Pros: Huge World, Tons to Do, Unique Customization System, Fun Gameplay, Killer Soundtrack
Cons: Slightly More Awkward Controls
The bottom line: This Game Recieves My Official Branding of Quality.
The Grand Theft Auto series stands easily as the most celebrated from this current generation of gaming. Sure there are series which hit their high points recently, such as Metroid Prime and Halo, but neither of these titles come close to matching Grand Theft Auto in sales, depth, and of course, controversy. The latest installment, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas saw a release on the Playstation 2 console back in October of 2004, which really wasn't that long ago. The big question was whether or not Rockstar was going to port or even remake the title for release on the Xbox console, because this is what they did with the previous 2 installments of Grand Theft Auto. Well someone must really love Xbox owners over at Rockstar, as the game has not only been ported to the Xbox, but it's already been released for a little while. There were several problems with the PS2 version of the game, mainly graphical, and so after reading that a lot of these had been improved for the Xbox release, I decided to throw down money on a different version of the same game I've already played to death. Is this the ultimate console release of San Andreas? Read on to find out.

If there was ever a cool game to own this generation, than it is this one. Not only is this far and away one of the biggest, most immersive games ever released, but it's also the definitive Grand Theft Auto game. The game world itself is about five times larger than that of the previous installment, Vice City, and there is literally so much to explore that it's pretty much impossible to finish this game in 20 hours. As a matter of fact, after my first 20 hours experience with the PS2 version when it first came out, I had only just learned how to play. Since the Xbox version is nearly identical substance wise, you'll find that this is quite the investment. If I were a more straightforward, finish the game as fast as I can sorta guy, I could probably roll through all the missions in a day or two. With this though, I'd never get a chance to try out vigilante mode, sightsee, or even test out some of the more interesting vehichles in the game. Plus let's not forget about the multi-player mode, which should add a couple extra WEEKS of replay value, provided you've got parties interested in playing with you.

Storyline
San Andreas takes a different approach to story as the other GTA titles. In the past, the development team seemed content with giving you control of a nameless thug who had his hands in dirty dealings around the city. Vice City first introduced a character who even had a name; and this was Tommy Vercetti. San Andreas follows this nod, while taking the whole prospect a few steps further. The main character's name is Carl Johnson (or CJ, as he is widely known). CJ is an ex thug who exited the lifestyle after his brother was killed years ago. After living in Liberty City (the city from GTA3) for a few years, CJ finds himself making the return to his hometown of Los Santos after his mother's death. Upon arriving via plane, CJ finds himself at the center of a corrupt scandal involving a couple unfriendly police officers who not only frame him for some serious crimes, but also throw him out in a rival gang's turf. CJ now has to retread his past and find his old neighborhood and friends.

What's really interesting is just how intricately CJ's past is revealed through the storyline dialogue. You'll be quickly introduced to the complexities of this main character, through his interactions with past friends and his memories of places in the old neighborhood. Each friend of CJ's has their own personality, and it shines through each of them, not only through their actions but also through their voiced dialogue. The relationships CJ has with these sub characters is quite realistic actually, and their interactions seem to be quite authentic with the real life living situation depicted through this game. If you're a fan of corrupt inner city life stories, than GTA:SA is a game that would potentially keep you interested as you progress through the plot.

Gameplay
When you hear the words, Grand Theft Auto, what comes to mind? If you're a parent who watches the news, than this likely strikes up a vision of a guy running around mindlessly stealing cars while shooting down cops. If you are one of these people who think that this angle of gameplay defines GTA, than you are sadly mistaken. What makes Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas such a spectacular game is just how much you can do within it's world. Sure, the past GTA games were wide open and had a lot for you to do, but San Andreas blows even Vice City clear out of the water in sheer content alone. Boasting what is quite possibly the biggest game world ever, San Andreas has a ton of little quirks going for it. All the little things on the side seem to be well thought out by the developer, and they are so nicely made that it never feels like they are simply there to distract you from the main quest.

One thing I can't emphasize enough is just how big the game is. It's absolutely huge, and even this statement underrexaggerates it's grand scale. The game's world takes place within three quite large cities being the main attraction, but in between these you'll find a ton of countryside, and even mountains which you can travel to the top of. In the very beginning of the game you'll only have access to one of the three cities, thus requiring you to complete missions in order to unlock the road blocks to the other two. That's not to say that you can't access the other cities right away, as it's possible if you travel by boat or plane, but if you access these areas too soon than your crime meter will raise to four stars, and the choppers and fight planes will be after you. It's actually kinda fun to access a new area of the game, and attempt staying alive as you see the sights.

