Eight months. Eight damn months of waiting and ferocious envy. This is exactly how much time has passed since the release of the Sony PlayStation 2 console, alien to the civilized world. All this time, ordinary PC owners could only listen to the owners of the vile console excitedly talk about their adventures in the state of San Andreas. Some weak-willed comrades could not stand the torment and ended up going broke on the PS2 ( yes, it happened. — Note ed. ). And you know, they can be understood...

But all bad things come to an end, and so does our waiting. San Andreas is out, San Andreas is with us. And this is exactly the game we wanted to see. A game that met all our expectations. And even more...

Carlito's Way

The story of Carl Johnson (CJ for short) - the main character of San Andreas - is presented, as is customary in games from Rockstar North, on an epic scale. Five years ago, Ceejay fled from his native Los Santos to Liberty City. Now, due to the death of his mother, he has to return back. Having landed at the airport, our hero immediately finds himself in a whirlpool of not very pleasant events: corrupt cops accuse him of murdering his colleague and are trying to attract him to “collaboration”, there is discord and scandals in the family, the former CJ gang has lost all respect on the streets and even his own brother I'm especially glad to meet you.

What should a simple black guy do in such a situation, who has nothing behind his soul except a family dilapidated barn on the edge of a wild ghetto? Chew snot, whine and get drunk to a bestial state? Of course not! Carl is the character you never dreamed of becoming. He swears indecently, clenches his teeth, fights against circumstances and, of course, defeats them. At the same time, he doesn’t look a bit like the dumb-witted average computer game hero, who is used to meeting any threat to his own heroism with a kick from his boot - Karl is afraid of the corrupt cops Tenpenny and Pulaski (voiced by them, by the way, Samuel L. Jackson And Chris Penn), worries about his brother and is always ready to help his friends. There are so many events in that piece of Sj’s life that San Andreas shows that they would be enough not even for a film, but for a whole series. A sort of “The Sopranos,” but about black people.

After a barrage of criticism from censors and moral fighters against Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one would have expected Rockstar North to back down, hide the sting of its cynical, no mercy humor away and try to please everyone at once. But, fortunately, lawsuits from the angry Haitian diaspora and the cries of child advocates did not deter the developers. In San Andreas they dealt sleek American society another blow - this time below the belt.

The stuffy ghetto where Sij's family ekes out its existence, the cold and inaccessible skyscrapers of San Fierro, the alluring lights of Las Venturas, which has never heard of morality - everywhere and everywhere the developers carefully expose the most unsightly aspects of the life of a state called the United States of America. Rampant drug addiction, corrupt police officers, injustice of the authorities, street prostitution, hooligans robbing old women, all the delights of life for “white people” and spit-stained slums for the rest - this is the whole of San Andreas.

What’s gratifying is that, while showing “life through the eyes of a simple black guy,” the developers managed not to slide into banal racism. If anyone tells you that San Andreas is a game about black people, then know that he is either just stupid or has only completed three missions, no more. While blacks are tearing each other's throats on the outskirts of Los Santos, San Fierro is divided by the Chinese Triad and the Vietnamese group, in Las Venturas the Italian mafia rules the roost, plus Latinos and the Russian “brothers” are trying to grab their piece of the pie (where would we be without them! ). In other words, everyone is good in San Andreas, and to say that Rockstar portrays blacks as absolute radishes and villains means to belittle the “merits” of their colleagues.

And of course, the blacks are to blame for all this!

A separate item in the list of undeniable advantages of San Andreas are the well-developed characters of all the characters in the story. They are the ones who fill the game world with life, and the existence of Carl Johnson with meaning. A duo of corrupt cops, an always stoned hippie brother, a couple of British musicians, eccentric ladies who prefer S&M to all other joys of life... Having seen this whole farce, even Stanislavsky, without blowing his nose, would immediately say: “I believe!” The boss of the Chinese Triad (about the peculiarities of whose physical condition and character we will not say a word, so as not to spoil the pleasure of your acquaintance) can generally be safely given the title of the brightest NPC of all time.

And what dialogues there are! Spreading quotes, excitedly retelling them to friends, laughing and knocking your heels on the floor with delight - the pearls that the game's heroes regularly give out are worthy of the industry's most important Oscars. And how does our Carlito communicate with his many girlfriends! "Yes darling! Ofcourse honey! Carry on, honey!” - and this in response to vile chatter about new shoes or a sale in the nearest store. For such courage alone, Sidzhey can be, if not loved, then respected.

