From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Killing time

The biggest video game of the year is finally here. Prepare to put your life on hold.

by Damon Brown

November 3 2004

Rockstar Games had a problem: How could it possibly top what had become its most wildly popular title, 2002's millions-selling Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? Well, consider this problem solved. Rockstar has outdone itself with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It is quite possibly the best PlayStation 2 game ever made.

If Grand Theft Auto 3 were Goodfellas and Vice City were Miami Vice, San Andreas would be Menace II Society. You play Carl Johnson, a former Southern California gangbanger brought back to his old ways when his mother is murdered. His quest to find her killer sends him through the expansive western cities of San Fierro (standing in for San Francisco), Las Venturas (Las Vegas) and his hometown, Los Santos (Los Angeles). According to Rockstar, all of Vice City can fit inside Los Santos alone.

The game's visuals are outstanding. The graphics are pristine, from Carl's facial expressions, including furrowed eyebrows and sly smirks, to the shine off his lowrider's chrome rims. Bodies move with an unparalleled realism, making the animation in the previous editions seem jerky by comparison.

San Andreas' sound, however, is off the Richter scale and nearly overshadows the visuals. Rockstar made a deal with Interscope Records, home of Dr. Dre and other seminal hip-hop artists, to fuel the game with unedited classics such as "Deep Cover," "Nuthin' but a G Thang" and N.W.A's "Always Into Something." Beyond that, San Andreas features more than 100 songs, ranging from country to old-school funk, and I heard very few repeats during my hours (and hours) of play.

The sound effects are on the money, from screeching tires to shotgun blasts, and every character has an original voice, provided by dozens of actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, Ice-T and Chris Penn. Put simply, San Andreas could be mistaken for a game on the Xbox, a system almost twice as powerful as the PlayStation 2.

Any gamer familiar with Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City will be able to pick up this version in a second. The controls are the same, though tapping the run button will make Carl move faster. Driving also hasn't changed, except now, the right joystick makes Carl's lowrider jump (which can come in handy during competitions).

The most radical difference is in character development. Carl can get chiseled by working out at the gym, but eating only fast food will make him fat. Taking a page from role-playing games, San Andreas affords players experience points and meters that show Carl's progress. For instance, using a shotgun regularly to take out foes will eventually upgrade your shotgun skills (to, say, gangsta level), just as regularly using a BMX to get around town would increase your bike skills. Even more interesting are the little extras available, such as being able to go clothes shopping or give Carl a dope haircut. He looks extra badass wearing a tight, white T-shirt, Chuck Taylors and a high-top fade.

The game's secondary characters seem more alive than those in previous Grand Theft Autos. People hold conversations in the street and, if they know Carl, greet him by name as he walks past. It's not unusual to witness a police chase that has absolutely nothing to do with Carl and, if you're lucky, you may actually see a showdown between the police and a perp.

Like its predecessors, San Andreas is a mission-based game, but the distractions run deeper than ever. If you grab a storage van at night, you can sneak into random houses and steal things. Racing competitions are more plentiful, including a NASCAR-style face-off apropos of nothing. The funniest -- and, uh, funnest -- minigame has Carl dancing in time with the music à la Konami's Dance Dance Revolution. You'll swear you're at a Compton house party.

I do have two reservations about San Andreas: It's filled with bad firing and bad representations. Although aiming a gun is a tremendous improvement over the horrible control scheme in the previous two games, it can still be confusing -- yet only when six gang members are jumping Carl. Second, like all the other GTA games, San Andreas is based on stereotypes -- in this case, African-American and Latino gangbangers in South Central Los Angeles. The N word is used as flagrantly as a pistol, and it's easy to get offended. If Rockstar's goal was to emulate art depicting black-on-black crime of the early '90s accurately, it has achieved it.

Rockstar claims that one game of San Andreas can last more than 150 hours. With its dead-on style, fabulous music and addictive gameplay, I suggest you invest in No-Doz. (10)