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Distraitia's Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2)
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| [July 27, 2009 10:01:40 AM]
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I think I finally allowed myself to get into the gameplay of San Andreas this morning. I think I played for over an hour, and I finally stopped mumbling and grumbling when I was finally able to relate to some of the actions of the main characters. While I don't agree with all that stuff about increasing gang territory and being the top gang again, there were other actions that I did agree with.
The scene where CJ and his friend go into Balla territory to hook up with B-Dup and Big Bear in order to help reassemble the Grove Street gang was especially a key scene for me. When they saw what Big Bear had been reduced to from being addicted to crack, I was then finding myself empathetic for CJ (I had a friend in a similar situation). I thought CJ had a good sense of justice when he and Sweet or Ryder (I can't remember which one) went to beat the crap out of the crack dealer. I also thought it was a morally good decision to march over to the crack den and beat the crap out of the other thugs living in that house so they wouldn't sell crack to anyone. I thought the retribution they dealt for their friend was very noble. That moment was one of the few redeeming parts of the game, because I later proceeded to be the driver in a drive-by shooting, leaving dozens of other people dead. Immoral...
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| [July 26, 2009 06:18:35 PM]
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I played for about 45 minutes today. I discovered the beauty of the unlimited health and was finally able to bypass the drive-by gunner mission. I got up to the point where Carl and Ryder go out to start tagging neighborhoods tagged by the Ballas. I stand by what I said yesterday about there being very little choice being involved in the game. So far, the only choices I've been able to make are whether or not to fight back when I'm attacked by other gang members, whether or not to let the police get you when being chased (obviously, doing the RIGHT thing will lead to negative game progress), and whether or not I should highjack a better vehicle for transportation's sake.
Also, I was slightly saddened by Carl's character change when reunited with his "homies." It seemed as though he was living a rather honest lifestyle back on the East Coast, but now he expresses that he wants to stay in Los Santos; he says he "now knew what he was missing," which made my heart sink. I was also slightly surprised by some of the disturbing comments said by pedestrians passing by, such as "have you ever had a pearl necklace?" All that aside, I can still understand why parents don't want their children playing this game. It's extremely violent, crass, and above all, immoral.
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| [July 24, 2009 05:24:53 PM]
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This is my first time playing any of the games of the Grand Theft Auto series and I really do think it'll be my last. It could be because I'm reluctant to play this type of game, but the gameplay experience wasn't really pleasant for me. I don't necessarily think stereotypes were a problem in the game, but I think the reality in the game is a very warped version of our own. Carl, the protagonist of the game, is what I'm guessing to be a former big-time thug turned clean and is only returning to the neighborhood to bury his dead mother. Right away, there's a distorted reality when Carl is immediately pulled over for no reason by 2 cops who know him. Instead of being fair and impartial enforcers of the law, they instead try to pin the murder of another police officer on Carl even though they know that Carl did no such thing. On top of that, after the officers are done harassing Carl, they throw him out of the car in a neighborhood they know is really dangerous for Carl.
Also, there isn't much choice to do good things in that game, even if your character seems to be a semi-decent guy. Right in the beginning, you are instructed to steal a bike in order to get out of the neighborhood. Also, even if you do try to follow the law on your new stolen bike, people yell at you, which only encourages you to break the law and ride like a crazy person. Traveling to a destination was all good for me, but I noticed that in order to really get anywhere, it was MUCH more convenient to go stand in the middle of the road, wait for a car to stop, open the car door, punch the driver, throw the driver out into the street, and then drive off with a new car. I played the game for 45 minutes and I'm still stuck on the first part because I keep getting gunned down by that stupid drive-by, but hopefully tomorrow will bring more luck.
My opinion thus far is that you're not presented with moral decisions as much as you are forced to do the immoral thing. I don't think there's much choice in this game...
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