Easily one of the best games out there!
User Rating: 9.7 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PS2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the 3rd Grand Theft Auto game on the Playstation 2, and is made by Rockstar North. GTA: SA takes place in 1992 and follows the story of Carl Johnson, a gang member who had left San Andreas 5 years eariler to Liberty City on order to escape the gang life and because he was thought to be responsible for his brother's death. He is now forced to return because his mother was murdered, to save his family, and to put his gang back on top. The graphics have made soe improvements, you can actually see characters moving their mouths while they're talking when you're walking down the street. The car models are better looking, and there's not as much pop-up issues as there were in the previous games because there are more polygons in the models. Still, if they made the graphics a little smoother and got rid of the pop-up issue I'd give it a 10. The sound, as always, is one of the highlights of the game. The voice acting in this game out does every previous GTA game, a couple of the performances worth noting are Samuel L. Jackson's role as Officer Tenpenney, a corrupt police officer that makes Carl's life a living hell as the game progresses, Peter Fonda's role as "The Truth", a hippie/conspiracy theroist, and James Wood's role as Mike Toreno, a corrupt businessman. There's just to many voice talents to list The music in this game also is better than the previous games. You have artists like Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, NWA, Dr. Dre, etc. who set up that West Coast vibe in the game. There are many other well-established artists in the game. The gameplay is GTA: SA's strongest point. For starters, you can finally swim!! In fact, some missions even involve swimming. The area in GTA: SA is different because it doesn't take place in a city, it takes place in an entire state, San Andreas. There is also so much to do, you can go into bars and play pool, you can play arcade games, you can even have a girlfriend! There is also a sense of realism, for example, when you are traveling on a freeway, you will not only see exit ramps to towns, cities or country roads, but you can also see little gas stations and bars off to the side, you can also see the same thing when you are on countey roads. The missions haven't exactly changed alot, but they come in a variety. he game also establishes a West Coast feel to it. The target reticle has made an improvement, taken from the game Manhunt, the reticle will change color depending on the target's health (Green if healthy, red if close to death). You can also skydive and steal jets and jump from extremely high altitudes (and I mean extremely high) There are more weapons, which equal more possiblitlies, you have to build up weapons skills if you want more out of your weapon (faster reloading time, more accurate, etc.) When you max out on that weapon skill, using that weapon is much easier, you can even dual-wield handguns. You also have to stay in shape, if you exercise and lift weights, you will grow muscular and your melee attacks with be stronger. If you eat alot and don't exercise, you'll grow fat. If you don't eat and don't exercise, you'll grow skinny and weak. You can also interact more, if someone says something to you while you are waling down the street, you can press either left or right on the D-Pad (Left for Negative Comment, Right for positive), if you say a negative comment however, you may start a fight. The main quest is quite long, even if you stick to the main story. It's about 35 hours long if you stick to the main quest, and 50+ Hours if you just screw around and go exploring. This is easily the best Grand Theft Auto game out there, it builds on the previous games and improves on problems the previous games had, and mostly fixes them. If you have a PS2, are a fan of the GTA series, or need to play a totally kick-ass game, then by all means, BUY THIS GAME!! 
