GTA San Andreas Reviews...

[Sky]

You remind me of record store guys that need a boot to the skull. Get over yourself, High Fidelity.

Wow, that was unwarranted. You remind me of intolerant assholes who threaten people on the internet.

All I can think of while playing, is teenaged suburban white kids all over America thinking how cool they are, and the outbreak of ebonics. *Shudder*

In other words, the 90s.

[Paelos]

I'm having an angry week. I'll apologize later after my vacation. Still I don't like music snobs. It's probably one my biggest pet peeves listening to somebody in a record store get himself off on how much he thinks he knows about such a subjective topic. Then you get the whole "look down the nose at the people who listen to the mainstream, corporate driven stuff." It's music, people like what they like, and calling some of it lower class is just meaningless.

I also like Freebird.

[schild]

Rap sucks. Learn english, sucka.' All you people that bought GTA:SA for the soundtrack deserve to die in a late 80s, early 90s tapedeck fire.

[Paelos]

Rap sucks. Learn english, sucka.' All you people that bought GTA:SA for the soundtrack deserve to die in a late 80s, early 90s tapedeck fire.

I thought you listened to techno? Does that have words? Hell, I may be wrong, when you listed most of the stuff for that radio idea I didn't know what genre 98% of it was.

[Ardent]

If you like ghetto culture, you are in luck.

Thank you for saving me 50 bucks.

[Righ]

I'm having an angry week. I'll apologize later after my vacation.

Save yourself the trouble. Your opinion wouldn't have meant anything to me even if your characterisation had said more about me than about you. However, you're doing your best to derail this thread, so perhaps you are amusing somebody other than yourself.

My point was fairly simple. If you're going to laud the selection of music in this game, it is worth pointing out that the choices were not as appropriate as they could have been. Without thinking too hard, I came up with several alternate songs by artists used that better fit a crime oriented driving game.

I liked Freebird the first few hundred times I heard it. Same is true of Stairway to Heaven and Bat out of Hell or the opening of the first movement of Beethoven's 5th. Sometimes music is over exposed.

[Paelos]

Point taken, I know most music in games makes me want to claw my eyes out usually. The sheer volume in the GTA usually helps that, although an mp3 option is always good.

Yeah, I don't derail often, figured I'd give it a shot. It's less fun than I imagined.

[Signe]

Are you trying to quit smoking too, Paelos?

[Madman]

My point was fairly simple. If you're going to laud the selection of music in this game, it is worth pointing out that the choices were not as appropriate as they could have been. Without thinking too hard, I came up with several alternate songs by artists used that better fit a crime oriented driving game.

I liked Freebird the first few hundred times I heard it. Same is true of Stairway to Heaven and Bat out of Hell or the opening of the first movement of Beethoven's 5th. Sometimes music is over exposed.

But you aren't thinking properly. They aren't putting in songs that are supposed to fit the envirornment, they are putting in songs to fit the TIME, which is early 90's. The songs you hear on the GTA radio are the songs you heard on real radio during the early 90's. Obviously the classic rock station is a bit different since they can have a broader range, but the reason you aren't hearing more obscure tracks is because they didn't play those obscure tracks in real life very often. Although I will say that I miss 'Sister Christen'.

That said, the game is cool as hell. Those of you who are going to complain that it is all about a thug life, just get over it. That part is no different than if it was a 'white' dude making a bunch of 'white' comments. In fact, I think that a lot of the comments and stuff make fun of the situation instead of taking it seriously. However, I will admit that it would be much cooler if it was Tommy instead of CJ.

The game is absolutely huge and to do everything would take probably something like 100 hours of game play or more. If you just want to work on the storyline you are still looking at somewhere around 30 or more hours of gameplay. There is a definate distiction between downtown areas and the country and you can feel it. There is also a lot more traffic, although this actually one of my complaints because it just as busy in a small country town as it is in the city which doesn't make sense to me.


