View Full Version : Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Screens
The official site has just been updated, and finally they have released screenshots. Just go to http://www.rockstargames.com/sanandreas/ to see them. I think they look great, especially knowing bikes will be in them.
Revenge of Mr M
05-14-04, 01:43 AM
I just ran across some good details for this game. I stole this from a post at the IGN boards, but it sounds legit. He cites all his info if you want to check it out.
I found it at GTAGaming
Game Informer has a 10-page San Andreas preview showing now at E3. Every point here is all confirmed and official from the early release of Game Informer. The magazine has 12 screenshots.
Screenshots
- One pic shows the inside of a house, with rendered interior environments. There is furniture inside the house.
- One shows a helicopter with its searchlights on a runaway criminal.
- The others show how the main character can get fat, its a pic of him (fat) crossing the street with a donut shop in the background.
- One shows two other characters that are apart of the main character's crew.
- One shows a gang carjacking. Three guys with doo rag masks are carjacking other guys.
- One shows a four person drive-by.
- One with two men sneaking around the back of a house about to rob it. They are crouching and carrying guns.
- Another one shows a california type pimped out car.
- The last one shows the background of LA with a smog sky.
- The rest are the three we have already seen.
General
- The game is more serious than the others, but the elements of comedy are still there.
- A full staff of reasearch personnel at Rockstar have been studying Las Vegas, San Diego, and Los Angeles for months to ensure that they truly capture the feelings of these cities.
Location
- The game will not take place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Las Vegas. It will take place IN ALL THREE as well as the countryside in between.
- Los Angeles will be called Los Santos, San Francisco will be called San Fieero, and Las Vegas will be called Las Venturra.
- Each city is about the same size as Vice City.
- Not all cities will be open at the start of the game.
- The entire game will be about four to six times as large as Vice City.
- San Fierro (San Francisco) will have hills. This city is more driving based.
- You can drive from LA, through the countryside, up a mountain, into San Fran, and onto Las Vegas.
- Driving through the desert won’t be empty and plain with a couple cacti...it will be vibrant and alive with weird things to see.
- There will be a lot more buildings with open interiors.
Graphics
- The graphics engine has been tweaked. Smog will be present in LA, and real-time reflections on cars, windows, and mirrors, as well as new techniques like radial lighting, which allows for more realistic shadowing, and soft-shadow lighting for interior levels will be present.
- Everything in the game now has independent models for day and night to give better lighting and shadowing.
- The game will have ragdoll physics, or “impact animation” in Rockstar’s words.
Vehicles
- As for vehicles, there will be pimped-out lowriders, and 90’s versions of some GTA3/VC cars will return.
- There will be bicycles.
Story
- Characters from the past will return.
Gameplay
- In the Las Vegas city, you will be able to buy and build a casino - and then run it.
- You can then gamble your money in the casino.
- Your character can dual wield pistols and potentially other weapons.
- You need to eat to retain your stamina. If you eat too much fast food, you become fat and pedestrians mock you for being fat. You also run slower. To remedy this, you can go to a gym to exercise.
- You can now rob homes. The robberies will require skill and planning, however. - You can recruit gang members and use them to do four person drive-by’s. (seen here)
Weapons
- The choice of weapons will match the time in which the era of the early 90's.
Artificial Intelligence
- Enemy/pedestrian AI will be greatly revamped and they will think more logically. You can't beat someone to death in broad daylight and not have people notice and react.
- Your enemies will be smarter, which will make robbing houses take a lot of skill.
Music
- There will be a rap station, but there will be a variety of other stations as always.
All this Game Informer information was compiled and summarized from PlanetGTA, GamesRadar, user BTB at GameFAQs, and user Nasfive0 at GameFAQs.
Is there any word on an M rating? Or weather or not they had to re-vamp the violence due to the previous games' controversy? Cool Beans Yo.
Garrett
05-14-04, 04:12 PM
I wonder if I'll end up getting a PS2 just for this game... It's going to PS2 exclusive, right?
blibblobblib
05-14-04, 09:47 PM
I love GTA. It took over and destroyed my life for about 2 weeks. Sounds like it might take me about a month to get over this...
Rockstar has just revealed the first bits of information about the game.
"Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas.. .a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption; where film stars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gang bangers.
Now, it's the early 90s. Carl's got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster.
On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets."
Sounds good IMO. Thanks for the info Revenge of Mr M.
A lot of the stuff here is mentioned in Revenge of Mr M's post, but there is some other stuff.
San Andreas is not a city - it’s a state. The game will take place in three cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and the countryside in between. Los Angeles will be called Los Santos, San Francisco will be called San Fierro, and Las Vegas will be called Las Venturra. Each city is relatively the same size as Vice City, and will be fully open to the player at different points in the story arc. The entire game is approximately four to six times as large as either GTA III or Vice City.
You will be able to travel between cities on roads that reach through a vast countryside, and the countryside has its own unique characters and gameplay sequences. Each city will have a much more diverse set of experiences for the player and will emphasize a different aspect of San Andreas’ gameplay. San Fierro has plenty of hills and thus is more focused on driving. Specialty vehicles can be unlocked to bring new fun to the environment of the cities.
The countryside will expand on the GTA experience where cities could not. For example, there will be a mountain that you can drive up. You will be able to drive from Los Santos through the countryside, up a mountain into San Fierro, and continue on to Las Venturra to give depth to the game and make it feel completely real.
Because of some new streaming and rendering that Rockstar designed themselves, San Andreas will feature environments that are both more intricate and more interactive than Vice City. Vice City had a bigger map than GTA III, but not everything was as dense and interesting as it could have been. In San Andreas, the entire map is crisper and has a lot more things going on. Even the desert will feel vibrant and alive.
The graphics engine has been overhauled and now has new techniques like radial lighting which gives more realistic shadowing. The engine also includes real-time reflections on cars, windows, and mirrors, and soft-shadow lighting for interior levels. Everything in the game now has independent models for day and nighttime, so the objects can look as detailed and vivid during night as they do during the day. San Andreas will feature "impact animation," or rag-doll physics.
San Andreas will push the limits on interiors. While Vice City introduced the idea of interiors, most of them were nothing but detailed save points. In SA however, tons of interiors have been fully rendered out and made more interactive, for example robbing houses.
Rockstar has pushed themselves to create a vast interactive world. San Andreas will have scores of unique interiors, dozens of restaurants, and a fully operational casino. While many of these would have been mere novelties in the past, they now directly affect your characters progression, abilities, and even appearance.
Purchasing buildings was just touched on in Vice City. Now, it has a much higher importance. In San Andreas the idea of building your criminal empire has been taken a lot further, for example in Las Venturra you can buy, build, and run your own casino. Every part of the San Andreas society will be precise - from the rich residents to the ones living in suburban areas to the maniacs in the countryside. San Andreas will push the envelope on feeling more like a living, breathing world than its predecessors were.
