San Andreas is a fun phenominally designed game that sucessfully builds upon the foundation GTA III and VIce City made.
The game is set in the incredibly large world of San Andreas. The world is split into 3 huge main areas, Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas. These are wonderfully designed after the real life cities Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and Las Vegas respectfully. The world is huge but only Los Santos is available in the beginning of the game but the other areas are available as you complete the game.
The main character in the game is Carl "CJ" Johnson. This is the player you control throughout the game. He has just flown into town from Liberty City when he learns that his mother was killed in a drive-by shooting and has come to pay his respects. When you first get into town you are arrested by some crooked cops and framed for the murder of a LSPD police officer. They throw you out of the car after taking your money in an enemy gang territory and they say that "They'll keep in touch," and that's where the story begins.
The game is based on playing and completing missions given to you by a large range of characters. You live on Grove Street and are a part of the Grove Street gang, the enemy of the Ballas gang and the Vagos. You are one of the leaders of the grove street gang along with your brother Sweet and two old homies Big Smoke and Ryder. Throughout the game you are doing missions for your gang and many other people along the way. By completing missions you gain respect and money. Used to buy guns, ammo, cars, clothes, and wide range of other things.
The great thing about San Andreas is that not only is the game based on a fantastic storyline, the game is not completely linear. Your not stuck with only one mission to do at a time. There are times that you have a choice of 3 or 4 at a time so if your stuck on one you have alternative options. There are also time where you just might find yourself exploring the city, beating people up and getting their money, looking for hidden weapons, or doing various mini-missions.
Graphically the game is magnificent. The world is beautiful and very lifelike. If a gun goes off people will scream and run away, if the motorcycle or car your driving is going really fast the screen will blur and reaction time decreases. During the game you need to eat because after a while you lose muscle and eventually lose life if you don't eat. But if you eat to much you will get sick and actually throw up. During the cut-away scenes the people look surprisingly realistic and move very realistic as well. These scenes lead me to the only little flaw I can find in the game, the blocky hands. The fingers stick together and there's very little movement in the wrists and none in the hands and fingers, they kind of just stick together adn don't move. But this is only really noticeable in the cut-away scenes and all in all the graphic design of the game is great and has a great soundtrack that wonderfully fits in the early 90's theme.
All in all, GTA: San Andreas is a visual masterpiece. With the huge world there will always be something new for you to find or do. The games story is very long, extremely well written with some unexpected twists, and will suck you in and keep you playing for hours. The game controls well and the movement just feels right. You have to give credit to Rockstar Games and Rockstar North for creating a wonderful and an unbelievably great game and addition to the Grand Theft Auto series. Simply put, the game is a masterpiece.