail biters, but overall the challenge in the game is really up there. It’s not impossible to pass them but they are all pretty challenging.

Sound and Music ****
(Excellent)
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By far one of the most popular aspect of the Grand Theft Auto series is the music most specifically the radio which basically serves as your audio entertainment system through the whole game. Man dude!!! Holy Moses!!! In this radio you get all sorts of stations from heavy metal, to punk rock , to alternative music and last but certainly not least come those far out dij’s and radio commercials that will leave you dying out laughter.

Some of the more funnier skits that I have heard and are probably some of your favorites are :

*The motivational speakings of Mike Andrews-The skit is basically some rightwing liberal liar who says that it’s good that poor people be poor and rich people be rich, it’s an obvious reference to the Bush Administration

*”Gardening with Maurice”-Another funny skit, this guy sounds like Gilbert Gottfried!!!
The guy has me dying on the floor everytime he comes on, all I say can is when he does come don’t change that dial!!!

Of course the songs are a blast, the songs features talented singers from the 70’s , 80’s, 90’s the whole radio thing is really a labor of love in the game and high praise goes to Rockstar for doing this yet again.

If your asking who are stars that sing well in a short list of favorites it includes hits from
Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Van Halen, NWA and Ice-T.

Things I liked about the game
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Well obviously the game is really of the chart, one I didn’t point is that Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was released at a time 2004 when three of the most anticipated sequels came
out…..Halo 2, Half-Life 2 and Doom III, yet San Andreas has managed to overshadow these juggernauts!!! Now that is truly doing something special.

It was up against the best competition and not only has the game held it’s own but it really has led the pack and set the standard for what a game should deliver.

The graphics I liked, the sound and music were totally awesome, the controls were really easy and the challenge was also great.

Things I didn’t like
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Well sad to say but even though I am a big fan of the game, it does have it’ s flaws:


*Map diagrams are too small

The map which is basically where you see the locations of places in SA is just too small. Now it’s not a big complaint at the beginning, but as you encounter more and locations, several blips come onscreen (usually colored yellow and red), Many of these blips and their names are too small to read ,you can zoom in with the control but even then the zoom is really inadequate.

*Save locations suck and are limited.

The save feature in San Andreas works differently than in other games, you don’t per say have save points, you have to purchase or own what’s called a “safehouse” (another cool feature you can buy a ton of property). Now these save points are generally not located within small distance they are usually located within several miles of each other. Again not a big deal at the start but as the missions get harder and harder , it’s almost a chore to get from one safehouse to the other.


Overall ****
(Excellent)
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Overall those minor flaws in the game are forgotten once you put the game cd in the PS2 and start playing, the game is just totally awesome. There are no words to say it, except it’s hip , cool, sexy and its addictive. You can come with a hundred or so complements for the game because the game is so totally genuine and intense that it totally blows out of the water any competitions (much like Vice City).

All I can say is the game lived up to it’s hype, it lived up to it’s reputation and it lives up to the fact that Rockstar has not lost it’s edge. They know how to make great action packed games, and they delivered on every point in San Andreas, so get your copy of GTA San Andreas now!!!

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