There’s nothing better than GTA SanAn!!!

OVERVIEW:-

Two years after the release of the mega-hit “Vice City”, Rockstar Games presents us with their last chapter in the Grand Theft Auto book, “San Andreas”. Set during the 90’s in the pseudo-California state, we hit the streets of three cities with Carl Johnson, our newly met gangster.

The title was surrounded by enormous hype during its development, and is widely recognised to have passed the expectations set upon it. This new addition to the Grand Theft Auto series has been warmly welcomed by the general public, and has strengthened Rockstar Games’ position at the head of the industry. It has also sold over 20 million copies to date, no small accomplishment.

Boasting partnerships with leaders of the entertainment industry such as Interscope Records and Universal Music, Rockstar aims to compliment their game with one of the strongest soundtracks ever in a video game.

In a press release ending the fiscal year of 2004, Take 2 Games announced the success of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The title alone brought in 54% of the fourth quarter sales of 2004. The latest sales numbers have passed $300 million, and the title has set records in the UK for the fastest selling video game title. According to NPDFunworldSM data, San Andreas was the top selling PlayStation 2 title in the United States in October and November 2004, and has so far brought in close to 30% more revenue than its predecessor Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

In an attempt to maximise exposure and bring the game to a wider market, Rockstar Games announced that it is planning a simulatenous release of San Andreas on PC and XBOX in the summer of 2005.

THE STORY:-

Grove Street Families are a diminishing gang in Los Santos, San Andreas. Everyday, their men get capped, the Ballas gain strength and Grove Street get weaker. Things have slowly gotten worse since Carl Johnson (Grove Street OG) left Los Santos for a new life in Liberty City five years ago. Sweet is Carl’s older brother, and heads up the Grove Street gang. Sweet blames Carl for the death of their younger brother Brian who was involved in an unfortunate accident all those years ago. Lack of weaponary, poor health because of drugs, a rapidly decreasing rate of respect and betrayal–have all led to Grove Street’s downfall. Grove Street OG’s Big Smoke and Ryder, are trying to setup a new drug business with the Loco Syndicate. The Loco Syndicate is run by Mike Toreno, a shady CIA agent. Jizzy B and T-Bone Mendez are also involved. Sweet refuses to take part, saying that it would damage the hood.
C.R.A.S.H
LSPD’s anti-gang unit

There is only one type of crime in Los Santos. Gang crime. It is upto Los Santos’ anti-gang unit (known as C.R.A.S.H) to end gangbanging and keep the city under control. The unit is led by Officer Frank Tenpenny and includes Officer Eddie Pulaski, and the unit’s newest recruit Jimmy Hernandez. Tenpenny and Pulaski are corrupt. The two cops believe that sometimes in order to get what you want, you have to work with the people you don’t like, doing things that aren’t exactly right. They pressurise Hernandez into killing Officer Ralph Pendelburry, who threatened to expose their methods.
Salvatore Leone
Don Salvatore Leone

In Liberty City – Carl Johnson is working for Joey Leone, and meanwhile Johnny Sindacco visits the Gentlemen’s Club to offer Salvatore Leone stakes at a casino in Venturas. This involves Salvatore pledging $5,000,000 to the Sindacco’s. The two gangs cannot decide who should run the casino and so Ken Rosenberg (once working with the Forelli’s down in Vice) is put forward as a neutral party. Rosenberg is stuck in the middle of 3 mob families, and if one mob hits another, the opposition will eliminate Ken. Also in Venturas, Triads have purchased the Four Dragons Casino but the Sindacco’s are looking to sabotage it’s opening.
Carl is arrested
Carl is arrested

Balla OG’s decide that it’s time to finish off Grove Street. The plan is to cap Grove Street’s leader, Sweet. The hit is made, but instead, Beverly Johnson is killed, and Sweet survives. Sweet calls Carl to announce his mother’s death, and Carl begins a journey back to his home town in Los Santos. Carl is welcomed by Officer Tenpenny, who has bullied Carl since before his leave for Liberty City. Carl is escorted to Front Yard Ballas territory, and later thrown from a moving police car. Carl finds himself dragged back into the gang life that he apparently once tried to leave behind. Welcome to San Andreas…

San Andreas is set in the early 1990’s–a very important time in Los Angeles’ history. The story focuses on the famous LA riots and the related rampart scandal. This involved a corrupt police force known as C.R.A.S.H, terrorising Los Angeles. The rampart scandal was ignited by Officer Rafael Perez–perhaps the base of Officer Tenpenny’s character. “The Introduction” DVD is exclusively available with purchase of the San Andreas Official Soundtrack Double CD.

TOP FEATURES:-

Welcome to San Andreas, USA.
“San Andreas, loosely based on California, is made up of 3 cities complete with countryside and desert in between.”

The first thing you’ll notice when playing the game is that San Andreas is a state, not a city. San Andreas, loosely based on California, is made up of 3 cities (each rougly the same size of Vice City) complete with countryside and desert in between. The latter 2 both include their own variety of missions to complete, as well as having Rockstar’s trademark stunts and rampages to check out in your spare time.
Gambling
High limit lovin’ in Las Venturas.

To compliment the new huge map, an extremely massive mountain has been thrown in. Every hill that Vice City lacked seems to have been rolled together into one huge-ass rock. Apparently it takes just under a minute to ascend the mountain in a helicopter. Sure to be fun riding down it!