I absolutely love the game, but then I have loved all of them since the very first GTA. I would say that it is very similar to GTA:VC in gameplay, but there have been a few tweaks and various additions. I think that riding a motorcycle is a bit easier now than it was in VC. There are several new types of cars, as well as some old favorites. You now have to work up skill levels for a lot of the various weapons. You can work out, you have to eat food, you can date several girls at once. There are the standard extra type missions, like putting your gang tag over other tags, take pictures of scenery, collect horseshoes and oysters ( all like the tiki hunt/special packages hunt) as well as the unique jumps. There are the standard mission types: go here, kill this, escape the police and of course the various race missions. You can also swim now which means that you no longer drown when you fall in the water. You can buy your own clothes and mix and match various types.

There is plenty to do and I think it was put together very well. Besides the small complaint that it is perhaps a bit too busy in small towns, I haven't had a problem with the game yet. I am only about 1/4 - 1/3 through the game and I am very glad I bought it.

And now I go back to playing it because I am addicted to it.  It has been ruining my sleep schedule and I have been bringing it in to work with me. Hurray for having a night job with a TV handy and no real work to do!

[Morfiend]

Ok, big review comming soon. After about 15-20 hours of gameplay I have a few more quick comments.

1) The game is REALLY good.
2) I hate that my character is a moron.
3) I hate that my character is a Gansta' thug moron.
4) I REALLY hate that my character cannot for the life of himself manage to pronounce the "re" on the end of "sure". I am getting SO sick of hearing him say "fer sho". I want to throw my controller each time he does it now.

*VERY mild spoiler below*























5) It is really great when you get to race the main character from GTA3, and CJ complains that he wont speak.

Thats it for now.

[Daydreamer]

Is it just my rusty l33t sk1llz, or did Rockstar kick the difficulty up a notch on this one?  Most missions whose spiritual predecessors I finished on my first/second try are taking me 3-5 tries now.  Maybe I need to play a little less SMT: Nocturne and brush up my twitch skills....

[Righ]

But you aren't thinking properly. They aren't putting in songs that are supposed to fit the envirornment, they are putting in songs to fit the TIME, which is early 90's. The songs you hear on the GTA radio are the songs you heard on real radio during the early 90's. Obviously the classic rock station is a bit different since they can have a broader range, but the reason you aren't hearing more obscure tracks is because they didn't play those obscure tracks in real life very often. Although I will say that I miss 'Sister Christen'.

So, there were stations in the early 90s that played exclusively "rare grooves" which included limited DJ vinyl-only pressings, yet somehow were unable to find the airtime to play my selections? The songs you heard in the 90s on real radio were either on mainstream radio, in which case, scratch over half of GTSA's soundtrack, or on pirate radio (the early 90s were halcyon days for pirate radio in the Bay Area), in which case you could have my selections just as well. I'm not sure why you want to defend the choices so badly, but its a poor defense.

[Fabricated]

I've played it for about 10 hours. I'll probably end up doing a review provided I don't have to do any stupid shit like flying radio controlled helicopters with explosives like in Vice City.

The music is whatever you make of it. This is one of the few games where you can change the fucking station if you don't like it, or turn it off. I turned it to "X Radio", and was listening to Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, etc.

The main character is a moron though.

"Damn, gang banger bullshit is what got my mom killed, I think I'll go do some gangbanger bullshit to fix it!"

[Lum]

It's really hard to argue with a game that lets you do drive-by shootings in East L.A. with Willie Nelson's rendition of "Crazy" blaring on the radio.

[CmdrSlack]

Every time I noticed a great track in the mixes, it was just such a poor and populist choice.

I agree. I like the soundtrack, it's got some really great songs on it, but Freebird was a silly choice. Great song, way too long. After I saw that, I went looking for American Pie, another bathroom break song from my days as a DJ. Call Me The Breeze would've been a better song. And Willie's version of Crazy is ok, but Whiskey River would've been better and more appropriate, maybe.

But I don't really see me loading in the mp3s until the second playthrough, lots of good stuff in this one.

Did I mention it has Amos Moses? He used to hit 'em in the head with a stump, you know.

It's kind of funny hearing Axl Rose as one of the DJs.  

Additionally, I think Gimmie Back My Bullets or Saturday Night Special would have been better Skynyrd tracks than Freebird.

