Grand Theft Auto (GTA)™: San Andreas (Special Edition) for PlayStation 2

Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series has gone onto become one of the most popular and successful video game series' ever in recent years (not to mention one of the most controversial). The first two games (along with an expansion pack) were released in the late 1990s as overhead action games (giving the player a bird's eye view of the games and their environments). The games are all extremely controversial for their content, in which players control a criminal who commits various crimes for crime syndicates and is rewarded in doing so. While successful, they didn't really make much of a dent, but things would change dramatically with 2001's Grand Theft Auto III for the PlayStation2 (and later PC and X-Box), truly one of the most innovative games of it's time and even today it's still a fairly innovative game, because before it there was nothing quite like it. Moving the series into 3D and with entirely new environments, plus with much more open-ended gameplay (with the player having an incredible sense of freedom and being able to do pretty much anything) and a tense and gripping story with lots of adult themes, it was a massive success amongst the gaming community, selling millions of copies and staying at #1 on the charts for weeks.

A sequel inevitably followed, and in 2002 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released. Similar to GTA3 in terms of gameplay and mechanics but with some touch-ups and a little more variety, it may have been more of the same to some but it was nevertheless another masterpiece, giving gamers more open-ended freedom and devilish fun breaking the law. One thing with this series is that each installment is arguably better than the last. GTA3 was greater, Vice City arguably greater, and after an agonizing wait, the next installment, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was finally released, and you guessed it - it's the best GTA game yet and easily one of the best games on the market today. Everything good about GTA3 and Vice City is in San Andreas with plenty more.


Story:


Carl Johnson (also known by his nickname C.J.) has been residing in Liberty City (which you may remember from GTA3) for five years following the death of his brothers in Los Santos. Forward to 1992, after five years of staying in Liberty City, C.J. returns to Los Santos after hearing of the news of his mother's murder and goes to attend her funeral and visit his family. Upon returning he sees that everything is pretty much in chaos, with him constantly arguing with his brother Sean (known by his nickname as "Sweet") and sister Kendl, and his old street gang the Grove Street Families have been severely weakened due to other gangs in the area. Furthermore, he faces pressure from fellow gang members Melvin "Big Smoke" and Lance "Ryder" Wilson with the leadership of the GSF, and has to frequently meet with Frank Tenpenny, a corrupt police officer, and Tenpenny's equally corrupt partners, Officer Eddie Pulsaski and Officer Hernandez (all three of which essentially have their own gang called C.R.A.S.H. - Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums).

Things are very rough for C.J. and his family, but he vows to make things right again, by getting his gang back on top and taking back control of the neighborhood, as well as improving family relations. Things go rather well initially for C.J. and his gang at first, but things get worse when he realizes some gang members have been double-crossing him and making him a target of rival gangs, prompting him, his relatives and allies to escape from Los Santos for the time being and work up more power while taking refuge in the countryside and desert, as well as nearby cities San Fierro and Las Venturas. Eventually C.J. and the OSF return to Los Santos to take back the neighborhood and crush their opposition once and for all.


Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was one of the most hyped and anticipated games in recent memory when it was first announced, and for the most part, the game lives up to it's hype. Everything you enjoyed about the previous two 3D GTA games is here with plenty more to keep you playing, and it easily is one of the best games out there right now. In fact, some could even argue the only better game than the last GTA is the next GTA, since arguably, each new GTA game is better than the last and manages to eclipse it. There is much about this game that is praise-worthy, and while not quite perfect (but again nothing is) and not as innovative as some may like, it's still an incredible game.


