Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

The last section of the game takes Carl back to Los Santos, and back to the Gang War system. Taking turf from rival gangs can be fun, once you learn your way around it. But a number of foibles in the game conspire against this: Grove Street gang members you recruit for help are utterly worthless, ruining your aim and dying at the drop of a hat; the intricate urban landscape sometimes leads to your enemies spawning in, or pathing to, ridiculously out-of-your-way places; your turf comes "under attack" from time to time, creating a wholly unnecessary distraction that can run you all the way across the city. Gang wars also highlight one of the bigger balancing issues in the game - you don't have all that much health, and guns do a ton of damage, so turf showdowns (and several firefight missions, too) really just boil down to who gets in range first.

Los Santos is really the weakest of the game's three cities, with confused roadway planning and the stupid danger of being shot up just driving through rival gang territory, so it's a shame that San Andreas both starts and ends on this note. Especially in the end (mild spoilers), as the city begins to riot. Cops are everywhere, hookers start pulling pistols, cars will randomly stop, then explode. And this is when the game chooses to task you with acquiring more gang territory (in order to unlock the final mission), adding more layers of difficulty on top of an already touchy mechanic.

At times, San Andreas seemed determined to enhance the sense of suffering in my gameplay experience. I think this is mostly a coincidental side-effect of a number of design oversights, from the difficulties I described above, to the frequent messenger missions that sent me way across the map, to the dangerously-awkward flight controls (who knew landing a jet was so hard?), to lengthy and utterly unforgiving multi-phase missions. The final mission probably took me 30-45 minutes from start to finish, and a few segments of it I got through just by the skin of my teeth. If I'd had to retry it, I... well, I'm really glad I didn't have to retry it.

I think San Andreas makes some important points about sequels, adding new features, and refining existing ones. Though there was some incremental development in filling obvious holes from GTA3 and Vice City (namely swimming), a lot of the effort that went into this game was clearly in pursuit of new stuff, like character stats, gangs, and girlfriends. Sometimes this paid off in the form of new ways to have fun in GTA, but the times when it didn't were made especially frustrating by legacy problems, like fussy aiming and losing all your guns and ammo when you die. (San Andreas's unlockable for avoiding this death penalty is easier to get than in the previous games, but you still need to unlock it.) It's an interesting counterpoint to GTA4, which also added new features (like TV! and bowling!), but is more remarkable for reinventing and polishing the core game engine, to great benefit.

One last thing I want to mention is our hero, Carl Johnson. In the game's final act, he had some character development that made him relatable and likeable; but up until that point, I was utterly unsympathetic toward him and his plights. Even when he was just being bossed around by megalomaniacal gangsters and cops and latino women, Carl's character really seemed to enjoy stealing, killing, and generally inciting conflict. Sure, that's what the GTA games are all about, but while Tommy Vercetti and Niko Bellic were big dreamers who weren't afraid to get their hands dirty, CJ struck me as more interested in his means than his ends, which was ultimately less engaging for me. Maybe that makes me racist.

Anyway - in spite of the game's considerable flaws, it is fun. The missions are spread a bit thin across the entirely-too-big map, but the new stuff is entertaining, and the important parts of the GTA3 formula are still intact here. It's unfortunate that San Andreas's start, in Los Santos and Red County, is such a turn-off; but if you can get past that, there is some real fun to be had here.

Progress: Finished the story missions