In San Andreas, even the extras - random people on the streets - are also not averse to chatting. They make caustic comments about Sj's appearance, swear dirty if their car is hitched, they want to sell us drugs or just punch us in the face - in other words, they live and actively react to external stimuli. Karl himself also does not remain in debt and responds to those around him not only with deeds (a baseball bat to the skull), but also with words. True, there are only two answer options: positive and negative. The first sounds something like “thank you, bro, I’m crazy about you too,” and the second – “fuck you (we don’t quote a single word from the entire two-minute tirade, otherwise our magazine will be instantly closed by some adherents of the purity of the Russian language), hornless goat!” After such skirmishes, you understand as well as possible that happiness, friends, is in communication.

The first thing that catches your eye when starting up Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, — scales. The game world has not just become larger, it has grown exponentially, become prettier, and acquired an incalculable number of small details. Instead of one city, we now have a whole state with three megacities: Los Santos (the real prototype was Los Angeles), San Fierro (of course, San Francisco) and Las Venturas (of course, Las Vegas). Each city is unique and damn similar to its prototype from real life - architecture, style and, if you may, spirit. In terms of size, the megacities of the state of San Andreas are not inferior to Vice City, but besides them there are also vast suburbs with forests, mountains, fields and small provincial towns, each of which is also seething and bubbling with life.

But this time it seemed to the developers that roads alone were not enough; now the GTA hero is a real man-steamboat-plane who feels comfortable on land, in water, and in the air. Which, of course, opens up new avenues for exploration and ways to kill free time. Ride to the airport on a bicycle, jump on a plane, take off, scaring all the surrounding crows, perform a couple of aerobatics, then land on a bridge, jump out of there with a parachute, plop on board a luxury yacht and rush off to the sea to meet the sunrise... and having met, jump overboard, swim two hundred meters and drown. Unless you can’t just fly to Mars.

Should I grow a belly?

The plot of San Andreas, of course, is not limited to just gang wars and squabbles with the police. On the winding path of life, Karl will have to solve a great many very important problems. Tie an Italian gangster to the hood of a car and roll him around in oncoming traffic until he screams in fear? Please! Burn out a hemp field with a flamethrower and escape from the police? Welcome! Steal the latest fighter jet from an aircraft carrier? No problem! The tireless imagination of the screenwriters throws Karl from one end of San Andreas to the other, forcing him to portray James Bond, Lara Croft, or even Casanova in general.

But the most interesting things happen outside the story missions - in provincial bars, remote villages and on the streets of big cities. Everywhere and everywhere you can find something to do to your liking. There are several times more mini-games in San Andreas than in previous series. Those who want to squander the money they earned with the blood and sweat of others take it to the casino (where there is poker, blackjack, roulette, the wheel of fortune and traditional one-armed bandits), to the races or to the billiard room. Nostalgic gamers of the “old school” go to slot machines to shed a few tears at the sight of two-dimensional shooters from the eighties of the last century. Those who prefer to relax behind the wheel get a job as a policeman, taxi driver, courier or even a pimp, and fans of the senseless killing of time climb onto a tower crane and try to use a magnet to lift cars passing far below into the air.

Add to this dancing in clubs, night forays in search of a place where something is “badly lying” (CJ sneaking around someone else’s house with a stolen TV in his hands is something), racing over rough and not so rough terrain, hunting for bonuses scattered everywhere And so on and so forth...

Cool? But this is only a small part of all kinds of entertainment. Do you want to change the appearance of the main character? Hairstyle, hair color, clothes, watches, jewelry - just like in, excuse me, The Sims 2. In addition, the character's build also changes in San Andreas. Moreover, this is done not with a wave of the mouse, but with the help of long training. Or lack thereof. Do you while away your evenings in the “rocking chair”, lifting weights and racking up kilometers on an exercise bike? Soon Sij will learn to hit enemies harder and become more resilient. Also, the time spent in the gym will have a positive effect on his appearance - his body will become strong and muscular, which will definitely delight all the surrounding girls. If, instead of playing sports, you gorge yourself ad nauseam (literally) on hamburgers and pizza, then you can forget about your figure and sculpted biceps - a puffing, two-hundred-kilogram strategic bomber named Carl Johnson will be a reward for lovers of fatty foods.

