Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)

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Grand Theft Auto is the Johnny Rotten of the games industry; in short, it’ll make some cringe and others crow. In truth, it’s just another videogame, but since GTAIII in 2001 (which moved this crime simulator into three dimensions), we have seen just how far games have come in such a narrow sliver of history. Sales records soared to the point of exceeding box office takings for Titanic; thousands of right wing & Christian column ...
.../> The objective of any Grand Theft Auto game has been fairly consistent; to start from nothing and accumulate cash and status in the big city. Whether this advancement assumed the form of drug running, Mafia-style assassinations or simply ignoring the main objectives and causing chaos, there were two overriding and perpetual factors – avoiding the over-zealous police, and avoiding death. Anything else was entirely your decision.

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VIOLENT UPBRINGING

** Please feel free to skip the next paragraphs for the review proper if you are at all familiar with this game. This section is for the uninitiated only (I’m a caring soul). **

Grand Theft Auto is the Johnny Rotten of the games industry; in short, it’ll make some cringe and others crow. In truth, it’s just another videogame, but since GTAIII in 2001 (which moved this crime simulator into three dimensions), we have seen just how far games have come in such a narrow sliver of history. Sales records soared to the point of exceeding box office takings for Titanic; thousands of right wing & Christian column inches proclaimed that a digital Satan had arrived to steal our children; and lawsuits in the U.S. sued its creators for inspiring premeditated gun-crime in America’s youth.

So what were the reasons for all this ill feeling? In short, GTA’s real-world setting wasn’t a traditional arena for a game involving guns and violence. Even Christian groups didn’t mind Middle America disembowelling alien invaders with a neutron cannon in the epic battle of Galileo’s Allotment, but they certainly took issue with little Johnny pistol-whipping Police Officer Dibble to death outside Gap for fun on Christmas morning.

However, the naysayers had missed the point spectacularly – GTAIII was a revolutionary game, allowing almost total freedom of exploration in an environment we could all relate to. The ‘if you can see it, you can do it’ ethos was a recipe for success. If anything, its notoriety made for an even more attractive proposition. GTA’s violence and debauched disposition (rather than a crude marketing hook) merely complimented what was an astounding experience. The intelligent and at times self-depracating humour that rippled throughout also appealed greatly to the adult audience. Consequently, so long as the mandatory ‘18’ was clearly emblazoned on the box, no amount of ignorant moralistic bleating would ever matter.

The objective of any Grand Theft Auto game has been fairly consistent; to start from nothing and accumulate cash and status in the big city. Whether this advancement assumed the form of drug running, Mafia-style assassinations or simply ignoring the main objectives and causing chaos, there were two overriding and perpetual factors – avoiding the over-zealous police, and avoiding death. Anything else was entirely your decision.

In 2002, the GTA brand was granted a production budget large enough to root each game in a defined point in history; hence the previous version – Vice City – came complete with all the sights and sounds of the mid 80’s. Taking the profits and successes of the original, it offered the designers an opportunity to fuse the original concept with the elements they presumably did not have the time or budget to incorporate first time round. Hence we were treated to the GTAIII Rockstar wanted us to play first time round, with fully functioning helicopters, motorbikes, planes, and a stellar, fully licensed 1980’s soundtrack to compliment the 80’s Miami setting.

In gaming terms, how could anything surpass escaping from a Cuban/Haitian Miami gang-fight in a hastily stolen ice-cream van, tailed by a police helicopter, with Spandau Ballets’ ‘Gold’ triumphantly emanating from your ailing vehicles’ stereo? This was the quandary facing Rockstar while they mused over the next subtitle for their GTA goldmine. The result? GTA: San Andreas – i.e. California circa 1992.

MENACE 2 SOCIETY

Anyone familiar with the work of John Singleton in the early 90’s will instantly recognise the arena for San Andreas’ opening. The social commentary of films such as ‘Boyz ‘n the Hood’ clearly served as a rough template for the San Andreas back-story – i.e. the social issues facing Afro-Americans in the dangerous Los Angeles ghettos (re-christened ‘Los Santos’ for GTA purposes).

Following the murder of his mother, Carl Johnson (a.k.a. ‘CJ’) has returned to his Los Santos roots following five years in Liberty City (the New York inspired setting for GTAIII). He arrives to find his old Grove Street gang fragmented and in disarray, his family in crisis, and rival gang-bangers encroaching on once infallible Grove Street territories. The new influx and cancerous spread of crack cocaine (a real issue of the period) has further eroded old bonds and loyalties, to the extent that only the Johnson family and a few close allies remain to defend their honour in the ’hood.