The game is not about gangbanging. There will be a rap station, but as always there will be a variety of other types of music. No details on the radio stations has been released.
Rockstar has implemented things the hardcore fans of GTA III and Vice City. San Andreas will have some characters from past games making reappearances or being mentioned. There will be plenty of fun things to catch if you followed the stories of the previous games.
The AI has been improved. NPCs now react to you more intelligently with their new "brains." For example, before you could kill someone in the middle of the street in broad daylight and have no one notice. This won’t be the case in San Andreas. NPC intelligence now has a need for hour long recording sessions, which was only ten minutes in Vice City. San Andreas will have plenty of well known and some excellent unknown voice acting talents.
With the new AI comes dynamic difficulty. This means based on your performance missions will be made to suit your skill level. This will allow more players to be able to play the game to the end. You will also be able to recruit gang members to aid you during missions, and one use for them is a four person drive-by. You can run your gang, but you won’t be checking on inventory or anything like that. You will run it in a way where you are kept in the story, through phone calls and speaking to people. In Vice City and GTA III you were either on a mission or you weren’t, and the story didn’t feel like it progress outside the missions. Well now the game changes all the time. While you aren’t on a mission, you can things that reflect your position in the storyline. You can take up side missions where you can learn a skill you need for a mission.
Money has a greater use than it did in Vice City. Outside missions you can rob homes to earn some cash. However, house robbing is nothing like carjacking. It will take a lot of skill and planning to pull it off.
As you progress in the story, you can open up new things to do outside missions, which are still tied into the story. In Las Venturra you can gamble your money in your casino. The way things unlock are more complex now. There are basic tutorials at the start of the game, and then on each mission you can learn a skill. So in every mission you will be doing something new, and the game will stay fresh and challenging throughout the story.
Your character also changes depending on what you do. There are plenty of restaurants around San Andreas and you have to eat to stay healthy and retain your stamina. If you eat fast food often and don’t go to the gym, your character becomes fat, and this changes the game. Pedestrians call you a fat bastard, your running speed and strength are low, and your character’s physics change. Being fat makes missions more difficult or in some cases not possible. To fix being fat, you can go to gyms to work out. Working out gives you strength and more speed, and your character model looks fit. Rockstar wants to make you feel like you have complete control over the story and over your character, and this example of his weight is just the tip of the iceberg.
The targeting and camera systems are being overhauled. While no details have been released, Rockstar made references to features in Manhunt, and promises that the targeting will be really fun this time.
All new animations have been designed. Hand-to-hand combat will be more improved to include more variety in stances, attacks, and control over the fighting. There will be new styles of carjacking. Swimming is now included in the game. Rockstar has put in a lot of new weapons with more variety, and also focused on revamping old ones to feel more unique. Your character can dual wield pistols and possibly other weapons.
The vehicle physics engine is being changed to improve car handling and open up the possibility of new types of transportation. Vice City ranged from a moped to a plane, and the range in SA is much bigger at both ends this time. You can even ride a bicycle in San Andreas and you will have to press buttons to pedal it.
- All of this information was summarized from the June 2004 issue of Game Informer.
Thanks for the info! It sounds great!
Here's a conformation list -
I reckon the robbing the house feature will be great.
Confirmination list:
* General Information
* The new Grand Theft Auto game will be known as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
* The new GTA game will be Sony PlayStation2 Exclusive.
* The Official Game Description from Rockstar Games:
* Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas... a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers.
Now, it's the early 90s. Carl's got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.
* The game will be based around "Recent Films" relating to the Californian gangster theme.
* The GTA style innuendo's will return, bigger and better than before.
* The game will use a Dual-Layer DVD because Rockstar have already filled up a full DVD disk!
* The [Game Boxart] will look like this.
* The game should take the average player no less than 150 hours to complete.
* Release Dates
* USA and Surrounding NTSC Areas: October 19th, 2004
* UK and Europe: October 22nd, 2004
* Australia: October 28th, 2004 [Click Here For More Info]
* Characters
* [Carl Johnson] - The main character and the gangster who the player will control.
* [Sweet Johnson] - Carl's brother and part of the Orange Grove Families Gang.
* Brian Johnson - Carl's 10 year old brother who was killed in a tragic car accident. Some people blame Carl for his death.
* Kendl Johnson - Carl's sister. Not much is known about her as of yet but she is always arguing with Sweet.
* [Smoke] - A family friend of the Johnson's who also takes his place in the Orange Grove Families Gang.
* [Ryder] - Another friend of Carl and member of the Orange Grove Families Gang.
* [Old Reece] - Carl's Barber. The guy who will be in charge of giving you all of your wacky hair styles.
* Eddie Pulaski - One of the corrupt cops who frame Carl for homicide and make his life difficult.
* Frank Tenpenny - The other corrupt cop who is always getting on Carl's back.
* [Cesar] - A mysterious Latino character armed with a .45 and a body full of tattoos.
* [LSPD] - The guys who'll be constantly on your tail when you break the law in Los Santos.
* Mysterious Cabin Woman - A girl from a previous GTA re-appears as Carl's Accomplice... We predict Catalina.
* Gangs
* [Orange Grove Families] - Carl Johnson's gang who the player will move with throughout the game.
* [The Ballas] - A rival gang of the Orange Grove Families.
* The Flats - Another rival gang
* The City / Map
* The state of San Andreas is made up of the cities; Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
* The three cities from above will be named Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas in the game.
* Each city is the same size as Vice City.
* The entire game will be about Four to Six times bigger than Vice City.
* San Fierro will contain hills and will be more driving based.
* You can drive from Los Santos, through the countryside, up a mountain and into San Fierro, then onto Las Venturas.
* Driving through the desert will be vibrant and alive with weird things to see.
* There will be tumble-weed in the desert.
* The game will contain photographs and digital images as textures.
* There will be Lakes, a Mountain, Farms and Fields plus more in the countryside.
* The map is so big players will get lost frequently.
* Buildings / Places
* There will be a lot more buildings with open interiors.
* The only loading times in the game will be a short pause when you enter buildings!
* There will be places in GTA San Andreas called the following:
* [Los Santos]
* San Fierro
* Las Venturas
* [Well Stacked Pizza]
* [Tuff Nut Donuts]
* [St. Brutus Motel]
* [Reece's Hair Facial Studio]
* [Mount Chiliad]
* Angel Pine
* Dillamore
* [Vinewood]
* [Gasso Gas Station]
* Pay N' Spray
* Orange Grove is the name of the area where Carl and his gang will live.
