The hype is true, this really is one of the best games ever, read why
You play Carl Johnson, who's back in San Andreas to bury his mother who recently died. But when Carl returns he is immediately confronted by crooked cops, and see's all his old friends heading towards disaster. It soon becomes clear that it's up to Carl to put things right, and the way the game take's you on his epic journey is just amazing. You start in Carl's old 'hood' and the game being set in the early 90's has a good feel of the 'gangsta' sounds, attitudes, styles, etc of that time. I'm not gonna ruin the rest of the huge story for you, just play it and find out for yourself, because although in every GTA game free roaming and doing what you want is fun, the story line is by far the most rewarding/satisfying thing about this game.
The game plays much like most GTA's, you can steal cars, bike, planes (much bigger in this), get on trains, it seems endless. You can also parachute out a plane believe it or not, chose clothing, eat, workout, etc and this doesn't distract form the main game and is actually quite fun after a while. It may seem like almost too much to take in at first, but stick with this game and its very rewarding, even the little side missions and all the other things I've mentioned you can do.
Graphically, it looks good if not the best. Sound wise? Well the sound effects are great, and I love the music, it seems as if they've included alot more than just music from the games set time of 1992.
Bottom line is GTA San Andreas is a stunning, well made epic of a game, thats hard to describe it's size in one review. Just play it and be amazed at it's length - I've had it nearly a year and I'm only 75% complete. I'm a 'casual' gamer but most guys I know that spend alot of time on games still had a hard time trying to complete this game quickly. This game's value for money or reply value is simply the best. Until the next GTA, there really is nothing quite like this game...;)