GTASA takes place in the state of San Andreas (which was a city in the original GTA game). GTA3 and Vice City placed you only in a single city with some different towns and neighborhoods to explore, but this time an entire state is your's for exploration, with three cities and a countryside and desert in-between, and everything being unbelievably massive - if you think GTA3 and Vice City was huge in scale, forget it, this game simply dwarfs both of those two in terms of sheer scale and size. I was actually wowed and won over by how utterly enormous and massive everything in the game is. The idea of the game being in a state with different cities and areas is a great one that thankfully is pulled off very well - Los Santos is based on Los Angeles and includes the beaches, Hollywood Walk of Fame (complete with stars on the sidewalks and movie theaters bursting with neon signs), wealthy residential areas, and the poorer neighborhoods with run-down houses and plenty of grime; San Fierro is based on San Francisco and includes the famous steep hills with some truly massive buildings and with some of the famous locales such as Chinatown and the docks; and Las Venturas is based on Las Vegas and includes the strip with many of it's famous hotels and casinos on the strip bursting with neon. Finally, in between Los Santos and San Fierro is a massive countryside, with forests, hills, rural neighborhoods with farms and small communities, and even a big mountain with chasms and pathways. And right next to Las Venturas is an equally large desert with canyons and gorges galore as well as trailer parks and small communities, and even a take on the infamous Area 51 military base. San Andreas is simply an incredible city and everything in-between it has to be explored and experienced to be believed.

The story is a great one, and while it may not sound like much from the plot summary, it's much deeper than you may think, and it gets deeper as the game progresses. The story is very intriguing with plenty of twists and turns players won't see coming, and an extremely memorable cast of characters no-one will soon (if ever) forget, many of which are developed well and have their qualities. C.J. makes for one of the most likeable game characters in recent memory, and arguably he's the best GTA lead characer to date, even giving Vice City's Tommy Vercetti a run for his money. C.J. is such a well-rounded character, and while his criminal deeds and demeanor aren't commendable, the character's sheer charisma is hard to beat, because at heart he couldn't be any more good, wanting the best for his family and his neighborhood and defending those he cares for. I couldn't help but always side with the character and feel for him and stand by him, and while I may not agree with his crime antics, it's clear everything he does and wants is with the best intentions, and as the game goes on, C.J. is not the true anatagonist of the game, but rather the slimy cop Tenpenny. Simply pit, C.J. is one of the most memorable and downright cool anti-heroes to ever be in a video game.

The rest of the characters are great too, with Tenpenny being another stand-out, and a truly loathsome villain. Tenpenny's corrupt demeanor and agenda, working for a rival street gang of C.J.'s and framing him for crimes he's not responsible for, and just generally messing with him, and everytime he appears the player can't help but detest him. He makes for a very memorable villain, and is actually quite chilling too, since he is a cop who does the exact opposite of what his profession is - something that can exist in reality and has. Officer Pulaski, Tenpenny's cowardly but dangerous partner, is also a character worth mentioning, he is such an utterly spineless character that players too will hate him right off the bat.

GTASA sports plenty of other cool characters that players won't soon forget, including C.J.'s brother Sweet who's always a good sidekick to have around and a genuinely likeable guy, his sensitive and caring sister Kendl, the rather unstable and shady Big Smoke and Ryder, Mexican gang member Cesar who befriends C.J. and helps him out, conspiracy theorist hippie The Truth, and undercover C.I.A. agent Mike Toreno. If you thought the previous two GTA games had memorable characters, you're in for more, as GTASA has arguably the best characters of the series to date.

The game's graphics are superb and while hardly the best the PS2 can show, they're still highly impressive and quite amazing to look at. The high-resolution from GTA3 has thankfully returned (forget the pastel of Vice City, it's gone) and makes things look all the more better, and things look great to begin with - the game sports countless types of designs and graphics, from basic character models to buildings, vehicles, environments, etc. all of which tend to sport much detail, from run-down buildings in the Los Santos ghettos to Santos' far more glamorous estates, the steep hills and towering skyscrapers of San Fierro, neon-washed Las Venturas with destinations galore, not to mention the in-between desert and countryside. From pointy gorges in the desert and sand-covered grounds, to the countrysides with their many pine trees and hills, the game's environments all look great. Character models are quite good too, sporting nice and fluid movements and animations and nifty little details (such as tattoos, hats, jewelry, etc.), although like the the past two GTA games they tend to be a little blocky-looking but otherwise are very well-done. Every vehicle is well-designed too, looking very much like it's real-life counterpart and the details all look terrific.

