Wednesday 20 February, 2008

GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS GAME LOG ENTRY #2

GAMEPLAY:

During my second play session, I noticed that there were very few flaws that I could find in such a large, emergent game. One thing I found somewhat annoying was the AI of the other drivers on the road. Many times was I chasing after someone for an important mission, only to be hindered by crashing into some poorly placed car. While I realize that this might be an element of challenge in the game, I still found it aggravating when I would be flung from my motorcycle and fail the mission because I lost the person I had been chasing.

On a brighter note, a very nice touch to the game was the ability to listen to radio. Not only was the music from that time period (The Early 90’s), but it also made missions as well as driving long distances from place to place much easier and realistic. The implementation of a pseudo-talk radio was also very funny to listen to and helped greatly to ease the tension after the failure of a mission. The voice acting was also very convincing, the fact that they hired professional actors to work on the cast was also an interesting bit of trivia. I found that Samuel Jackson’s portrayal of Officer Tenpenny was so in depth that I found myself talking back to the game in response to some of Officer Tenpenny’s orders.

All the Grand Theft Auto games have been the subjects of a lot of criticism and scrutiny. Their violent content and course language have gained them M-ratings and shunning from the parents of gamers. Truth be told: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas never makes the player commit violent acts on innocent people. I have played through the game and there was no instance where I was forced to harm a completely innocent person. While the game did let you run over innocent people in the street, it never made you run people over. However, despite the fact that the people you are made to kill are gang members or drug dealers, they are still people and I found the fact Rockstar did not put a disclaimer that violence is always wrong.

DESIGN:

The design of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was truly something that could have only been attained after years of experience of making games. I found the game’s ability to keep me occupied was something to truly marvel at. When I would want to do something other than the story (or was stuck on a mission) there were plenty of other things I could do instead of progressing with the story. The graphics used were also very detailed and the designs of some of the cars and bikes were very original and pleasing.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was clearly designed for extreme and casual gamers in mind. With the built-in codes that allows less patient players some “help” with difficult game obstacles. The addition of side-missions and the ability to purchase various pieces of real estate, residential and business was a great element in the game’s reality factor. The ability to pick and choose what houses and businesses to spend your “hard-earned” money on really made you fell like a full-blown gangster. Overall, I found Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to be a really well-rounded game with very few flaws or bugs that I could find. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as had many elements that appealed to gamers from nearly every category, whether it was driving, shooting or dating Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has it all.

Try to get more in depth with your analysis covering some of the other aspects of the game, perhaps levbel design, or sound, along with gameplay. Ask yourself why these thing are in there, the violence and such, and what that changes in terms of design. Could you have a GTA without the violence?