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pwn*zambini's Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2)
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| [January 26, 2008 02:01:54 AM]
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Gameplay Session 2
[Gameplay]
During the second round of gameplay, I found the game more enjoyable than before. The increasing complexity of the game is revealed as your character progresses through missions and side-quests. Although the game is mostly linear, the method of which you get from point A to point B is almost entirely up to you. I chose to continue doing the main missions, and progress through the storyline for this gamelog, however. Doing Drive-Bys and killing drug-peddling "Ballas" ("Ballas are your rival gang) is what most of the early missions entail, although you don't get the respect of your friends, or the responsibility to do big missions (with big cash payouts), until later on. While not every mission requires you to be a tough guy, there are plenty of other types of missions. The first alternate mission you do is a DDR-esque mission where you bounce your low rider to the beat of directional arrows. You can also do racing missions Carl's sister's boyfriend (who happens to be in a Mexican gang) told you about. Later on, you get a sneaky-style mission, which is I really didn't enjoy, because you have less than three minutes to SLOWLY walk in and out of a guy's house and steal crates of weapons, but it is a good change from the run and gun life of Carl Johnson.
The driving in San Andreas at times can be difficult, especially if you're being shot at. Several missions have you driving a big truck that handles like a cruise-liner up and down hilly streets and back alleys, which can be frustrating. The police have also been upgraded to a better AI system, and no longer just try to ram your car off the road, which was very annoying. The police also randomly chase people, as they would in real life, which adds a tad of realism to this game.
[Design]
One of the many innovative aspects of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the unique genre of the Grand Theft Auto name. There have been few, if any, games that are as open to exploration as GTA: San Andreas. In a quasi-realistic world where you (Carl Johnson) exist, you can do things that normal people wouldn't do in real life. You can eat a lot and get really fat, and rampage through town on a motorcycle in your underwear, or you can dress up like a gangsta and parade through town on your newly stolen car with your crew.
The level design of GTA: San Andreas is quite amazing, with few holes in the game, and no areas where you are stuck forever. As I mentioned before, the new-found ability of Carl to climb over walls and fences granted a new challenge for level designers to make sure you can't glitch your way through certain missions, or exploit the ability to fly into nothingness. Also, having three distinct sections of the game brings an amazing level of detail, with everything from house design and pedestrian traffic to billboards and store fronts matching the real-life counterpart of these three fictional cities.
One of the most annoying parts of GTA: San Andreas is the save system, which requires you to make your way halfway across town and enter your house (later on you will get more spaces, but it would be so much easier to save via a menu. Just today I managed to get busted trying to make it across town while the police was on my back. Which brings up another annoyance of this game, where if a police officer winds up being even close to opening your door, you are screwed. Even if you drive away, you basically have to run him over (which is somewhat easy to do)
GTA: San Andreas has a dynamic time system, with some characters only accessible during off-work hours, as well as missions that must be accomplished during night time only. The game runs at roughly one real life second equals one minute in GTA: San Andreas. One of the mini-missions which you can get lots of cash are nighttime robberies, where you must once again sneak SLOWLY in and out of the victim's house before sunrise.
Overall, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is an amazing game, with great dialogue (supposedly, over 4,000 lines of dialogue were included in the game), exciting gameplay, a well-written storyline, and new features that make it just that much better than the last installment of the Grand Theft Auto series. It is easy to see how this relatively new game wound up on the classics list.
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| [January 24, 2008 11:24:11 PM]
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GameLog
Game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Start Date: Thursday, January 24th
[Summary:]
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a third person shooter/action game set in the early 90's in a west coast area, with different areas that resemble real life west coast areas. Your character, Carl Johnson, starts out leaving the airport at Los Santos (a mirror to Los Angeles, California), and eventually can travel to San Fierro (a mirror to San Francisco, California) and Las Venturas (a mirror to Las Vegas, Nevada). Most of the storyline of GTA:San Andreas involves you running missions for your "crew." The basic goal of San Andreas is the same as Vice City, to become the Grand Puba, Kingpin, or whatever you call the leader of the underworld that is San Andreas.
[Gameplay:]
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas plays just like the others, with several major improvements to the engine and gameplay. First of all, you CAN swim! In every other Grand Theft Auto, falling into the water meant certain death, which, as anyone who has played the game knows, is a PAIN, and can get incredibly frustrating. Another gameplay addition is the ability to crouch and walk at the same time, where in Vice City, once you crouched, you couldn't move until you un-crouched. One very helpful addition to your character's abilities is fence hopping, which allows you to scale and climb over many of the fences that are located throughout the city (which also added quite a bit of difficulty to the game's level designers to make sure you couldn't hop into a void in space). Several aspects of transportation have also been upgraded/improved. The first thing you "drive" is the newly added bicycle, which offers a somewhat realistic pedaling system where you can (for a very short time initially) stand on the bike and pedal much faster by tapping X rapidly. As you progress in the game you can pedal faster and for a longer time. Also, if you were not a perfect driver, and somehow one of your doors got “forced” open while you're driving, you can weave in and out of traffic making the door gradually gain momentum, and lock back into the closed position (which is good for all of us OCD gamers). Another very good addition is the ability to hang up the phone when your character gets a call (whether it is a mission description or any other of the game's colorful dialogues). One thing that is not very enjoyable in the beginning (but is a very effective way for the game's designers to control where you go during the beginning of your play) is the fact that you have only one save spot. But as you progress throughout the game, you are able to acquire more land, and consequently more save spots.
The Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game progression has been improved with an RPG-type method of improving your character. In Vice City, your character is basically the same throughout the entire game (with the only upgrades being body armor and more weapons), but in San Andreas, you can improve your character in a very wide range of abilities. In the beginning, you start with the most basic levels of Stamina, Muscle, Fat, and Sex Appeal, but as you progress, you improve these levels, with each having its own effect on your abilities. For instance, if you go to the gym and work out a lot, your character will become large and muscular, making your physical attacks stronger, but in return you will not be as fast. However, if you eat lots of food, you get very fat, and are able to take more physical attacks, but your speed and sex appeal go WAY down.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas also has a very nice voice cast list, including Andy Dick and Samuel L. Jackson, who perpetuate the plot through cinematic cut scenes and in-game voicing. The voice acting also brings a sense of chaos and fear that is caused by gang violence in Carl’s neighborhood.
So far, I think Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a huge step forward from Vice City, and I eagerly await playing more.
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pwn*zambini's Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2)
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Current Status: Stopped playing - Something better came along
GameLog started on: Thursday 24 January, 2008
GameLog closed on: Saturday 26 January, 2008 |
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