Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Comments by Tom Bramwell

/round of applause

Top review and nailed the spirit of the GTA series.

/jaffa cake handout.

Shame they didn't do more with the Xbox version, which is why you should all run out and nab the PS2 version.........which'll set you back about 12-14 notes. BARGIN.

Anyone would think that Ken was bunging RockStar a bundle of tenners to make sure the Xbox version was no better than the PS2 one. :-)

/cynical

Better than Halo... On the XBox as well as the PS2...

I do like the music in SA. Reminds me of my student days.

I am concerned that my 'most favourite radio station' is K-ROSE according to my stats page, though.

So in other words..."The dogs bollocks". :0D

No mention of the replay facility?

I'll wait and see if it drops in price. With the BF 2 demo out, and the full game just around the corner, I wouldn't play GTA:SA anyway.

Couldn't agree more.

Changed my ps2 version for xbox version which is better. It's clearer, crisper and a tad smoother. However the controls are crap. How the hell are you meant to do a drive by if you don't have a controller s?

I only have the original (and best pad ever imho) xbox pad. So pressing white and b is a bit rubbish really.

Why not give an option for both?

I've played both PS2 and Xbox versions and I'd stick with the PS2 version if I had the choice, if only for the better control scheme. Great game on any platform.

haven't read the whole review yet, but noticed this from the conclusion: "As it stands now, it's far from perfect." yet you give it a 9/10?? that's just plain confusion...

Then read the review and all will become clear...

My only issue with this game is that it's too easy!

I nailed most of the missions on my first go.

Granted, I had played up until Las Venturas on the PS2, but even after that, and the final mission included, I still breezed through them

Anyway, I'm off to do it all again in nothing but my boxershorts...

Having been playing this on my neighbours ps2 for the last 6 months and knowing what a fantastic game this is, I have now got the xbox version for myself. I think Tom is completely wrong to say that this looks no better than the PS2 version it looks miles better, clear, crisp and smooth to play. I recognise the control problems when you are doing a drive by but I'm glad to say that I have a logic 3 controller which has the black and white buttons on the shoulders of the pads, so no problem at all when it comes to whipping arse in the hood!! :)

I'll have to enjoy the San Andreas experience on budget as I've recently sold my Xbox. Hopefuly it will be one of the games emulated by the 360.

Too easy?!? TOO EASY?!?!

::goes to cry in a corner::

It took me over three hours of constant play to pass the flying school, and as for the missions I'm currently on Las Venturas...

rocketdog: the shadows and textures appear to be slightly improved from the PS2 version and there's more street furniture lying around, but I wouldn't say the Xbox versions looks 'miles better'. Far too similar to really warrant another purchase, anyway.

I also have to say itīs pretty easy, Iīm playing it with a gamepad on a pc that canīt really keep up with the game, and so for I havenīt had any troubles at all, anywhere (except at the beach mission, I have no sense of rhythm). Zeroīs missions, for instance, were finished on the first go, and the flight school, only the barrel roll took me more then one go.

And buttons on the pad on the pc version CAN be given more then one function, it just wonīt say so in the menu, but a given function to a given button gives that button the same alternative functions as it would on ps2 (say, the button you give the function for the stats will then also centre the camera behind the character as well as be the button to use to aquire property and anwser the phone, the select forward backward weapon bottons will also select different targets when pressing the target button and so on).

""As it stands now, it's far from perfect." yet you give it a 9/10?? that's just plain confusion... "

Its a similar reason why you love a TVR or a Ferrari. While the reliability is poor, when they are working they provide instant fun.

A great game is a great game. Nit picking at small details can't lower the games greatness. I suppsoe the choppy framerate is a fairly large detail, but it seriously has never bothered me when playing for some reason, and the graphics are adequate on both XBox and PS2.

Yep, definitely too easy, as I had it totalled inside of 5 days.

Great game though. Catalina is a riot, and James Woods is fantastic.

I'm still not convinced.
I've lost interest in both gta3 and vice city. Vice city being the fastest, as I just switched off the xbox and never played it again (I just got the mansion).