The special effects are also excellent, with the rain looking better than ever, sometimes the rain is actually jaw-dropping to look at, dousing and drenching the streets and covering the characters, the rain has never been better-looking. The fire effects are also worth mentioning, like the rain, the fire too looks better than ever, far more realistic-looking than in GTA3 and Vice City and with nice shimmering. The vast vehicular and environmental damage throughout the game is always impressive to see, whether it's a car getting banged up and spewing black smoke, lamp posts breaking apart, or glass shattering, the special effects are always a visual treat to see. Plus this time the game even sports a haziness effect in Los Santos and Las Venturas (as well as the desert), if you stand still you'll be able to see a clear haze, and all of these kinds of details only bring the game to life even more.

The graphics are far from perfect, sometimes suffering from some slowdown (which thankfully isn't as common as before but can still be experienced occasionally) and sometimes they appear a little blocky and choppy, and there are some obvious glitches (such as objects disappearing into walls and such). However the graphics are still very well-done and the gamemakers get a big thumbs up in the graphics department.

Likewise, the sound is great too, with plenty of cool sound effects, with the guns sounding more meanacing and fearsome than ever, with the continuous popping of a handgun or the mighty blast of a shotgun, or the nasty spewing of an AK-47, the guns all sound good. Other sound effects like screeching tires, crashing cars, shattering glass, thunder, splashing water, etc. are great too and all of the little touches bring the game's world to life.

Like with Vice City, San Andreas sports a soundtrack consisting of songs from the particular time period that were popular and trendy at the time. Vice City had tons of '80s rock/metal, new age and pop, and San Andreas offers '90s alternative rock, gangsta rap, R&B, and dance/techno. Stations include the hilarious talk radio station West Coast Talk Radio (WCTR), country station K-Rose (which has already gained a bad reputation amongst GTA fans), rap station Radio Los Santos, Oldies rock station K-DST (which is hosted by Tommy "Nightmare" Smith, voiced by none other than Guns 'N Roses frontman Axel Rose), and my personal favorite station, Radio X, consisting of early '90s alternative and hard rock and geared towards Generation X music fans. Radio X has many cool songs including:


-Hellraiser (Ozzy Osbourne)
-Midlife Crisis (Faith No More)
-Them Bones (Alice In Chains)
-Welcome To The Jungle (Guns 'N Roses)
-Rusty Cage (Soundgarden)


Radio X is a fun station to listen to, and it's host Sage is hilarious, with her ranting about society.


Another aspect of the sound that's highly commendable, and a trait of the series since GTA, are it's cast of celebrity voice actors. Some of Hollywood's biggest names have lent their voices to San Andreas, a few of whom include:


-Samuel L. Jackson as corrupt Police Officer Frank Tenpenny, who breathes a lot of life into his villainous character and seems to be enjoying himself greatly in the role.

-James Woods as undercover C.I.A. agent Mike Toreno, who's hilarious as the character and like Jackson, seems to be enjoying himself too. Toreno's missions can be quite challenging but they get you great rewards.

-Peter Fonda as The Truth, a hippie living in the countryside obsessed with conspiracy theories and gives you some of the most fun missions of the entire game. The Truth is possibly my favorite character in the game, and Fonda is awesome with the character's voicework.

-Chris Penn as Eddie Pulaski, Tenpenny's spineless partner, Penn does really good with the voicework, giving the character life and doing a good job of showing how cowardly he is.


