♥♥Sorry I havent been around much lately but I'm really busy at home and work and uni so...
♥♥Sorry I havent been around much lately but I'm really busy at home and work and uni so will catch up soon. Take care. Jayne x x♥♥
Member since:17.03.2004
Reviews:32
Members who trust:40
My review of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was initially inspired by my boyfriends heartfelt need to ignore me since he bought the game and take over our television. I decided it must be a good game and so set about unsticking him from the control pad and settling myself in his seat.
I must warn you before you read on that this is a long review, I didn’t want to miss anything out!! All the sections are headed so if you only want to read about certain aspects of the game then go ahead. Enjoy x x
Now, if you’ve played Grand Theft Auto games before or have witnessed your partners demise to such a game then you will have noticed a considerable improvement over the games. To me this one didn’t look any more impressive than its predecessor ‘Vice City’. The box is very similar and the graphics don’t seem to have improved much. I doubt that this is down to its creator, Rockstar Games but more to do with the capacity of the PS2, if another game is made when the new playstation is released then I believe Rockstar Games will make the most out of the graphics. Needless to say however the graphics are still pretty impressive and the map you are given to follow is huge!!
BREIF HISTORY Grand Theft Auto is created by Rockstar Games who make this strand of games exclusively for the PS2- thus it is not available on any other formats. There have been three previous games each one improving in content and graphic quality. Also the playability of each game has always exceeded my expectations.
PLOT SUMMARY The game starts with a movie clip of a man (Carl Johnson) being picked up by a corrupt cop who frames him for homicide. The game is set in the early 90’s and Carl’s mother has just been murdered. Carl is forced to take a journey across the state of San Andreas, a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, corruption and drugs. His mission, to rule the streets of San Andreas and save his family.
THE GAME After meeting Carl Johnson (CJ) through the first video clip you then take control of his character. The first vehicle you come across and can use is a BMX, this is a new concept in GTA and you are able to build up your cycling skills the more time you spend pulling stunts on the BMX. The game has tried to be as realisitic as possible with the abilities to eat, work out, swim and increase your sex appeal all being new additions to the game. There are bars that measure you fat content, muscle content, sex appeal, stamina and respect, these can be accessed by pressing L1 during gameplay.. To build you muscle content you can work out in the gym or try riding around on the BMX, this can increase your cycling skill along with your muscle. If you don’t eat enough food then you will burn off your muscle content. I found it best to keep a bit of extra fat which is what you will burn off prior to muscle.
WORKING OUT You can work-out at the gym and complete exercise to either increase your muscle content (using the ten weight levels available) or build up your stamina (try the exercise bike or the tread mill, again there are ten different levels for you to try out). You can also try out some fighting techniques on the punch bag but you have to build up your muscle first.
GROOMING Building up your muscle will also build up your sex appeal, this also depends on what car you drive and what you look like. You have a wardrobe in your safe house and you can also go to shops along your journey to buy new clothes. If you’re on a budget try Binco (more trash for less cash) or if you’re a bit of a high roller there’s Didier Sachs and the more exclusive brands of Rodeo Drive. You can go to the barbers
and get a new hair-style (try Gay Gordos where Mullets and Flat tops are a speciality) or why not get a tattoo. Whatever you do it’s a good gimmick in the game being able to mess around with your appearance and see what the ladies like/dislike. You can check your sex appeal on the pause menu.
I thought that sex appeal was a great addition to the game and as you may have guessed you can get a girlfriend. This actually comes about as part of one the missions whereby, armed with a fire extinguisher, you save a girl from a burning building and establish a relationship with her.
FOOD As I mentioned you need to keep your energy up by eating on a regular basis, you can do this by stopping off at a multitude of fast food joints such as Cluckin’ Bell or the many burger joints located around San Andreas. These are indicated on your map with a burger sign. Cluckin’ Bell staff treat you in different ways depending on which city you are in. In the nicer areas they are polite and courteous but in the rougher areas they insult you, not very good customer service!!