Although Rockstar has (quite literally) sized up the competition with a huge expanse of land, they haven’t skipped over the small stuff. Vice City introduced snazzy new interiors that were both jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring. With an increased amount of time to work on San Andreas (a full extra year), Rockstar has promised to give us more of the same. More interiors means more buildings. SA is situated in a fuller and more diverse environment than in either GTA3 or Vice City – no more of those large lots of empty land or static buildings, as we experienced in Vice and GTA3.

Getting from point A to point B in style.
“SA is situated ia fuller and more diverse environment than in either GTA3 or Vice City.”

As well as bringing back classic GTA vehicles and introducing new ones to the mix, what many thought would never be found in a GTA game finally became reality – bikes. No, I’m not talking about more PCJ-600’s for you to blast around suburbia in, I’m talking about genuine, pedal-to-the-asphalt bicycles. BMX Bicycles, Mountain Bikes and Lowrider Bikes are all featured.
CJ Swimming
Swimming in Los Santos.

As well as bicycles, there is also area-specific vehicles. Just as the caddy’s were unique to Leaf Links (golf range) in Vice City, you can be certain that there will be many more specific modes of transportation only available in certain locales. 4-wheeler fun in the countryside, for example? You can also unlock special vehicles as you progress through the game.

One thing that many gamers have complained about is the fact that, since the beginning of the GTA series, you would drown even in knee-deep water. It seems that the boys at Rockstar have finally caved to our moaning and bitching, and have given us the ability to swim in San Andreas. Moving the left analog stick forward triggers the classic ‘Breaststroke’ movement. If you hold down the ‘X’ button whilst doing so, CJ will switch to freestyle mode, and swim a whole lot faster. However, this can only be done for a limited time, before his stamina runs out. CJ can also dive underwater, and witness the local marine life, by holding the ‘Circle’ button. Not only can CJ swim, but certain non-playable characters can swim too.

Making the most of your time.
“Robbing houses will involve the risk of being caught by the police.”

Gruppe Sechs may have their hands full with security now that home robberies have been added. Details are still a bit sketchy on how you’ll go about breaking and entering (and looting and pillaging like a drunken pirate), but we do know that it won’t be an easy task. Skill and planning will both be necessities of any home robbery.
Robbery taking place
A robbery takes place.

Finding firepower to assist you in your escapades shouldn’t be a problem, though. According to Dan Houser, a “whole crapload” of new weapons have been added to your arsenal in the game. How many and what type? All of the weapons fit into the early 90’s era that San Andreas exists in. (Sorry, folks – that means the electro-gun from GTA2 won’t be making a comeback)

To make the most out of an increased variety of guns (and swords and chainsaws and bats and flamethrowers), 4-person drive-by’s have been added. We’ve seen a preview of such in one of the first official screenshots released by Rockstar, and it’s a mighty impressive bit of action to incorporate into San Andreas.

More side-missions (along the lines of Vigilante, Fire Truck, Paramedic and so on) are included in San Andreas. So even after you’re done the main storyline, you can rush back and do even more in the months afterwards.
Four-person drive-by shooting
Multiple-person drive-by shooting.

As well as the standard health and armor pickups from previous games, you will also have to maintain a healthy diet. Eating will affect your stamina, and depending on what you eat (and how much of it), there will be some pretty interesting results. For example, if you eat too much fast food, your ass is going to swell up like a hot air balloon. Weight gain will affect not only your energy, but will keep you from being able to partake in some missions. Pedestrians will also react to your doughnut-like physique. It’s a cruel world, isn’t it?

To keep you from becoming a walking Goodyear blimp, you now have the ability to train at the gym and shed that flab, build some muscle and become a rippling symbol of masculinity. Riding a bike for prolonged periods of time will have a similar affect.

MINDBLOWING SOUNDTRACK:-

San Andreas features 11 radio stations, each radio station sporting its own unique flavour and style. The radio stations are complimented by 20 different DJs appearing in the soundtrack. In comparison to Vice City, San Andreas features a remarkable three times as much music. In addition, there are three times as many radio commercials as there are in GTA Vice City.

The radio stations are setup dynamically, putting an end to looping tracks. Players will also be able to hear accurate weather bulletins, seperate lead-ins and lead-outs depending on the DJ, but best of all, accurate news updates! So be sure to listen to the WCTR news after completing every 2 or 3 missions. Many controversial radio and TV personalities have also brought their talent to the table, such as Lazlow and Wil Wheaton.

In order to bring as much flavour as possible to the table, Rockstar Games have partnered up with Interscope Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. This joint collaboration will also be yielding a San Andreas soundtrack, expected to hit shelves November 23rd. The double CD versionwill feature “a mix of select tracks from San Andreas’ many in-game radio stations,” if that doesn’t suit your fancy, a massive boxset of 8 CDs will also be available.

“Fans of the blockbuster series can expect the soundtrack to cover the full spectrum of music genres and reflect the sound, vibe and feel of the FM radio dial from the early 1990’s period,” stated Terry Donovan, CEO of Rockstar Games. “The in-game radio stations featured in Grand Theft Auto have been one of the most celebrated and revolutionary aspects of the game since its inception. Through our partnership with Interscope Records, we are confident that the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack will continue to reach new standards of excellence and creativity, and will exceed anything that the video game industry or Hollywood have ever produced in terms of size, scope and depth.”

“We are happy to be working with Rockstar Games on the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” said Jimmy Iovine, Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records. “I believe that the enormous effort both companies have made in putting the soundtrack together has resulted in something truly special that will be reflected in both the game and the soundtrack albums.”- Take2 Interactive

THE VIDEOS:-

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