The scenery itself is deserving of high praise itself. You'll find yourself in full out desert terrain, with nothing to keep you company save for a load of cactus, standing around at the top of huge mountains, driving across huge and busy multi-level freeways, and much more. There's a lot to do and see, and you'll be pleased every time you discover something new. What I found to be particularly authentic in San Andreas were the circular freeway ramps, complete with multiple levels swirling all around them. As a California native I can say that this seems fairly authentic in it's execution, and so I was pleased to see these elements.

What's also worth mentioning is the differences in the NPC characters in these different areas. Outside of town you'll find a ton of country folk, driving their tractors and listening to country music. You can go from this, to Las Venturas, with it's huge neon signs and glorious reflection of the Las Vegas scene in just a matter of minutes. What's more is that you actually have the three other sections to visit, each one reflecting a different city. On top of Las Venturas, you've got Los Santos representing Las Angeles, and San Fierra which is an impersonation of San Francisco. This is quite a lot of personality within a single game, as GTA3 and Vice City were reflecting really only one sub culture each.

The main story of the game is done in quite a linear fashion actually, which is probably why DMA opted to add in so many other things to do. Progressing in the game is done via a mission based structure, but the order in which they can be tackled is set. This means that you cannot skip a mission in the game. These objectives vary greatly, and include anything related to murder, driving people around, flying planes, defending territory, and much more. In the beginning, each of the missions seems more related to gang activity, but as you progress, the missions take on a much more grandiose level of task. You'll go from stereotypical ghetto crimes, to the big time as you complete more and more missions.

But let's get real; the majority of your time won't be spent doing the missions. Most likely once you get a feel for the game you'll often find yourself just travelling amongst the three cities, looking for new vehichles to steal. Luckily, San Andreas has a high number of vehichles from which you can choose. On top of the various makes and models of cars, you can also operate planes, helicopters, and boats. Each vehichle (and sub-type) have their own unique controls and manuevering capabilities. Personally I enjoy driving the speed boats the most, but the planes and choppers are also quite fun to use. By experimenting with stealing various cars you can arm yourself with valuable know-how knowledge for the missions, as you will know just which cars work well in different situations.

For all major crimes though, there is a price to pay. Depending on the crime, you'll be wanted more and more by the police, feds, and eventually the army. Like in the past games, the amount of trouble you're in is reflected in the amount of lit stars in an indicator at the top of the screen. Some crimes go generally ignored through this system, but if you off a considerable amount of people, prepare to run. Even killing just one cop will usually grant you a two star wanted rating. If you're caught by the officials, than you'll get a game over and will have to start from where you last left off. If you are on the run long enough the stars will slowly begin to drop one by one, but if you're in a serious bind than you can simply get a paint job done on the vehichle you're driving in order to eliminate all of the stars.

Remember how that one Xbox game, Fable, boasted an incredible amount of customization for your character in the game? Well that was a bit of a let-down, but San Andreas seems to have taken a cue from it. You can customize CJ quite a bit actually, with several different methods of doing so. Firstly, you can select a haircut for him at a barber. At a tattoo shop, you can get ink done. You can also determine his weight by controlling how much food he eats. What's cool is the fact that the different characters respond to CJ based upon the changes you make to him. San Andreas actually pulls most of this off better than Fable does.

On top of CJ's appearance, you can customize his statistics. Basically your character will grow depending on how you use him. If you run a lot, the stamina stat will increase, allowing you to run faster and for more time. To burn body fat, you can take CJ to a gym. Becoming more adept at weapon skills requires only the constant use of them. Along with gaining the stats, you can also lose them. If you stop working Carl out, and stop running as much, your stamina will drop. This is true with much of the other statistics. It's really quite cool to see how people on the streets respond to your appearance and different stats. You'll want to experiment with this to create your own personal character.