In addition to the already mentioned strength and endurance, Sij is capable of developing many other characteristics, including mastery of various types of weapons, driving cars, motorcycles, airplanes and swimming. As your weapon skill increases, for example, bullets begin to fly a little more accurately, reloading is a little faster, and some types of weapons can be used in pairs to crush adversaries with both hands. It is not necessary to complete any special tasks to improve performance (although there is a shooting gallery and schools for driving various vehicles in the game), many skills grow as you use them intensively (who remembered this? Morrowind?).

Literally a few days before the issue was sent to press, our dear editors learned that the girlfriends in Grand Theft Auto- that is, make love to them. The developers absolutely seriously planned to add sex scenes to the game, but they were still cut out from the final version, considering that it would be too much (San Andreas is already reproached for all mortal sins). However, craftsmen quickly found how to return these scenes back (the code itself remained in the game).

To get your girlfriend into bed, all you have to do is take her to a diner a couple of times and give her a bouquet of flowers - after that she will invite you to her home for a “cup of coffee.” You can drink a cup of coffee in four positions, while an arousal indicator appears on the right side of the screen. As soon as it runs out, the “strawberry” ends. The girl is completely naked during lovemaking, while Sidzhey himself remains in clothes. But you can have oral, excuse me, sex right on the street: if you go up to your passion and press Tab, she sometimes gets on her knees and... does THIS (in other cases, by pressing Tab everything is limited to just a chaste kiss). And who needs it after that? Singles 2: Triple Trouble?

P.S. The mod that includes “strawberry” in the game can be found on our disks in the “ section Play area bonuses”.

* * *

If you wish, you can rush through the serpentine plot of San Andreas in twelve hours or even faster - if you are, of course, an experienced and skillful player. But there will be little pleasure from such a flight - because in this case you will see absolutely nothing. If you try to complete all the additional tasks, spend long hours playing roulette and beating up passers-by, then there is a real chance of losing your life for two days. And how much time it takes to thoroughly study the game world, discover all the secrets and try your hand at all the mini-games is known only to the developers themselves. Playing San Andreas is like riding a wild bull - you can never say with certainty what he will do next.

And yes, friends, the final summary of “Gambling” will be more than predictable. The citizens of Rockstar North have once again performed a little magic. No seriously. They again managed to find the pulse, the rhythm, the beat of life and make the project “real” as much as possible. Yes, even if the gameplay has not changed much compared to the previous parts, players still come to the world of San Andreas with their eyes wide open, they find something new in it and throughout the game they make more and more shocking discoveries.

For many years, competing companies from all over the world have been trying to reveal the “recipe” of Rockstart North, according to which they made GTA. They are trying in vain - there is no recipe here. After all, the developers, as befits real wizards, do not mix donkey, excuse me, urine with the ashes of a Doberman killed on a full moon - they simply create their own little magic. The name of which is Grand Theft Auto...

P.S. And finally, let’s talk about the bad, which was a shame to even talk about in the main article. The graphics in the game... you know, to hell with these graphics. Yes - terrible. Yes - outdated. It’s not pleasing to the eye one bit and, of course, doesn’t stand up to any comparison with the latest PC hits. But Rockstar North has one trump card in reserve - they have always been able to make amazing atmosphere, which can outshine even the most terrible graphics. This happened this time too - you practically don’t pay attention to the wretched and very primitive environment of San Andreas. After all, there are many much more interesting things here.

Replay value - yes

Cool story - yes

Originality - no

Easy to learn - yes

Meeting expectations: 100%

Gameplay: 9.0

Graphic arts: 6.0

Sound and music: 9.0

Interface and control: 8.0

Did you wait? A game of legend, a game of life, a game of discovery. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is capable of wrapping you in its tight embrace for many, many weeks. However, be careful: all this time you will be completely lost to the rest of the world.

5 minutes to read.

The Grand Theft Auto series of games from the popular company Rockstar won the hearts of computer game lovers a dozen years ago. Starting with the first generation consoles, everyone knew what GTA was, even if they themselves had never taken on the passage.

In 2004, the most successful and striking part was released, called “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”. The stunning atmosphere and complete freedom of action made the game a true classic of the genre, which all developers subsequently began to focus on.

It would seem that not so long ago “GTA: SA” looked great on PC, but phones were not suitable for games. But thanks to the sharp increase in the capabilities of mobile devices, the game was also released on Android.

