Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is finally on Xbox and the wait has definitely been worth it. Nicer graphics, faster load times, and custom soundtracks all make the Xbox version the one to buy. This game is huge and fun and wonderful and will keep you busy for hundreds of hours. Keep in mind that it has an “M” rating and it definitely isn’t for little kids, but for all of us big kids, San Andreas is a must own Xbox title.
Story and Setting
GTA: SA takes place in the early 1990’s and you play as Carl Johnson, a man who returns to the city of Los Santos (Los Angeles) after a few years in Liberty City to find that his gang is no longer in power. You start out merely trying to help your gang get back on top, but it leads to much bigger and more far reaching events and eventually you have to flee Los Santos for the relative safety of San Fiero (San Francisco) and later Las Venturas (Las Vegas). The story is long and complex and there are a number of twists and turns that keep everything interesting and it is all very well put together overall.In case you are confused, GTA: San Andreas isn’t just one city like previous GTA games, it is actually an entire state. There are three main cities with several small towns in between as well as miles and miles of mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, farmland, and more in between.
Perhaps the best thing about the story is that since this takes place before GTA 3 and after Vice City, it isn’t uncommon for memorable characters to make an appearance and the other games are referenced a lot. It does a great job of tying everything together and expanding the GTA universe beyond just one city or state at a time.
Missions
Extra Stuff
There is a lot to do outside of the story missions as well, and this is where GTA: San Andreas really shines. In addition to the police, fire, ambulance, and taxi missions of previous games, you can now take on truck driving missions, train missions, valet parking, and much more. When you aren’t doing missions, you can play basketball or go to the bar and play pool or a number of different arcade games. In Las Venturas, you can go to a casino and play blackjack, video poker, slots, roulette, and wheel of fortune and there are also a number of betting parlors around San Andreas where you can bet on horse races. You can also once again buy property and make money off of it. Collectible items are also back, but now you have to find 100 graffiti tags in Los Santos, 50 horseshoes in Las Venturas, 50 shells in the water all around the state, and take 50 special photos in San Fiero. On top of all of that, you can also now have girlfriends and keeping them happy takes a lot of work on its own. This is an absolutely huge game that will have you playing for weeks before you collect everything.The Ultimate Goof Off Game
The absolute best part of the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas in particular, is that they are the ultimate goof off games. There is a humongous state to explore and a ton of stuff to find and a million things to do and you can do them all at your own pace and however you want to do them. But you don’t really have to even accomplish anything at all, and that is what makes GTA so great. Getting into long police chases that have you switching from car to car to plane to boat to car and on and on are extremely satisfying and are fun enough on their own that the game is worth $50 just for that. Just being able to fly or drive or swim (yeah, Carl can swim …) wherever you want is an absolute joy. You can get a parachute and then go to various points around the state and do some base jumping. You can customize cars and have a fleet of pimped out rides in all of your garages. Basically, you can do whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want. San Andreas is probably the best value in a video game you will ever find and you will definitely feel like you are getting your money’s worth.