The first notable difference between San Andreas and previous incarnations is that you are thrust into the midst of a gritty community setting from the outset. Rather than beginning as a lone thug, odd jobbing for criminal kingpins as you scale the crime ladder, San Andreas places you directly into a struggle to re-establish yourself and your gang to prominence, simultaneously ousting the crack dealers and rival ‘bangers that surround you. At least, that’s where the story starts……. more later.

L.A., SAN FRAN, LAS VEGAS………WHERE’S PECKHAM?

What really blew me away (and I’m sure many others) in previous GTA games was the realisation and scale of the city environments. Every road could be driven on, every stream traversed, every car stolen, and each alley explored. Traffic lights changed, smearing car roofs in shades of green and red, pedestrians wandered the streets and police patrolled. Day turned to night, the sun flared across your vision and blinded in the early morning, and the moon cast an eerie, pallid sheen over rooftops at night. Even better, each city had its own districts, dictated by their residents’ ethnicity, with financial and industrial areas either side. They were things of beauty – thanks to Rockstars’ painstaking efforts, the city felt alive.

However, San Andreas is modelled on California. California is an entire state. Consequently, GTA: SA has THREE cities, each equivalent in size to the entire environment offered in previous GTA games. Taking cues from Los Angeles (Los Santos), San Francisco (San Fierro) and Las Vegas (Las Venturas), Rockstar sent out teams of researchers armed with cameras to photograph entire sections of each, including the highly dangerous suburbs of Compton and the like.

More amazing still is that Rockstar has separated each city with swathes of countryside, a first for the series. San Fierro has a grassy farmland underbelly, and to the North East Las Venturas shimmers in the centre of a flat, arid wasteland associated with its real world counterpart. Along the dusty connecting roads lay tiny trailer parks, redneck farming communities, pockets of industry, and a huge scalable mountain, all of which are ripe for exploration.

At a conservative estimate, I would allow at least half an hour to drive the perimeter of San Andreas. That is huge; a breathtaking defiance of the perceived technical constraints of the Playstation, and the memory capacity of the DVD.

MODEL CITIZENS

Graphically, San Andreas has moved on in many respects. The lighting has been adapted by incorporating two separate models for every object; one for daytime, and the other for night. Consequently, shadows and reflections are more convincing than previously, especially at night where artificial light daubs its surroundings, projecting colourful patterns onto the street and passing vehicles. Streetlamps and traffic lights also look awesome, twinkling and changing dutifully on the deserted streets.

There are also effects specific to certain cities – dusk in Los Santos ushers in a dramatic, orange hued sky, haemorrhaging its glow onto the dishevelled backstreets of the ghettos. Heat haze distorts objects in the distance, creating fuzzy representations of people in the distance. Los Santos somehow manages to feel more menacing and tense as the balmy summer evenings give way to violent nights.

San Fierro becomes veiled in fog at times, true to tradition, with headlamps struggling to slice through the gloom. Watching the Golden Gate Bridge emerge from the greyness is quite something. Given my previous comments concerning the new night-time modelling, you can imagine the mind bending neon extravaganza that is trundling down the Las Venturas strip in a limo at midnight.

If you become jaded after spending all that time in the city, the countryside really is a refreshing departure, and offers up some graphical flair of its own. The rolling hills, dramatic cliff edges and towering evergreens crawl as far as the eye can see; up close, the grass sways ever so slowly in the breeze and birds glide overhead. I can’t begin to describe how impressive this is, it might not be the tightest or most detailed graphically, yet weigh up San Andreas’ size against its aesthetics and you cannot fail to be amazed.

Weather effects are now resplendent – a breaking thunderstorm and subsequent deluge covers the streets in reflective puddles and adds a grainy characteristic to objects. Sunlight is stronger than ever, with morning sunrises dipping playfully between buildings and trees, projecting blinding flares fleetingly into your field of vision. The moon even follows a 28-day lunar cycle as time passes. Small touches maybe, but highly atmospheric ones.

Every object has been adapted, remodelled and reworked in some way. Vehicles, pedestrians, and buildings appear more convincing than previously, especially under close scrutiny. To be brutally honest, remove the country sections and you would find it difficult to spot a specific example of this increased detail; however, as a graphical package it just feels ‘tighter’.

One criticism of previous games has been the somewhat unconvincing behaviour of random civilians and motorists – e.g., at times you’d spot a Caucasian octogenarian wandering around a ghetto in the dead of night, or a Triad gangster loitering in the financial districts at 6.30 in the morning. All this has been resolved with a higher level of context sensitive generation. This means that rush hours are busier in the business centres and on roads in general, the civilian demographic changes dependent on which district you’re in, (therefore no more courageous grannies), and pedestrians and motorists are capable of basic interaction with each other. Rockstar would have you believe this is revolutionary, but in truth, I hardly noticed these new features. However, in a strange way perhaps that’s a good thing.