* The Mountain, Mt. Chiliad, Is the biggest single object in the game.
* There are tunnels and lots of foliage on the mountain.
* There is a Liquor Store, Bakers, Single Screen Cinema and a Trailer Park in Angel Pine.
* Dillamore contains a Gas Station.
* Graphics
* The graphics engine has been tweaked.
* Smog will be present in Los Santos, and real-time reflections on cars, windows, and mirrors, as well as new techniques like radial lighting, which allows for more realistic shadowing, and soft-shadow lighting for interior levels will be present.
* Everything in the game now has independent models for day and night to give better lighting and shadowing.
* Shadows can be used to hide yourself, to help pick off unsuspecting enemies.
* Real sunlight is simulated, and shadows are placed where they would really be.
* There are different sets of lighting for day and night which helps create a more realistic feel.
* Weather effects have been added to.
* There are various things to do and places to see in the countryside, such as farms which keeps the game feeling alive.
* Vehicles will accumulate dirt and rust as you play through the game.
* The HUD will be similar to that of GTA3 and Vice City.
* There will not be as many 'pop-up' items while the player is moving throughout the game.
* Trees will be rendered as a group from distance, but rendered separately as the player gets closer. This allows a much bigger draw distance.
* The Draw Distance in the countryside is 4 times better than that in Vice City.
* You will start to see clouds when you reach a certain altitude on Mt. Chiliad.
* The foliage in the countryside is only drawn when the player can see it which keeps the game feeling vibrant and alive, but also maintains a steady framerate.
* Game Play
* The game will have rag-doll physics, or “Impact Animation” in Rockstars words.
* In the Las Venturas city, you will be able to buy and build a casino and then run it you can then gamble your money in the casino.
* You need to eat to retain your stamina. If you eat too much fast food, you become fat and pedestrians mock you for being fat. You also run slower and vehicles move slower. Beating certain missions is almost impossible unless you're in the right physical shape. To remedy this, you can go to a gym to exercise.
* You can now rob homes. The robberies will require skill and planning, however.
* You can recruit gang members and use them to do four person drive-by’s.
* Being a Gang Member only makes up about 15% of the total game.
* Carl Johnson can visit Old Reece (The Barber) and get his hair cut into numerous different styles which the player can decide. Pedestrians and characters will make remarks on your hair, depending if it looks cool or un-cool.
* Carl and the Orange Grove Families can take over areas and generate money from them. This is just one of the many things which can add to the replay value even after the game has been 'completed'.
* Swimming is now a part of the game, if you drive a vehicle into the water, you have two choices, climb out of the window and swim to shore, or stay in the car and sink, where you will have a certain amount of underwater stamina. Swimming will also be involved in some missions.
* There are parts of the game where you will work as a gang, and parts where you will work alone.
* The game is now very non-linear, and depending what choices are made, it will be rare for 2 players to have the same type of game. The missions will be the same, but so much can change depending on choices you make.
* There will be In-Breds and Degenerates in the Countryside and some missions will reflect the contrast between the towny and the country people.
* Characters have more bones which results in numerous different facial expressions.
* There are now many more ways to complete missions. You could run straight in shooting, or sneak through the shadows and pick off the enemies one by one.
* When the player only has one wanted star, hiding in the shadows should be enough to throw police off your trail.
* The player must tap the X button on the bike in order to pedal faster.
* The camera will automatically zoom behind the player at the touch of a button and the player then has the ability to freely target using the analogue stick. The auto-target will still be a part of the game though.
* The game will take at least three times longer to complete than Vice City.
* The longer the player holds down the R1 button, the more chance there is of getting a headshot on an enemy.
* Unlike previous GTA Games, the players stats actually change the way 'their Carl' will behave. If a player drives around on a bike a lot, they will be a good bike driver in the game, but won't be as good at driving a car.
* The player may have the possibility to change clothes or get tattoos in the game.
* Three confirmed hairstyles include "dripping Jheri curls, a fashionable Afro and a towering flattop."
* Weapons
* Your character can [Dual Wield] pistols, sub machine guns and potentially other weapons.
* The choice of weapons will match the weapons of the early 90's.
* So far we have seen:
* [Colt. 45]
* [Ingram Mac 10]
* [Uzi 9mm]
* [Spas 12 Gauge Shotgun]
* [Chrome Shotgun]
* [M-16 Assault Rifle]
* [AK-47]
* You will have an accuracy meter at the top left of the screen, and the more enemies you hit, the better your accuracy will become.
* The crosshairs which are aimed at people will change colour depending on how much health the enemy has. Green will symbolise almost full health, yellow represents half health, and red shows the character is almost dead.
* Vehicles
* There will be 90’s versions of some GTA3 / VC cars.
* The following vehicles will most likely be in the game (probably under different names):
* [BMX Bicycle]
* [Greenwood]
* [Bobcat]
* [Gang Truck]
* [Lowrider]
* [Manana]
* [Pick Up Truck]
* [Police Helicopter]
* [Police Motorbike]
* [LSPD Cop Car]
* [Sentinel]
* [Sports Car]
* [Sabre]
* [Sanchez]
* [Virgo]
* [Walton]
* [Hatchback]
* [Monster Truck]
* [Combine Harvester]
* [Gas Tanker]
* [4 x 4 Jeep]
* [Linerunner]
* [Quad Bike]
* Some vehicles are made specifically for the countryside, while others are for the streets of the city.
* It is possible to attach and detach the trailer on the back of large trucks.
* The Monster Truck does not have a hand brake, but rather the ability to switch to 4x4 steering mode, which gives the vehicle an extremely small turning circle which is great for navigating through the trees in the country side.
* Players will have to be very careful when driving the Gas Tanker as it will Jack-Knife very easily.
* Artificial Intelligence
* Enemy / pedestrian AI will be greatly revamped and they will think more logically. You can't beat someone to death in broad daylight and not have people notice and react.
* Your enemies will be smarter, which will make robbing houses take a lot of skill.
* Music
* There will be a rap station, but there will be a variety of other stations as always.
* There will be three times the amount of licensed music than in Vice City.
Seen in a magazine some of the music they think might be in the game. It had two track lists.
Rock.
Nivana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Janes Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
Poison - Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Indie
The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
Happy MOndays - Step On
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
Radiohead - Creep
Be quite cool to see some of them band, but the indie list is like British and was suprised to see that, but still excited. Be soo cool to be driven and suddenly Smells Like Teen Spirit comes on.
Also -
San Andreas scores Dre and Snoop for soundtrack
Official PlayStation 2 Magazine has already whipped up interest over what tracks will feature, now here's the truth... or at least the first dribble of it.
