The Main Character CJ(CarlJohnson)Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by Rockstar North. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and fifth original game overall. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004, the game has since been ported to the Xbox and Microsoft Windows, and has received wide acclaim and high sales figures on all three platforms. San Andreas was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Set in 1992,[4] the game revolves around the main character, Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home to Los Santos after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his family and his old gang, the Grove Street Families, in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother's murder while reestablishing his gang and exploring his own business ventures.
Much like the previous entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas's critical and commercial success has not been without controversy; explicit hidden content in the game resulted in the game's re-rating and subsequent removal from many retailers' shelves.
Contents[hide]
1 History
2 Gameplay
3 Locations and setting
3.1 Los Santos
3.2 San Fierro
3.3 Las Venturas
4 Characters
5 Plot summary
5.1 Crossovers with other Grand Theft Auto games
6 Differences in gameplay from previous titles
6.1 New features
7 Soundtrack
8 Reception
8.1 Sales
9 Hot Coffee controversy
10 Myths
11 The Introduction
12 References
13 External links
//
[edit] History
Following the success of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, many gamers anticipated a new Grand Theft Auto game on the PlayStation 2 in late 2003. The first concrete evidence of a new installment came on October 29, 2003, when Take-Two Interactive announced that an untitled GTA game was set for release in the "later half of the fiscal fourth quarter 2004".[5] By this time, pundits online had theorized about the plot of the game; it would either be based in the fictional city of San Andreas, California in the modern day, or in Sin City, Nevada.
On March 1, 2004, Take-Two announced in a press conference that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would be released on October 19, 2004 in North America, October 22 in Europe, and October 29 for Australia.[6] The first news of the game's content was revealed on March 11, when it was divulged that San Andreas would not be a city, but rather an entire state consisting of three whole cities and the surrounding territory.
On September 9, 2004, in Take-Two's third quarter financial results for 2004, it was announced that the release date would be pushed back by a week. In the same release, Take-Two announced the Microsoft Windows and Xbox versions of the game.
San Andreas was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2004 in North America and on October 29, 2004 in Europe and Australia. It was released in Japan on January 25, 2007.[7] The Windows and Xbox ports were released on June 7, 2005 in North America and June 10, 2005 in Europe and Australia.
[edit] Gameplay
Mountain biking up Mount Chiliad, PC version.
San Andreas is structured similarly to the previous two games in the series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming (the first GTA game in which swimming is possible), climbing and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand to hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, airplanes, helicopters, trains, tanks, motorcycles and bikes.
The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain cities and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and create havoc. However, doing so can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities. The more chaos caused, the stronger the response: police will handle minor infractions, whereas SWAT teams, the FBI, and the military respond to higher wanted levels.
The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, such as dropping off taxi cab passengers, putting out fires, driving injured people to the hospital and fighting crime as a vigilante. New additions include robbery missions, truck and train driving missions requiring players to make deliveries on time, and driving/flying/boating/biking schools, which help players learn skills and techniques to use in their corresponding vehicles.
[edit] Locations and setting
A map showing the aerial imagery of San Andreas.
Main article: San Andreas (Grand Theft Auto)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas takes place within the fictional state San Andreas. It is based on sections of California and Nevada, comprising three major fictional cities: Los Santos and the badlands correspond to real-life Los Angeles and the California badlands; San Fierro corresponds to real-life San Francisco; and Las Venturas and the surrounding desert corresponds to real-life Las Vegas and the Nevada desert. Players can climb the a half-mile (800 m) tall Mount Chiliad (based on Mount Diablo), parachute from various peaks and skyscrapers, and visit 12 rural towns and villages located in three counties: Red County, Flint County, and Bone County. Other notable destinations include a massive dam (based on the Hoover Dam), a large secret military base called Area 69 (based on Area 51), a microwave dish, and many other geographical features. Previous Grand Theft Auto titles are set in a single city, whereas the events of San Andreas span the entire state. San Andreas is approximately 17 square miles (44 square kilometers), almost four times as large as Vice City, and five times as large as Liberty City.
[edit] Los Santos
Main article: Los Santos, San Andreas
Los Santos, as seen from the low-income district of Idlewood.
