'San Andreas' may be the next best thing to sex

By Gerry Wachovsky
Online Forty-Niner
Diversions Editor

"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," Rockstar Games' newest open-ended crime opus, was released Oct. 26 amid some of the biggest hype ever created over a video game, and for good reason — it may be the best game ever made.

"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," the latest release in the immensely popular "Grand Theft Auto" series, places you in the shoes of Carl Johnson, a '90s-era hood who just returned to Los Santos, San Andreas, from the East Coast to bury his mom. The story begins much like the past two "Grand Theft Auto" games, setting the player deep into the living 3-D world that Rockstar Games has created, but the similarities end there.

"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" is absolutely enormous — it is five times as big as the virtual world its predecessor, "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" had to offer. Boasting three huge islands, the state of San Andreas includes Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas (modeled after Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, respectively).

Anybody who lives or works around Los Angeles can instantly appreciate Los Santos and its similarity to its real-life cousin. The Citibank Tower is present in downtown Los Santos (without the Citibank logo, of course), as well as several other spoofed landmarks including the Vinewood sign (Los Santos' answer to the Hollywood sign), Blastin' Fools Records (Capitol Records), a mock Watts Towers located in East Los Santos, and a plethora of others. Even Sunset Strip hipster music store Amoeba Music has its Los Santos counterpart, Blob Records. San Fierro is home to the Gant Bridge, a mock version of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as a scaled-down version of the popular hippie hangout Haight Street.

Las Venturas is a desert oasis of casinos and attractions, and many of the major casinos in real life get the "Grand Theft Auto" treatment to add that extra sense of realism.

As far as the story and side-missions go, this game has something for everyone. Want to take your girl out for an elegant dinner at the fried chicken restaurant, Cluckin' Bell? Go right ahead. Want to bring your buddies out and commit some nighttime home-invasion robberies? You can do that too. Want to just focus on some of the storyline missions, which are extremely copious? Be my guest. As an added bonus, there are even little arcade games located in bars and various buildings around San Andreas, in addition to a Sega Genesis video game system, all of which are playable.

As far as capturing the '90s, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" went beyond my wildest expectations. A large selection of radio stations are available for listening, from the rap station Radio Los Santos featuring old-school West Coast raps like Dr. Dre's "Nuthin' But A G Thang" and Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day" to Radio:X, featuring alternative rock like Danzig's "Mother" and Guns N' Roses "Welcome To The Jungle." There is even a country station and a classic rock station.

The '90s feel is also captured beautifully in the dialect and language spoken by the main characters. Many colloquialisms of that era are present, including "homie," "fool," and many more.

Players can have their character get a haircut in '90s styles (fades and afros are the first that come to mind) and they have a full wardrobe of clothes to choose from. In addition to the customizable options, cars can be modified, jewelry can be worn and your player can become buff by working out at the gym.

The cars look gorgeous in their game, and the handling and detail have really been revamped. Among some of the new vehicles are a motor home, a BMX bicycle and police motorcycles.

Despite the PlayStation 2's dated graphics engine, Rockstar Games has squeezed everything out of the console to make this game as beautiful as possible. There are still some minor draw-in and frame rate issues, which are a recurring problem for "Grand Theft Auto" games, but these don't detract much from the gaming experience.

This review has really only briefly covered everything that "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" has to offer. To get the full scope of this game one must play it, but be prepared to set aside countless hours to enjoy the virtual bliss that is "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

This may be the best game ever made, and it is sure to become the standard for future games if not only because of its massive scope. "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" might be the next best thing to sex, and coming from a college student, that is really saying something. Pick up this game and prepare to be blown away.