Owners of phones and tablets received a full-fledged and official port, which, in addition to everything else, turned out to be of very high quality, which can rightfully be considered a real rarity. So why do we love the GTA series of games so much? We will try to analyze the main advantages of the “San Andreas” part, which can force those who have not yet been touched by it to become familiar with the game.

Game process

The first thing a user buys San Andreas for is its addictive gameplay. It’s worth noting right away that in GTA no one limits us in anything. In addition to tasks, we can freely move around a vast territory and do whatever we want.

There are still people who don’t know the storyline of part of San Andreas, since they came in simply to travel around the map or arrange a shootout with the police. Even this captivated me for many hours, not to mention completing quests that were done in a rather original way.

The quest system in San Andreas, like in most games, is divided into main missions and side missions. Some of them even have freedom of choice, which is very unusual for a game of that time. But this is not the most important thing. The basis of the game is the atmosphere of a criminal city, which is filled with intrigue and treachery, which can be seen as you progress.

Plot

San Andreas is a city divided into several quarters, each of which is ruled by its own local authorities. Some are fighting for their lives and want peace, while others are trying to seize power in the entire city. Groups regularly clash with each other, killing each other for the slightest offenses.

CJ is an ordinary guy who arrived in the city to join his friends, who are members of one of the most peaceful gangs, as it seems at first. But later it turns out that everything is not so simple and gangster life demonstrates its pitfalls. The main character is immediately captivated by an adventure full of shootouts, car thefts and fights with the police. And all this for the sake of order on the streets of San Andreas, despite the cruelty of the methods.

Graphics and music

It is unlikely that the visual component of the game for Android and iOS can impress anyone at the moment, since ten years have passed since its release. But even after a while, it looks nice and fits perfectly with the GTA style, which, by the way, is at a high level even by today's standards.

The huge San Andreas looks amazing, from the villages on the outskirts to the skyscrapers, the roof of which almost every player loved to climb. Android has completely adopted the graphics from the original, only slightly modifying and optimizing them, so this should be quite enough to enjoy the gameplay on a mobile device.

Rockstar's corporate identity has always been visible to the naked eye. This had a particularly strong impact on the entire GTA series. This is due to a set of wonderful soundtracks that stick in your memory from the first launch of the game.
Just remember the main menu with this relaxing and slightly pathetic motif, which fans still clearly remember. The Android version has completely retained the musical accompaniment, which can be considered a big plus of the game San Andreas.

Control

When discussing the Android and iOS versions of GTA, one cannot help but talk about controls. If PC owners at one time could freely play on the keyboard, then the phone can somewhat ruin the gaming experience. For those who immediately thought that playing on a small screen was uninteresting, we can immediately say that this is not so.

According to most, this is a matter of habit, since playing a similar game on a smartphone for the first time will really take some getting used to. Undoubtedly, San Andreas for Android and iOS is perfectly optimized and will not slow down at critical moments, but at first you will still miss the right keys.

GTA for Android and iOS uses standard virtual joystick control, which is located in the lower left corner. The panel on the right contains action buttons, such as punching or jumping. If the game starts to freeze, it is recommended to lower the graphics quality in the settings. This will provide good performance, but will not affect the beauty of the picture too much.

Bottom line

Having discussed in detail the part of the series called “San Andreas” for Android and iOS, we can draw conclusions. The game is obviously worth a look. It will appeal to both new players who have never encountered the series before, as well as users who completed the game a long time ago.

The familiar atmosphere will easily immerse you in a feeling of nostalgia, and freedom of action will allow you to simply walk the streets and do whatever the player wants, if there is no desire to go through old tasks again.

We tell you how and why you can play GTA V for 48 hours with a break only for a short nap and a snack. You won’t get tired like you do from other computer games (attention: possible spoilers)

This is where reality TV stars, paparazzi and heelers live. Judge for yourself...©

The Grand Theft Auto universe has 15 episodes. Each action corresponds to different time periods. For example, GTA 2, released in 1999, is set in 2013, as is GTA V, which we are talking about today. In the second part we actually played pranks in the future, in the fifth we encountered familiar trends and events. Selfies on smartphones, reality shows about those trying to become celebrities, and everything that GTA fans love - incredible action in a virtualized modern world.

The PC version, as always, was a long wait. The release was postponed several times, but we planned to write our impressions based on the PC version. Overall, there are 62 missions to complete, which will expand to 69 depending on key decisions you make. The game can have three endings. All this is spread over an area almost four times larger than the entire state from GTA San Andreas, or eight times larger than the territory of Liberty City from GTA IV.