Add to that highly impressive list, the underrated Clifton Collins Jr. (well-known for his work in 187) as Mexican gang member Cesar who is also an ally of C.J. and David Cross (a comedian who you may remember from HBO's beyond funny Mr. Show) as Zero, a computer nerd who runs an R.C. toy/car shop in San Fierro and allies with C.J. Newcomer Young Maylay (real name Chris Bellard) voices C.J. and does a masterful job at it, breathing plenty of life into the character and giving him a lot of dimension, voicing the character with much determination but not ever coming across as forced. Maylay simply makes the role his own, and it helps greatly the character is voiced by an unknown, as it allows the player to identify with him more easily. All in all, an incredible cast of talent for a game.

Of course, all of this good production wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't for the most important aspect of all video games: fun. Good news: San Andreas is one of the most fun games you'll ever play.

I don't even know where to start, but basically, take everything about the past two GTA games that you loved and multiply it all. The open-ended, free-roaming, do anything gameplay that made the last two GTA games so successful and so much fun to play is more fun than ever. In this game you can literally do anything you want: jack a car, grab a gun and go on a shooting rampage, fly a plane or helicopter, drive cross-country throughout the state through the beyond expansive territory, and so much more.

The game has countless missions and many different types, ranging from the basic assassination and pick-up missions from previous GTA games, and with much variety, such as controlling R.C. vehicles and using them to destroy vehicles driven by enemies, infiltrating secret bases or ships and stealing technology or vehicles, performing heists with fellow gang members, safely driving an important person around, waging war on rival gangs and basically waging World War III in your neighborhood, laying low in the countryside, learning to drive vehicles, flying a plane over to Liberty City (yes, you do this is one mission) to drop by a familiar locale, stealing musical work from a popular rapper's expansive mansion, gambling in a casino, playing pool at a bar, and so much more. I'm honestly at a loss of all of the things to list here.

One great new aspect is that your character is much more customizable; in Vice City you could get Tommy Vercetti some new clothes, but there wasn't much to choose from. Not so in San Andreas; there's countless different types of clothes for C.J. to wear, from basic shirts and jeans, jackets, boots, chains, watches, sunglasses, hats, sneakers, etc. and you can have him wear just about any kind of clothes together. You can even give him some tattoos, different haircuts ranging from short hair, afros, mohawks, and bald, and make him more muscular and physically imposing (and attractive to female bystanders) by working out at gyms and lifting weights. A new aspect of the character management I'm not particularly fond of though is having to eat meals every now and then to keep your character in shape. It does become quite a nuisance, especially when doing missions or looking for something important, but it is something you eventually grow accustomed to. Still, it is an annoyance to have to worry when to feed C.J. next, because if you don't he'll begin losing muscle and eventually health. That aside, the new customizable options are great and make the game all the more fun and replayable.

The weapons variety is a little disappointing, with not many new weapons and many just being ported directly from Vice City, but the weapons are still very fun to use. There's still plenty of tools available for you to wreak havoc, from baseball bats, knives, chainsaws, golf clubs, 9mm and silenced handguns as well as Desert Eagles, basic shotguns plus sawed-off and rapid-firing shotguns, M4s and AK-47s (nice to have the AK back), sniper rifles, Uzis, Tec-9s, MP-5s, and more heavy weaponry like grenades, molotov cocktails, flamethrowers, miniguns, and rocket launchers (two, one of which is a heat-seeking weapon). You can even dual-wield 9mms, sawed-off shotguns, Uzis and Tec-9s once you master your weapon skills, when using most firearms, you have to shoot people and vehicles to build up your skills, the more you do, the more effective you'll be when wielding a certain firearm. While weapon skill-building can be annoying and tedious, it does encourage the player to use all of the game's firearms to get the best out of everything, and ultimately, the new weapon skill-building system is a fairly welcome addition.

Fun as the weapons are to use, I was hoping for some more variety. How about adding some power drills and jackhammers? Why is the M-60 from Vice City gone? How about new types of assault rifles and shotguns? How about grenade launchers (especially ones to attach to M-16s)? The weapons variety is honestly a tad disappointing, since I was really hoping for some more, but that being said, many of the game's weapons are still tremendously fun to use. It's also worth noting that the targeting system has improved, with new mechanics that include changing colors that indicate how weak your target is, not locking onto the wrong target nearly as much, and one GREAT new feature is that you can now aim both automatically and manually with almost every weapon.