We've stirred up GTA fans once already this week with our San Andreas music wishlist, but concrete facts about the game's soundtrack have finally been revealed - and whaddya know, we were right. Death Row Records, which represents some of the best known gansta rappers, this week posted news on its website saying that it had three songs in the game. Snoop Doggy Dog's 'Gin N' Juice', Dr Dre's 'Let Me Ride' and 'Nuthin' But a G Thang' (which Dre and Snoop performed together) were the tunes named - although Death Row has since taken the news off its site.
'Gin N' Juice' was one of the rap titles we tipped to feature in the game in a wishlist printed in OPS2#49. There's no word, however, on what tracks have been signed up from other record labels - although we expect Death Row's sampling to be a mere taster of what should end up being a comprehensive soundtrack featuring the best of '90s music. 'I am The Resurrection', anyone?
Sounds good, can't wait to see what rock bands they'll get.
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This is BRILL!, is there anything else? , like flying a plane ( like a normal plane ), or playing football, or opening up a drug stand etc
From ign.com
July 30, 2004 - When your flagship franchise has the distinction of being the number one-selling videogame series for the current generation on the entire planet, expectations for your follow-up are enormous. Throw in the fact that Rockstar Game's Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are two of the most open and accessible worlds the industry has ever seen, and those expectations get even bigger. But when you factor in the final element, a claim that your latest game is so big that it spans an entire state, the pressure to create something truly groundbreaking can be crippling. Or so you would think...
In the case of Rockstar's October-bound Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, however, the pressure and expectations of its fans don't seem to compare to the strain that the developers are putting on themselves. Determined to create a product so far beyond what people are anticipating, they're working tirelessly day and night to ensure that it's not only the best Grand Theft Auto we ever seen, but also the single best videogame we've ever played.
That's a pretty tall order to fill too; and one that only a certain few can claim to attempt. But when you're butting heads with a lineup of titles that includes Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Fable, Resident Evil 4, Ratchet 3, Jak 3, and countless others in the same holiday period, you're pretty much forced to come out swinging with everything you've got. And that's exactly what Rockstar has done.
In the months following E3 2004 when San Andreas was first announced, we've already learned an enormous amount of information. We already know, for instance, that the state of San Andreas is five times the size of Vice City: with three enormous metropolises spread out across multiple highways, byways, and other rural separators. We also know that the main character, Carl Johnson, needs to eat in order to survive. And unless he keeps a balanced diet, can become incredibly skinny or grossly overweight. If he does things correctly, on the other hand, he can go to the gym to work out to get buff, which makes him a more formidable character to deal with.
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/534/534690/grand-theft-auto-san-andreas-20040730111415249-000.jpg
And let's not forget about the huge list of improvements that Rockstar has already made in terms of technology. In one example, there's anywhere from 30-50% more polygons on the screen at one time in addition to a longer draw distance and the inclusion of real-time reflections. Targeting enemies with your weapons is a lot smarter too, with a Manhunt-like presentation and rag-doll physics for fallen opponents. Other such advancements, like more detailed textures, better animations, and the most important fix -- enhanced AI, are already strong enough to get us excited about what's to come. Not to mention the laundry list of other cool things that we've already mentioned ten-fold in articles previous.
While we can always read about what the team has planned and hear about the game's numerous features recycled through various sources, nothing beats the experience of seeing it live. Luckily for us, we had just that opportunity when we visited Rockstar's brand new offices in New York City this past June. And though we've seen and played through the previous Grand Theft Auto games time and time again, we can't recall an instance when we left Rockstar's lair so excited about one of its upcoming games. As not only is everything we mentioned above is indeed being implemented to an impressive degree, but so are an armada of other goodies too. Be they the bike riding, casino gambling, four-person drive-bys, and so on.
But what about the stuff we don't already know? Or the more specific details regarding elements that were only touched on previously? We're glad that you asked. Because in the text following this, we're proud to present to you a host of new information regarding everything from the game's interesting tattoo system and its new camera controls, to getting dirt on your cars. Sound like something you want to learn about? The turn the page and check it out!
Getting Tats
Everyone is already familiar with the fact that CJ can visit his barber Reece to change hairstyles and what not, but that's not the only level of customization available. Gamers can also alter the their clothes and body type so that they can become exactly the kind of gangsta they want to be (Should I be buff CJ with cornrows or fat CG with an Afro? Decisions, decisions). But perhaps none of the available customization options are as unique as the ability to add tattoos.
To do so, CJ must first find himself a tattoo parlor, the first of which just so happens to be next to Reece's Hair and Facial Studio. Once inside, he'll be able to select his tattoo from a long list of available styles for the body part he wants to ink. The majority of these tattoos are made up of gang affiliations, gang-related lingo, and other similar things that are drawn in styles that were popular for 1990s-era Los Angeles.
"We wanted people to be in complete control of their characters," remarked Leslie Benzies, President of Rockstar North. "If they didn't like the way he dressed, they could earn enough money to buy new clothes. The tattoo feature works the same way, only the motivation is different. If you were in a gang, you'd get a gang tattoo showing that."
To make sure they got it right, the Rockstar team worked very closely with the famous Los Angeles tattoo artist Mister Cartoon -- who's probably known best for his involvement with the small indie film, Ink the Movie. Once Mister Cartoon was on board, it was time to flesh out some of the more important aspects of the tattoos and the philosophies behind them. The inks for Los Santos peeps, for instance, are usually gang names, guns, and women; featuring a strong emphasis on the color black with patterns and styles reminiscent of those found from the area in the 90s (think Boyz N the Hood and you'll get the right idea).
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San Fierro's tattoo culture, on the other hand, features a prominence towards things such as Aztec symbols, drug iconography, and other laid back images reflective of that city's more relaxed society. In the Las Vegas-inspired Las Venturra, however, you can expect to see things like cards, dice, and other emblems representative of the high rolling Lady Luck-inspired atmosphere of the area.
The reason Rockstar placed such an important emphasis on tattoos in San Andreas is because of the importance the LAPD lends them in real life. In fact, the LAPD has such a huge database dedicated to gang members and their tattoos, that they're often used as a more accurate identifier of felons more traditional means of identification. They also use the pictures of their tattoos as a way of looking into the mindset and psyche of the gang member in question -- something fingerprints and driver's licenses can't do.
Improved Camera Controls
One of Rockstar North's more recent priorities has been to formulate a new and more intelligent camera system that provides players with the freedom of total control that they need. Much like other three-dimensional action/adventure games, San Andreas implements the right analog stick as the means to move the camera -- both when in vehicles and on foot.