Something tells me I'll just loose interest in this too.

Its just not as good as vice city.

It still slows down. It still pops up.

so I'll stay with my ps2 version WITH the best controller layout. I'm a little disappointed because Xbox Double Pack offered me enough added-value to buy it despite I already owned the ps2 vice city.

I reckon it's about six billion times better than Vice City. VC's definitely my least favourite 3D GTA, by quite a long way.

In VC, I didn't like the city and I didn't like the missions and I didn't like the eighties and I just gave up on the game after unlocking the second island.

each to thier own eh... I preferred the 80's setting, the city was a manageable size (SA is _too_ big) thought the story and acting was better and that Tommy is a much better character than CJ. I don't like all the RPG-lite stuff either, would be better if you could just do everything from the off...

I'm not saying its crap, just a bit overrated.

"also, how about doing a review at least on launch day, so it'll prove useful to those who like to get the games straight away?"

They said why in last Friday's "What's New" article - basically they weren't given their review copies until the day before it was released. Now would you prefer a half-arsed review or one that has actually been given some time to mull over?

I am enjoying it a lot more than Vice City, which bored me to tears, beginning with the map, to the main character, to the missions. And I hated the 80ies music. :)

Still a toilet game as far as I am concerned
Bring back the 2D versions!

Body Harvest is better.

driv3r much better

Enjoying the PC version. Only issue is the music cuts out really fast, makes the DDR mini-games pratically impossible.

To the guy who said where's the humour, one can only assume that you have yet to meet up with Paul and Macca (as voiced by Shaun Ryder), as they are one top quality double act!

Playing this on the pc with the ps2 controller is a joy and the ps2 to pc converter only cost about 9 quid so it doesnt break the bank.The biggest problem I had was working out how to get my own mp3s working as its not exactly well written in them book that comes along with the game but now I worked it out its not so bad.

>"I am enjoying it a lot more than Vice City, which bored me to tears, beginning with the map, to the main character, to the missions. And I hated the 80ies music. :)"

I guess I might consider giving it a shot.
If you can hate VC (like me) and still like this, it means I may possibly like it too.

I love the GTA series but I wish it would come out for the Cube, and I'm not gonna buy a PS2 or an Xbox just for one game.

Too big, too flabby, too unfocused. None of the humour of GTA3. Mostly really awful missions on the "critical path". Too many tedious concessions to realism that just don't really work or make for a fun experience (having to eat regularly, having to work out, having to change clothes etc). Replacing health pickups with burger bars. Dozens of new minigames, all of them so poorly realised that they are not worth a second of your time. Yes, San Andreas has "more" but I'm not sure that's for the best.

Don't get me wrong - I love the GTA series, and I love hiphop. There are some improvements in San Andreas, such as the targeting and being able to climb walls etc - features I'll definitely take for granted from now on, rendering earlier GTA games unplayable. In my own opinion though, San Andreas is mostly a horrible experience. That "flying below radar" mission. That "picking up boxes with forklift" mission. And so on.

GTA?

Meh.....

I loved the game to death but as it's expanded hugely since GTA3, the limits of the game engine have become horribly clear. It worked well for outdoor mindless shootouts with hoads of police etc, but introducing all the indoor missions and stealth, complex missions and stuff was too awkward and inexact. Compared with the precision controlling of say Splinter Cell, it's inadaquate.
I didnt like the radio stations either- crap talk radio (Not enough Lazlow AGAIN) and the music was as iconic/ catchy as the GTA3&VC.
Aside from that, the shear quantity is incredible and embarrasses other games imo.

Nice DMA reference there. :)

I like the Xbox version more because of the far more robust and accurate analog sticks, the better draw distance (Although not a huge increase), slightly better resolution on the interface from what I can tell and obviously just better framerates.

What I don't like about this version is that the promised replay facility is utter crap (Only last 30 seconds of gameplay, and you cannot save the replays for later viewing... not to mention that they tend to freeze the console for no reason), very disappointed with the stuttering and often downright silly way the textures and new cars/people are loaded into your surroundings and of course the fact that the character models and most of the textures are still terribly bad.