As I mentioned earlier, there are some very elaborate games you can play on the side. Included in San Andreas are a few arcade games from the 80s, a pretty in depth and fun pool game, the ability to take girls on dates, and a lot more. Heck, you can even play basketball, and like Vice City, you can buy property. The possibilities are all there, you'll just have to look for them inside the game. My favorite new aspect to the world of GTA is the ability to romp around the various cities with another player. Yes, this means for some two-player cooperative play. The only problem with this mode is the camera, which in order to contain both characters, must zoom out a little too much at times. Another bad element to this mode is the fact that you can only ride one vehichle at a time, meaning one person must be a passenger. This mode alone adds another 20 hours of gameplay to the game.

Also included, are the past mini-games based around driving. If you get into a police car, you can participate in vigilante missions with a simple press of the R3 button. These allow you to take the opposite side, and work for the law in bringing criminals down. You can also play the role of a firefighter, an ambulance driver, or even a pimp now. These are quite the nice diversion, though probably the weakest link as far as mini-games go. I'm more than a little disappointed that you cannot participate in these in two player mode, for that would have made them infinitely better.

The NPC artificial intelligence has increased greatly from Vice City. First off, as you drive you'll notice some drivers pulling off illegal maneuvers that may surprise you. They swerve around, switch lanes, and attempt to escape at a moment's whim. This makes driving more realistic, as most of the driver's manuevers seem to come at the worst times possible, often causing some frustration in escaping from the law. When this happens though, it's often just time to give up by raining a flurry of bullets on everyone involved. The targetting system makes a nice return, allowing you to switch between them in a smooth fashion. The arsenal has increased, now allowing for more hand melee sort of weapons.

Graphics, Sound, Controls, and Replay Value
Okay so here's where the Xbox version enhancements come in, as the two versions are nearly identical gameplay-wise. First off, you'll notice that this version has cleaner textures, and what seems to be a slightly higher polygon count. Also featured is a lot less haze, and a much needed improved draw distance. San Andreas was never an ugly game, but it really shines on the Xbox. The characters, scenery, and art direction really work well at conveying a certain 'gangsta' atmosphere. The various locales are nicely represented with different settings for each, and look quite nice on the Xbox console. This version is a definite improvement over the PS2 game.

Here's where the game really shines. Vice City featured a nice 80s retro music theme, but San Andreas features an entourage of different music. On the K-Rose radio station you'll find classic (and I mean really old) country music from the likes of Willie Nielson, Hank Williams, and other classic artists. Also featured are two radio stations garnered toward early 90s hip hop. Of course, the soundtrack also includes a pop station, a rock channel, and even a station playing only reggae hits. Keep in mind, this is music reflected from the early 90s, so you'll be hearing a lot of old classics and favorites. The soundtrack is so nice, that I actually purchased the 8 disc set. Voice overs are high quality, represented by talented voice actors with their own unique sound and slang. Keep in mind, this is one heck of a vulgar game. Sound effects aren't anything particularly noteable, with guns blasting, engines running (each with their own particular sound), sirens blaring, and people screaming for help. One major enhancement for the Xbox version is a new radio station which plays your custom soundtrack. Overall, this is a an aspect that a lot of time was put into perfecting.

Control is one element I found to be worse in the Xbox game. You can't really blame anyone for this, because San Andreas really feels like it was made specially for the PS2 controller. Still, it feels a bit awkward to fly and look out the windows of cars, because the black and white buttons take place of the mission shoulder ones. The targetting system is also a bit more of a pain to use, because of the aforementioned problem. These problems really are only because the Xbox lacks two shoulder buttons on the controller. Besides these problems, things seem to work decently enough, although I still really feel that it is better represented in the PS2 version.

I'm still playing this game, even though I already played the PS2 version to death. I knew that I wouldn't be bored with it anytime soon, which is why I even opted to get this Xbox version of the same game. There is just so much included in the game world, that if you get bored before even 100 hours of playing than you aren't trying hard enough to find things to do. What's more is that each of the mini-games are surprisingly elaborate, with a more than usual amount of detail paid to each element. The two player mode is really what sets this up to be one of the most replayable games ever made, as I imagine even years from now I'll still be partaking in the two player romp through the city. Long after we've all forgotten about Halo 2, Metroid Prime, and just about every other game this generation, I'll still be playing San Andreas. And which version will I be playing? The Xbox one.

Overall Recommendation
I completely recommend this game. If you're only planning on getting one version (like a normal person), than you should consider getting this one, as long as you can overlook the slightly worse controls. Admittedly I haven't played the PC version, and so I can't recommend this one over that just yet.

Overall Recommendation: 9.7