The third and probably final GTA game on the PS2 was released way back in October but due to unfortunate circumstances the review has been delayed as I have had lots going on. GTA III was probably one of the most ground breaking games of all time although I'd argue it's Driver but I'll go with the majority vote. Vice City has been and gone, we loved it, played it for ages but we still loved the good old GTA III. In fact some people really hated Vice City which is hard to hard for me to imagine. So everyone was really looking forward to this new ground breaking GTA Game. Well to be honest it's not that ground breaking. In fact there are many things I really hate about GTA San Andreas, the music, the graphical glitches, the weird London Racer World Challenege style Nitro bursts which however do amuse me and the one thing I really really really hate is that GTA can't really seem to do anything origninal when it comes to mission and characters any more. But please don't think San Andreas is all doom and gloom because it also one of the greatest masterpieces to every grace the PS2. The city is gigantic and your not stopped by loading times from different areas. I really would like to know how Rockstar North did it because it is amazing and sometimes very beautiful indeed. The graphics are slightly improved and the cars look much better. The damage is still an issue as it can't match to the excellent standards of Driv3r. The graphics are also quite lightweight compared to Driv3r. Vice City is more glamourous when it comes to setting and graphics.The beatiful neon lights are lovely and the water effects are beatiful. GTA III was a dark and very atmospheric game when it came to graphics. San Andreas is a mixture.Los Santos is just another city, San Fierro is boring and just acts as an object really for you to pass through and Las Venturas is the best although worrying for me to say, the neon lights in Las Venturas aren't much better than the one's in London Racer II's Las Vegas track. The cities are also un realistically down sized and tiny. Las Venturas is half the size as Las Vegas in Driver 2!! The only merit when it comes to environment is the countryside which is impressively good when it comes to graphics and there's lots more to explore. Then there's the graphical glitches and you thought Vice City was bad. You even complained about Driv3r, San Andreas disapears one your flying and quite often you fly down to find white and then you crash into a building that doesn't appear and still doesn't bother appearing after you've smashed all the way down the side. Buildings don't load and roads don't either and when your driving a coach which isn't fast you start to wonder, 'ok this game is slow, very slow'. Despite all this the graphics are ok and not really that bad.
When it comes to gameplay, I have mixed opinions really. It still has that brilliant gameplay element of the previous games which is good but getting repetitive. Driving is much better, shooting is about the same as I don't like the new lock, swimming is good, much better than Driv3r but Driv3r did do it first, boats are the usual and planes are unrealistic but fun. Takes 100 metres to take off a plane yea right!!! Basically most of the gameplay elements that were there in the previous games have become better and more fun. But the actual story is quite boring and doesn't excite me much at all. It takes ages to get into the game as Los Santos is the most boring place ever. Do a drive by etc etc, nothing new, quite boring etc. Then you get the corrupt cops which is the best thing about this game's story. Samuel L Jackson is just beautiful when it comes to funny speeches and good acting. But much of the 'adult' drug taking is just taken straight from Jackie Brown so nothing orginal there. Then all the GTA III characters start to appear and then Vice City characters and then in the end your thinking 'how shody, their living off previous games successes'. The one lovely thing about Vice City was that every character was new. This game is just taking old characters and making them worse as they have definatly run out of ideas. Come on Rockstar you can do better. Anyway some characters make a welcome return like Salvatore who is much better this time round as he's more realistic, shame no New York esk Liberty City and Catalina is more interesting. Kent Paul is boring and not as good as he was in VC and Rosenberg has totally been destroyed. They've taken his neurotic antics too far and it's just boring. The story is ruined by the shoddy re-use of characters and poor story. But overall, it is great fun and still a game you can just pick up and play for hours on end and not get bored. How lovely. Just one more critism for gameplay, Motorbikes with unlimited gear, year right, and London Racer World Challenge Nitro is just comical, the've gone to the bottom of the pile to look for ideas. SO apart from the trash, Gameplay is good in San Andreas. As good as the previous games, due to the fact, it's completely the same.
Sound, sound, sound, sound, what the hell have they done. Ok Vice City's top notch 10/10 quality radio was going to be hard to beat. But really, way too much rap, some decent rock and heavy metal and the rest awful pop. I am very disapointed and none of the radio people are as memorable. I really do resort to turning my CD player on and listening to the old Vice City radio CD's i've got instead. That said there are abount 5 songs that are good and 'White Wedding' is the best, but really it should have been on Vice City. Voices wise it's brilliant with an all star cast including Samuel L Jackson and the sound effects are good too.
GTA games are always brilliant when it comes to lifespan. You'll keep coming back for more. There's lots to do incluidng valet parking missions, train missions, lorry mission and the usual from the previous games. Shame you can't make money in coaches any more but who cares about that. This game will keep you entertained for months and there's lots of hidden extras to find and sometimes too many missions to complete. Top marks when it comes to lifespan.
To conclude then, GTA San Andreas is not the best game in the world. It still isn't better than GTA III and although Vice City is smaller, it's as much fun and a lot more atmospheric. San Andreas is by no means a bad game and from this review you probably think i'm being too negative. It's great fun, the graphics are good until you get in a plance, stick urself on K-DST radio station and you should be ok for a short while and lifespan well, if you can be bothered and really sad you can try and do it all but i'm not gonna bother. San Andreas is an interesting game to play. It's initial disapointment does ruin half the fun but once your in Las Venturas, the fun really does start and the game is very enjoyable. At the begining of last year I set out a challenge, is the new Driver game going to be better than San Andreas. In a short answer, no. In a long answer, Driv3r comes very close and is bettter than San Andreas in many ways. But you can't beat the good old GTA style gaming, no one can. So overall, San Andreas is a good game but still can't do what GTA III did for us all many years ago. Hail the still present king of gaming, GTA III.
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