As they did with GTA3 and Vice City, Rockstar sets the game's storyline up in a way which may seem vaguely familiar. For those who've enjoyed such early 90s gang flicks such as Boyz 'N the Hood, Menace II Society and Colors, it won't be all that hard to realize why. In many ways, San Andreas is an homage to those movies, as good or as bad as they were.

The basic story is as follows: Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers. Now, it's the early 90s. Carl's got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets. And for those not familiar with Rockstar's fictitious naming conventions, Los Santos, San Andreas is South Central, Los Angeles.

A game like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas appeals to so many gamers on many different levels. Like mentioned earlier, some may go for the shock value of the dialog or violence, or others prefer to enjoy the solid, nearly always interesting gameplay, involving storyline and damn perfect soundtrack. I probably fall mostly into the latter category these days. The more shocking aspects are fun for a few minutes at a time, but it's the huge variety of nearly endless missions, the excellent radio stations, and the plot that kept me hooked hardcore.

If you thought the "Kill all Haitians!" line of dialog which flipped many a newscaster's toupee was harsh, wait until you get a load of San Andreas. Again, referring back to the movies Boyz 'N the Hood or Menace II Society, the script is RAW with a capital R. Rarely does a minute go by, where the 'F', 'N' or 'Mfer' bomb doesn't drop or a racial epithet doesn't fly. We are talking far worse than The Sopranos on their worst day. The best part about the dialog is that it's well acted, and following the R* way, is acted utilizing professional talent. Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Ice-T, Wil Wheaton, and even Axl Rose have parts. The list of actors involved is rather crazy, so check out IMDB's page for the rest. The cast is chock full of eccentric characters, and it's always fun meeting up with a new one.

The game is chock full of missions, a good portion of which are there to push the plot along, especially at the beginning of the game. You start off with a few hand-holding sessions of driving people here and there, and performing the odd drive-by or beat down. The game then begins to branch off and eventually provides more missions than you could possibly know what to do with. The missions range from fairly simple and short, to multi-part, and quite difficult. When most of the world of San Andreas is opened up, you will occasionally have to drive very, very long distances to reach the next part of the mission. There are so many possibilities at one point, it's hard to decide what to do next. Should I claim more gang territory or take my girlfriend out? Or how about plant drugs in that District Attorney's car or lend assistance to the Triad's blind leader? Or maybe even drive a taxi, enter a race, or pimp out some girls? The variety of stuff to get involved in is seemingly endless at certain points in the game. There is really something for nearly everyone, and while there is a fair share of violence and profanity, Rockstar also made sure to work in a great deal of humorous, tongue-in-cheek content. And as if all the missions didn't keep you busy enough, there are plenty of mini-games to enjoy. There are even working game consoles, arcade games and pool tables scattered about, not to mention a ton of gambling possibilities.

Though it doesn't seem like it at first glance, the GTA series has evolved quite a bit since GTA3. San Andreas is not Liberty City or Vice City in a different location and period of time and with new characters. Rockstar North has worked hard to introduce role-playing game elements into nearly ever aspect of the game. San Andreas very well may have more stat tracking than 90% of your typical console RPGs. Carl has skills for running, swimming, biking, usage of each weapon class, sex appeal, fat, love progress, pimping, driving, respect, stamina, health, muscle… and the list goes on and on. The only way to make changes to these skills is to actually utilize them in some way. Want respect? Take on tough missions which earn you respect. Want to ride a bike like Dave Mirra and stay in shape? Drive a bike instead of a car around town. Want to become a martial arts master? Hit the gym, lift weights, learn new moves. Want to be a slow moving fat ass who does nothing but plays videogames and eats fast food? The choice and ability is there. Improving on some of these skills take a long time, unless you purposely focus on doing just that. There are thankfully a few optional missions (such as Advanced Driving School, Weapons Range, Pimping) which are there for the sole purpose of boosting certain stats and skills. There are particular missions which only become available when certain skill levels are reached, such as the San Andreas Triathlon, which requires biking, running and swimming (stamina) skills.

Those who've played the series in the past, will pick up the gameplay rather quickly. There are not a whole lot of changes, besides more control in the targeting of weapons and attacks. CJ has a nice variety of hand-to-hand moves now, along with ground stomps, stealth kills and running moves as well. As you would expect, there are a whole crapload of weapons, both long-range and short, to come across in San Andreas. Besides your pistols, SMGs, rifles, rocket launchers and grenades are things like shovels, katana swords, chainsaws, a bunch of flowers, and I kid you not, a deadly sex toy. Besides using the R1 button to auto-target, you can now also manually aim these weapons by using the right analog stick. This definitely helps in getting precise hits on things like car gas tanks, or gangstas' heads. The auto-targeting is still a little on the dumb side. For example, when fleeing a group of aggressive enemies and then spinning back around to target them, the lock will sometimes find something way off to the side and less important, like a passing pedestrian. You then have to manually turn and relock or start hitting L2 or R2 like crazy to cycle through all available targets. Once you realize the limitations of the scheme, it's easier to deal with. But it can get frustrating if you fail a mission because of it. The vehicle control seems to have actually improved and tightened up a bit, especially when your driving skill increases.