When using the camera in weapons mode, the right analog stick allows you to target your opposition with any and all ranged weapons, and you no longer have to stay in a fixed position while doing so. Furthermore, gamers can choose to aim with the R-Stick while running and strafing with the Left analog stick. This new additions means that you can always look in a different direction while running or driving, allowing you to turn your attention where ever you need to without adjusting the momentum of your forward movement. The difference in gameplay should be huge.
Cars Getting Dirty
Driving around the dusty state of San Andreas can really put the hurt on your vehicle in terms of its cleanliness. In fact, as you drive around the various cities, you may notice that people around here don't seem to like to wash their cars -- the friggin' things are filthy!
Should players get their hands on a brand new spotless car, they might want to take note that it won't stay that way for long; as consistent use of that vehicle will begin to accumulate a whole lot of muck for it. Dirt, for instance, will begin to appear on and around the wheel wells and impact areas brought on by traffic accidents. Driving through parks and other sections with overhead filth sources can move grime and dust to the surface areas of your windshield. And unless you can find a car wash to keep your car clean and shiny, it may even rust over time if used too much.
As an added bonus, the NPC characters of San Andreas seem to play by the same rules you do. As not only will their cars remain dirty if left uncleaned as we mentioned earlier, but they'll sport broken windows, loose bumpers, and bullet-riddled doors too. If you're looking for any more proof that Rockstar is trying to move its game into as persistent a world as possible -- this is it.
Gang Member Tactics
By now, everyone is aware that gangs in Grand Theft Auto are an important part of the gameplay. And here in San Andreas, they've never been more so. But rather than just make each gangs unstoppable killing machines, Rockstar has worked towards making each member of the world react just as they would in real life. During their downtime, for instance, gang members aren't simply just standing there doing nothing; they're chilling out with each other and drinking, smoking, greeting each other, and throwing signs. They'll even engage in idle discussions with one another to add that much more to the relationship.
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Should players do well enough in the gang's social circle, being chased by a rival gang poses no problem -- as your boys will have your back should the enemy cross their path. You don't even have to ask for them to do so, simply lure your aggressors into your friendly gang territory and any fellow brother who sees what's happening will join in to help get the enemy off your ass.
Of course, rules for the other gangs work the same way. So if CJ and his boys pull into a rival gang's turf, they'll attack him and try to destroy his car. If CJ is on foot, the rival gangs will come after him then too, and will change their tactics for any given situation. So if you think you know how to outsmart a group of thugs by doing the same thing you did last time, think again -- it won't be that easy. Sure they may just come after you with guns a-blazin', but they may also send a couple of guys ahead of you to intercept should you tire out from the chase of the guys behind. Or they could even hang back silently and not do anything before surprising your character with an instance chase. The possibilities here are definitely interesting.
"We spent a lot of time getting that level of interaction right and making it unique," remarked Benzies. "We wanted to convey very clearly that the gangs had a certain way of communicating, very definite mannerisms, and yet had to create signs and language all our own that was faithful to the world we're trying to depict. It was challenging, but it adds a startling level of detail to the game."
But those are the only levels of detail yet to be explored in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. As our friends at Rockstar Games have continued to maintain that there's still so much more to be shown of this game, that it will literally blow people away. But what are these shocking goodies that they're referring to? And how much longer before we find out what they are? Stay tuned to IGN in the coming months for the answers!
(Oh and don't forget to check our media page below for almost 20 new screenshots taken from the latest build! We'll see you again, next time).
-- Jeremy Dunham
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Rockstar North is facing its stiffest competition yet as it prepares the latest installment in the GTA series with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. While the years since Grand Theft Auto III's release have profoundly affected game development--in fact, everyone and his or her mother has since busted out one game or another that is best summed up as, "It's like GTA but with [insert concept here]"--to date, the only developer to top Rockstar's efforts has been Rockstar itself.
This brings us to San Andreas. How do you go about keeping pace with two of the top-selling, most popular games of all time? To a certain degree, it's almost impossible for a game as highly anticipated as GTA: San Andreas to fail. The appearance of a single screenshot, detail, or even the smallest rumor engenders a feeding frenzy you don't often see outside of a school of starved piranha.
The game already appears to be headed down the path to creative success, based on what's already been revealed. So far, it's known that the game will feature an early '90s urban setting that's spread across an entire state. Additionally, it's public knowledge that the game will include a customizable main character who can change his hairstyle, gain or lose weight based on diet and exercise, drive new vehicles (like BMX bikes and monster trucks), and so forth. But the real question is, "Will everything come together to create the ultimate end cap for GTA on the PlayStation 2?" Or is that sound you hear Fonzie getting ready to jump the shark? Read on.
The State of San Andreas
GTA: San Andreas will feature a quantum improvement in terms of its scope, essentially giving players the run of an entire state--not just a single city like in Vice City or GTAIII. The state of San Andreas will feature three main cities, each inspired by real-life locales. The city of Los Santos is based on Los Angeles, San Fierro is derived from San Francisco, and Las Venturas will mirror the glitz of Las Vegas. Each city will feature its fair share of distinct landmarks to ensure that you know its source material. You'll see palm trees, Compton-inspired urban sprawls, and a fair share of seedy locales in Los Santos. San Fierro will have its own Golden Gate-style centerpiece, as well as its fair share of hills. Finally, Las Venturas will undoubtedly have a neon tube or two popping away amid the casinos that will line its streets.
Getting to and from each town will (initially, at least) require you to travel the highways and byways of the state. Rather than just send you driving through miles of open road, you'll find that the fast lanes of San Andreas will feature their own locales to stop by and their own folks to interact with. Rockstar promises that the badlands between each of the cities will be anything but the boring, desolate places you might expect them to be. Furthermore, Rockstar promises that GTA: San Andreas will include no discernible loading times whatsoever for when you're traveling around, so you'll theoretically be able to cruise cross-state without any interruptions. Brief loading times will only be present when entering and exiting all the different buildings in the game. (More on that in a bit...)
The Story So Far
While Rockstar intends to keep the bulk of the story under wraps--so as to not ruin the experience for players--what has been revealed certainly feels like a natural evolution for the GTA series. The game has moved up in time from the gaudy '80s to the harsh, early '90s. It will focus on the fertile narrative-and-gameplay ground of West Coast gang life. You'll play as Carl Johnson (aka CJ), a refugee of Los Santos who returns home after having left the twisted city--which is rife with corruption, drugs, and gang violence--to seek a more stable existence in Liberty City.
When the reality of gang violence performs a fierce pruning of his family tree, Carl finds himself back in his old 'hood reconnecting with his older brother, Sweet, who's still a card-carrying member of the local gang. Together they try to find out what happened to their relative. Unfortunately for him, CJ is framed by corrupt local cops for homicide and finds himself undergoing the full thug-life experience as he embarks on a bloody journey through the state of San Andreas to clear his name, protect what's left of his family and friends, and retake the streets.