You also get more vehicles than I can count, with many returning from the previous two games plus a whole plethora of new ones, from sports cars, motorcycles, sedans, SUVs, trucks, vans, tanker trucks, BMX and mountain bikes, and more boats, planes and helicopters than I can remember. The police finally get motorcycles too and there's trains going around the tracks throughout the state that you can catch if you get tired of having to trek such long distances, and you can even catch flights to a different city. You even get a jetpack this time and is it ever cool. Plus there are even several vehicle customization shops where you can take a certain land vehicle and have it customized with different color and paint schemes and have logos and other neat additions like nitro boosters and hydraulics.

San Andreas sports tons of minigames, including gambling in the casinos of Las Venturas with slot machines and playing poker, craps, rhoulette, etc. and pool playing in bars, and you can even play retro-style games (like 2D space shooters) on arcade machines which can be found in bars and convenient stores. This isn't even half of what else you can play in the game though, with a ridiculous amount of racing and vehicle tournaments and even an optional side quest (if that's the apropriate way to put it) where in Los Santos you can attack members of rival gangs and claim their territory, earning influence, respect and money. And get this: in San Andreas you can even date certain female characters from time to time in different areas. You meet a certain female character in a city or county, ask her out, and from there on date her on occasion, doing things such as dining in restaurants, dancing in clubs or driving really fast to get her excited, and when you've scored enough points with her, you can, umm... how shall I put this... make out with her in her house (which you don't actually see but you see her house and the camera making shaking movements, as well as plenty of sexual moaning). Dating can be tedious (especially when doing a mission or side quest), but often they can net you good rewards, such as new vehicles and clothes which you can't get elsewhere and even new abilities such as keeping your weapons even if you get busted or wasted (a very welcome addition).

The vehicle side missions have returned; Vigilante where you hunt down criminals in law enforcement vehicles (such as police crusiers and Army tanks) and do good for a change, Firefighter where you put out fires in a fire truck, Paramedic where you drive an ambulance and rescue wounded civilians and drive them to a hospital as quickly as possible, and Taxi Driver where you drive a taxi and pick up civilians and drop them off to their destination as quickly as possible. There are new vehicle missions as well, including Burglar, where you get into a black van and at night, activate the burglary minigame where you quietly sneak into people's homes and steal as many items from their home in the amount of time you have without alerting anyone, and then dropping the stolen items off. There are also bike courier missions where you ride either a bicycle, motorcycle or motor scooter and drop off packages at various locations. It's also worth pointing out that while the Paramedic vehicle missions are still quite tough, this time they are at least more manageable if you do them in the countryside and not quite as difficult as in the past two GTA games (but next time how about a Rescue Helicopter for Paramedic?).

The main story missions are better than ever too, and while many are typical of the GTA series, everything is so expansive and epic in scale that it's hard not to be won over. Many of the game's missions make you feel like you're the star of a big-budget Hollywood action movie and you're the world's biggest action star, with missions that have you duke it out with the S.W.A.T. team in a motel, storm a top-secret military base to steal an important piece of equipment, sneak onto a military cargo ship and steal a Harrier Jet, fly a jetpack over a moving train to nab an important item, rob a casino and make a daring escape in a parachute and helicopter, make your way into an escaping airplane, assaulting a cargo ship with a rival crime syndicate on it in a helicopter only to have your helicopter shot down but then you sneak onto the ship and resume from then on, being the passenger on a motorcycle that's being driven at breakneck speed through flood control trenches while shooting at enemies and escaping from pursuing vehicles, and there's more gun battles than I can count, and they are staged everywhere you can imagine, from mansions, cargo ships, cemeteries, docks and city streets, and there's plenty of cool action missions involving vehicles, such as one where you ride a motorcycle and chase down a train with rival gang members on top while a fellow gang member who's riding alongside you helps you out by shooting the rival gang members. Many also have you in control of a vehicle doing drive-by shootings with gang members in your car, others have you pursuing rival criminals on freeways, and you get quite a bit of flying missions too, including one where you jump from a plane onto another! The action in this game is simply amazing.