Hell, even Gimmie Three Steps.  Then again, I have the Skynyrd box set, so maybe I'm just on crack.


Overall, I like the game, although I think some of the missions are harder earlier on than in GTA3 or GTA:VC.  I had to get my neighbor (who can 't shoot worth a damn, but can drive really well) to come over and complete one of them for me.  

Since others are talking about writing up reviews, I'll probably hold off until I've played more of the game.  

I will say that the AI for gang members following you sucks pretty badly.  They get run over a lot and don't really know how to handle terrain very well.  

I do like the AI for rival gang members during the gang war missions.  Taking over turf is fun and a bit exciting until you figure out some basic tactics to keep your ass alive.

[toma levine]

I give this game 5 stars out of 5, so far.

For those of you addressing the issue of CJ's enunciation and sense of morality: Yes, there are a ton of people in LA who talk precisely like that and have the same skewed morality of "gots to shoot them to get revenge." Much more so during the 90's.

[Samwise]

The main character is a moron though.

"Damn, gang banger bullshit is what got my mom killed, I think I'll go do some gangbanger bullshit to fix it!"

Isn't that more or less the story of the last two GTA games as well?  (Replace "mom killed" with "self locked up" or "drugs stolen").

[Rodent]

Isn't that more or less the story of the last two GTA games as well?  (Replace "mom killed" with "self locked up" or "drugs stolen").

Yes, but I think we all agree Scarface is a better movie then Menace 2 Society.

[Ardent]

Yes, but I think we all agree Scarface is a better movie then Menace 2 Society.

If you're talking about the Brian DePalma version of Scarface ... that movie is a fucking cartoon. They could have cast Bugs Bunny in the title role and it would be equally effective.

At least Menace 2 Society featured characters that could be remotely recognized as human beings.

So, as an example of shallow stereotypical characters to model your GTA video game after, Scarface is the better choice.

[Sky]

I had to sit through film appreciation with a prof who went to school with DePalma. I'm pretty sure the prof has a secret gay crush on him. After getting through the obligatory "Hitchcock is god" spiel, it was pretty much all DePalma for the rest of the semester. The guy even called Kubrick (one of my favorites) a hack.

[stray]

I had to sit through film appreciation with a prof who went to school with DePalma. I'm pretty sure the prof has a secret gay crush on him. After getting through the obligatory "Hitchcock is god" spiel, it was pretty much all DePalma for the rest of the semester. The guy even called Kubrick (one of my favorites) a hack.

DePalma used to be a genius, I think, but it's been hit and miss for over 20 years now. More films under his belt than Lucas, but he's the roughly the equivalent in his own little domain (call it what you will.."voyeurism" etc., etc.) -- once a master, but now a pale comparison to what he used to be.
 
As for Scarface, that was his downfall. If I only watch the first half (right up to the point that Tony kills Frank), then I think it's amazing. After that, it's just embarrassing.

[Shockeye]

San Andreas for the rest of us on June 7th.

December 16, 2004 - Rockstar Games let the good news fly today, announcing that its mega-hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will arrive on Xbox and PC on June 7 in North America. Euro-gamers will receive the fifth game in the series June 10, 2005.

[Samwise]

Huzzah!  Thanks for that update, I was wondering when they'd get around to the port.

[HaemishM]

JUNE? Fuck.

[Paelos]

Bout the same as KOTOR II, right? Bastards.

[WayAbvPar]

San Andreas for the rest of us on June 7th.

December 16, 2004 - Rockstar Games let the good news fly today, announcing that its mega-hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will arrive on Xbox and PC on June 7 in North America. Euro-gamers will receive the fifth game in the series June 10, 2005.

Hmm. Xbox or PC? I am leaning toward PC.

[Sky]

Bah, I missed it by a month or two. I called April/May, based on previous pc ports of GTA titles. Good deal, got something to look forward to. Now I gotta go dig up my NWA albums...thanks for the update, Shock.

[penfold]

Im still playing it, and cant fault it. Right now ive stopped doing storyline missions and are completing some of the side missions in the game, the range and variety of which are quite impressive.

As for the ghetto/rap culture so predominant in the earlier levels, its more or less missing from the rest of the game.