Is it perfect? No. Is it enogh? Yes.
User Rating: 10 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PS2
San Andreas, the third in the GTA:III series. I had to give this game a perfect score. It is in no way a perfect game, but all of the elements add up to something that is better than anything before it. The game is thugged out hard. Everything is the beginning is ghetto and cursing. I happen to enjoy that so I'm having a blast. It cracks me up. As the game progresses, you gain all kinds of stats. Some have a direct effect. You abilities increase, people make comments. Some dont make a noticable difference, but after a couple you can see the effects of the increase. You can do just about everything in the game. There's an rediculuse amount of random things to do packed into this. Yeah, no body really cares when a turf war is going on, but next year after you've taken over, it still ensures lots to keep you busy. I love to stunt. There are so many vehicles in the game, which a handful you can control the balance. This means when you hit jumps, you can slightly control the position (not direction) of the vehicle, ideally landing smoothly. There are so many places to do tricks, so many ramps hiddin in the landscape. It could be a game in itself. I'm not going to focus on the story of the game. It's a good story, straight from the 1990's. You've seen it in Menace 2 Society, Juice, Friday, Boys in the Hood, all the good ghetto movies. Mixed in is elements that take CJ, the character, on a long, sometimes incredable, sometimes a bit rediculus adventure. It strings together well though and isn't unbelieavable. For a videdo game at least. What makes this game a 10 is the fact that it makes it all work. A lot of other games have done some of the things in San Andreas. It's like the best of lots of your favorite games rolled into one. There are so many differnt elements to the game that when you look at it as a whole, nothing can out do it. The only way I think it could be improved, would be to add a multiplayer element to it the way MutiTheft Auto Works for the PC (which is a GTA:III hack). From taking pictures, to tagging up the hoods, to doing BMX tricks, to bouncing in a low rider competition, to driving an RV. You can do what you want. Whenever you want. Sure there are some slight annoyances in the game. Some dont like the fact that the player is black. Some dont like the weather. Someone can always find something to complain about. But overall, what's better? Maybe next year the game wont warrent a 10. Maybe something else will out do it. Who knows. I have to say it is the best game I've ever played and I consider myself very tough on games. I've never seen anything so open and so much fun. Everything works as it should. Sure RockStar could have done more, put more in, but let's be realistic in what we can expect from a PS2 game. It's not the worlds best system. It just happens to have the best games. Bottom line, if you have a PS2 and you dont have this game, you're wasting your PS2. If you dont believe me, rent it. You save game will still be on your card when you do actually buy it. 