Los Santos is the largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Los Angeles, Los Santos is comprised of several diverse areas. This includes the gang-ridden neighborhoods of Ganton, Willow Field, Jefferson, Idlewood and East Los Santos, based on their actual counterparts of Compton, Willowbrook, Watts, Inglewood, and East Los Angeles, respectively. Also located in the city is a busy downtown section based on Downtown Los Angeles; the wealthy Rodeo and Mulholland districts (Rodeo based on Beverly Hills and named after Rodeo Drive); the beach-side districts of Santa Maria Beach and Verona Beach, representing Santa Monica and Venice Beach; and the glitzy Vinewood and the giant Vinewood Sign are based on Hollywood and its Hollywood Sign. Los Santos features landmarks reminiscent of Los Angeles, which include the Watts Towers, the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Capitol Tower, the U.S. Bank Tower, the Griffith Observatory, the Forum, the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and Grauman's Chinese Theater.
[edit] San Fierro
Main article: San Fierro, San Andreas
Gant Bridge, modeled after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
San Fierro is the smallest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of San Francisco, San Fierro is characterized by a prominent cable car system and hilly terrain. San Fierro features several interpretations of many of San Francisco's districts and landmarks, including the Haight-Ashbury district (Hashbury), the Castro district (Queens), Chinatown, and the Golden Gate Bridge (Gant Bridge). Several other familiar landmarks have been recreated, from the Embarcadero clock tower and the Transamerica Pyramid (Big Pointy Building) to Lombard Street (Windy Windy Windy Windy Street), and the San Francisco Bay Bridge (Garver Bridge). There is a district known as 'Garcia', a tribute to Grateful Dead frontman and San Francisco native Jerry Garcia,[citation needed] and San Fierro's City Hall closely resembles San Francisco's ornate city hall. San Fierro also contains remains of the Cypress Street Viaduct which collapsed in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake. There is also an amphibious assault ship in San Fierro, docked at the naval base.
[edit] Las Venturas
Main article: Las Venturas, San Andreas
A casino on Las Venturas' main strip.
Las Venturas is the second-largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Las Vegas, Las Venturas is home to legalized gambling and several casinos. In these casinos, the player can partake in blackjack, poker, roulette, or play slot machines. In addition to gambling, strip clubs are also prevalent in Las Venturas. Many real Las Vegas Strip casinos are faithfully interpreted on Las Venturas' Strip, including the Excalibur Hotel and Casino (Come-a-Lot), the Sphinx and pyramid of the Luxor Hotel (The Camel's Toe), Treasure Island (Pirates In Men's Pants), The Mirage (The Visage), Circus Circus (The Clown's Pocket), Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (V-Rock Hotel and Casino), and Imperial Palace (Four Dragons Casino). Other landmarks include a replica of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and interpretations of Vegas Vic and Vicki[8] as Vice City characters Avery Carrington and Candy Suxxx. Suites in several of the hotels are available for purchase. Additionally, Las Venturas features a large surrounding desert region, low-density residential areas, and strip malls, as well as a seedy area (Old Venturas) with several strip clubs and gambling parlors based on the Old Vegas Strip.
[edit] Characters
Main articles: List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and List of gangs in Grand Theft Auto series
The characters that appear in San Andreas are relatively diverse and relative to the respective cities and locales which each of them based himself in. This allows the game to include a significantly wider array of storylines and settings than in Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. The player controls Carl "CJ" Johnson, a young African-American gang member.
The Los Santos stages of the game revolve around the theme of the Grove Street Families gang fighting with the Ballas and the Vagos for territory and respect. East Asian gangs (most notably the local Triads) and an additional Vietnamese gang are evident in the San Fierro leg of the game, while three Mafia families and the Triads who all own their respective casino are more prominently featured in the Las Venturas section of the game.
