[12/4/04] GTA San Andreas

[gavin19]

Title : GTA SA

System : PS2

Emus : None

 

Bit surprised that there's no review of this game yet considering the massive hype surrounding it. Anyways..

 

I'm just going to give my overview here, no screens but inevitably some *spoilers*. OK now..

 

Basically only one series of games has kept me from selling my PS2, ie GTA. GTA III was a revelation to me at the time, because for years my perfect game needed to have a non-linear, free-to-roam gameplay engine, and GTA was the first to fulfill that ( apart from Elite ). My approach to playing the GTA games is a bit unconventional in that I prefer to beat the game by any means necessary, ie cheating, then have a fully 'unlocked' GTA to do whatever I want with. Em, onto the review..

 

SA is purportedly 5-6 size of Vice City, which itself was reputedly twice the size of III, so you can imagine the sheer size if you have played either previous installment. Nice big map then, but to my mind there is too much filler. For example, the entire SW quarter of the map could be removed and very litle would be lost, as too could a lot of other areas of sprawling forest and desert. There are too many 'dead' areas for my liking and they seem to have been added just to fill out the map, and I think they could easily trim the map area to 50% or so and actually not affect the gameplay in the slightest.

 

Graphically each installment has been a minor improvement on the last with each game having it's own 'feel'. I thought III was dark and moody, VC was very bright and sunny while SA is smoggy and dim. The same graphical shortcomings are still present in SA, except now to an even worse degree, which I think is down to the fact that they have overstretched the PS2's abilities. A lot of the time smog/haze is used to mask pop-up etc when more time could have been invested trying to remedy the problem itself. 'Late' pop-ups are especially noticeable when using the nitrous boost in the cars as vehicles and objects can literally just appear without notice.

 

As I mentioned, I think that SA is just too much for the PS2. This is evident when gang wars are in progress or similar on-screen action causes sometimes ridiculous amounts of slowdown, even playing on a brand-new slimline PS2. I wouldn't say that the slowdown really ruins the game for me but it was a shock to me that it occured so often and that the game was released without trying to fix it. I can say that instances of slowdown would be at least 10x more frequent compared to VC or III, which is just unacceptable.

 

If I remember right then the main storyline requires you to complete just over 100 missions which sounds a lot, but for some reason the game doesn't really feel that much longer or bigger than VC. It is hard to explain but a lot of mission time, and between mission time, is travelling large distances to make a rendez-vous or whatever, but essentially the time taken to complete the main storyline is little different to VC. This is where I come back to the map again, as people were sort of mislead into thinking that 5-6x map size would equal 5-6x missions which just isn't the case. Having said that there are some novel missions scattered throughout the game includng a couple of Dance-Mat-style ones, if that makes sense?

 

The vehicles have been added to and some totally redesigned for SA. Also there is the addition of 'mod' garages in which you can add paint-jobs, spoilers, nitrous etc. The sheer cost of modifying a car though means that it is hard to enjoy driving it as you spend more time trying to prevent any damage than anything else. Another minor fault is that instead of having one type of garage there are 3 types which only cater for certain models of car, so sometimes you have to drive large distances to reach the right garage for your car, that's if you can get it there in one piece. As an extension to each of the vehicles each has their own school in which you take tests and recieve medals, although only the Flight school is part of the storyline. Depending on your grade, you can unlock rare and otherwise unavailable cars/bikes/boats too.

 

Now for the new gameplay elements which were so keenly awaited. Supposed improvements to gameplay included being able to go to the gym, have a girlfriend, buy/change clothes, get a tattoo, get a haircut, eat at a variety of fast food outlets, swim, and recruit gang members as helpers. All these elements I personally thought would have a genuine impact on the game and improve it in many ways. Sadly this was not to be. Firstly the gym - building your character's muscle up had little/no effect except in ultra-rare hand-to-hand encounters, and the treadmill wasn't needed to build stamina points either as simply running around the streets would do the same thing. Secondly girlfriends - this is just as annoying as real life and has no positive impact whatsoever. Thirdly the whole haircut/tattoo/clothes deal was another supposedly 'cool' addition yet I played the entire game through without any intentions of getting a pink mohawk and dressing up like a tattooed fashion victim. Again I feel they add little/nothing to the game itself. Fourth is eating - another nuisance as you must eat every 3-4 days to avoid energy loss and it simply becomes a chore after the initial novelty. Fifth is swimming which I thought would have made a big difference but due to the nature of SA there is a lot more emphasis on land/air activity and the boating/swimming aspect is minimal, at least as far as I could see during the game. Swimming is still a welcome addition though for those occassions when you do accidently drive into the sea. Lastly gang members - as you build respect during the game you are permitted to recruit 'homies' from your 'hood to help during missions, turf wars etc. Sadly though the AI of these goons means that 90% of the time they are more of a hinderance than a help, still, it is nice to have a drive-by now and again

 

Now comes what for me is the biggest disappointment of all - the music. To my mind there is only one good station, and only one station that really suits the game itself which is the rap station, Radio Los Santos. I can't explain it but for whatever reason the rest of the music stations just don't 'fit' and I find myself stuck listening to the same songs over and over again. Also the general overall quality of the songs, no matter what the genre, is pitiful compared to VC. Even the chat-radio which I loved from III and VC has become unimaginative and bland. I think that very little effort was put into the radio/music in SA and it did spoil the game to some degree for me at least.