CHARACTERS Along your journey you will meet numerous new characters in San Andreas. Some of whom are family members and others gang members. The main characters in the story are Sweet Johnson, your older brother, Kendall Johnson- your sister Cesar- A friend who is dating your sister Smoke- Part of your old crew Ryder- another old friend Frank Tenpenny- corrupt cop number 1 Eddie Polaski- corrupt cop number 2 Madd Dogg- A recording Artist with a drug problem OG Loc- a wannabe gangsta rapper Wu Zi Mu- the triad leader
THE MANUAL This is by far the most innovative games manual I have seen yet. It is set out as loads of different adverts advertising the many activities/stores in San Andreas. It is a little confusing to look at but if you give it a quick read it tells you what you need to know. The adverts make it a colourful much more enjoyable manual to read but it leaves a lot for you to work out for yourself. This is partially what makes the game so interesting though, you are constantly finding out new gimmicks that are available and wondering if your friends know about these??
THE MAP This is by far the biggest map I have seen on a game. It stretches out across the whole of San Andreas and at first can seem a little overwhelming. There are 3 cities which are Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas. This adds to the playability of the game and is easy to navigate but it does slow you down a bit when you have to constantly check the map to check you are on the right road or heading in the right direction. I was only able to remember small bits of the map (generally the bits I used regularly) and therefore had to revert to checking the map when taking an unfamiliar route. There is a pull out version of the map that you can use for reference although I didn’t use this too much as my partner wants to keep it in good form and opening it out constantly will obviously add to the wear and tear of the map. The other option is to pause the game and select the map option in the pause menu. You can then navigate the map from this menu.
AUTOMOBILES As in every GTA you are able to steal cars (Hence the game title) from members of the public, police, ambulance service and basically any other moving vehicle on the road. The list of cars is almost identical to that of Vice City but there are still a lot of exciting cars/bikes available in this game, each one having a slightly unique feel about it. At first handling will not be very good in these cars but that’s why you need to drive more to build up your driving skill. I originally included a list of all the cars, bikes, planes, helicopters and sea transport available on this game but it was mentioned in the feedabck from other ciaoers that you can get this info elsewhere and this is not what your looking for in a review. After reading it back to myself this was quite a boring addition to an otherwise informative review and so I've edited this list from my review. If you would like to know what all the cars and other modes of transprt are then you can find this informations at www.gtadomain.com.
The range of cars iavailable is none the less pretty impressive. You will sometimes need different cars for different missions or you might be playing with less of a goal in mind and just fancy having a drive about in some fun little cars. This is definitely the game for you if you enjoy this kind of thing. You can update your cars, repair them and re-spray them at ‘Transfender’. This is useful when you’re being chased by the police because once you have a new engine and new paint job they won’t recognise you and so your police rating goes away. Thus allowing you to carry on with your days work.
GANGS As with all GTA games there a re different gangs that you might want avoid getting into a fight with. The gangs in San Andreas are as follows: Orange Grove Families- This is the original gang of Los Santos though they seem to be losing face through out San Andreas. There gang colour is green.
Los SantosVagos- This is a Hispanic gang, sworn enemies of Varrios Los Aztecas and extremely dangerous. There gang colour is yellow.
Varrios Los Aztecas- A traditionally anti-narcotic gang their main business is gun running and street violence. Again a hispanic street gang and extremely dangerous. Gang colour is turquoise.
Ballas- Enemies of the Orange Grove Families the Ballas are into everything, drug deals, prostitution, arms dealing, gang banging, you name it. Gang colour is purple.
Flats- Another rival gang of OGF there business and gang colours are unknown.
San Fierro Rifa- Rivals of the Mexican gangs in Los Santos their business is cocaine and their gang colour is light blue.
Da Nang Boys-In the protection business this gang is very violent and are at war with the relatively unknown triads. There gang colours are mixed but they can usually be identified by Vietnamese style shirts.