And the open-ended gameplay of the series has never been more fun, and if you enjoyed the past two GTA games, get ready to get addicted with San Andreas; you can literally play this game for months and months to come and still not have done everything, and you can literally do almost anything you want in this game. Want to fight with civilians, shoot some cops, steal cars and speed around, or just cruise around the landscapes? You can do all of this and then some. One of the most fun new things to do (for me) is getting a parachute (which is a new addition) and jumping off a really high cliff or building (or from an airplane) and letting myself plummet through the air before pulling my parachute open. It may not sound like much, but trust me, it's incredibly fun to do and quite a rush too. This time you even get night-vision and thermal goggles which you can wear and activate, and while you won't be using either one much they are pretty fun to use; nothing quite like being in the city and stalking civilians with Predator-esque vision or seeing everything cast in an eerie green florescent glow. You even get a camera to take pictures with and this is a surprisingly fun new feature.

One GREAT new feature is the ability to swim. In past GTA games, if you fell in water you drowned and died right away, and this was very frustrating and quite stupid too. In San Andreas, you can finally swim and wade through water without fear of drowning and it is an incredibly welcome and much-needed addition. Swimming is easy to do and can be pretty fun as well, and there are a few missions where your swimming skills are required.

Law enforcement is better than ever here, with the police officers and S.W.A.T. officers, F.B.I. Agents and Army Soldiers returning to try to put an end to your reign of terror (like they'll do it). The wanted level system works just like in the past two games, with basic cops patrolling around and looking for you at one star but eventually giving up, cops being much more aggressive at two stars, cops getting assistance from helicopters at three stars, S.W.A.T. coming after you at four stars, F.B.I. intervention at five stars, and the Army hunting you down at six stars. There are motorcycle cops this time around and they are a very welcome addition. The A.I. is decent, with law enforcement being strategic and aggressive, and though the A.I. occasionally has some flaws it works for the most part.

Control scheme is pretty good too although not perfect, occasionally you may have a problem or two, such as not selecting the proper weapon in time or hitting the wrong button by mistake, but generally the controls are easy to use and work out and are pretty responsive. The camera tends to be jerky sometimes with it's angles but all in all the camera system isn't bad is it too is fairly responsive, although it could use some tweaking.

As great as San Andreas is and as much fun as it is to play, it does have quite a number of flaws that need to be addressed. For one, it's easily the most difficult GTA game yet, and not just challenging, but at times frustrating and incredibly difficult. Some of the main story missions are quite tough but most are at least manageable, but it's many of the side quests and objectives that can be a real pain. The one side mission Supply Lines (where you control an RC Baron plane and use it to shoot and destroy couriers who work for an enemy of Zero's) has become practically infamous for it's insane difficulty that's been known to jade even hardened gamers, and while the idea of vehicle schools is interesting, where you control cars, motorcycles, boats, and planes to build up your skill level with them and become better at handling them, and if you get 100% on all of the courses you'll unlock special vehicles (many of which are very rare and hard to find), it's execution isn't quite all it could've been, because many of the courses are inexcusably difficult. I can take a good challenge every now and then, but honestly, sometimes the difficulty here became too much; take the car-driving mission City Slicking or from the Pilot School Circle Airstrip And Land, and I dare you to play these missions trying to get 100% and not having to re-do them over and over, and not only that, but get flaming mad in the process. I felt the difficulties of many of the vehicle school courses were un-needed and unnecessary.