Incidental characters behaviour has also been adapted. In the ghettos, residents squat sullenly on stoops, blowing clouds of acrid smoke into the air; prostitutes wander the lonely districts tapping guns nervously against their waists; and gangs hover menacingly on street corners. Unlike in previous games, the ghettos really bear all the hallmarks of a deprived area, which is important as early on the story hinges on it.

There is so, so much more to describe. I haven’t even begun to adequately cover San Andreas’ features. Suffice to say this game is visually impressive.

ONE COPPER = TEN PENNIES

The cinematic sequences have evolved greatly since GTAIII – in the opening passages corrupt S.A.P.D. officers Tenpenny & Pulaski - voiced superbly by Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Penn - intercept C.J. at Los Santos airport, steal his money, threaten to frame him for murdering a fellow officer and dump him deep in enemy gang territory. Welcome to Los Santos.

However, the cinematic feel really comes to prominence in the cut scenes involving the Grove Street members. The culture, street-talk and banter between C.J. and his family and friends sets precisely the right tone, is superbly voice acted and cannot fail to raise a smile.

From Samuel L. Jacksons’ corrupt officer Tenpenny to the hilariously effeminate and talentless wanabee gangster rapper OG Loc – a.k.a. burger bar employee Jeffrey - there is an abundance of acting talent on display. The psychotic, man hating armed robber Catalina also deserves special mention for her entertaining exchanges with C.J.

SNOOPING AROUND

The GTA series is renowned for its outstanding audio. As before, San Andreas comes complete with a number of radio stations to choose from while scouring its mean streets (provided you have a car of course), each station having its own theme. Vice City produced a fantastic catalogue of 80’s tunes to compliment the era, and all the 90’s Cali’ sounds are present here. Naturally, Gangster rap plays a major role in the audio with contributions from Easy E, N.W.A., Snoop Dogg, and Cypress Hill to name a few. Should this genre amount to musical Hades in your opinion, there are a plethora of other styles ranging from Country & Western via Techno to Heavy Metal and everything in between.

Equally entertaining are the eccentric hosts of the radio shows - Axl Rose (of Guns ‘n’ Roses fame) even appears to host one of the stations. Throughout, there is a huge amount of satirical fun poked at the American public, Christianity, corporate greed (one of the advertising jingles for Cluckin’ Bell Chicken is truly hilarious) and all manner of other easy targets. The talk show exchanges and phone-ins are of especially high comedic quality; even after hours of play, you’ll still hear new passages of dialogue. The radio really enhances the driving experience, increasing the atmosphere further. Intelligently, the stations tuned when you steal a vehicle are now geographically influenced – steal a tractor out in the country and you will be reaching for the dial to escape from “All My Ex’s Live in Texas”, however commit Grand Theft Auto in a Los Santos ghetto and it’s a sure bet you’ll be greeted with some hardcore rap music.

The sound sampling is of an acceptable standard, but make no mistake, is hardly an improvement over earlier titles. Screeching of tyres, gunfire and engine rumbles are all fairly bog standard, yet not so bad as to impair the audio experience. Nothing to report other than ‘average’.

On balance though, I feel Vice City’s 80’s audio was more cohesive than in San Andreas. Perhaps this feels a little patchwork because the early 90’s aren’t actually that sunken into history yet, consequently the real enduring nostalgic classics haven’t yet been defined. Maybe it’s because the mid 80’s were more eventful historically, thus the producers had more material to work with? Whatever the reasoning, it still sounds phenomenal, just not as era defining as in Vice City.

IF IT AIN’T BROKE

The core gameplay of San Andreas has remained largely untouched. Despite the more in-depth storyline, whereby you work with and for your family and friends rather than the criminal underworld, mission structures still follow the routine Point A to Point B format, with mild variations on what action is required once you arrive at the designated spot. Whether this be an assassination, a simple gangbanging exercise or an amateur robbery, veterans of the series will have a distinct feeling of déjà vu early on. However, the missions soon become much grander in scale and complexity, with some missions unashamedly drawing inspiration from the film industry – one is eerily reminiscent of the bike/truck chase scene from Terminator II, while another follows the format of heist film Oceans Eleven.

More interesting however, is that C.J. is capable of physical feats that simply were not possible in previous games. Climbing, sneaking and (mercifully) swimming are now included in your arsenal, which means evasion and pursuit are now far more rewarding. Missions can now take you on a garden dash over fences, or into the murky shadows before launching a surprise attack. These additions not only allow for greater scope in completing a task, but also increase the accessibility of each area.

Gun toting maniacs will be pleased to note that San Andreas also incorporates a new targeting system, which prioritises according to perceived level of threat. This will come as a great relief for those of us who have suffered the indignity of accidentally removing the head of an elderly passer by with a sawn-off shotgun, entirely due to the poor ‘nearest first’ targeting system of old.

