Once again, Xbox gamers had to wait
for the newest iteration of Grand Theft Auto after PS2 owners
have had it. The GTA 3/Vice City bundle quickly became a hit
on Xbox and kept gamers busy waiting for Halo 2. Vice City
took things back to the '80s and was most likely the favorite
of the 2 games by most. This time around we go into the '90s
and obviously along the San Andreas fault. With Vice City
being so much fun and costing $50 for that and GTA 3, can
a new GTA have enough to warrant a $50 price?
The main question is "what is different about San Andreas
from Vice City?" You can do so much more and even alter
your appearance. As far as your appearance, you can change
your hair and wardrobe and get fat or muscular and even
go to the tattoo parlor. Besides altering your appearance,
you will also alter your attributes similar to an RPG system.
You appearance doesn't really have a lot of customization,
but is a great start for what we should see in the future.
This Place Has Everything
Besides committing some grand theft auto, killing people,
purchasing buildings and picking up hookers, there is so
much more to do in San Andreas. Of course the game contains
a fun story but I always enjoyed going out on my own and
getting into some car chases and doing whatever I'm allowed
to do. You might be happy to find that there is finally
a character that knows how to swim, but that's just the
start of things you can now do. I like to find things out
for myself so I won't go and talk about everything. You
just need to know that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas allows
you to do quite a bit and will certainly give you your money's
worth. I can't wait to see what we will be able to do on
next-gen systems.
Aged Graphics
Graphically, the game does not look that good. This is
easily the most disappointing part of San Andreas. The size
of the game, however, helps make up for the disappointment.
I'm one that will always say 'it's not the graphics but
the gameplay' but it's hard to go from some of these newly
released games to San Andreas graphics. If anything, I found
the claw hand the most annoying (all the fingers glued together
with the hand being a bit big). To me it seemed like the
car models were actually a little worse looking than Vice
City. Luckily, considering the size, the framerate is able
to hold steady and play smoothly.
This Is The Way I Talk!
San Andreas delivers on solid sound. The voice acting
alone was done nicely. In fact you'll find some celebrity
voice appearances through the game. The game also has a
good amount of sound effects in the game that sound good.
Of course San Andreas follows Vice City with the soundtrack
and supplies a varied mix of songs from the '90s. And the
best part of having GTA on Xbox is the custom soundtrack
ability.
Control Yourself
The game controls do have some changes from Vice City
and I found them to be a bit worse. Some things are a little
harder now but aren't too bad to get used to. Most of the
controls are still similar to the previous so you won't
have too hard of a time playing San Andreas. Since there
is more things in the game, there is obviously more controls
to know, however.
Overview
If you enjoyed the previous GTAs, San Andreas is a no-brainer
must buy. The game is evolving into so much more. The main
let down comes from the graphics. Seeing as how cars play
a big role in the games, I'd like to see them put in some
street racing style customization. But as it stands, San
Andreas is a solid game well worth the price of purchase.
