You'll really do yourself a favor if you play this game.( This is a long review)
The graphics for this game are pretty impressive. The game map is absolutely huge. The game can take a while to load up, so even though the graphics aren’t the BEST, it’s ok that they aren’t. It’s basically using early Xbox technology, but the game is pretty big, so you can see why. It also looks more polished and cleaned up then the PS2 version. Every car looks more shiny, basic graphics tweaks, but nothing to insane. Either way, there are tons and tons of animations in this game. There was a lot of motion capturing to be done, so that’s very impressive. Everything you do, except maybe driving the jet pack, is very well done. That’s about it.
The Value of this game is very, very high. Easily enough, this game is worth 80 dollars just because of how long it is. After beating the main missions, which is about 60% of the game if you did nothing, you’ve probably taken about 2-3 weeks if you have a job. You can go through it faster if you have a lot of free time though. Maybe a week, which is extremely impressive. The main storyline is probably the longest I’ve seen and played in a game ever. Not only that, but if you choose to get 100%, it’s a long, hard road to get there. You have to do EVERYTHING. However, after doing everything there’s still something to see, in which I mean glitches. This can be fun, and since you already have 100%, go for it. This game is definitely worth the 50 dollars you pay, and it’s probably dropped by now.
Now lets talk about the audio. In this game, the audio is extremely varied and impressive. The entire game has voice acting. For every character, for every mission, for every object, there’s a sound. The voice acting is amazing. There’s so much feeling, and they sound just right. You can hear the sound of a rocket firing and exploding, the water, every little sound added. The engines of every car, the blades of every helicopter, etc. Now, what REALLY wins the award here is the radio music. It’s absolutely amazing. There are several different stations, and depending on the in game clock a certain song will be playing. Every song was a hit in the 90’s, and they all have something to do with the game, CJ, or the storyline. Of course, it’s good for listening to. It’ll introduce you to a whole new variety of songs that you’ll even buy the CD for. It’s amazing.
The controls of this game are alright. Though it's more comfortable on the PS2 controller, they tried their hardest to make it easy for the Xbox. You'll eventually get used to it if you use the right buttons. Targetting can be easy or hard if you fire using the B button. Use the Left trigger to fire and it's much easier. Other then the firing, the controls are pretty solid. Everything is comfortable and doesn't really get in the way of the game. I personally think all of the controls are convenient, so make sure you choose the right ones.
Finally, lets talk about the game play. There's A LOT to talk about here. The first thing will be the mission system. Basically, you begin the game in a cut scene, have no stores unlocked, and basically have absolutely nothing. You have very small amounts of money, no clothes, no muscles, and is riding a bike back to his street. The beginning of the game will send you a bit throughout the town back to the S on the map. Once you get there you're introduced into the game of GTA:SA. For every mission you're instructed to do things. Sometimes you have to buy weapons, and sometimes you're supplied with them. These missions range from biking away from killers, to jumping out of a plane James Bond style.
You’ll eventually raise a lot of money, and get involved in the great storyline and get used to the whole game. You’ll get new fighting styles, and you can do almost anything. When I say anything, I mean in a bad, blowing up everything in sight kind of thing. You can do the basic storyline, which involves going to EVERY part of the game map, and eventually leading back to your home to do the final missions. Some of the missions from the middle to the end of the game can be extremely challenging. The game will introduce you to a lot of the things you can do for 100 percent. 100 percent is basically doing every side mission, completing every level, collecting every item, and getting the whole map.
The game can be very hard, and some of the missions can be somewhat easy. However, this game is best known for being extremely violent. If you want a game with cursing, drugs, stealing, federal offences, manslaughter, etc, this game is DEFINITELY for you. You feel like CJ is your second life, and you feel a lot of power behind an M4 and a rocket launcher. The police will chase you down from 1 to 6 stars. If you want to cheer yourself up, go ahead and kill everyone. You’ll get a star, which is when a cop finds you and you’ll get chased. This can either last very long or very short. Now, killing cops is the most efficient way to get a lot of start very fast. Causing a lot of explosions also helps. Now, at 6 stars, this can get pretty insane. Insane as in you’ll be chased by the military, the SWAT team, police chiefs, helicopters, cars, trucks, normal officers, and TANKS, prepare to die very, very fast.
My final say about the game play shouldn’t really count as game play. This is about the glitches in the game. By finding these glitches, it’s extremely rewarding. This has no consequence whatsoever in finding them. They’re just hard to find and reach. However, these glitches include places that you can fall into the ground, and my favorite, the secret and unused areas. This is basically a completely blue area that is where the areas that were used in cut scenes and places that were made and unused in the game are found. This area, technically, is above the sky limit, but that pesky barrier won’t get you there. Find a faq if you’re interested, but I just wanted to note these glitches are some of the most amazing things ever. Almost like it were intentional.
Now, I’ve had my say about this game. If you’ve had thoughts about buying this game, it’s definitely worth buying. Not renting, not ignoring, but buying as soon as you get a console that can play it. GTA is an example of games that are amazing in every aspect. It’s so much fun to play, and just the fact that there are so many secrets, and this game is so funny, it’s just the perfect game. I’ve said it on and on about how amazing and perfect this game really is. Once you play it, however, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.