A huge dissapointment. Does not live up to the GTA name and is shameful compared to it's predecessors.
STORY:
The games story is one of my biggest gripes with this game. GTA 3 had an fantastically written,dark story that was all about the Mafia and betrayal. Vice City's story was just as well written and had a great lead character. Then comes along San Andreas,and what do we get? Gangsters,drugs,rappers and fried chicken. The game starts off so incredibly slow it's amazing,and then once you get out of the 'drive me to Clucking Bell' part of the game,it all of the sudden turns into some crazy action thriller.
You start off as some low-life kid living in the ghetto with his brother and the rest of your 'peeps'. Then you all of the sudden turn into this incredible street racer,and then you turn into a one-man f*cking army,capable of taking out military bases and cargo boats.
Also the plot is such a bore. There's only one real twist in it,and it happens so early on in the game. Everything after that is horribly predictable.
GRAPHICS:
Is it just me,or did the graphics actually take a step down from Vice City? They made a big world,with no loading screens,and look what happened. Pedestrians look blurry from afar,the sky always makes this stupid orange haze and CJ's face looks awful.
I find it amazing how in the xbox version of GTA 3,they got rid of the blocky hands,but they couldn't even do that for the PS2 version 2 games later.
SOUND:
Not nearly as impressive as the other games. There are only 2 good radio stations,and one of them is a talk show station. The only good songs in the game are all on K-DST,and that's because they're all songs from real life. None of the songs actually written for the game were any good,it's all just ghetto rap or unbearable country music.
Also what in f*cks name is up with the gunshots? They sound so blunt! I want you to do something for me. Go start up the game,take out the shotgun,and fire it. Then get in a car,and listen to the sound of CJ closing the car door. Now come back here and try and tell me it doesn't sound exactly the same. Ridiculous.
PRESENTATION:
This game reminds me of the good ol' saying 'quality over quantity'. The game map may be huge compared to the other games,but it is alot less detailed and the city's are very boring. And don't even get me started on the Homie recruiting system,it's just non-existant.
In conclusion,I think San Andreas is a good game for you if you like gangta shoot em ups with lots of swearing and basically no plot. But if you are a fan of the GTA series,and loved the last 2 games like I did,I do not recommend this game. It's nothing compared to the other games in the series.