Written by Jeff Buckland, 10/27/2004
Played on:
PS2
Rockstar Games is delivering another bundle of super-violent joy to PS2 gamers everywhere with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one of the most highly anticipated games of the year - and this year is a very competitive one for high-profile titles. I have to wonder what the readers of this review might expect, given that there's a huge likelyhood that they already know the game kicks ass and are probably already planning to buy it. Why are you reading this? Do you really need me to tell you that yes, this game is good?
You don't. I'll spoil the ending of this review: GTA:SA gets a 97% from me. Some complain about the percent system I use to rate games, but this game is not perfect. Still, a 97 is the highest score I've ever given to a game and I can't think of any game I didn't review that deserves higher.
So it's a great game. An instant classic. But you already knew that before you even started reading this review, didn't you? Hell, it was a given before the twelve-millionth copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was sold. Still, I'll try and examine just what makes this such a brilliant game despite all the shock factor, pop culture overload, and media attention that this game would get even if it wasn't one of the best games ever made.
The year is 1992, and your character this time around is Carl Johnson. He went into a self-imposed exile on the east coast after the murder of his little brother five years ago, and now he's returning to Los Santos (which is modelled after Los Angeles) to bury his murdered mother. He's already having a terrible day, but his arrival in Los Santos only sparks off an even worse series of events. Right out of the airport, CJ gets picked up by a couple of dirty cops (voiced by Chris Penn and Samuel L. Jackson) who start off by framing him for a cop-killing. Then, they drop CJ off in hostile gang territory, and he's left to get back to his old stomping grounds on a BMX bicycle.
Even when CJ gets to his home turf, Grove Street, he's not welcome there. His older brother, Sweet, hates CJ and says that CJ abandoned everyone by disappearing the way he did. His sister, Kendl, is already at odds with what's left of the family, and her relationship with a Latino gang member only puts Sweet into an even worse mood. CJ's old gang has fallen into hard times, his family doesn't want him around, and many of his friends have drifted away. On top of this, the two dirty cops constantly bring up their cop-killing accusation to blackmail CJ into doing all kinds of evil things that benefit them.
As you might expect, it's your job as CJ to bring the Grove Street gang back into power. To do this, you'll be committing a huge variety of crimes from murdering, to stealing, carjacking, and just plain beating people up. In my review of GTA: Vice City, I hailed the addition of a main character with a real voice and name - Tommy Vercetti - as one of the best additions to the series. Rockstar put a quality actor into the role to do the voice work and made him believable even as a psychotic asshole who'll do anything to excel in the world.
CJ isn't quite like Vercetti, though. While he certainly has the appetite for destruction that Tommy has, CJ actually cares about the people around him - and they even do a bit of caring back. This is one of the biggest changes that has gone into GTA:SA; completing missions and doing various things increases the respect the world gives you, and you can increase your territorial control as well as recruit people to be in your gang. CJ can even pick up a love interest and take her out on dates. This aspect of the game isn't as fleshed out as, say, The Sims, but it's still fun to participate in.
The first missions do a wonderful job of reacquainting you with the game's basics, but they quickly start throwing in new stuff - like riding a bicycle, being able to spray graffiti tags on walls or take pictures with a camera (that even can be saved as screenshots to the PS2 memory card!). Fighting is a bit more complex now, as you can block incoming punches and use two different buttons to juggle up small combos and the like. Go work out at the gym to beef CJ up, and you'll not only see his muscles bulge, but he'll hit harder as well. Big muscles also increase the respect you get from other people.
CJ has his work cut out for him in Los Santos. He's gotta regain the respect of his friends and his brother, as well as some of the guys who he grew up with. Then there are the Latinos who start out wanting to kill him; CJ isn't without his own prejudices, so at first the feeling is mutual, but he manages to fight through all that to start making alliances across racial boundaries.
And this is just what happens in the first few hours of the game. As you might or might not be aware, GTA:SA includes three full cities that are each multiple times as big as Vice City, as well as countryside and some small towns in between. Getting established in these new cities later on really means something, as you may have the weapons and the gang members, but you hold no territory - and in this game, territory actually matters. Riding through enemy turf will attract attention, especially since the various gangs each wear their own colors and they're likely to spot you. Bring that area under your own gang's control, and you're (relatively) free to hang out in those areas unharmed.
Sure, it was fun to have that guy Mario spouting off to the rest of your Vice City gang, but wouldn't it have been even better to have him actually go with you on a mission? While we don't get Mario, we do get guys like Big Smoke, the heavy-set, prophesying, loyal but lazy gangster. Or consider Ryder, the Eazy-E looking dude who always talks trash and has a new crazy, half-baked idea (pun intended) every time you see him. There are plenty more than this, though, and you can bet that there's a ton of dialogue to go around between CJ and his crew while you're out making money and doing bad things.
