Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

...It's an epic! "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" has to be the greatest video game ever made. I've been playing the game almost everyday since it dropped on October 26th and I'm still not even half way through it. That goes to show you just HOW MUCH thought and detail was put into its production.

While this "GTA" title is a massive improvement over the previous two, it doesn't just surpass them in terms of graphics and gameplay, it surpasses them by building on the many things that made them great in the first place, and then some.

I've been a massive fan and player of the "GTA" titles on the PS2 since the revolutionary "Grand Theft Auto III" was released in 2001 and its 1980s prequel/sequel "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," which dropped in the early fall of 2002.

"GTA: SA" puts a lot of its focus on Carl "C.J." Johnson, who returns to the city of San Andreas and the minute he steps off the plane, he runs into trouble. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt cops who have him set up to take the fall in the murder of a police officer, and C.J. finds that his old neighborhood of Ganton is in shambles.

His mother has passed, many of his childhood friends are into gangbanging, and many of the families have since dissolved their relationships with one another. What follows is a statewide odyssey for C.J. that will take him out of his Ganton ghetto and into the flash and glitter of the casinos in Las Venturas a la Las Vegas.

From the get-go, you're entranced by a thoughtful storyline that has you doing a lot more than just missions so that you can earn "respect"; you become a significant part of the story, or more accurately, you become the story. Whereas the previous two titles had you doing things to further your position, not a whole lot of weight or thought was put into your motivations in those games.

It is true that this game was heavily influenced by the hip hop culture of the 90s, and many rap artists are prominently featured on the soundtrack, including Dr. Dre, Snoop [Doggy] Dogg, Public Enemy (Chuck D is the "Forth Right MC"), Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. & Rakim, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, 2Pac, and N.W.A. And also, references to many "'hood" movies from this time are in abundance, namely "South Central," "Menace II Society," and "Boyz N the Hood" (be on the lookout for a "Tre" look-alike wandering about).

10/10