Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas review

The return of Grand Theft Auto PC is like the return of the Prodigal Son. It's the format that started it all, where we first learned to cause absolute mayhem and destruction and take out as many cops as possible. Back in the day, I was working in retail and remember that so many cops we knew came in to buy the original game.

And so we turn to the largest and grandest Grand Theft Auto adventure to grace your desktop supercomputer, armed as we are now with AMD 64s and the like, almost science fiction compared to those Pentium machines that we installed Grand Theft Auto on back in the nineties.

The Boys Are Back in Town

CJ's life really isn't going to plan. The boy managed to get out of San Andreas and start a new life. But the death of his mother brings him back to town and under the influence of his old gangster friends and the watchful eye of SAPD's special brand of corrupt police officers.

So begins an action adventure that's perhaps the template for a true RPG, where the player lives the life of a character rather than just hitting skeletons to earn some XP. Here we experience the ups and downs of CJs life - the girls he dates, the food he eats, the haircuts, the tattoos - the extreme violence.

Grand Theft Auto is about choice - the very first one being whether you want to play through the story or just mess around. I spent much of my time with the PlayStation 2 version doing the latter, just driving around and getting up to mischief, usually mischief that was put to an end by an armed response unit and a helicopter.

Scarface

The aim of the game is to keep CJ alive and climb the ladder of gangster crime, from a mere street hood, to being the local kingpin. That means taking on a variety of missions that get progressively tougher and unlocking sections of the city of San Andreas. But that's just for starters, surrounding this simple aim is the ability to go off and get involved in all manner of other activities such as putting out fires or exploring for hidden items.

While there are a massive number of missions featured in the game, these are not the source of the game's longevity. It's the freedom that makes the game such a massive prospect. This doesn't always work in the game's favour though - I know many people who played the PS2 game a lot and never got near the end of the story - and were left feeling somewhat short changed by that. Odd, but I can see their point.

The other issue about the freedom in the game is how free it really is. Rockstar clearly thrives on controversy, just look at the recently announced Daily Mail baiting Bully, for an example of that. But while its games are fun - there's no progression beyond causing death and destruction. You may be free to proceed in such a game, but the only successful choices rely on violence. Fair enough in a game about gangsters - but seeing Rockstar flex its creative muscles beyond the audience of chavdom would really be welcome.

Royale with cheese

No-one can dispute the production values that have gone into the latest Grand Theft Auto game. From the glossy hardback-book packaging, to the voice talent such as Samuel L. Jackson - here is game that has aspirations beyond mere gaming.

As such it's always a good looking game, though I would argue that we could have expected more from a PC version, or a game designed originally for PC. Compared to the PS2 version it's a revelation - the view distance alone is worth the admission fee. Now we can see across the bay to the city beyond and from the top of skyscrapers the view is magnificent. It plays well with mouse/keyboard controls but some players have reported problems getting complete functionality out of joypads.

Welcome too are the higher resolution textures, the headlines on magazines on tables can now be read, everything looks sharper and more detailed. Yet Rockstar hasn't gone as far to upgrade the actual graphic models - so we're still left with people that don't really look good enough - not compared to the latest generation of PC games.

Spit and polish

The actual structure and content of the game remains the same as the PlayStation 2 version. It's the game Dan Houser wrote, nothing added, nothing taken away. All the humour is still there - and cameos such as Guns & Roses' Axel Rose as one of the radio station DJs.

While the actual story remains the same we do have some new features. You may now play your own MP3 files instead of using the vast music collection from within the game. Of course, this means losing some of the hilarious nonsense from the San Andreas radio stations. But Rockstar has come up trumps - the game will play adverts and jingles between your MP3s, which means even with your own music - the game retains its atmosphere.

Another new feature is the replay - where you may watch your last 30 seconds of mayhem over again. The weather effects look damn spiffy too, with some detailed fog rolling across the screen rather than a mere shortened visibility as we saw on PS2, the weather and extra texture detail go to make a game that feature a city that seems more real - despite the game not attempting reality.

Final thoughts

There's no doubt that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a great game. There's so much to see and do that it will keep you occupied as long as you still have the will to play. I'll admit I preferred Vice City, a game that meant more to me thematically than the urban gangster warfare depicted here. I'll also admit I'm getting tired of games' discovery of certain Anglo Saxon words.

The approach and production values of games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas show that the videogames industry is maturing in line with other forms of entertainment. The actual moral choices given the player in the game show that immaturity still reigns supreme. The next Grand Theft Auto is really going to have to deliver something new and unique to make it a worthwhile exercise - in artistic terms, clearly it will make piles of cash.

However, casting morality aside for one moment, GTA: SA is a glorious thrilling ride of delinquency. It offers just enough freedom, and more than enough violence, to make for a truly epic game. It's by no means perfect, it certainly doesn't make the most of the modern PC, but it's one of the best games you can play today.