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mrfredman's Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2)
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| [February 21, 2008 12:42:55 AM]
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GAMEPLAY
So now that I've had a chance to warm up and meet my hit-and-run quota, I'm ready to settle down and explore some of the more mundane aspects of gameplay. Here I am standing in front of the hospital looking for some work. I've made a pledge to myself not to use violence to meet my goals (at least for the time being), although I'm down to stoop to some carjacking. I watch cars drive by for a while until a taxicab pulls by, that looks like a good steady line of work. So I run in front of it and claim it for my own. I hit a button, and suddenly I have objectives. Welcome to the taxi mini-game.
I ticking clock now resides in the corner of the screen, I have to pick up fares and take them to their destinations before time runs out. Its a Crazy Taxi clone, but I don't mind because I'm in the GTA universe, and I can leave my taxi and beat a hooker to death whenever I get bored. I drive around, picking up fares and trying to keep my murder rate low. It's fun for a while, but eventually the police start chasing me for reckless driving and its back to car-chases and violence. As soon as I've left the hospital I look for another non-violent profession. I run around to the back of the hospital and find a waiting ambulance. I climb inside and start the ambulance driver mini-game. It's very similar to the taxi mini-game, only now my destination is always the hospital and my fares start in slightly more amusing situations. Again, I rapidly get bored, and after a few hospital runs, I'm back to unrestrained violence. This time the cops get me and I'm sitting outside the police station. Time for a new job.
This time, I resolve, I will find a slightly more entertaining job. I think I want to be a vigilante. Luckily, I'm right outside the police station, so I steal a police car, activate the vigilante mini-game, and all of a sudden, I'm a semi-licensed killer. A drive around, killing whom I'm told for a while. This is a game that I have the proper skillset for. Heres my job: Drive quickly to where the criminal is. Attack his car until it's about to explode, the criminal will then get out of the car. Run over the criminal. Find the next criminal. What a rewarding career. Also, as I progress, there are more and more criminals to kill each time. What a world!
DESIGN
As I've played GTA: San Andreas with a game designers mindset, I've picked up on some important design elements that really make the game fun. So first off, lets label the obvious important design features and get them out of the way:
1) massive world with no load times
2) huge variety of cars, weapons, npcs, etc. The world is beautifully populated.
3) compelling and humorous story with well scripted missions that moves along only when the player wants it to.
Now lets talk about what I noticed as I played today. One aspect of GTA: SA that I think is super important but also fairly subtle is the contrast between the plot and general game mechanic with the career mini-games. It is tons of fun to go through the missions, shooting, driving, and killing. Its also fun to just run around doing those things: shooting, driving, and killing. On the other hand, the career mini-games are repetitive and boring. You usually just have to complete the same task over and over again, simply competing against a ticking clock, and only making chump change. I'm not sure this was done on purpose, but as I reflect now, I'm sure it was.
The fun of breaking the law to make money and succeed contrasted with the law-abiding way of making money (minigames), really shows how players are encouraged to break the law to succeed. I'm sure there is a paper here on the ethics of this choice, but both the story and the actual gameplay really push across the point that crime does pay. I also think the fact that real jobs are boring and being a criminal is fun makes for a more realistic gaming experience. In real life its true, crime does pay, its a fast and relatively easy to make money, the only problem is that in real life crime comes loaded with tons of consequences. In a game, when all of those consequences are stripped away, we can completely revel in a life of crime.
Another really important design aspect of this game is the incredible amount of collectible items. While this is nothing revolutionary, and previous GTA games have definitely used this strategy, it is incredibly important for a game of this scope. In GTA: San Andreas there are 6 kinds of hidden collectibles and 60 - 100 of each. Which means hours upon hours of extra gameplay. What these collectibles do is reward the player for their continued interest and devotion to the game. Recently other games have attempted to copy the GTA sandbox style of gameplay. For our uses we will use Just Cause as an example, it is very similar to GTA in that it is a 3rd person action game with a massive explorable world, and non-linear gameplay. The problem is, when you finish the plot of scripted missions there is nothing left to do. Sure you can keep running around and exploring the world but the game stops rewarding you for doing so. I mean the rewards in GTA: San Andreas are pretty sparse. Getting a horseshoe for climbing to the top of a building isn't that great, but its a lot more than nothing.
