Two-fisted reviews: videogames
Graphic by Ian Neligh / The Metropolitan
Look Ma, a drive-by! Reviewer Clayton Woullard enjoys his new career as a gangsta in the new release by Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
GTA scores again, lives up to hype
by Clayton Woullard
The Metropolitan
Some games are simply worth the hype. This fall, games like Halo 2, The Sims 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas have already sold millions, beating out previous sales records for videogames. Much of this has to do with all the word-of-mouth before the release date.
Fortunately, San Andreas lives up to its hype and more.
With this new game, the GTA series moves from Vice City, modeled after Miami in the '80s, to San Andreas, a land five times the size of Vice City including Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). San Andreas takes place in the early '90s, when gang violence on the West Coast came into the national spotlight. You star as Carl "CJ" Johnson, a former gang banger who's just been released from prison in Liberty City (the setting for 2001's GTA III). He's called back to his old neighborhood in Los Santos after his mom is murdered, and is sucked back into his old life as a member of the Grove Street Gang.
The first few missions are mostly to introduce you to the new features in the game, which expand GTA way beyond simply committing crimes. Now, in an attempt to play off the success of The Sims, you can eat, exercise, change clothes and hairstyles.
God is in the details in San Andreas. Several of the new features, like eating and exercising, affect how you interact with the environment and the people. Eat too much, you get fat, move slow and garner insults from pedestrians. Eat too little and you lose health and energy, not to mention becoming a thin rail. You can balance this all out by visiting the gym occasionally and lifting weights and hitting the treadmill and bicycle. Exercising is beneficial because it burns fat, increases your muscle mass and your stamina, all of which allow you to sprint, pedal (yes there are bicycles) and swim (yes you can swim, finally) faster, as well as pack more punch into your punches.
The game's soundtrack, which can be heard through San Andreas' 11 radio stations, is also superb. The game designers captured the best music of the time, especially gangsta rap by the most notorious LA rappers including 2Pac, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. The game also features an all-star cast with voices by Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, Ice T and Peter Fonda.
But mostly the game's value comes from its enormity. Not only are there so many things to do outside of the game's regular missions. On top of carrying out police vigilante, ambulance and fire rescue, and taxi-driving missions as in previous games, you can go on pimping missions, play Atari-like videogames, dance, box, and gamble in one of Las Venturas' glorious casinos. Unfortunately, your luck gambling matches that in any of Vegas' casinos.
The plethora of activities not to mention the massive size of San Andreas are what make this game so fun, and unending. It can take you 10-15 minutes, in real time, to get from the edge of San Fierro back to Carl's neighborhood, with small hick towns on the way, with even more to do, and more people to kill.
Ah, yes, the killing and violence. There are not only new weapons including heat-seeking missiles, C-4 explosives and silenced pistols, but they feature auto-aim and manual aim- an improvement from Vice City.
Another great enhancement is that, like with your physical characteristics, your skill levels improve with weapons and land and air vehicles, meaning better aim and handling.
The only real flaws in San Andreas come with occasional glitches when you move around, improved, but still not the greatest graphics, which take away from the crispness of the game, and, my personal problem with the game, having to get used to using only the PS2's analog sticks.
But, really, I'm nit picking. What will most likely be a larger issue with many people is the game's violence. It's the crux of the game. Most of the missions involve killing someone or destroying something. The GTA series has taken much flak from the media, the government and moral crusaders because of it.
As Vice City was modeled after the 80s TV show "Miami Vice," San Andreas is a combination of such films as "Menace II Society" and "Boyz To The Hood," which took place in Southern California in the early 90s. It's also based on the stories of West Coast rappers like 2Pac, Ice Cube and Eazy-E (who looks a lot like Carl's friend Ryder in the game). So, it's important to remember there is a historical and cultural basis for the storyline, and the violence.
Still, if you're not able to distinguish between right and wrong, between reality and the virtual world, or if gratuitous violence disturbs you, don't bother with this game.
For everyone else, this is the most fun game out this season, which means you should schedule your time wisely because it can be addicting. Just remember to check your conscience at the door. |
