BEST GAME OF ALL TIME HOLY FUCK WOOOOOOO
THE OPEN WORLD DESIGN, MASTERFUL. Going from one place to the next feels like a ROAD TRIP. Winding roads with fluctuating verticality and changing terrain textures constantly give the player micro challenges to overcome as they drive. Navigating around a mud hill, avoiding traffic on the high speed motorways, interconnected pathways, it's never just a simple drive to your destination. GTA V is much bigger than San Andreas, yet San Andreas FEELS WAY bigger, because San Andreas has every inch optimised to be as engaging as possible, the kind of design you don't even realise is design because it feels so natural.
With such an incredible foundation, the rest of the game FUCKS. III and Vice City's missions were designed around CHAOS, which also serves as San Andreas' basis. People always dismiss GTA's missions as "drive here, kill everyone, then drive here", which is kinda missing the point. The missions are designed around the META, designed around the pacing and capturing that flow state. Get in car. Two minute limit. Go. Now. GO QUICK FUCK. Swerve between traffic. Smash fire hydrants. Run over pedestrians. Swerve. Smash. Swerve. Arrive. Enemies everywhere. Gun one down in seconds. Chain that momentum to the next one. Then the next. Someone shooting you from behind. Kill them. Someone else shooting from above. Kill them. Then the next. Then the next. THREE MINUTES TO DRIVE HERE. RUN TO CAR. SWERVE. SWERVE. SMASH. YAAAAHHHH
San Andreas builds on this foundation with money. Rockstar are fucking RICH now, EVERY mission is a GRAND SETPIECE SPECTACLE. SKYDIVING ONTO CASINO ROOFTOPS. BLOWING UP DAMS. KATANA FIGHTS ON A CARGO SHIP LET'S FUCKING GO ROOOAAARRR. All fuelled through that CHAOS Rockstar DNA, bouncing from high speed freeway chase to close quarters scramble to high speed street corner chase, you snort cocaine to unwind after playing this.
Even the writing is jacked. III and Vice City ripped off every mob film in existence, like every character was just copy and pasted from Godfather and Scarface. If you've seen those films it's fun but kinda shallow, the cutscenes are amusing but not necessarily captivating. San Andreas takes those elements and uses it for satire and commentary. The racist cop that hates immigrants is called Pulaski. PULASKI. YOUR FAMILY ARE POLISH IMMIGRANTS AND YOU HATE IMMIGRANTS, YOU DENSE MOTHERFUCKER. The cop that abuses his power to harass black people? He's not only black, but THE black guy, Samuel L El El Jackson. Most of the characters are ironic archetypes, giving the world a comedic underpinning that is gold. Combine that with a plot that takes GTA's "rags to riches" structure and applies it to a grand, sweeping narrative of betrayal, governmental conspiracy and racial and socio-economic tensions, and oh my god FUUUUUUCK.
TURRET SECTIONS THOUGH WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT
Overall though, HOLY SHIT YOOOOOOO
THE OPEN WORLD DESIGN, MASTERFUL. Going from one place to the next feels like a ROAD TRIP. Winding roads with fluctuating verticality and changing terrain textures constantly give the player micro challenges to overcome as they drive. Navigating around a mud hill, avoiding traffic on the high speed motorways, interconnected pathways, it's never just a simple drive to your destination. GTA V is much bigger than San Andreas, yet San Andreas FEELS WAY bigger, because San Andreas has every inch optimised to be as engaging as possible, the kind of design you don't even realise is design because it feels so natural.
With such an incredible foundation, the rest of the game FUCKS. III and Vice City's missions were designed around CHAOS, which also serves as San Andreas' basis. People always dismiss GTA's missions as "drive here, kill everyone, then drive here", which is kinda missing the point. The missions are designed around the META, designed around the pacing and capturing that flow state. Get in car. Two minute limit. Go. Now. GO QUICK FUCK. Swerve between traffic. Smash fire hydrants. Run over pedestrians. Swerve. Smash. Swerve. Arrive. Enemies everywhere. Gun one down in seconds. Chain that momentum to the next one. Then the next. Someone shooting you from behind. Kill them. Someone else shooting from above. Kill them. Then the next. Then the next. THREE MINUTES TO DRIVE HERE. RUN TO CAR. SWERVE. SWERVE. SMASH. YAAAAHHHH
San Andreas builds on this foundation with money. Rockstar are fucking RICH now, EVERY mission is a GRAND SETPIECE SPECTACLE. SKYDIVING ONTO CASINO ROOFTOPS. BLOWING UP DAMS. KATANA FIGHTS ON A CARGO SHIP LET'S FUCKING GO ROOOAAARRR. All fuelled through that CHAOS Rockstar DNA, bouncing from high speed freeway chase to close quarters scramble to high speed street corner chase, you snort cocaine to unwind after playing this.
Even the writing is jacked. III and Vice City ripped off every mob film in existence, like every character was just copy and pasted from Godfather and Scarface. If you've seen those films it's fun but kinda shallow, the cutscenes are amusing but not necessarily captivating. San Andreas takes those elements and uses it for satire and commentary. The racist cop that hates immigrants is called Pulaski. PULASKI. YOUR FAMILY ARE POLISH IMMIGRANTS AND YOU HATE IMMIGRANTS, YOU DENSE MOTHERFUCKER. The cop that abuses his power to harass black people? He's not only black, but THE black guy, Samuel L El El Jackson. Most of the characters are ironic archetypes, giving the world a comedic underpinning that is gold. Combine that with a plot that takes GTA's "rags to riches" structure and applies it to a grand, sweeping narrative of betrayal, governmental conspiracy and racial and socio-economic tensions, and oh my god FUUUUUUCK.
TURRET SECTIONS THOUGH WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT
Overall though, HOLY SHIT YOOOOOOO