Not my favorite, but still the best in series.
User Rating: 9.2 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PS2
I’ve read a few reviews here, well just the ones that got perplexingly low scores. And while everyone is entitle to their opinion I couldn’t help but laugh at their reasoning. One reviewer slammed the entire game because the graphics were not to his liking. Another took 3 points off because he could save the game anywhere he wanted. I’m not going to slam them for their opinions, but I will address their opinion with my own. GTA has been a leader in the game industry since coming on to the PS2 scene. Before the PS2 years the game had more of a cult following. GTA III creating a new game feature that may one day become a sub-genre, “free roaming”. GTA: SA tries to take the series to the next level with an RPG type feature. This new feature has hits and misses but overall adds a better feel to the game play. Raising the bar is hard to do when the foundation was already so high and the PS2’s limitations get reached. Non-the-less this is a great game that earns every accolade it gets. Gameplay -9- This is the meat and bones of any great game and the only place Rockstar can really improve on the PS2. The additions are numerous and many make for a better experience. My personal favorite is the ability to swim. In the two previous games I loss many a lives when I fell in the water. The added RPG elements add to the game as well as you can now change the character’s appearance through haircuts, tats, clothes, and exercise. The change to the eating feature can be mundane at times but, simply loading up on some fat negates the negatives of the feature. Weapons upgrading are another great component as it makes the fighting more dynamic. There is nothing like wielding to Uzi’s in shootouts. But the one RPG attribute I could do without is the girlfriends, they add very little to the game, and can be rather monotonous. Thankfully you really only have to do that with one girl, the rest you can just ignore. Graphics –7- While not the most beautiful game on the market, but does a game have to have eye-popping graphics to be a great game? Only hardcore PC gamers base the quality of a game solely on graphics. Anyway, the graphics are certainly as good as most a-list PS2 titles. The frame rate is by far the best the series has produced. The draw rate sometimes has issues but since playing it on the new PS2 I haven’t seen the problems nearly as much. My only other gripe is that desert and badland missions are extremely tough at night do to poor lighting. Doesn’t the moon ever shine over the desert? Sound –9- The radio feature is again a major driving force for the game as licensed music helps bring the era to life, at least every station but K-Rose which has the worst country music since the last Billy Ray Cyruss CD. Cranking up the surround sound brings to life the explosions and the intricate car sound effects that you might miss with normal TV speakers. Value –10- The replay value is fantastic. While the story line is linear the world that the game provide is vast. Every time you play the game you can do something you might not have done yet, or may play a certain mission a different way all together. The are numerous ways to play this game giving it quite a bit of time before you begin to feel that there is nothing left to do. Buy the game. You’ll miss out on a lot of content if you merely rent. That or you’ll have serious over-due rental fees Tilt –10- While Vice City still remains my favorite game in the series, SA a PS2 marvel. It takes all the elements that made the other two work, and enhance them when possible and adds new features that will keep imitators at bay. With numerous safe houses to buy the game has a great amount of save opportunities that should keep even the biggest “PC is better than console” snob satisfied. 
