After a long time away from San Andreas, I decided to go back. I was feeling nostalgic and was wondering whether my memories of the place were as accurate as they were vivid; that it was an intoxicating home away from home. To my surprise, it was. San Andreas was a place that Rockstar North designed to feel alive; from its dynamic a.i and weather, to its populated streets and sky. But more astounding is how, through the games many mechanics and narrative devices, Rockstar achieves a personal and emotional connection between player and game world.
Immediately from the opening title the game introduces you to characters native to the land of Los Santos, the Los Angeles inspired 90s gangsta paradise, A.K.A the hood. They are part of a gang called the Grove Street family, and in this gang you and your character find identity and a place in the world. Because San Andreas has many dangers, including the corrupt powers that be, officers Tennpenny and Polaski, and Grove Streets sworn enemies, the Ballas gang; in becoming a Grove Street brother, Carl finds strength and belonging.
To develop a connection to your home and your gang, early missions have you running errands for your family; stockpiling weapons, doing drive bys, tagging walls, and the like. At a later stage in this chapter, you embark in gangland warfare battling with other families for turf and respect. The payoff: The feeling of empowerment with your gangs growth. Colour coding the gangs through their apparel follows this tribal mentality, especially when the sight of purple can send you on a self-motivated rampage. Your brothers in green in turn signal safety and back up.
From those connections, Rockstar North makes the Ryder and Big Smokes betrayals feel real and intimate. How could such strong bonds between brothers be broken? How could the people you trusted and found security, strength and identity with not treasure these bonds, as you did? Thoughts run through Carl and our minds. The Grove Street collapses, and with it our sense of security and purpose. We are thrown into the middle of nowhere, family apart, removed of our weapons and slaves to the very people who orchestrated our downfall. Rockstar succeeds narratively. The lust for revenge is palpable and we yearn for our home and our gang.
Rockstar Norths clever uses of mechanics that are fun and meaningful at the time to enhance the long term narrative are techniques unique to interactive mediums. This is because we, as the player, are participating in actions, rather than vicariously experiencing them through a lead actor or a hero in a movie/book. San Andreas offers you a part in the world and to affect that world; it offers you a chance to be a black, well built (if you choose), well stocked (if you so please) original gansta with enough blank spaces to fill in your own personality. The same can be said of sense of place and time, San Andreas allows for freedom of exploration, the day-night cycle and through the introduction of game mechanics (ie, shooting and driving) that you use throughout your time in San Andreas (because your first time is always fondly remembered) to make you feel like youve been to a real place, where things have happened. This serves to enhance the narrative, but also builds the relationship to place and people that evoked those emotions on my return to San Andreas.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a masterpiece of narrative that is rarely remembered for its story. What people remember are the crazy setting (ie, the warm red glow of the sunset above the roofs of Grove street), the period soundtrack, and all the uniquely crazy San Andreas activities they got to do, because Rockstar North were so successful in making that world come alive in ways that video games can uniquely achieve. Through inventive methods, Rockstar made me feel like I once part of the Grove Street gang six years ago, in the 90s, in Los Santos, cruising in my car, busting some Ballas ass.