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| [February 21, 2008 12:03:03 AM]
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SUMMARY
GTA - San Andreas is the third 3D GTA game, and the last built on the GTA3 engine. It is the defining sandbox game of our time, and it builds upon successful gameplay elements from earlier games in the franchise to create an incredibly open and immersive world.
GAMEPLAY
My console of choice is really the PC, so when I originally played GTA:SA it was there. Since then, I've logged ridiculous amounts of time on the computer, I've also acquired a PS2 and a copy, so that is where we will go for todays session.
Instead of starting a new game and navigating the streets of Los Santos as a inexperienced ex-con, I loaded up an old save game where practically everything is unlocked. Today I'm going cruising for trouble. I find that the best way to get back into the game is to grab what you've got and go on a killing spree. In my garage I find a crimson Voodoo, I climb in and speed off into the desert (I've spawned at my secret desert airfield). I fly over dunes, narrowly avoiding oncoming obstacles. Soon the lights of Las Venturas begin to sparkle on the horizon, and my sights are set. I barrel through traffic on windy roads, smashing over a granny on a motorbike and hitting the outskirts of town. It's time for some carnage. The framerate slows down and gets a bit choppy as I skid through a group of pedestrians to a cacophony of curses and splats. Just like that I'm up to two stars, and the fun is about to begin. I fly down the Las Venturas strip, causing as much damage as I can in hopes of hitting three stars before I see my first cop.
As I speed past Caligula's Palace two police cars hurtle out from a side street. One flies past me, slams into another car and flips over. While the other one hits me right in the broadside and we both spinout. Soon I'm off driving again, only this time I've got a whole parade of virtual law enforcement behind me. Back into the desert, police cars, fly wildly through the air after every jump, while I land effortlessly and speed on into the night. I don't make it that far, seeing as I'm the center of this universe and #1 on the police agenda. After a few heated fire-fights, a bunch more car-chases, and a brief helicopter ride, I'm sitting on top of a sky scraper making my last stand. I shoot the heavens and mow down every officer I can see, but eventually I run out of ammo, and I'm shot down in a blaze of glory. What a life.
And 6 hours later I walk out of the hospital unscathed, ready to do it all over again.
Playing San Andreas today is just as fun as it was the first day I got it, which is truly a testament to its exceptional quality. The gameplay is so free and there are so many options that every time I play I have a new, fun, and unique experience. The size of the gameworld and the number of vehicles and weapons are really what keep the player coming back, but the fluidity of the gameplay, the realistic and often amusing art, and the elaborate soundtrack are what make this game phenomenal. There are just so many layers of gameplay, that it takes a ridiculous amount of dedication and effort to even access it all. It will be further analyzed in the design section, but there are just so many things you can play with in this game.
First of all there is simply the gameplay mechanic which is so much fun, the thrill of stealing a car and throwing the laws of our society out the window is just so appealing. Then, once the novelty of gameplay is starting to wear off, there is the long and high-quality narrative the game takes you through, and which simply introduces you to the massive gameworld and all the options you can later explore. Lastly there are all of the tangents and mini-games that branch out from everywhere, waiting to be discovered. For the OCD player, there are hundreds of hidden objects to be found. For the ADD player, there are tons of mini-games and careers that require finding and mastering. And everyone else can mix and match, choosing whatevery collectibles or games they want to pursue. GTA: San Andreas isn't simply a game, it is a virtual universe containing hundreds of small games, all perfectly placed in a realistic setting to keep the player excited and exploring. Just one more small step towards the Matrix.
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mrfredman's Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 21 February, 2008
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