GTA V has three main characters. Two of them are old-time bandits with experience, the third is a growing gangsta.

Michael de Santa (real name Michael Townley) is with his family under the protection of government agencies and owns a capital of a couple of million. Lives in the wealthy Rockford Hills area (the game's equivalent of Beverly Hills). A kind of retired mafioso.

Trevor Phillips, his best friend, is a former air force pilot and mentally unstable. He hates his redneck neighbors from the desert. These same redneck neighbors are terrified of him. With nothing to do, he can take over all the illegal businesses in the area (“Trevor Phillips Industries”).

Franklin Clinton is an African-American, before meeting Michael he works for an Armenian criminal car dealer, an aspiring participant in ghetto wars, lives on Grove Street (GTA San Andreas).

Each hero has his own unique charm and image. You can put a tuxedo on the hillbilly Trevor, and tattoo the heels of the retired bank robber, but the characters will retain their character. As always, the plot will not forget about the guys from the previous parts. “I know a guy from Eastern Europe...” is one such mention (GTA IV).

You can switch between heroes yourself, but sometimes in missions a script will do this for you. For example, while one is breaking into a building, the second is covering him with a sniper rifle from a nearby roof. Ultimately, you control both.

Centered: Switching radio stations

Bottom right: Character selection (the fourth is your character from the online version)

Bottom left: Minimap

If the characters are far from each other, the transition process looks like a “jump” through the satellite camera. If close, then with a slight slow-motion effect. We should note that sometimes the transition in missions fails and the game crashes. This happens regardless of whether you are playing on a licensed or pirated version. But out of the “planned” two “flights” only one happened. So don't get upset prematurely.

The heroes have their own special abilities: Michael shoots in bullet time (like Max Payne), Franklin drives a vehicle in bullet time, and Trevor goes berserk - he deals more damage and takes less (like ogres in Warcraft). To replenish the ability scale, you need to drive recklessly, drive at maximum speed and hit your opponents in the head. The remaining skills are general and made by analogy with the previous series: driving, endurance, lung capacity, shooting, etc.

All this can be used during missions. For example, robberies have variability and are included in the online version as a separate mode. You can rob a bank head-on or, at the right moment, replace the guards. With any option, you are guaranteed action and adrenaline.

Haven't played shooters for a long time? The first-person view will add simulator features to driving vehicles, and realism and ease of aiming to shooting.

In addition to tasks, in Los Santos and its surroundings you can kill time on many things: getting tattoos and hairstyles, tuning cars like in NFS Underground, going to strip clubs and pubs, robbing cash-in-transit trucks, buying a tank, or in a civilized way - taking bike rental. Unlike the linear principle, when you don’t have money for all this at the beginning of the game, here the heroes quickly make a fortune that you can spend.

Mini-games in everything from yoga classes to flirting with strippers

Following the fashion for variety, the game constantly contains mini-games. During yoga, press the arrows and move the mouse correctly; hold down the spacebar while touching the stripper until the guard sees it.

The pace of the game is very high. After recovering from the frantic chase in the mission, even on the way home you can get into anything. Dying in an accident is as easy as shelling pears, and it doesn’t matter whether you are a pedestrian or a driver. The car will explode from a strong impact, but falling from a motorcycle at a speed of 200... even virtuality does not survive this. The flight through the windshield was also left.

Driving any vehicle can be mastered in a couple of minutes. This applies to cars, tractors, tow trucks, airplanes, helicopters and even submarines. That is, the transport controls are arcade-style, but this is specifically made for entertainment and maintaining the pace of the game. Didn't calculate the distance between cars? It’s not scary, the body is only slightly crushed, and the speedometer needle shoots up quickly.

So many events happen in GTA V in a couple of minutes that it would be enough for a video for a cheaper computer game. You're walking your dog, throw a ball at a guy, and he attacks you. You fight back, they call the police, you run to steal a car, the driver hits you out of fright, the cops come, kills you, gets into another car, hits the tank, we're on fire, we jump out... and right under the pursuing car.

Avoiding the police is a little different now. For a minor violation you are given the first star. If you start to run away, you will immediately get a second one, allegedly for resisting arrest. The sixth star was removed, but the army with tanks on the protracted fifth star will be used.

