Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Launch

The first of this year's AAA titles has launched, and the first reviews are in. Gamespot, IGN, and OPM all have looks at the game, and it sounds great. If you want to keep track of the pool-shooting race track driving everything-under-one-roof extravaganza, the GameRankings page is available as well. When you play the game this week make sure and tune in to WCTR News to catch Anchorman Richard Burns, TV's Wil Wheaton. More seriously, reviews aren't the only thing the developers are looking for. Commentary regarding Take Two Interactive's slipping stock is available on CNN Money's Game Over.

Comments

Which month is it?

[SuiteSisterMary]

It's the end of October, and you think that 'GTA 3.2' is the first of the year's AAA titles?

Meh.

Australia?

[Pan T. Hose]

Is it legal to release Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with its crime and violence apotheosis in Australia? I hope so, but does anyone know any formal decisions and rationale?

Re:New Features

[spoonyfork]

Anti-social behavior aside, GTA3 is one of the best console games I've ever played. Stike that. I think the anti-social content in GTA3 makes it one of the best console games in recent history. It is truly a classic. You owe it to yourself to barrow a copy and drive around for a bit.

Vice City, while enjoyable, is just a variation on the theme. GTA is the rilla.

GTA Source

[TiggertheMad]

I love the GTA series, and I keep thinking that it could be the next 'doom' if rockstar would open up the .exe source code for modders. Even if it was something older like GTA3, there is no end to what could be done with a game like this by the mod community.

Re:GTA Source

[NightWulf]

Well they might, but not for a while. San Andreas is technically GTA 3.2. They use the same GTA 3 engine. Think of Vice City and San Andreas as large expansion packs. Possibly when GTA 4 comes out on the new consoles with a new engine, they might open up the old code, since by then it won't be a big issue.

The mall was insane last night...

[NightWulf]

Happened to be in the local mall last night to find out GameStop and EBX were going to start selling at 8pm that night. There were roughly 3000 people waiting online between the two stores. I love GTA but yeesh, you think people would have better things to do, considering I walked right in this morning and picked up a copy.

Wait time for line losers= 5 hours

Wait time for me=5 minutes

Re:The mall was insane last night...

[micromoog]

Perhaps some of the "line losers" remember events like when Super Mario Bros. 2 came out for NES. The wait time for that, after the first run sold out, was more like 5 weeks.

Reaching out to Rockstar

[DrXym]

When you get around to porting this to the PC, please, please with a cherry on top sort out the frigging pedestrian / car behaviour.

In the previous two games you could stand still, do a 360 turn and pedestrians / cars who were visible a moment ago have been replaced with other pedestrians / cars. Such behaviour might be unavoidable in the PS2 version, but it's seriously annoying in the PC version.

There were some very dumb pathing issues too. A common thing in previous games was to stand under a bridge and watch as police etc., jumped straight off it to their deaths to get you. Or they would drive straight into the water etc.

It's amusing but it screws up some missions too. One mission had you rescuing your buddy from a scrap yard. I did that part and he followed me out. I ran across a bridge and turned around to see him fall straight into the water and drown. The pathing had him make a beeline straight for my character without checking whether he would drown in the process.

Still, GTA games are excellent, but that AI needs work.

everyone you knew?

[phriedom]

So everyone you knew thought of Wheaton as a loser? Has anyone you know ever met Wil Wheaton? Read his books? Have you ever read his weblog?

I can tell you why I like Wil, but if you really want to know why people like Wil, you should just go read his writing.

Now seriously, why is "I don't get it." modded up? Since when was ignorance insightfull?

Empowering

[prell]

GTA:SA does not fall into the thoughtless exploitation of "the hood," which many people may have expected from a series that sports almost comical violence and detachment from reality. This lack of exploitation is in stark relief when played against the lyrics sung by Snoop about killing cops. Rather than experiencing a bunch of empty-headed black charicatures in a consequence-free environment spurting "ebonix," drinking 40s and shooting each other, there's a definite desperation in this game that you sympathize with immediately, to the point that you almost feel you know how Laurence Fishburne's character felt when he proclaimed that rich white men are infecting the hood with drugs in order to destroy its inhabitants. And the characters are complex, wallowing in the self-destruction that they're so desperate to destroy. And it's obvious the effects that their environment has on them. While GTA had you initially sickened with, and eventually lavishing violence, this game bound my emotions to every kill, every chase, and just about every action. When my mission was to kill a crack dealer in broad daylight, I really felt it; I really wanted him dead.

Re:Empowering

[loopback_127001]

In a similar vein, I've barely begun the game (done perhaps 7 or 8 missions thus far), and I've amassed a total of ... almost $1k.

Compare that to Vice City, where you were making 1k-5k PER MISSION right from go. Going to the clothing store and buying a new outfit is a hard choice. You go in and the shit costs what feels like 'real' money.

I'm sure as the game continues, money becomes less of an issue. But I'm very pleased that they did successfully map the relative poverty level of "the hood" so that the player didn't have thousands of dollars to begin with.

I do have one problem with the game however, and it's a problem that I'm surprised slipped through QA & product evaluation.

In a very early mission, you take a baseball bat, and you have to fight multiple enemies. The manual does _not_ tell you how to switch targets when in 'lock on' mode. In a mission that happens several missions _after_ that one, you are walked through shooting a gun, locking on targets, and cycling through all available targets.

-1 : failing to document the target cycle controls in the manual

-1 : ordering the 'tutorial' missions such that the useful knowledge comes after the mission when you would first need it.

Still, total score: 98/100.