CJ will accomplish all of this by using a variety of means, some of which will be familiar to GTA veterans and some of which will be entirely new to them. Read on for never-before-heard details about San Andreas' ambitious gameplay.
How to Be a Player
As we're sure you know, GTA's brand of free-roaming, mission-based mechanics has launched countless imitators across a number of genres. For GTA: San Andreas, Rockstar North has kept the basic systems from the previous game intact, while it has tweaked some systems (as you'll see) and it has introduced some other, all-new features out of a desire to offer players the ability to have experiences that are unique to them and how they want to play the game. Before we detail what's new, here's a quick primer on what's the same.
The game will still be a single-player third-person-perspective action adventure that will send you exploring a vast environment and have you "interacting" with assorted non-player characters. You'll gain mission objectives by talking with various characters, who will send you to perform specific tasks. You'll likely find that your missions will invariably involve some violence and require you to beat or shoot your way to success. And while some missions may be a walking distance from where you pick them up, others will require that you procure transportation--through normal or criminal means--to get to your destination. An onscreen radar will let you navigate your way around the city (and state), and markers will denote places of interest and mission-critical locations. Completing your missions will earn you cash that you can use in a variety of ways. You'll generally be able to proceed through the game's content at your own pace, and you can opt to explore, goof around, attempt crazy stunts, and so forth.
Peddling Around
While you can see that the core gameplay of GTA: San Andreas hasn't fundamentally changed, Rockstar North has added some new twists. Take transportation, for example. As before, CJ will be able to make use of a variety of vehicles to get around. While we'll touch on cars in a bit, we'd like to talk about the newest addition to the modes of transportation in GTA: San Andreas--the BMX bike. CJ will be able ride a dependable BMX bike throughout the colorful neighborhoods of Los Santos, which are often not very hospitable. While not quite as fast as a sports car, you'll be surprised by how quick the bike is.
Obviously, riding the bike is much faster than walking or running. At any rate, it will let you zip through traffic-clogged areas inconspicuously, and you can more easily head down alleys that larger vehicles couldn't squeeze through. Rather than handling like a car (or a Vice City motorcycle), the bike will require you to pump one of the PlayStation 2 controller's buttons to build up speed by pedaling, which will give the added benefit of affording you a great deal of control over the bike. Additionally, you'll be able to perform a number of tricks and stunts, such as bunnyhops, wheelies, and endos, as well as 360s and 180s. While cool to ride, the bike is also limited in how it can be used. This, of course, means that you'll eventually have to get yourself a car...which brings us to carjacking.
Carjacking 102
Any GTA player worth his or her Glock knows how to jack him- or herself a car. The mechanic for "borrowing" someone else's vehicle has been an easy-to-perform staple in all previous games in the GTA series. So, we're terribly sad to report that the days of wine and roses are over, friends. Whereas the previous GTA games pitted you against docile citizens who flatly refused to lock their doors, the times have changed in San Andreas. The locals will be quite a bit more savvy and aggro than the "car donors" you've dealt with before. From the sound of things, there won't be many pushovers in the game when you make moves for their cars this time around. The surly citizenry won't give up their wheels without a fight, which you just know isn't going to end well.
Thankfully, CJ is a resourceful young man with an expanded carjacking move-set. If the driver of your preferred vehicle won't leave, you can convince him or her to do so via kicks, punches, pistol-whips, or simple bashes of the head against the dashboard of the car--which should ensure hours of fun. Performing the latter action usually results in having the driver of a specific car come around to your way of thinking. Remember the first time you jump-kicked someone off of his or her lousy scooter in Vice City? There should be lots more moments like that in San Andreas. Carjacking at gunpoint is a natural progression for the series, so we're excited to see how it plays out.
As everyone knows, "Grand Theft Auto" has become a misnomer. Sure, the carjacking is fun, but there's going to be a ton more to do in San Andreas. Read on to find out just how much more can be accomplished in the Golden State than could be accomplished in Vice City.
Things to Do
Once you have a car, you'll be able to explore the city you're currently in, or you can travel the highways to a new city entirely, depending on your whim and the mission you're currently engaged in. (Rockstar hasn't yet verified whether you'll be free to explore the entirety of San Andreas from the get-go or whether some of the cities will be "locked" when you first begin play.) The missions in GTA: San Andreas will feature a mix of the same style of tasks that we've seen in the previous games, though they'll also incorporate some newfangled conventions from early '90s thug life, such as the four-man drive-by, which will put you behind the wheel of a car packed with computer-controlled hoods packing some heat.
You'll also see rail-shooting segments, like those of Vice City, which will find you trying to pick off policemen as you're thrown about in your car, thanks to some spastic driving by one of your homies. One very cool, new detail in San Andreas is that cops (and other characters) will be able to clamber onto your car. You'll need to be careful while trying to run people down, because they might just grab ahold of your fender to try to jack you. At any rate, San Andreas' mission system will also be more open-ended, allowing you to make some side trips on your way to completing your latest task. What can you do to earn yourself a change of pace while on a mission (or in between missions, for that matter)? Funny you should ask.
Getting Made and Working Out
One of the major aspects of GTA: San Andreas is likely going to be the high number of indoor locations to visit. We covered some, like restaurants such as Cluckin' Bell, Well Stacked Pizza, and Burger Shot, in last week's look at the game's entirely new food system. But those are just the tips of the icebergs. You'll also be able to visit places such as Reece's Hair Facial Studio, and you can throw down some money for that high-top fade you've always wanted CJ to have--in addition to any other type of do. Careful, though. Choose a goofy appearance and you might just rile up the wrong crowd. Meanwhile, St. Brutus Motel will offer a place to meet new folks and cut some deals. Furthermore, beloved places such as the Pay & Spray will help you freshen up that car you borrowed to make sure it isn't reclaimed by its owner (the Pay & Spray seems to work just like in Vice City). You'll also be able to wash your vehicle down, since, in San Andreas, cars will get dirty over time.
While completing missions and visiting the different locales in a city will all work toward helping you to become the man in GTA: San Andreas, your actions will also help build CJ up via an RPG-like system in the game. For example, shooting guns will gradually increase CJ's weapon skills, thus making him more and more accurate. Along the same lines, having CJ ride his BMX will let him build up stamina so that he'll be able to keep riding for longer durations. At the same time, his riding skill will also increase, which will both make the bike easier to control and reduce the amount of times CJ will fall off of it. While the above character developments will happen naturally over the course of the game, you'll be able to take a more active role in CJ's physical health by going to the gym.
