A good possibility it's THE best game ever!
GTA:SA is the fifth instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series, and has come a long way since that bird's-eye-view simple driving game perspective. Playing the role of Carl Johnson, gangster wannabe, after you find out your mother has been murdered you are forced to come out of hiding in Liberty City and return to your home state San Andreas. Once being part of a gang called "Grove Street", Carl's aim is to build up this once powerful gang, find out who killed his mother, and ultimately take control, of the streets of SA.
San Andreas is HUGE, and I do not exaggerate when I say this. It consists of 3 areas: Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas (spin-offs of Los Angeles, San Fransisco and Las Vegas), each of which are huge and boast many things to do.
Game-play is the sole aspect of GTA:SA. The missions themselves are great and range from tasks such as infiltrating an huge army tanker and stealing a fighter-jet to using a combine harvester in a hillbilly farm to mince up the opponents! GTA:SA is a hard style to describe, but it seems a cross between stealth sections to full-out extremism. Fans of violence will not be disappointed, there are plenty of guns to put holes into victims, plenty of grenades to explode things, and plenty of vehicles to take if you fancy them. Even after you've completed the missions the fun doesn't stop there, no GTA:SA is such a mammoth of a game that it will take ages to complete and even after a year you'll probably still be playing regularly like me. Since GTA:SA is such a free-roaming game you'll free that you really can do whatever you want, whenever you want. After all, where else would you get the chance to knee a hapless thug in his private parts, and then shatter his skull with a baseball bat? Highlights of extra activities include gambling, a range of schools such as flying, driving and motorbike schools), recruiting members of Grove Street for hardcore gang wars, and various car stunts and drive-byes that you can perform.
Graphics I'll keep pretty short. GTA:SA has more of a cartoon feel to it visually, which is probably why we don't take the fact we've just blown someone's head off with a shotgun seriously. The good thing about GTA is that since it doesn't over-dramatise the death, we an laugh at it. GTA has some impressive graphics though such as that everything has its own physics engine. The fact you are surrounded by walking, talking civilians makes the feel of a living and breathing society more believable. I also love the different looks of each area which gives it a different characteristic - the orange and sun-bathed streets of the urban Los Santos, the metropolis of San Fierro, and the blazing neon lights and Elvis impersonators of the hectic Las Venturas. Bloodied footsteps after trampling over someone's dead corpse, the shimmer of light on the ocean and day/night affects are also a nice touch.
Sound plays like a dream. he real key are the radio stations. This ensures that you'll be happy whatever your taste whether it be classical music, rock or even a country folk station with a psychotic host.
In Conclusion GTA:SA does everything we want, and to be honest it couldn't do a lot more. If I could sum up this beauty n a few rods: Best..game... EVER! If killing sprees are exciting action are your thing, this is THE game for you. However violence is not your thing don't bother buying. With this and various sex and drug references, this is NOT for a child to play. You have been warned!Read full review