 

To conclude I don't think that SA is any worse than VC or III, just that in my opinion it has too many minor niggles to say that it is really any better. High points for me were the range of new vehicles, especially the new motorbikes, jet planes and monster trucks. Also the three different areas were each good enough to have hosted one GTA game, never mind one. The targeting system is slightly improved too and some cool new weapons as well, like the silenced pistol and M4. Also there are some other novelties like parachuting, the casinos and movie references ( esp one T2-inspired mission ) which help keep SA fresh to a small degree. Low points I think I have covered already. Overall..

 

Graphics - 8.0

Sound - 6.0

Gameplay - 9.0

Lifespan - 9.0

 

Overall - 9.0

[Daeval]

Glad to finally see an honest review for this one.

 

In the latest GamePro (I get it free 'cause of an old fileplanet subscription, so sue me), they actually kind of delve into the "is GTA still worth the hype?" article that isn't too bad. I didn't read the whole thing yet though, just skimmed it. The basic point seems to be that the gameplay in GTA III was kinda half-assed, and they've tacked on a bunch of new and mostly extraneous features since, but never really adressed the core issues.

[Gryph]

I played GTAIII, had fun for it for a while and then got completely bored of it. Because of that I didn't feel like getting the rest since they each of the sequels boil down to that kind of gameplay.

[Agozer]

The only reason I'm not playing GTA:VC right now is the simple fact that the latter missions are rediculously hard. Sure, I'll get San Andreas eventually, but I just know that it has those near impossible missions too...

 

But then again, some people whine about how modern games aren't challenging enough.

 

EDIT: Corrected grammar for great justice.

Edited December 4, 2004 by Agozer

[Mag]

Wow, G showed up out of nowhere, welcome back man

 

If you looked at the upcoming review sticky thread, I already planned on reviewing the entire next-gen GTA series.. this might be a longer delay than I thought since I have a very tight school schedule, so I rarely get the time to sit down and do the review.

 

Hey but I must say, yer review is great, and I agree with yer honesty on this one. Good job, hope to see more soon

[Daeval]

But then again, some people while about how modern games aren't challenging enough.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

A lot of the challenge in the 3D GTA games comes not from difficult challenges, but from crappy controls outside the car.

[gavin19]

Wow, G showed up out of nowhere, welcome back man

 

If you looked at the upcoming review sticky thread, I already planned on reviewing the entire next-gen GTA series.. this might be a longer delay than I thought since I have a very tight school schedule, so I rarely get the time to sit down and do the review.

 

Hey but I must say, yer review is great, and I agree with yer honesty on this one. Good job, hope to see more soon

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oops, sorry there Maggy

 

Well I just got myself a Xbox+200gig Maxtor so I should have a lot more reviews in the pipeline. See you soon m8.

[Madi]

i just might get this or ill rent it before i decide to buy it good review

btw: do u have the new ps2?

[gavin19]

i just might get this or ill rent it before i decide to buy it good review

btw: do u have the new ps2?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I don't own one personally but I have played it on the new ps2 quite a bit. It is so much smaller it is hard to believe that they didn't leave something out.

 

EDIT : Rent it by all means but unlike the first two games a lot of the good stuff doesn't appear until you progress around 1/3 or so, which would take a couple of days play time.

Edited December 7, 2004 by G19

[sf2_ryu]

some of my friends told me gta was pretty cool but i didn't wanna play b/c i hear u have to feed and work out the guy! and i'd be to lazy to do that. and besides i wanna play to shoot and kill ppl not spend half the time eating and working out!

[Skythe]

The day this game came out annoyed me. I had to go to EB with 2 friends of mine cuz one of them reserved it there. About 30 minutes before he got his copy (The line for this stupid game of a stupid series once it hit 3D was super ass long. It spanned 3 stores.), some dumbass came out with his and proclaimed "GAME OF THE YEAR!" I gave him that die look. Then yelled back "IT JUST CAME OUT DUMBASS!" He then started that shuffling and saying "Yeah" crap alot. I then told him he's so damn retarded that he threw a rock at the ground and missed.

 

I ruled verbally hard.