2 of 5

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 4

role playing system onto the game. You have several characteristics that can change throughout the game, depending on what you do. In reference to what I was saying above about image, your stamina and fat play a part. Your stamina, for example, reflects how far you can sprint before you tire. Your body fat also plays a part in this, but your body fat also plays a part in your image. Your image is important to two main groups of people your compatriots and potential girlfriends.

But you will also have to build up various other skills and attributes: shooting weapons, driving cars will help during missions. Each mission passed will add 'respect' which in turn enables you to control gangs of more members. A lot of the attributes don't directly affect the way you play the game with one or two exceptions. For example, there is a BMX challenge at a bike park which you cannot attempt until your bike riding skill is high enough. Likewise, each of the four girlfriends you can date within the game will require a certain combination of fat and muscle (controlling these involves eating or going to the gym). All of your stats and attributes are available at any time using the 'Tab' key within the game or the 'Stats' option on the main menu.

Gameplay is comparable to earlier GTA3 games in terms of missions, but I thought that some of the later missions in San Andreas were a lot more difficult than GTA3 or Vice City and in particular some of the flying missions caused me to swear quite a bit. However, just as with the previous games, if/when you run into a mission that you can't complete you can wander around the cities or countryside exploring or getting some extra cash until you want to attempt the mission again.

The vehicles handle differently and you'll soon find a favourite for whizzing around the cities and countryside. I particularly like the monster truck or one of the more powerful motorcycles.

When I first installed and played the game, I had an issue with my graphics card drivers where running San Andreas would "crash" the graphics card and force it to restart (no, I don't understand it either). This didn't actually seem to make any difference to the game in terms of graphics though, and often I didn't realise what had happened until I had quit the game and there was a popup message explaining what had happened. Where I have had more than a few issues, though, is with the sound. There are times where an element of the audio will drop out. If a cut-scene that explains

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Video game reviews: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?
We want to hear your view. Write now!