About The Game
This game was created by Rockstar Games and released in 2004, this game is one of many GTA (Grand Theft Auto) games. Others include GTA Vice City and GTA 3.
The game is currently available for £10.03 including delivery on Amazon (it is definitely worth it with over 192 MISSIONS)!
The game is for players aged 18 and over, I would think it would be enjoyable for those younger but it all depends on their maturity. The game involves gang violence, drug use, theft, bad language and strip clubs - so I will let you decide for yourself if this is suitable.

The Storyline
Carl Johnson has just been released from prison and returns to his family home on Grove Street to find a lot has changed since he was last there. His mother has been killed and he is out for revenge. First he needs to get the Grove Street gang back together which isn't as easy as he thinks as a lot of his friends have developed drug problems or are now linked to other gangs. We also get to meet carl's brother and sister and her boyfriend. It's a good story line and gets better as you progress through the game. I don't find the cut scenes too long and they can be quite informative so don't be tempted to skip them the first time you watch them as they may contain important mission information.

The Aim of the game
To achieve 100% game completion you must pass all main missions and side missions. I still didn't manage everything but I'm pretty close.
If you are busted by the police or killed the police department and hospitals will take $100 and confiscate your weapons.
Over time you will build up a stash of weapons in your safe houses and will be able to get more there or go to an ammunition store to buy them.
You can buy safe houses so you will have them all over the maps and shouldn't have to travel far to save your game. You can save at any point as long as you are not in the middle of a mission, due to the amount of missions none of them should take too long.

The Missions
The missions are excellent and there are plenty of them, with a good range of difficulty and goals. Here's a quick list to give you an idea of the types of missions you can expect:
- Get a haircut
- Drive a person safely from A to B
- Win a dance contest (requires tapping different controller buttons in time to the music)
- Win a driving race
- Rob a house
- Defeat a gang
- Blow up a house
- Shoot people
- Take photos of targets

The majority of missions involve driving and shooting one or several targets.

Side Missions
I love this aspect of the game, if I get stuck on a level I just mess around trying to do some side missions to pass the time before going back to a mission.

Spray Painting - A can of spray paint can be found in Carl's house on Grove Street. Whenever you see a gang "tag" which is not green, you are to aim your spray can at it and press the fire button to spray over the rival gang's tag with a green 'Grove Street' gang tag. There are 100 of these to be found throughout the game, a lot are in obvious places on walls you pass, others are much trickier to find. On completion you are awarded with safe house weapons.

Oysters - In this game you are able to swim, there are 50 oysters hidden in the water, some are easy to find in peoples swimming pools and under bridges but others are much harder. For finding all these you will receive $100 000 and your lung capacity will be increased, as will your sex appeal - swit swoo!

Horseshoes - These are dotted around the Los Venturas Island, some are up very high so you will need to wait until you are on a high enough level to get a jet pack to retrieve these ones. The jet pack is also fantastic for travelling around very quickly. Rewarded with weapons, cash and increased luck.

Snapshots - There are 50 scenes which you are to take pictures of, without the guidebook I would never have found these. You can also find maps and pictures of what you are to photograph online.

Stunts - There are also 50 stunt jumps to complete in your vehicle, I'm just drive around like a maniac and if I get one, I get one.

Taxi - You can earn money and complete the taxi mission by picking up and dropping off 50 passengers in total. You don't have to do these all at once, I usually try to do around 5 at a time and go back to it later. A dot will appear on the map where your fare is waiting. You are to collect the person and then take them to their destination in a time limit. You will be tipped if you do if quickly and without any damage to your car. Your reward for dropping off 50 passengers is that all taxis will have nitro.

Vigilante - Get in police car and click R3 to toggle the vigilante missions, a criminal will show up on your map and you have a limited time to find and kill him. his is difficult due to the time limit and the fact that you can get caught and arrested. Reach level 12 to improve your armour.

Ambulance - Get in an ambulance and toggle the paramedic mission, you then have to pick up injured people and drop them off at the hospital in a limited time. Reach level 12 to increase your health.

Firefighter - Get in a fire engine and put out fires around the city to complete the firefighter mission. If you reach level 12 Carl will become Fireproof

There are many more missions including working as a trucker, a pimp, a valet, in a quarry and as a courier. There are so many more they can't all be listed but these side missions alone will keeps you occupied for days.


Vehicles
This game is brilliant for the range of vehicles, you can get in just about any car you see, occasionally the police have the sense to lock their car doors and you will be arrested if you are caught trying to get in one.
You can earn rewards and improve your skill by completing levels in the driving school, bike school, pilot school and boat school.
There are stadiums for you to race in and earn money too.

Weapons
There are many weapons you can use including knuckle dusters, knives, pistols, machine guns, shotguns and molotov cocktails. These come in especially handy for throwing through windows and blowing up cars.

Turf Wars
Areas controlled by your "Grove Street" gang show up as green as you go progress through the game, if an area is a different colour it means another gang controls this area. If you go to this area and shoot a couple of the gang members (usually wearing that colour bandana or clothing) you will start a gang war. You will have to kill gang members who come in three waves to win the gang war and take over the area.

Everything Else
- For energy you can find hearts around the cities which fills up energy. You can also visit many food outlets to restore energy. Bullet proof vests become available to buy in Ammunation (the ammunition store) and some are dotted around for you to pick up.
- Muscles, if you think Carl is looking a bit on the slim side, or his punching is just too weak, head to the gym where you can work out each day to improve stamina (to run longer), muscle and strength. You can learn new attack moves here and improving muscles makes Carl stronger.
- Girlfriends, Carl meets a few lady friends in this game and some of the missions involve wining, dining and doing a drive-by shooting with the lady in his life.
- Casinos, you can play on various gambling machines in the casinos to try and make a bit of extra cash or pass away some time.
- There are lots and lots of cheats for this game, I'm not one who likes using cheats but I did get the jet pack one as it was so frustrating taking so long to get from one part of the map to another.

Overall
Positives:
- Plenty of missions which are varied (some driving, some shooting, some collecting things)
- Lots of side missions to keep you occupied
- Large map and lots of areas to visit
- Realistic graphics, good choice of music
- Lots of weapons and vehicles to use
- Can save the game at any time

Negatives:
- The game involves a lot of driving and flying. Some of the flying missions are very difficult and you may get to a point where you cannot go any further without winning a race or completing a flying mission - you need a lot of perseverance and patience.
- The map in the corner is very small, when you unlock more areas the areas you can travel to are vast so I often found myself having to pause and open the full screen map (not a huge problem, just being picky now).

There is a big guide book you can buy for this game which is very useful. I borrowed it from a friend as it contains maps of where to find the hidden objects for side missions. It also acts as a kind of walk through guide for missions and I would definitely say it is worth a look.

This is, without a doubt, my favourite game of all time. I wouldn't normally dream of paying the full RRP prices on new releases, but if I had paid a lot for this one I could't complain at all. We've had weeks of fun out of this game and I would highly recommend it.