Interestingly, if you drive fast enough, all the cars “lubricate” into their real-life counterparts. The entire GTA auto industry is the dream of a Chinese plagiarist automaker. And what about parodies of real brands? Pisswasser beer is just one of them.

The game is one of those that keeps you in the plot, without letting you go for a minute. This is a film where you act as a movie machine to run the film. Missions lead the narrative with virtually no time gaps. Video inserts with brilliant texts give you a moment’s respite and immediately plunge you headlong into new events.

The world of GTA will accidentally give you an escape from the police while giving a ride to two robbers, or participation in a bike ride with a crazy feminist. This whole action movie is so dynamic, which is probably why it became possible to save on the go, right from your mobile phone.

At the end of the game you will be shown statistics in the form of a psychiatrist’s diagnosis: how cruel, purposeful and balanced you are. The numbers are based on the number of kills and the social side of life - additional missions with family and other heroes are taken into account. However, something tells us that half of the points will still slide into the definition of “violent psychopath.” If only because in just one mission you will kill about fifty militants of a military organization, helping your best friend.

The game is so well thought out that even the trio of protagonists themselves look interesting. They didn’t meet by chance, they weren’t friends from the start, the writers brought them together exactly the way they brought them together, and only this originality makes you delve into the details of the game and delve into every new frame with rapture.

“After the release of GTA V on consoles a year and a half ago, it became clear that the appearance of a computer version, if it ever happened, would most likely not be very soon. To try GTA 5, I even borrowed a friend's console for a while. But just a couple of missions made it clear that the gamepad controls didn’t suit me at all. Controlling your aim with a joystick is not what Quake taught me.

I had to forget about it before it appeared on PC. I waited... In short, GTA V was very captivating. I don’t even remember the last time I played so much. It's impressive how much work the developers have done. I highly recommend it."

Grand Theft Auto V

Developer: Rockstar North

Grade:

Graphic arts

- rare flights

Publication date: 08/09/2013 16:04:40

Very soon - already in the fall of this year - the long-awaited fifth part of the best game series about robberies, car thefts and a large virtual world will be released. promises to make, if not a revolution in the segment of GTA-like games, which have long become a separate genre in the gaming industry, then at least a progressive evolution of the ideas originally laid down. Instantly switch between three available characters, a huge open world, larger in area than all released games from Rockstar combined, improved graphics and physics. It’s unlikely that anything on this list can be called a real breakthrough, but Rockstar are true to their course and make targeted cosmetic improvements from game to game, maintaining a huge audience of players in front of their screens.

Players will be welcomed into the warm embrace of sunny Los Angeles, that is, of course, Los Santos. We saw him back in 2004 - in. It's time to go back there and remember what it is like, the virtual state of San Andreas (of which one of the three cities, Los Santos, is an integral part), and in the future, compare it with what it offers us Rockstar in the fall of 2013 in a new wrapper.

CJ (Carl Johnson) is a former Los Santos ghetto criminal, a member of the Grove gang who participated in gang wars and was fully involved in the criminal life of his area. One fine day he decides to start a new life and moves to Liberty City, striving to be a typical tolerant and law-abiding American. But he doesn’t get to enjoy the freedom for long: in Los Santos, his mother (and before that his brother) dies at the hands of a rival gang, and Karl has to pack his bags and return to his native land. Immediately upon his arrival, Karl is faced with a harsh reality: local corrupt law enforcement officers take him “under the arms” and “hang” the murder on the hero, thus making him under his control and depriving him of any opportunity to return to the cozy Liberty City. This is where the saga of the adventures of the most famous Niger in the gaming industry begins.

This funny people

San Andreas is not just another GTA shootout. Here all possible stereotypes about American society come together in a wedge, which the developers masterfully ridicule throughout all fifteen hours of the game’s plot. The developers poured a huge concentration of satire and cynicism into almost every mission, filling them with a variety of funny characters and absurd situations. But in order to feel and understand the beauty of the work Rockstar has done, it is not enough to simply observe everything that is happening - you need to have a certain cultural baggage and understand the underbelly and essence of the society around us. For many, SA is just a banal children's entertainment, but this is on the surface and this is not an entirely correct opinion. Hidden behind the exciting gameplay and deliberate frivolity are powerful social allegories and deep parodies of modern American reality. Now it’s already on the Russian side, yes, because cross-cultural globalization has taken over the world.