Like the previous two GTA games, the voice actors of San Andreas include notable celebrities, such as David Cross, Andy Dick, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Peter Fonda, Charlie Murphy, Frank Vincent, Chris Penn, Danny Dyer, Sara Tanaka, rappers Ice T, Chuck D, Kid Frost, MC Eiht and The Game and musicians George Clinton, Axl Rose and Shaun Ryder.[9]
Set in 1992,[4] the game revolves around the main character, Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home to Los Santos after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his family and his old gang, the Grove Street Families, in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother's murder while reestablishing his gang and exploring his own business ventures.
Much like the previous entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas's critical and commercial success has not been without controversy; explicit hidden content in the game resulted in the game's re-rating and subsequent removal from many retailers' shelves.
Contents[hide]
1 History
2 Gameplay
3 Locations and setting
3.1 Los Santos
3.2 San Fierro
3.3 Las Venturas
4 Characters
5 Plot summary
5.1 Crossovers with other Grand Theft Auto games
6 Differences in gameplay from previous titles
6.1 New features
7 Soundtrack
8 Reception
8.1 Sales
9 Hot Coffee controversy
10 Myths
11 The Introduction
12 References
13 External links
//
[edit] History
Following the success of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, many gamers anticipated a new Grand Theft Auto game on the PlayStation 2 in late 2003. The first concrete evidence of a new installment came on October 29, 2003, when Take-Two Interactive announced that an untitled GTA game was set for release in the "later half of the fiscal fourth quarter 2004".[5] By this time, pundits online had theorized about the plot of the game; it would either be based in the fictional city of San Andreas, California in the modern day, or in Sin City, Nevada.
On March 1, 2004, Take-Two announced in a press conference that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would be released on October 19, 2004 in North America, October 22 in Europe, and October 29 for Australia.[6] The first news of the game's content was revealed on March 11, when it was divulged that San Andreas would not be a city, but rather an entire state consisting of three whole cities and the surrounding territory.
On September 9, 2004, in Take-Two's third quarter financial results for 2004, it was announced that the release date would be pushed back by a week. In the same release, Take-Two announced the Microsoft Windows and Xbox versions of the game.
San Andreas was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2004 in North America and on October 29, 2004 in Europe and Australia. It was released in Japan on January 25, 2007.[7] The Windows and Xbox ports were released on June 7, 2005 in North America and June 10, 2005 in Europe and Australia.
[edit] Gameplay
Mountain biking up Mount Chiliad, PC version.
San Andreas is structured similarly to the previous two games in the series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming (the first GTA game in which swimming is possible), climbing and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand to hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, airplanes, helicopters, trains, tanks, motorcycles and bikes.
The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain cities and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and create havoc. However, doing so can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities. The more chaos caused, the stronger the response: police will handle minor infractions, whereas SWAT teams, the FBI, and the military respond to higher wanted levels.
The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, such as dropping off taxi cab passengers, putting out fires, driving injured people to the hospital and fighting crime as a vigilante. New additions include robbery missions, truck and train driving missions requiring players to make deliveries on time, and driving/flying/boating/biking schools, which help players learn skills and techniques to use in their corresponding vehicles.
[edit] Locations and setting
A map showing the aerial imagery of San Andreas.
Main article: San Andreas (Grand Theft Auto)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas takes place within the fictional state San Andreas. It is based on sections of California and Nevada, comprising three major fictional cities: Los Santos and the badlands correspond to real-life Los Angeles and the California badlands; San Fierro corresponds to real-life San Francisco; and Las Venturas and the surrounding desert corresponds to real-life Las Vegas and the Nevada desert. Players can climb the a half-mile (800 m) tall Mount Chiliad (based on Mount Diablo), parachute from various peaks and skyscrapers, and visit 12 rural towns and villages located in three counties: Red County, Flint County, and Bone County. Other notable destinations include a massive dam (based on the Hoover Dam), a large secret military base called Area 69 (based on Area 51), a microwave dish, and many other geographical features. Previous Grand Theft Auto titles are set in a single city, whereas the events of San Andreas span the entire state. San Andreas is approximately 17 square miles (44 square kilometers), almost four times as large as Vice City, and five times as large as Liberty City.
[edit] Los Santos
Main article: Los Santos, San Andreas
Los Santos, as seen from the low-income district of Idlewood.
