Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

For the second month I've played through a Grand Theft Auto that I got partway into many years ago; This time around was San Andreas. Just like the first two GTA games on the PS2, this was awesome and of course anyone who hasn't gotten around to playing it probably should, although I'm sure the recent GTA V, also set in San Andreas, probably beats it in every way. Still though, everyone knows the game is great, so I'll focus on what separates it from the games that come before it. For one, it's gigantic. I noted in my Vice City post that I was surprised how quickly I learned the layout of that game's entire city. In San Andreas you're constantly discovering new locations, and even after playing through the lengthy main campaign there are tons of places I'm sure I have yet to visit. Apparently this was five times the size of Liberty City in GTA III and four times the size of Vice City. It's a combination of West Coast cities- Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas all have clear influences on the three cities of San Andreas. The game doesn't stop with cities though, as there's plenty of suburbs, farmland and desert separating them. Sure, that doesn't sound as interesting a setting as any city, but they're used sparingly enough that it works just fine. Another change is in the style of missions. One thing I mentioned in my Vice City post was how the game involved a lot more water-based missions; here in San Andreas, the game loves throwing new aerial missions in towards the end of the game. Seriously, the end-game missions each seem to give you a new plane or jet or helicopter, each more powerful than the last. Some were difficult to control, but after two games of hinting at in-game air travel it was nice to see some serious effort put in to make that really work. Another new aspect here was the rpg qualities, which may have been a little overdone. Completing missions and acquiring territory for your gang nets you "respect", going to the gym increases your strength, and taking long rides in bikes or cars increases your skill increases your driving skill, making them easier to handle. None of this was ever important; really there's only one mission halfway through the game that requires you to have a certain lung capacity, which means that if you haven't been swimming much, you need to go swim for like fifteen minutes to build up that skill. Still though, that unnecessary addition aside, the game in fantastic. Everyone loves GTA! I've now played through most of the beloved installments of the game, aside from the recent GTA V, which seems to have generated more praise than any game before it. There's also GTA IV, which I've dabbled in but didn't like much, waiting in my backlog; and of course, there are plenty of expansion games I could potentially get into as well. Time will tell.