Grand Theft Auto is a modern-day Super Mario Brothers. Regardless of what you may think of the games, the GTA series (from the third installment on) was the impetus for today’s current videogame renaissance. Sure, games like Halo and Zelda have sold and will continue to sell like hotcakes, but GTA, by and large, made gaming cool again. For over two years, GTA was the ultimate console exclusive. For non-PC gamers, the PS2 was the only way to get your GTA fix. Was. It took some time, but Grand Theft Auto eventually made its way to the Xbox. Like most dual-system ports, the game benefited from the extra power under the hood of Microsoft’s machine. Load times were dramatically decreased, detail increased, and custom soundtrack tunes available to compliment the amazing radio station collection. The Xbox version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had quite a tall order to follow; feature more upgrades with a lot less development time. A little over six months after it’s initial release, Rockstar has dropped GTA:SA on the Xbox. Is it time once again for PS2 owners to turn green with envy, or will a substandard port a la Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance make Xbox fans red with embarrassment?

Story:

For the first time, a GTA game is not based on a Mafia-centered quest. Instead, Rockstar chose to tackle a much more serious subject- gang violence in the early nineties (That’s not to say the Mafia isn’t serious, but have you seen any HBO shows based on the Bloods vs. Crips?). Carl Johnson, better known to his friends as CJ, returns from Liberty City to his hometown of Los Santos, San Andreas upon hearing the news that his mother has just died. Unfortunately, CJ’s return isn’t received very well- his friends are wary of his commitment to the neighborhood, and police officers have him pegged as the main suspect/victim as they try to frame him for the murder of a fellow man in blue. Truth be told, although it’s historically relevant, using cop-killing as a plot point in a GTA game is kinda weak, since you’ll be offing a copious amount of them throughout the course of GTA:SA.

While GTA:SA managed to completely capture the unique urban society of the West Coast in the 1990’s (it really feels like an extended Dr. Dre music video), the game isn’t as fulfilling in terms of storyline as the other two on the Xbox. For one thing, the aforementioned seriousness of the setting doesn’t allow for as much humor- there are some hilarious moments, but they don’t come quite as often. Also, despite what VH1 may want you to think, the nineties are still too ripe to be plucked for nostalgic purposes. Perhaps it’s because the 80’s-themed Vice City was just so entertaining that GTA:SA just lacks comparative ambiance.

While you may connect with the deeper and darker overtones of GTA:SA, as the game adds a very human element to the series with it’s themes of gang-violence, inter-racial relationships and coping with death, the relative lack of humor and nostalgia may be off-putting for some fans.

Gameplay:

Although, the gameplay in the GTA series, at its core, has seen little evolution (it’s still killin’ and drivin’, for the most part), the degree to which it has expanded is astounding. Case in point: GTA III had boats and automobiles as the only methods of transportation. San Andreas, on the other hand, allows you to use planes (featuring skydiving), helicopters, motorcycles, bikes- heck, you can even use a jetpack in GTA:SA! On top of all of those, your character can now swim, which means that water no longer equates to instant death. One could argue that due to these additions, San Andreas is a much more dimensional game than GTA III (and Vice City, which only had cumbersome helicopters and biplanes to fly around in) in terms of exploration.

Unfortunately it seems the same cannot be said for combat. Despite the addition of new combos, hand-to-hand combat is still very basic and cumbersome. The aiming system has received an overhaul and now plays more like its partner in Rockstar crime, Manhunt. While it works quite well for that stealth-focused game, the aiming system doesn’t work quite as well in GTA:SA, especially when there are multiple characters on the screen. On the plus side, a manual aiming mechanism has been added, and it works quite well in its first implementation, allowing you to attempt previously impossible feats like point-blank head-shots and destroying vehicles with a single bullet to the gas tank. If you’re accustomed to the PS2 controls, a word of warning. The lack of an extra set of shoulder buttons relegates some actions to the still-awkward black and white buttons, and there’s no configuration option to change the control presets.