The game has many side quests and objectives, and some of them aren't all that fun, particularly the vast amount of racing tournaments. I'm not very good at racing and trying to win so many of these tournaments was quite testing for me, with many of the races being overly long and quite difficult. Now I'm not saying the game shouldn't have had these, but was it necessary to include so many, or could they have at least been optional and not essential to 100% game completion? The most difficult parts of the game for me were the many vehicle and racing tournaments and frankly they made me shout and scream like I never have before. Next time don't make the vehicle and racing tournaments so difficult and testing, challenges are welcome but nothing that makes you mad.

I must also say that I'm a little disappointed in terms of innovation. Don't get me wrong, everything that was great about the last two GTA games is back here and better than ever, but that being said San Andreas doesn't quite go as all-out as it could've (and should've); the new weapon skills system is a good idea, but why not make the weapons more customizable like the cars? Why not have optional accessories for your guns like laser pointers, flashlights, bayonets, etc.? Give more of a variety of clothes with stuff like trenchcoats and more Army gear (the game has many different types of clothing but more would've been welcome), more of a variety of tattoos and hairstyles (again, plenty are available but more are always welcome to have, next time how about some Dragon tattoos or long hair?) And as I said earlier the weapons selection is a little disappointing because it doesn't include much new and some of the returning weapons are simply ported over from Vice City; San Andreas features plenty but more are always welcome, and I had particularly high hopes for new weapons for the game.

Another aspect that could use work are your gang members; it's very cool and fun to recruit gang members to assist you, but more customizable options (like giving them different clothes to match your own, giving them tattoos and different weapons, etc.) and their A.I. could use some improvement, as at times it's quite dumb, with some of them sticking around doing nothing or being completely inept at combat. Some SOCOM-style controls and mechanics for your gang would've been amazing. Speaking of A.I., I must also point out the A.I. of the drivers on the freeways/highways - they are terrible! I literally cannot drive on the freeways without getting my vehicle hit multiple times by some maniac driver. Next time improve the A.I. of freeway drivers (although reckless driving on the West Coast is practically notorious, so I guess in that aspect, the game does mirror that from reality - it makes you feel like you're really on the West Coast).

The soundtrack's a little disappointing as well. Granted there are some great songs (I was very pleasantly surprised to see Ozzy Osbourne's Hellraiser included, I love that song but was a bit bummed that the second half is missing from the game), but the early '90s had tons of great songs that could've easily been in the game and should've; what about an entire thrash/speed metal station with songs by bands like Pantera, Slayer, and old-school Metallica and Megadeth? How can you have something set in the early '90s and not have Metallica's Enter Sandman on the soundtrack? And what's up with that country music station?

One final gripe: like GTA3 and Vice City, there are glitches galore that sometimes really interfere with the gameplay and can seriously mess things up. There's plenty of pop-up and graphical glitches throughout, and there's a now infamous new glitch where you can't work out at the gyms anymore and keep getting a message saying you've worked out enough for the day and to come back later - even though the day has already passed and gone by (you can however counter this glitch by doing basic exercise such as simple running, swimming and bicycle riding). I know nothing can ever be perfect, but always try to make something as good and complete as possible.

I know I sound like I'm being overly critical of the game by this point and perhaps even nitpicking, and maybe I even come across as an annoying bugger who whines and complains, but I only gripe about these things because the rest of the game otherwise is so good words fail to describe it; it's incredibly fun to play and it's intriguing story, wonderful cast of characters and amazing atmosphere pulled me right in and kept me playing (and made me use up plenty of hours of my time and life as well).

Even with it's often-frustrating difficulty and not being nearly as innovative as it could've, it's still barrels of fun to play and is easily one of the best games available out there today and for all-time probably as well. If you own a PS2 or X-Box (or PC that's good with games), do yourself a favor and purchase this game if you haven't already, along with a memory card, and make sure you've got plenty of spare time to burn, because you'll be spending tons of it playing.

All in all, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas lives up to it's hype and deserves every bit of praise it has gotten, and is one of the most fun, addicting and engrossing games ever.

Get it, play it, love it.