But thankfully, San Andreas is such an awesome game filled with content that you might just have too much fun to care about these problems. But they still exist and tend to irritate me. This is nothing more than a port that's not even rewritten to take advantage of the Xbox (Or PC for that matter).

I just noticed today that the game has gravestones with "R.I.P: The Competition" written on them.

THere's also an "EA sucks" number plate.

That's why I love these games.

Played it a bit on the PS2. Crap.

Played it a bit on the PC. Crap.

What's the deal with these games? They're all about broken free-form gameplay that takes way too much time; frustrating, horrid mission design that close to NEVER are any actual fun to play and now they even removed the arcade possibility of carelessly blowing up cars to gain points. Carl is an uninteresting character, his dawgs are occasionally funny, but only because they're silly rather than because the humor contains any actual sophistication and the script is weak apart from the voice work.

How can this be gaming's most valuable intellectual property? How can this be the pinnacle of interactive entertainment?

*Sniff*

I guess I'm just not down enough.

San Andreas actually had me laughing more than Vice City did.

I LOVE YOU MAGGIE!

"That "flying below radar" mission. That "picking up boxes with forklift" mission. And so on. "

Eh? The flying below radar one is pish easy. Take off and go north until you are past the beach and over the sea. Obvioulsy dip down to the approriate height and cruise West. Turn south (still over the sea) cruise all the way down to the bottom of the map, turn East (still over the sea) and when the icon is level with you on the left hand side, turn North. Fly over the beach (flight height is relative to ground height) cruise through the circle between the 2 bunches of trees, bank left and fly out to the sea again (west of map) and then just cruise North turning east around corner at top of map. Fly along above sea then a quick turn right and land.


With the forklift thing there is no timer so whenever you hear gunfire, stop forklift and get out. Shoot TA bod then get back to forklift and continue. Repeat when necessary.

"also, how about doing a review at least on launch day, so it'll prove useful to those who like to get the games straight away?"

Take that one up with Rockstar. They didn't get it to us until 5:30pm on the day before it came out.

Take that one up with Rockstar. They didn't get it to us until 5:30pm on the day before it came out.

It's amazing how, even with something like San Andreas, Rockstar send out review copies like they were trying to sneak a 2/10 game onto the shelves without magazines getting to unleash their critical bile upon it.

Why the hell do they do it?!

GTA:San Andreas is the first of the GTAs I've even come close to completing. Lots of fun, especially the planes:-)

One complaint though - How about losing all the backtracking and having a simple 'Restart Mission Y/N?' when you fail.

Played it a bit on the PS2. Crap.

Played it a bit on the PC. Crap.

What's the deal with these games? They're all about broken free-form gameplay that takes way too much time; frustrating, horrid mission design that close to NEVER are any actual fun to play *snip*.

That's pretty much how I feel about the series too - and yet I am really enjoying GTA:SA a lot. Weird. :)

"It's amazing how, even with something like San Andreas, Rockstar send out review copies like they were trying to sneak a 2/10 game onto the shelves without magazines getting to unleash their critical bile upon it.

Why the hell do they do it?!"

I don't know exactly so I won't speculate, but it makes me cross. So cross I'm going to have to go and play Katamari and Psychonauts.

To be honest i think San Andreas is a bit over-rated as the new things are not a bit improvement from the last one. The flying missions are fucking annoying. I managed to do about 3 flight school missions before giving up and find a save game to get past them

while i like the game i'm totally fucked off with a bug thats in it.

doing the 'reuniting the families' mission, its all easy till i get to the section where i'm stcking out the top of the car and shooting the cop cars chasing us. these twatting motorbike cops leap off their bikes and start punching me. i can litterally fill them with lead and they don't die at all !!!!!!!!

he just sits there punching the fuck out of me till i die. played thru the mission like 15 times now doing different things and its always the same :(


AAAAAAAARGH !!!!!!!!!11