Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Title: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Studio: RockStar North
Publisher: RockStar Games
Genre: 3rd Person Shooter
Platform: PC

Premise

You take the role of a ganster in a fictional state which shares a lot of characteristics with California, who is trying to take back his city from rival gangs, and the corrupt police force.

Character

You are Carl Johnson, CJ. A gangster from Los Santos. You return to your home to find that your gang has lost all of its power, your mother was killed in a shooting, and you are no longer a respected member of the gang.

Play

This game is very well rounded. It has almost every genre of video game out there somehow incorporated into the play, either in main missions, or optional side missions. There are various types of planes that can be found at the 3+ airports throughout San Andreas, all of which can be piloted. The flying is not flight simulator quality, but then I feel that flying would lose it's fun in the game, becoming challenging to all but the most skilled pilots. There are stealth missions, where you have to raid various buildings, and in one case a cargo ship. There are racing missions as well as side missions, where you race to each waypoint, the course being set up like connect-the-dots. It has full on action shooter missions, where all you have to do is kill all the policemen/rival gang members/innocent bystanders/etc. etc. There is even a puzzle aspect when you have to use a radio controlled helicopter to protect a radio controlled car on its way through a small map. If all you're looking for is fun, though, all of these elements can be ignored. The map, which is the size of a state, begs to be explored and demolished. Easily obtainable weapons from cheats lead to unstoppable rampages throughout the city, destroying everything in sight, which can keep the average person occupied for hours.

Engagement

The story is fairly engaging, if you let it be. There is the option to skip most of the cutscenes for those of you who want to get to the action, but if you watch the cutscenes you will see a well crafted and original story play out, that will make you want to help CJ out with his problems.

Challenge

GTA: San Andreas starts out with the simple tutorial missions, bike riding, car driving, shooting, and so on. As it gets more and more into the game, the missions get increasingly complicated and challenging. The learning curve is a tad steep when it comes to a few levels, and some levels are so easy you think they should have been placed earlier in the game, but all together, this game's difficulty curve is better than most games.

Gameplay Video

(In future posts I will have a video of the game here, but today my computer decided it wasn't going to let me.)