The ancillary gameplay in San Andreas has certainly received the greatest overhaul of any department. Primarily, you can develop C.J.’s character in a number of areas, ranging from physical fitness to your ability to wield a weapon. Each area will improve or diminish depending on what you’ve chosen to occupy yourself with during the game. For instance, invest your time riding a BMX around the backstreets and you’ll soon find your stamina increasing, body fat decreasing, and your biking skills improving. Visit a local gym for a work out and your sex appeal, respect and muscle will all increase. Eat one too many ‘Cluckin’ Bells’ chicken meals and you may find a struggle with obesity ensues, your respect simultaneously plunging as you draw insults from passers by.

Some of these attributes are purely superficial additions – frankly, your proficiency on a BMX won’t help in your struggle for supremacy on the street – yet high skills in each area will bring with them new opportunities to participate in the numerous sideshow activities dotted around San Andreas. For example, at the peak of Mount Chilliad (the aforementioned mountain) an impromptu mountain bike race is available for entry – *if* you have attained sufficient biking skills. You can learn new face pummelling hand-to-hand combat skills at a local dojo – *if* you have developed enough muscle to earn the respect of your sensei.

However, a prerequisite for a budding gangster on the toughest streets in the world is respect. This directly corresponds to your appearance, behaviour and the car you drive. Hence, you will need to dress smart, sport the right haircut, adorn yourself with the right jewellery, and complete the tasks set before you. This introduces another new feature of San Andreas; the ability to enter the many department stores, tattoo parlours and barbers to enhance your appearance. Much more than simply serving as a diversion, the gameplay alters as your respect increases; based on your level of respect, you can now recruit members of your gang (identifiable by the colour of their clothing) to aid you in your objectives.

This might sound like a headache to manage, yet Rockstar have managed to integrate these features to cause minimum disruption to the overall experience. No barriers are placed in front of the less enthusiastic player, yet those who invest time in C.J. will glean more pleasure from San Andreas as a result.

Add the smaller additions such as bar pool tournaments, arcade machines with specially written games and high score tables, limited two player modes, and all manner of other amusing diversions, and I think it’s safe to say that peeling the San Andreas banana is more involved than ever.

NIGGLES

Given the unbelievable lengths Rockstar have gone to in order to create this game, I feel somewhat guilty for picking at it. However, there are one or two slight flaws I’d like to see corrected.

For starters, at times the graphics suffer terrible pop-up and slow down of frame rate. This means approaching scenery will appear to ‘jump’ from nowhere into vision, and when the screen becomes cluttered with moving objects the frame rate slows to enable the hardware to cope. Textures also go missing at times (there are two models for objects, one when viewed from a distance, the other when up close; on occasions the basic stripped down texture remains for a few seconds then the detail spontaneously appears). This is wholly down to the limitations of the aging Playstation2, so you really cannot fault Rockstar for this.

Secondly, I have to state that the missions by their very nature can become tedious if you fail to overcome them rapidly. Driving from A to B, especially in a game world this size can become dull, especially if all that’s achieved is another cap in the head and another restart. However, there really is so much to do aside from the game proper, you’ll be hard pushed to become truly frustrated.

Finally, just because San Andreas is five times larger than previous games it does not necessarily correlate to five times additional content. Indeed, there is infinitely more to see and to do here than ever before, yet in terms of the game proper there is not an enormous increase in actual playing time. The result is that you never feel truly acquainted with an area before you are whisked away to another locale. You may find this a positive thing, yet I felt I wasn’t fully experiencing each area.

All things considered though, criticising San Andreas for such minor faults is like chastising Einstein for having a five ‘o clock shadow the day he finally cracked E = MC2.

IGNORE THOSE NIGGLES

San Andreas manages to be everything and yet nothing at once. It is technically beautiful, (despite the minor flaws) full of content, meticulously researched, brilliantly acted, at times hilarious and achingly cool. Break each of its components down and they could be described as crude, yet as an overall experience it is so much greater than the some of its parts.

Irrespective of the myriad additions to gameplay, control and aesthetics, one overriding aspect endures - choice. In how many other games can you trundle into Las Vegas on a combine harvester, with the Happy Mondays blaring from each speaker, en route to a casino, with half of the U.S. army in convoy behind you? How about parachuting from a mountain on a pedal bike for the hell of it? Perhaps sightseeing in a speedboat whilst sampling some James Brown at three in the morning? Alternatively, maybe a simple game of pool or basketball? San Andreas fuses styles, genres and humour to create a seminal moment in video gaming.

San Andreas is, essentially, a digital toybox that grows exponentially as you unlock more of its vast area. It could be argued that with the gargantuan San Andreas, GTA has now become more about the environment and storyline than the game itself, but who cares? This is, by some distance the longest Ciao review I’ve ever written, yet I’ve still only touched on the content within this tiny DVD. BUY.

 

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