Buffing Up
We briefly touched on the whole workout system in our food preview last week, but now we've got some more info on the mechanic. Basically, you'll be able to visit one of several gyms spread throughout San Andreas so that you work out to stay in peak physical health. The gyms are all different in terms of equipment and patronage, but each has a variety of workout options to help you burn off unwanted pounds, build stamina and muscle, and learn to fight. You'll be able to ride stationary bikes or use a treadmill to build stamina, and you can perform barbell curls or bench presses to build strength. You can even step into the ring to spar with locals, which builds up your fighting skills. Stamina, as we mentioned, is a key component to success in the game. The more stamina CJ has, the faster he'll be able to run, cycle, and swim. Did we mention that CJ could swim (unlike those past GTA wimps you controlled)? He can also catch his breath, which should help you get through your missions faster.
CJ will be yours to mold in GTA: San Andreas. Keep going to both find out how you'll be able to customize his combat abilities and learn how combat has changed in Rockstar's upcoming game.
Fighting Raw
Building your strength will be a key activity at the gym, because it will increase the power of your punches and kicks. The hand-to-hand combat system in San Andreas should be more complex than that of Vice City. One thing to note about going to the gym in the game to build strength is that the relationship between fat and muscle isn't just inversely proportional. Each represents a separate stat, which allows you to mold CJ in any way that you'd like. Consequently, you can make CJ skinny and lithe, fat and powerful, or somewhere in between.
Beefing up your fighting skills will probably get very interesting, because doing so will let you learn new fighting moves that complement the basic ones CJ starts out with. By taking on an opponent in the boxing ring, CJ can learn a variety of pugilistic methods, which include punch combos, punching on the ground, and punching while running. These new skills appear to be abilities that you can only learn at the Los Santos gyms, which makes sense since you're likely to need them the most in that city. Meanwhile, the gym in San Fierro, modeled after a martial arts dojo, will let you learn and practice an entirely new set of fighting techniques that will be revealed at a later date. The gym in Las Venturas, a suitably seedy, down-on-its-luck boxing facility with a ratty ring in the middle and numerous holes in the concrete floor, is where you can learn street fighting and some pretty nasty below-the-belt moves. As you have probably figured out, the hand-to-hand combat in San Andreas should be much deeper than in past GTA games.
Training in gyms will also let you get a handle on the melee combat system, which expands on the modest system used in the previous games. You can now lock onto opponents during combat, which makes it easier to get your beat-down on. The system also incorporates a second button to allow for more-advanced moves and combos. Finally, self-defense has been incorporated, allowing CJ to block incoming blows from attackers. Some of these improvements have already been seen in Rockstar's Manhunt. That game also introduced a key, new shooting mechanic that will find its way into San Andreas--the ability to lock on to enemies to squeeze off headshots with any ranged weapon rather than with just the scoped weapons (as was the case in Vice City and GTA III).
911 Is Not a Joke in This Town
Speaking of CJ being attacked... Let's face it. Not everyone you'll be fighting will be a gangsta. The fact of the matter is that you'll eventually find yourself coming up against the law. Rockstar North has gone ahead and made some tweaks to the police artificial intelligence in the game by ensuring that there will be some serious scuffles in store for you if you're not careful. The police will attack with a variety of tactics in an attempt to take you down. During high-speed pursuits, police will open fire with their weapons, and they'll follow you from all possible angles. They'll come at CJ from head-on and from side streets, and they'll cut him off or ram his car to end the pursuit.
If you somehow manage to lose the ground forces, the police will also be very skilled at tracking you with the spotlights on their helicopters. Not only will this make you much easier to spot for those on the ground, but the bright light will obscure your vision, thus making it much harder to take out the helicopter or to aim at the cops on the ground in the direction the light is shining from. The police will also look out for their own safety and will seek out and use cover during gunfights, making firefights all the more challenging. The final kick to the junk comes in the form of motorcycle cops, who will have the ability to fire their guns while in pursuit. GTA: San Andreas will feature a "wanted" level system similar to that of previous games in the series, so the more trouble you make for the cops, the more trouble they'll give you in return.
So what about the technical details? The past two GTA games have been loaded with great graphical style, and San Andreas promises to be no exception. Find out next about some of the new visual frills and features you can expect from the forthcoming game--in addition to what you can expect from the game's audio.
The Visuals
The graphics in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are shaping up to be ambitious, even by GTA standards. From a top-level perspective, Rockstar tells us that the game will be pushing 35 to 50 percent more polygons than its predecessors, depending on where you are. The game's draw distance is also being tweaked to reduce pop-up. As a result, you'll be able to see roughly two times as far as you could in Vice City--when in one of the three major metropolises in the game--and you'll be able to see up to four times farther when in the countryside. Drilling down a bit, we can say that the character models and animations have been improved considerably over the previous games thanks to much-more-intricate skeletal-animation systems that show a broader range of motion.
In fact, you can actually watch CJ as he chews gum. The improved game detail nicely complements the food mechanic, because CJ's model will change throughout the course of the game to reflect his condition. Besides subtly changing CJ's weight on the fly, the character model for him will also reflect whatever you end up deciding to change on him, be it his clothes, hairstyle, or whatever else. Furthermore, the environments have also been improved by incorporating various amounts of detail that range from artful effects, such as wind that causes the palm trees in Los Santos to sway, to more noticeable things, such as more-interactive elements in the environments, like billboards that you can send your car crashing through.
Perhaps the biggest new aspect of the game's visuals, and one that gives San Andreas an impressive layer of graphical polish, is the new lighting system. The new lighting system gives the visuals a richer and more-varied texture than the previous entries in the series offered. Lighting is used to give the state of San Andreas many different atmospheres to set the mood for each major area. As a result, the lighting in downtown Los Santos will differ from the lighting in the open countryside, which will be very different from the artificial glare of Las Venturas, for example. The specific lighting schemes will take into account various factors for each city. For example, Los Santos is being designed to reflect the lighting environment of Los Angeles. Due to the smog in the air, you'll find dramatic sunsets. In San Fierro, the dynamic weather will run the gamut from clear, blue skies to fog and rain. The Las Venturas strip will re-create the blistering heat of the desert with shimmering heat waves that come from the ground.
To help flesh out the new system, every item in the game is being modeled for both day and night. The team's goal is to have shadows and textures that are unique to each item at specific times of day. Cars will look different from day to night. Shadows will change with the time of day, too. As for the game's style, San Andreas looks to refine the cinematic presentation the series has pioneered by featuring nicely framed cinemas and in-game blacking. Furthermore, Rockstar North's art posse has done a good job of re-creating the sparse urban feel of house interiors. And as far as the game's frame rate goes, what we've seen so far is fairly solid, although we did see some frame rate hiccups similar to those in past 3D GTA games. How much these will be addressed remains to be seen. At any rate, we'll be curious to see how the aging PlayStation 2 hardware finally ends up handling Rockstar North's clearly ambitious goals for the game.