Rockstar They parodied in SA everything that talented screenwriters could get their hands on and that could be squeezed into the volume of the game, limited by the time and resources of the game. Colorful archetypes, common in typical human communities that everyone encounters in real life, inextricably link the world of SA with the world of material reality. Players will definitely see many of the typical types present in society and laugh heartily at them. The game is filled with unique characters, which are collective images of real characters.

Tenpenny and Pulaski are hardened, seasoned, corrupt cops. Corrupt representatives of power, because of whom all the global problems in the world of SA are unleashed. Actually, this happens in real life. The confrontation with the government, which holds its population under its iron heel, runs like a red thread through the plot of SA. Although this storyline, like everything else in GTA, has been ridiculed and ridiculed, the topic raised by the developers is more relevant than ever now, and in Russia too.

The truth is that the graying elderly hippie, together with the government agent Toreno, vividly symbolize the popular conspiracy theories that are reflected in public opinion and the minds of ordinary people. Their unforgettable monologues sometimes make you wonder: maybe the colossal volumes of oil sales on Earth are really controlled by snake-headed aliens, and each inhabitant is monitored by twenty-two satellites at the same time? The missions that you have to complete with such charismatic characters are great and, obviously, would lose the lion's share of charm without their participation. I remember brilliant tasks involving jumping out of an airplane at an altitude of many kilometers, difficult training at a flight school, the theft of green dope and a flight pack, an escape from Pravda’s country farm, with the incidental burning of marijuana bushes. By the way, last year’s mission was quoted verbatim - this is a kind of tribute GTA SA from Ubisoft.

SA has a close connection with and - the characters of these projects wander from one game to another. Here is Catalina - the antagonist GTA 3– plays a small but prominent role in SA. She begins an affair with CJ, which does not end well, given the explosive temperament of the Latina. In this woman, many will easily see their girlfriend or already their wife. Constant nagging at the slightest reason, stirring up conflicts out of nowhere, passionate scenes of discord and reconciliation, ending in violent sex using unusual improvised means. Catalina rightfully deserves her place as the most charismatic woman in SA. Her sexual frustration and big broken heart will come back to haunt Claude, the main character. GTA 3– in the form of unexpected negative consequences, because in chronological order the actions of SA occur before the events GTA 3.

Karl will also meet other heroes from previous parts of the series. This is the memorable neurasthenic lawyer Ken Rosenberg, who once again gets into trouble. Now, instead of Tommy Vercetti, CJ will have to help him out of trouble, which he succeeds brilliantly - only thanks to the efforts of Karl, Ken can start a new life outside the state of San Andreas. Together with him, Karl saves the odious Ken Paul - a familiar chop for Tommy from Vice City. The well-known Italian mafioso Salvatore Leone is also present in the game, who will still do a lot of things in GTA 3. Karl also has a fruitful relationship with him.

The line of Zero, the nerdy nerd, is extremely funny. He has a “brutal” confrontation with his nemesis, Berkeley, a geek like himself. And their decisive battle, filled with deep drama, will take place on the battlefield... of toy models of military equipment. That's right, these brutal men will be measured by the size of the toy units they themselves produce. And only CJ can help in this unequal confrontation with Zero, which is what the player is invited to do during the passage of side missions. This is such a hello from Vice City, where the “toy” tasks were very numerous and frayed a lot of the players’ nerve cells.

But SA is not only brilliant social allegories and parodies. San Andreas is a gameplay orgasm, it is a concentration of all the best that the GTA series is loved for. A huge sandbox. A large open world with a lot of possibilities, where the player is free to do whatever he wants. Even now, in 2013, the world of SA seems quite large and there is still something to do in it. Despite the outdated combat mechanics and graphics, SA is still able to awaken in the soul those distant nostalgic memories when we spent days and nights exploring every nook and cranny of the state of San Andreas. And if you show SA to a person completely unfamiliar with games, he will no doubt be surprised by the richness of the world and the scope of possibilities.

San Andreas is a huge virtual state consisting of three large cities and a vast rural area between them. The cities are separated by majestic forests with multi-meter trees, tall mountains and endless deserts. When you go out into the city for the first time, you naturally get lost. I want to do everything: try out all the cars passing by, climb all the available buildings and visit all the entertainment venues. And there are a lot of them: a rocking chair where you can turn CJ into a steroid Ronnie Coleman without steroids - just by pressing buttons on the keyboard or gamepad; clothing stores, hairdressers, tattoo parlors and much more. The players instantly revealed a previously sleeping researcher who, with the scrupulousness of Nikolai Drozdov examining mating baboons, studied every square meter of the area, trying to find some secret secret. And there were a lot of them. In the very first days, the Internet and gaming magazines filled the information sections with Easter eggs, most of which were straight from the state of San Andreas. In magazines, sometimes several pages were devoted to their description - they were so numerous.