Triads- a relatively unknown Chinese Gang
WEAPONS The game has a variety of weapons at your disposal and in order to complete your missions you are going to need to build up a fairly big armoury. The more you use each weapon the more your weapon skill builds up. The weapons that are available to you are very similar to that available in Vice Cit, numerous pistols, shotguns and assault rifles, you also have a spray can, Fire extinguisher, Camera, Night Vision Goggles, Infra Red Goggles.
Also available to use as weapons, but you only get these as part of a mission, and hence the game is rated 18, are 2 dildos and a vibrator, why they are available as weapons I have no idea and this is all they are used for so don’t worry about any graphic scenes of how you might use a dildo to attack people, it is merely hitting people over the head with it.
MISSIONS There are mission strands all over San Andreas and by completing the missions you increase your respect and also earn money. Missions go from stealing and selling cars to the more intricate plots of breaking into an army base camp (Area 69) and stealing a helicopter. The main aim of the game is obviously to complete all the missions thus earning wads of cash and ruling over San Andreas. I’m not going to delve into every mission on the game but if you want this much info then you can look at one of the GTA websites and find a walkthrough which will give you details on how to complete each mission. Another suggestion is that you buy the official strategy guide which is available on play.com for £7.99 delivered. Also by completing the missions you open new parts of the game thus increasing
Pictures of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
CJ
the games playability,
FEATURES I’ve already mentioned a lot of the new features in this game such as eating, swimming, getting tattoos, styling your car, styling yourself and going to the gym. You can also complete robberies in this game which you haven’t been able to do in any of the other GTA games. Robberies are a quick way of earning a bit of extra cash.
As in GTA Vice City there are things to collect/ complete in order to receive extra bonuses such as getting a full armoury of weapons of more health etc. In San Andreas there are 100 gang tags sprayed on various walls that you need to find and spray over with your gang tag.
GIMMICKS In this game you open a casino which is a really good way of building up the dollars in your bank account. The more you gamble in the casino the bigger account they will give you giving you the chance to earn extra cash by playing roulette, black jack, slot machines and wheel of fortune. I really enjoyed this bit of the game and spent a lot of time in the casino. This is probably because of my addictive personality, hence I have never actually been to a casino myself.
As with Vice City you can pick up a prostitute in this game and drive her somewhere quiet in your car. She will take money from you after this but if you’re a bit sick minded like my boyfriend you can kill her and get your money back!!!
You acquire a jet pack in this game which is very useful, it doesn’t run out of fuel and so you can use it to travel around.
You also get a parachute which is involved in some of your missions. You can use this when jumping from high buildings or even a plane!!!
AIR VEHICLES Through some of your missions you can acquire your own air vehicles and even your own airport. Again a list of all the air transport available in this game can be found at www.gtadomain.com.
SEA VEHICLES Some of the missions require you to use sea transport and go out on the ocean, in order to do this the game has provided us with the following Sea Vehicles: Coast Guard, Dinghy, Jetmax, Marquis, Predator, Primo, RC Cam Launch, Reefer, Speeder, Squalo and Tropic.
SAFEHOUSES You can buy new safe houses throughout your journey of San Andreas, each safe house may have different qualities such a garages, wardrobe, bedrooms. Depending on where they are and the features they have they will cost you different amounts of money. As with the previous games if you park a car in your garage and save the game (there is a save point at every safe house) then the car will be saved. Also if you put a car in your garage when you take it back out it will have been repaired and be back to full strength.
SOUNDTRACK The soundtrack on this game is fantastic. There is a wide range of music so it suits everyone’s needs. As with the previous games you chose which radio station you want to listen to when you’re in your car and there are funny adverts and fabulous songs playing on every station. The Vice City soundtrack was released as a box set and I believe that this soundtrack box set is going to be released in the UK at the end of November, unlike the Vice City box set the one that is being released this time is only 2 CD’s, this is a bit disappointing. I have included a list of the radio stations available to listen to and the genre of music played.
