Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
2004 | PS2, Xbox, PC
The setup: One of the biggest games ever attempted, San Andreas broadened the series' scope beyond the borders of a single city, enabling players to tool around a vast wilderness filled with cool, stunt-friendly terrain. It's also the story of Carl "CJ" Johnson, who returns home to the fictional state of San Andreas after his mother is murdered. But what starts out as a simple gangsta revenge story gradually broadens its scope, until Carl is battling a government conspiracy to destroy San Andreas' poorer communities with crack, at the center of which is his nemesis, the outrageously corrupt Officer Tenpenny.
The rides: Just about every vehicle imaginable, including old-school cholo jalopies, sleek sports cars, bulldozers, buses, tractors, tanks, planes, helicopters, racing bikes, actual bicycles, VTOL fighter jets and even a damn jetpack.
The criminal: CJ - gang leader, rabid anti-drug crusader, hapless pawn of evil men and one of the most compelling characters ever to star in a videogame. He's also one of the most customizable, with players able to change his hairstyle and dress him in an endless array of mix-and-match outfits.
The town: Three full-sized cities - the Los Angeles-inspired Los Santos, San Francisco-like San Fierro and Las Venturas, a clear analogue to Las Vegas - with a whole lot of tiny cow towns and rolling, open scenery in between.
The music: Possibly the most eclectic soundtrack ever assembled for a game, consisting of 10 stations dedicated to country, hip-hop, R&B, classic rock, alternative, house, jazz and funk music. And that's in addition to the now-standard talk station, which is still one of the most entertaining things about GTA.
The violence: No worse than previous entries in the series, but the things you're asked to do are sometimes far more disturbing - like burying a guy alive in an overturned port-a-john because he sexually harassed your sister. You're less defensless when you're unarmed, too; while you start out with untrained punching abilities, later on you'll be able to learn boxing and karate moves, and you can pummel guys while they're down. You can also recruit gang members to follow you around as hired guns, but while it's cool to see them lean out your car windows to perform a drive-by, they're mostly good for soaking up bullets. Better them than you, though.
Why it's the best: The state of San Andreas is huge, endlessly explorable and filled with things to do, whether it's taking on story missions, building up businesses or just racing on a remote dirt bike track. When you're just goofing around, you've got three flavors of urban scenery to choose from, as well as a huge variety of desert, mountain and forested wilderness, and the storyline has you spending considerable amounts of time in each setting. Finally, the characters - voiced by a cast made up mostly of talented B-list celebrities - are all fascinating, and the story they inhabit is gripping from start to finish.
Why it isn't: A lot of people hate that the game asks you to exercise and feed CJ on a regular basis, or else he'll get fat and/or starve. Also, having to conquer gang territory - done in a series of bloody gunbattles for tiny patches of land - takes forever, and the fact that you have to do it again before you can finish the game is a huge pain in the ass.
Does it hold up? Yes. It's not too pretty by today's standards - it wasn't when it was released, for that matter - but it's still one of the deepest videogames ever made, and it easily beats out any of its current-gen imitators for sheer variety.
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