SA also has great possibilities for customizing the main character - if desired, you could make him into a natural gangster, tattooed and with a short haircut. Many were upset by the weak customization system in: Niko remained a migrant until the very end of the game, albeit dressed in an expensive suit. But here CJ can be anyone - thin, fat, fat, pumped up, he could even run naked through the streets and beat women surprised by their size with a huge purple phallus. It is incredibly pleasant to create your own unique character; the example of the popularity of Skyrim with its deep development of the customization system is very indicative here.

Having flown halfway across the state by plane, we parachute into the city center, where we transfer to an ultra-fast racing car, move to the helipad and hijack a helicopter - this is the most common situation in the game. Sophisticated players, of course, will come up with an even more intricate scheme for moving around the gigantic expanses of the world of SA. Maybe cross the state on a woman's bike? There are all types of transport that we can see in real life. There are even train go-karts. Some enthusiasts, having improved their cycling skills, could jump from roof to roof of low-rise buildings by pressing a couple of buttons. Leveling up brings the necessary variety to the gameplay and motivates you to develop further, because it is not just for show, but is actually useful in the gameplay. For example, if you constantly use submachine guns, then by the end of the game CJ becomes a real killer with two rapid-fire ultrasounds, wreaking death and chaos throughout the state.

The opportunity to fly a prototype of a vertical take-off military aircraft, the Hydra, deserves special mention. This flying unit gives you the opportunity to feel like you are in God Mode without cheats. Firing homing missiles from a great height at tanks defenseless from such an attack somewhere below, on the ground; enormous speed, developed at an incredible height, behind the clouds, very close to the beginning of outer space outside the planet - even Prototype did not allow one to feel omnipotent to such an extent.

San Andreas became the quintessence of all the erotic fantasies of players of that time. Do you want to have fun to your heart's content, and not have to pay anything for it? Please. Do you want a huge, detailed open world? Receive and sign. Do you want to make your own unique hero, with his own unique appearance and style of play? Here you go. For its time, SA was a real breakthrough, because there were no analogues. There were many attempts to repeat the success of SA, many imitators who tried to make a parody - their own GTA, but neither in quality nor in the number of fans, not a single game managed to even come close to SA. Ubisoft took note of the concept of an open, rich world, where it changed the setting to a medieval one and released a killer simulator with a hidden dagger. There are many more similar examples of other studios releasing “their own GTA”.

Refined gaming gourmets are very fond of calling the GTA series games “games for schoolchildren,” but we should not forget that it was GTA that introduced the fashion for the open world and gave birth to a bunch of imitators seeking to follow its path in the desire to gain commercial success. Not to mention the fact that both adults and people who are extremely far from games, who have never played anything other than GTA in their lives, enthusiastically play it. This is her enormous merit. Both the GTA series itself and SA became real phenomena in the gaming industry, promoting gaming culture to the masses, making games a part of the lives of many people, and for the first time showing the underbelly of society in a video game. They made many people look at themselves and at popular culture in a new way. You can work on some kind of breakthrough concept for years and, in the end, release a game that is excellent in some individual components, but when EVERYTHING is done at the highest level, with a huge number of successful game design and script moves, only Rockstar can do this. SA, in this case, is a perfect example.

Four years later Rockstar will release GTA 4, where it will move towards realism, making the new game even more similar to our life. There will be new realistic physics, improved graphics and a story even closer to reality, with serious motives in it. GTA 4 will be very different from the previous parts of the series, a lot can be said about it, but that, as they say, is a completely different story. And San Andreas will remain in the memory of players forever as one of the best open-world games with the widest possibilities. To doubt that GTA 5 will acquire such a high cult status as GTA SA, no need - Rockstar has never let us down.

Attention! This review was submitted by and passed on by user riddick
my own impression of the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The administration of the Gamer-Info portal is not responsible for the content of materials
provided by users. If you believe that these materials are in any way
violate your copyright - contact the portal administration.
You can also post your own review of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
by publishing it on your blog and getting a sufficient number of likes.