The Sound
Given that the version of the game we've seen so far is still a work in progress, it's been hard to draw a bead on the quality of the audio. The rumor mill has been cranking on just who will be voicing whom in San Andreas. It seems clear that, in the wake of Vice City's savvy use of notable Hollywood talent, San Andreas will also have plenty of celebrity talent in the ranks of its voice actors. (Well, that and the fact that every rapper on both coasts has expressed more than a little interest in appearing in the game.) But we'll have to wait a little longer before that information is revealed. Judging from the placeholder voice we've heard so far, though, it seems clear that Rockstar is taking the same attitude that it took in its previous offerings here. The game will feature a large and talkative cast, as well as a robust array of ambient sound, to bring its unique world to life.
Read on to learn what we know so far about San Andreas' musical score, in addition to our final thoughts on what's certainly going to be the biggest GTA game yet.
The Score
The other hot topic regarding San Andreas' audio obviously involves the game's soundtrack. While Rockstar reps confirmed that the various radio stations would again return in San Andreas, details on what exactly they are and what they'll be playing are still scarce. We can, at least, confirm that the game will follow the approach taken by Vice City, which incorporated lots and lots of licensed music. Specific details will be revealed in the coming weeks and months as Rockstar locks down its musical roster. Considering the game's theme, we'd view it as a crime not to have some N.W.A. and Public Enemy in the mix, but time will tell. Incidentally, Rockstar has clarified that, despite San Andreas' superficially hip-hop trappings, the game's soundtrack will feature a full range of early '90s music. So expect to hear rock, alternative, and other types of genres, in addition to rap and R&B.
In Motion
While all this sounds well and good, how does it all come together in the actual game? Not too long ago, we had a chance to see a demo of the game for ourselves during a visit to Rockstar's New York offices. The demo gave us brief looks at three successive episodes that took place early on in CJ's adventures. The first chapter we saw, Menace, focused on CJ as he headed out with his friend, Ryder, to teach the local pizza parlor owner a lesson after he washed the Orange Grove gang-graffiti tags off the side of his building. The demo showed off the ability to take on side trips while on a mission, because CJ stopped in for a haircut before wreaking havoc at the pizza parlor.
The next chapter, Drive-By, found CJ meeting up with his old gang, Ryder, Sweet (CJ's brother), and his old friend, Smoke. The quartet, comprising the heads of the Orange Grove Families, decided that it was time to make its presence known. To do so, the four headed out to say "Hello!" with a drive-by of a rival gang, the Ballas. This chapter was more straightforward, and it offered a focused look at the four-man drive-by mechanic and how the artificial intelligence handled the other characters. Sure enough, the gun-packing thugs were able to draw beads on nearby foes, while you--as CJ--had to concentrate on driving.
The final chapter we saw, Reuniting the Families, was the most ambitious of the three chapters, and it found CJ's crew attempting to meet with the different factions from within the Orange Grove Families to get them to see that they were all in the same gang. Unfortunately--perhaps due to their lack of a catchy theme song featuring an all-star cast of rappers--all hell broke loose, because the police were informed of the meeting and invariably descended on the hotel where the gathering was taking place. The level began with CJ on foot, who was running to the hotel in search of Sweet, who was trapped by the raiders. The sequence climactically concluded with an intense rail-shooting segment that saw the crew trying to escape from a horde of police. The indoor sequence was particularly interesting, because it was there that we got to see the Manhunt-style aiming and shooting mechanic in action.
The chapters all seemed to play out well, and they maintained the look and flow that we've seen in previous GTA games. Each chapter offered a taste of some of the different styles of action San Andreas will offer. Of course, though, it now depends on how well all these many, many elements come together. And there's still so much to the game that we don't know for certain. How will house break-ins work? Will you be able to spray graffiti? What other types of vehicles can we expect to see? What kind of gambling will we be in store for in Las Venturas? So many open questions...
The Verdict So Far
From what we've seen so far, GTA: San Andreas is shaping up to be the most ambitious entry in an already-bold series that has single-handedly changed the face of gaming. The ambitious approach the team is taking appears to be expanding on all the right things. The new mission structure, combat mechanic, character interaction, and carjacking systems are all looking like the collective parts of a solid evolution for the series' polished and uncompromisingly fun gameplay.
Meanwhile, the addition of some unexpected twists--such as the food and workout systems--are intriguing and leave us cautiously optimistic. We'll admit to being a little skeptical as to how well the food part will mesh with the rest of the gameplay--especially given how it could affect pacing--we're still keeping an open mind. After all, if Rockstar North has proven anything over the course of the series, it's that it has a knack for making things work. Although this is it for today's look at Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, come back for more next week when we look at another aspect of the game while we impatiently wait for its October release for the PlayStation 2.
Bloody BRILL!!!! I will buy this game, no matter how much it costs! £60 £50 £40... dont care.
1 thing i wanna know is that can you Play Football or Fly a normal plane ( like an pilot job and things like that) . You know, things that we think wont happen in the game, but actually it does!
Lets hope GTA4 features all of this on the PS3 with better graphics and REAL better A.I and many new things.
I've never heard anything, and I doubt Rockstar will include these features, but they are forever suprising the gaming world with their amazing ambition.
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/screenindex.html (13 New Screens) http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/preview_6104357.html (New GTA Preview)
You know what? I am just hoping that rockstar tells us more about the game.. im dying to kno if you can get in as a passenger or break your leg, then you limp if you fall off somewhere hig or get hit by a car that drove too fast into you ( police chase thingy) and also having a broken arm so that you cant use guns well ( but still can use em).. u no, things like that.
And cool! I like that screenshot on http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/screenindex.html
where he is stealing the TV.. could you actually watch tv for the weather?
( SORRY FOR DOUBLE POSTING)
Hey guys! San Andreas has just been updated with 37 screens and a trailer at
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/screens.html?page=110
if you want to see what recent updates there are, just scroll down on the left side, the game looks brill! It looks as though you can play basketball!!!! and in the screenshot, the reflections on the floor in the Restaurants is pretty neat! Worth a look!
the trailerr is at the side :)
AboveTheClouds
09-01-04, 04:00 PM
This looks incredible... I already have mine on pre-order.
GTA became boring after the first 2 games.
have u played #3 and VC??
They have updated the site with
12 new screens = http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/screenindex.html my god, the screens are GOOD
Weekend Update: A Drive Through the Country = http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/preview_6106693.html Interesting
Video Preview = http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/media.html A nice video preview, a guy talks about San Andreas.
YOU Should check it out.
OK I gotta get this game the first day. *Starts pre-ordering*
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