New Review Posted: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

[Daniel Weissenberger]

Scott Jones reviews Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and is happy with what he finds:

"It's without a doubt the most clichéd of all hardboiled crime story clichés: the low down, dirty double-cross. The two previous games in the Grand Theft Auto series each began with a double-cross—my girlfriend referring to me as "small time," then shooting me during a bank heist in GTA III; Tommy Vercetti taking the blame for a bad drug deal in Vice City. San Andreas, the third game since the series went 3D (and launched the GTA-ification of the industry, for better or worse), doesn't open with a double-cross, but starts in a darker, more mature place: with the death of the protagonist's mother. There's even a funeral scene, complete with some nasty bickering among the surviving family members.

That funeral scene, along with a touching moment when a grieving son walks into his now empty childhood home and looks at his dead mother's photograph, are surprisingly emotional moments, moments that had me checking the disc to make sure that I'd loaded up the right game. Has GTA gone all Dr. Phil on me? I wondered. Both scenes are landmark moments for the series because they're indicative of a subtle, yet all-important content shift away from the caricature and cartoonish-ness that plagued the previous games. Indeed, San Andreas has something that GTA III and Vice City sorely lacked: a touch of emotional gravitas. There's less satire here, more heart. While the game still revels in thrill-kill missions and its trademark Mad magazine aesthetic—one of the betting parlor ponies is named Air Biscuit (oh, what a knee-slapper!)—I'm happy to report that there's evidence in San Andreas that the GTA series is finally starting to grow up."

The rest of the review is here.

[Mike Bracken]

Excellent work, man--great review.

Mike B.

[EnduroGamer]

I must concur with Mike. That was a freaking beautiful piece of writing Scott.

And as someone who was very bored with GTA3, never bothered playing more than 20 minutes of Vice City, I got to tell you I agree with you. Work (and Half Life 2) hasn't allowed me much time with San Andreas, but rather than shelving it, I keep it on top of the tv where it constantly tells me to "hurry up, finish working, and come play".

[Gene Park]

Excellent! The GTA: San Andreas review I've always wanted to read! Yours and Jeremy Pariah's (toastyfrog/1up.com) reviews are the definitive GTA: SA reviews to read, and really hit on all the marks on why this game is a landmark this year and this generation. I would argue that it just about ties Half Life 2 as game of the year, mostly because it makes so many more gameplay enhance from its previous sequel than Half Life 2 did with its sequel.

[Brad Gallaway]

Dito, ditto... i was thinking Jones and i were gonna have to throw down if he started hatin' on SA, but there isn't anything i could add to his review. he done said it all.... excellent piece, Scott. you nailed it.

[stratu]

Hurrah! Finally a San Andreas review on Gamecritics!

It was worth the wait. I had to read that part twice about where you said you like to drive carefully and don't like to hit pedestrians, because that's exactly the way I am. I don't care if it's a videogame and they aren't real people, it still feels real enough to me.

You also made an excellent point about how lost you feel at the beginning, but after spending time with the game you feel like it's really your neighbourhood/city. One of the most amazing experiences I had was returning to Los Santos after a short time in San Fierro (a new and strange city) - the sense of returning to a familair place and the associated REAL emotions.

Anyway, great review, Scott. Good job.

[Hypatia93]

Totally awesome, Scott! What I especially appreciated was your bit about its cultural relevancy, and how much more immersed you feel b/c of its rpg bent. (Oh yeah, and though I have the prior two, I never got "hooked" into them; I'm hoping this one will also be different for me as it was for you.) Furthermore, I generally play games in a similar manner to the way you do. In the GTAs, I rarely went "rampaging," killing random folks or breaking all the laws, and in games like RS3: BA, it so disheartens me when one of my teammates dies, that I often restart the level. What a consciencous gamer I am.

I've not yet played SA, but I'm waitin' for it, "patiently" hoping it and MGS3 will be winter gifts for me this year. (Though I'm more apt to get coal. )

Again, bravo!

[GC_Scott]

thanks guys (and gal) for the kind words.

as i said in the review, i'd prepared myself to be underwhelmed by the game. a month into playing it, san andreas keeps blowing my mind again and again (while the stack of newly released, unplayed games on my coffee table keeps getting higher). can't believe how many things this game does, and does well.

that said, the game is far from perfect, and is VERY ripe for an old-fashioned GC-style beatdown. hell, i've got half a mind to break from tradition and write the second op, pulling the rug out from under myself...

but i'll leave it to one of our very qualified professionals.

-jones

[brain_addict]

thanks for encapsulating everything that makes GTA such a great series. I wish that mainstream media would be able to write about videogames with the same amount of intelligence. sure, GTA is nasty-looking from the outside. But from the inside, it's a work of real beauty.

If there's one thing I'd add, it's how much the fun-level gets jacked up when you're driving out in the country. I can't express the joy of riding around Red County listening to K-DST and simply soaking in the sights. The first time I made it to the top of Mount Chiliad, I had to take a few minutes just to sightsee. My camera is full of pictures that I took from up there. I can think of no other game that inspires such behaviour--true immersion into the virtual world.