Bounce FM DJ: The Funktipus Genre: Funk
CSR 103:9 DJ: Philip "PM" Michaels Genre: New Jack Swing and Modern Soul
K-DST DJ: Tommy "The Nightmare" Smith Genre: Classic Rock
K-Jah Radio West DJ: Marshall Peters & Johnny Lawton Genre: Dancehall, Raga, Reggae and Dub
K-Rose DJ: Mary-Beth Maybell Genre: Country & Western
Master Sounds 98.3 DJ: Johnny "The Love Giant" Parkinson Genre: Soul, rare grove, classic funk
Playback DJ: Forth Right MC Genre: Classic Hip-Hop
Radio Los Santos DJ: Julio G Genre: West Coast Hip-Hop
Radio:X DJ: Sage Genre: Modern Rock
SF-UR DJ: Hans Oberlander Genre: House
WCTR Talk Radio Genre: Talk Radio Hosts: The News With Lianne Forger - Hosted by Lianne Forger (Voiced by Sharon Washington) Gardening With Maurice - Hosted by Maurice (Voiced by Andy Dick)
OVERALL This game has provided hours of endless fun in our household but is not for the faint hearted. There is a lot of bad language used in the video clips and on the streets of San Andreas. The main focus of the game is to beat people up, complete violent missions, traffic drugs and basically rule the city of San Andreas. It is quite rightly rated an 18 due to the content of the game and I would recommend that if your buying it for someone younger you vet the game yourself first. Although the missions in the game are not really the type of thing I’m usually into I sat with my partner while he played them and really enjoyed the extremely diverse set of missions available in this game. The numerous gimmicks such as being able to go in the casino and styling your cars make the game more fun and definitely more playable to a wider audience than the previous games. You have to put a lot of time and effort in to complete this game and so you should be careful that you don’t go out to work the next day in GTA mode, you might end up killing your boss or running over an innocent pensioner! Overall the game is thought provoking and I would say one of the best games to be released yet. If this is your type of game then I would recommend buying it. You can get it from all good Game stores (providing they have copies in as it has been very popular) and I bought it for £39.99. An ideal Christmas Present for any Game fans out there.
Also available delivered from Play.com at only £32.99 (I wish I’d known that before I bought this one!!)
For full track lisintgs visit www.gtadomain.com.
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What a brave lass you are. GTA is a fantastic series. Great op. You encapsulated everything necessary for an EXCEPTIONAL review. :-) Dean
Dizzy_Lizzy 07.03.2005 14:16
Very informative review. I like the GTA games but I'm not very good at them. ~Liz
Vijay_Jag 26.02.2005 15:27
Great review. I've got the game, good game. Very detailed and informative review. It is often hard to play such a game and review it in great detail as you have. Often playstation gamers play games for endless hours and become lazy to do anything else. :o)
Considering how massively popular the last twoGTAgames were Rockstar couldve knocked out ... more
any old rubbish as their last GTA game this generation, but despiteGrand Theft Auto: San Andreasnot being a full sequel (it still uses essentially the same graphic...
Postage & Packaging: £1.94 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santo, San Andreas, ... more
a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers.Now, it's...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
Advantages: The freedom, the music, the variety, the characters, the story, the size, the vehicles, the script, everything. Disadvantages: The graphics are pretty good, but not brilliant. This is due to the mammoth size of the game.
Advantages: Loads of things to do, great missions, hugest map in a game ever, huge variety of vehicles and weapons, great graphics. Disadvantages: None - it's absolutely perfect
Advantages: The game is good because you can easily kill time when you have nothing to do! Disadvantages: There isn't much "point' to the game, i mean besides walking around the city and doing missions.
![Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas [Platinum] PS2](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/99139291.jpg "Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas [Platinum] PS2")
exceptional by (37%):
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