GTA: San Andreas is a GOOD game, that's for sure. It, like its predecessors have alot of elements from a lot of different games that make it truly interesting and unusual. It is, all at once, a shooter, an RPG, and an action-adventure. This makes for a very enjoyable gaming experience...until its issues hit you.
Personally my PC gaming experience far outweighs my modern console gaming experience. That being said, I have never seen a console game that needed to be patched as badly as this one. Seeing as how that's not possible, this is a really bad thing. Glitches abound in just about every aspect of the game. Sometimes you lose cars, sometimes you lose girlfriends, some people have lost their save data on the very last mission of the game. I don't know about you, but the constant possibility of impending doom really ruins alot of the good of any game.
The missions, in typical Grand Theft Auto fashion, go straight from mundane and boring to insanely difficult throw-your-control-at-a-passing-pet, then straight back again. There are some missions, like the airplane ones, that try to emulate other types of games so badly that you wish they would've never been included, or that you at least had a way to skip them. Personally, when I bought a game called "Grand Theft Auto," I wasn't looking for a cheesy, badly programmed flight sim. If they wanted to include these features, fine...but include them on a voluntary basis, please.
The story is done really well...if you can tolerate infinite amounts of HomeyGNess. If you don't like rap, gangs, or inherently stupid people, then you won't like any of this games characters...except maybe some of the bad guys. All things considered, though, it IS very realistic...just maybe not the real you want to experience in your free time. If you're over 30, it's probably safe to say that there will be more in this game that you are merely tolerating then enjoying.
One thing about this game...it's huge. Too huge, in some ways. It's grand to be able to go as far as you can, but the game utilize maybe 1/10th of the space available, making the rest of it just so many faceless people walking around and so many of the same cars driving around. Fun at first, but it gets old pretty quick.
The soundtrack is a good variance of the early 90's, from rap to country. If you like early 90's music, you'll like the music...if not, you won't...but it will at least go with the game.
The graphics are passable, but there's really no advancement from Vice City. It's certainly not breathtaking in any event.
All things considered, I'd give this one a 6/10. Gameplay is solid, but exactly the same as the last two installments of the series. The setting is solid, but annoying to many. The sound and music are passable, but not extraordinary. There's no eye candy, and the grahpics are about 3 years old. Bugs and annoyances pop up all over the place, and will have you resetting your game and/or losing things at least daily.
I hope if there's another Grand Theft Auto (which I'm sure there will be considering how well this one is selling to the passing bandwagons), they concentrate on stealing cars again. Wasn't that the point to begin with?
Create an Account
Member Login