Los Santos is the largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Los Angeles, Los Santos is comprised of several diverse areas. This includes the gang-ridden neighborhoods of Ganton, Willow Field, Jefferson, Idlewood and East Los Santos, based on their actual counterparts of Compton, Willowbrook, Watts, Inglewood, and East Los Angeles, respectively. Also located in the city is a busy downtown section based on Downtown Los Angeles; the wealthy Rodeo and Mulholland districts (Rodeo based on Beverly Hills and named after Rodeo Drive); the beach-side districts of Santa Maria Beach and Verona Beach, representing Santa Monica and Venice Beach; and the glitzy Vinewood and the giant Vinewood Sign are based on Hollywood and its Hollywood Sign. Los Santos features landmarks reminiscent of Los Angeles, which include the Watts Towers, the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Capitol Tower, the U.S. Bank Tower, the Griffith Observatory, the Forum, the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and Grauman's Chinese Theater.
[edit] San Fierro
Main article: San Fierro, San Andreas
Gant Bridge, modeled after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
San Fierro is the smallest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of San Francisco, San Fierro is characterized by a prominent cable car system and hilly terrain. San Fierro features several interpretations of many of San Francisco's districts and landmarks, including the Haight-Ashbury district (Hashbury), the Castro district (Queens), Chinatown, and the Golden Gate Bridge (Gant Bridge). Several other familiar landmarks have been recreated, from the Embarcadero clock tower and the Transamerica Pyramid (Big Pointy Building) to Lombard Street (Windy Windy Windy Windy Street), and the San Francisco Bay Bridge (Garver Bridge). There is a district known as 'Garcia', a tribute to Grateful Dead frontman and San Francisco native Jerry Garcia,[citation needed] and San Fierro's City Hall closely resembles San Francisco's ornate city hall. San Fierro also contains remains of the Cypress Street Viaduct which collapsed in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake. There is also an amphibious assault ship in San Fierro, docked at the naval base.
[edit] Las Venturas
Main article: Las Venturas, San Andreas
A casino on Las Venturas' main strip.
Las Venturas is the second-largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Las Vegas, Las Venturas is home to legalized gambling and several casinos. In these casinos, the player can partake in blackjack, poker, roulette, or play slot machines. In addition to gambling, strip clubs are also prevalent in Las Venturas. Many real Las Vegas Strip casinos are faithfully interpreted on Las Venturas' Strip, including the Excalibur Hotel and Casino (Come-a-Lot), the Sphinx and pyramid of the Luxor Hotel (The Camel's Toe), Treasure Island (Pirates In Men's Pants), The Mirage (The Visage), Circus Circus (The Clown's Pocket), Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (V-Rock Hotel and Casino), and Imperial Palace (Four Dragons Casino). Other landmarks include a replica of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and interpretations of Vegas Vic and Vicki[8] as Vice City characters Avery Carrington and Candy Suxxx. Suites in several of the hotels are available for purchase. Additionally, Las Venturas features a large surrounding desert region, low-density residential areas, and strip malls, as well as a seedy area (Old Venturas) with several strip clubs and gambling parlors based on the Old Vegas Strip.
[edit] Characters
Main articles: List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and List of gangs in Grand Theft Auto series
The characters that appear in San Andreas are relatively diverse and relative to the respective cities and locales which each of them based himself in. This allows the game to include a significantly wider array of storylines and settings than in Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. The player controls Carl "CJ" Johnson, a young African-American gang member.
The Los Santos stages of the game revolve around the theme of the Grove Street Families gang fighting with the Ballas and the Vagos for territory and respect. East Asian gangs (most notably the local Triads) and an additional Vietnamese gang are evident in the San Fierro leg of the game, while three Mafia families and the Triads who all own their respective casino are more prominently featured in the Las Venturas section of the game.
Like the previous two GTA games, the voice actors of San Andreas include notable celebrities, such as David Cross, Andy Dick, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Peter Fonda, Charlie Murphy, Frank Vincent, Chris Penn, Danny Dyer, Sara Tanaka, rappers Ice T, Chuck D, Kid Frost, MC Eiht and The Game and musicians George Clinton, Axl Rose and Shaun Ryder.[9]
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