Of course, San Andreas tosses in a whole new set of vehicles which were found in the early 1990s. Besides the plethora of familiar looking sedans, sports cars, and early SUVs, there are bicycles, a variety of motorcycles, 18-wheelers, various farm and construction equipment, boats, and yes, airplanes, trains and helicopters.

The game also features a nice amount of customization options, for both your character and the vehicles you may own. CJ can buy new clothes, haircuts and even tattoos, and in each new location you visit, the greater the variety. If you want to style CJ with a blonde mohawk, a green watch, a backwards doo-rag, flip-flops, a huge back and stomach tattoo and run around in his underwear, then go for it. Same thing with the cars. Hydraulics, paintjobs, super power stereo upgrade (which actually affects how your radio sounds), kits, and much more can be bought. The best part about the customizations is that they are all 100% reflected in each and every one of the game's cinematic cut-scenes.

Contrary to most insanely popular, mass marketed games, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is not an amazing looking title. It has shades of brilliance, but overall, the graphics are showing their age. The engine has evolved since GTA3, but not tremendously so. The lighting and weather effects are a notch better, but the characters are nearly as blocky and as low polygon as before. The "mitten" style hands they all have, even in the close-up cut scenes, creep me out. The cars, people and landscapes fade into view, and the framerate occasionally stutters and even once in a while completely freezes when in the middle of some intense action. There are also clipping issues, which have left me stuck in spots I should not have been able to access to begin with (One time I simply climbed over the counter at Cluckin' Bell and couldn't get back, prompting a game reload.) The variety to the various and cities of San Andreas are awesome however. You begin in the Ganton suburbs of Los Santos, but you soon end up shuttling between the extremely rural countryside, and the more urban San Fierro and eventually the glitzy Las Venturas. All along the way enjoying the time of day effects, moon phases and detailed foliage. If you step back and realize the insanely large and detailed environments, along with the number of cars and people on-screen all going about their daily little A.I. routines and virtual lives, all is easily forgiven. I expect the eventual Xbox version to be a little cleaner, but I think we'll really have to wait for the next generation of consoles to fully realize the GTA vision. Despite the visual imperfections, the game still plays well and is rarely seriously affected by the graphics.

The soundtrack, on the contrary, is brilliance redefined. Rockstar can do now wrong when compiling these virtual radio stations. Those who don't know how they work, would just assume that the game is chock full of early 90's hip-hop and rap. Nothing could be further than the truth. Sure, you have your 2 Pac, Cypress Hill and Public Enemy playing on certain stations, but the variety in stations and tracks is unbelievable. The radio stations cover talk radio, hard-rock, modern rock, classic rock, reggae, house, swing & soul, funk, and even country/western. You can be listening to Compton's Most Wanted's "Hood Took Me Under" then switch stations and hear Eddie Money's "Two Tickets To Paradise", then Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle", then maybe James Brown's "The Payback". No game, anywhere, past or present, has a soundtrack this varied, interesting, and fun to listen to. The DJ banter is realistic, fun and interesting, as are the fake commercial spots. I personally always find myself loving the song styles which contrast most with the game. And in this case it's the country/western. There's just something poetic about knocking off rival gangstas while Willie Nelson's rendition of "Crazy" is playing on the radio. Seriously.

One other additional little goodie that Rockstar included in San Andreas was a 2-player co-op feature. You and a friend can now both cause some havoc, either on foot, or in a vehicle. The 2-player mode is not split screen, however and both players have to stay within reasonable distance of one another. When hopping in a vehicle, one player becomes the driver and the other, the gunner. The 2-player chaos continues until one or both players are killed or busted. Online play of any sort is not included, though the series is just screaming for either a separate online game, or the addition of some sort of online mode. I'm sure we'll see something by the time the next generation consoles become available.

Besides the sometimes rough graphical presentation, one of the other gripes I've had with the game are the seemingly unnecessary load times when doing simple things such as buying/switching new clothes and accessories, or viewing and zooming in on the map. The load times associated with swapping clothes are so frequent and tedious, that except when a mission requires it, I never even bother. Another thing that still irks me is the inability to simply restart a mission if you fail. There's nothing worse than traveling a long distance across the map to start a mission, then making it nearly all the way through a more lengthy set of tasks, only to fail and have to start over again. If you saved right before the mission, and the mission happens to take place somewhere near the save point you used, then it's not a problem to reload. But if that isn't the case, you end up weaponless, car less, and potentially no where near the mission start point. There is an occasional "trip skip" with certain missions that will fast forward you to where you left off, but some missions which definitely needed it, didn't have it. I feel it adds artificial length to the game, and can become rather annoying. Once you unlock airports and eventually make it to San Fierro (San Franciso) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas), the issues calm down to an extent.

Even without the controversy surrounding the series and the few odd quirks mentioned above, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas pulls together all the aspects required of an A-grade game. It plays extremely well, looks good enough, sounds great, tells an interesting and cinematic story, and gives you a ton to see and do, even after completing the game. I usually complain that many single player games these days do not have much in the way of "replayability". That is one aspect where San Andreas sets the bar so ridiculously high, that I can't imagine any non-GTA games coming anywhere near it for years to come.