First Look: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Haircuts? Clothes shopping? Is this GTA or "Queer Eye for the Urban Thug?"
With the impending release of the hotly anticipated GTA: San Andreas looming close on the fall horizon, developer Rockstar Games has given Gamepro.com an advanced peek at several cool new features that put an interesting slant on the old kill, steal and destroy motif of the previous GTA titles by infusing an even higher degree of freedom and customization to the perverse proceedings.
Clothes Make the Crook
In GTA: San Andreas, looking tough is just as important as acting tough. Every person you encounter in your criminal adventures will react differently to your appearance and to changes in your personal style, making first impressions all the more important. Dressing fashionably will do more than just boost your ego and flaunt your ill-gotten wealth, as your appearance will directly affect the level of respect you receive from your peers and enemies and can sometimes even mean the difference between life and death.
When your character, CJ, first returns to Los Santos in the beginning of the game he?ll only have access to a very sparse and decidedly non-baller wardrobe, so people he initially meets will treat him accordingly as a scrubby run-of-the-mill hoodlum. However, as you progress in your deviant undertakings and begin to make some serious cash CJ will be able to purchase all sorts of clothing from different stores located throughout the city, from simple jeans and sneakers outfits at discount stores like Binco, to tight looking name brand sports gear from expensive chains like ProLaps. You can even buy new haircuts and beard styles (including afros, jheri-curls and cornrow braids) from local barbershops as part of your bid to be the hottest murdering metro sexual in town.
As CJ begins to improve his look, both his homies and the women of San Andreas will begin to take notice -- but so will his enemies. Proudly sporting the colors of your gang, the Orange Grove Families, will earn you tons of respect amongst your peers and CJ will start to command more authority with his crew. However, identifying yourself as a gang member to prove your allegiance can also have serious repercussions with brutal cops keeping a watchful eye on you and rival gangs constantly gunning for you in deadly drive-by shootings.
CJ will also have access to non-gang style clothing (some of which will be important for specific missions) that will still illicit unique responses from people you encounter by making friends or frightening and intimidating the people around you. You can change back into any clothing you have purchased throughout the course of the game by simply returning to your safe house and rummaging through your closet ?- its all there and ready to be mixed and matched at any time into a myriad of combinations according to discerning tastes.
Grand Theft VCR, TV, Stereo, DVD Player, Jewelry?
With the addition of the customizable clothing system in GTA: San Andreas, you?ll finally be putting that hard stolen cash to uses other than simply buying bucket loads bullets and bombs. But as any good crook knows, money doesn?t grow on trees ?- you have to steal it from hard working suckers.
Money can still be made through petty muggings and successfully completing missions, but since CJ often works without pay to aid a friend or exact revenge it will be important for you to consider alternate means of income. Which leads us to your new favorite felony: Home burglary!
Robbing homes for expensive goods lets CJ make loads of extra money by taking his pilfered products to his local fence and cashing in on his crimes. Although the economic benefits (for you) of burglary may be great, there is also a great deal of risk and preparation involved in pulling off a successful heist. While a few of the local homes will be left unlocked and unguarded, most will be difficult to rob.
As soon as CJ slips on his ski mask (purchasable at fine clothing stores throughout San Andreas) he automatically enters a full-time "sneak mode" -? hereby marking the official introduction of belabored stealth/action elements into the GTA franchise. Once in sneak-mode, CJ must move quickly and carefully through the house looking for easy to carry valuables while trying not to be discovered by the sleeping residents.
If you are discovered, residents will react differently to your presence in every home, as some will cower in fear or scream for help, while others will phone the police or even attack you -? which is why you always bring along a handy weapon for dealing with noncompliant victims. Homes can only be robbed at night, but CJ can choose different neighborhoods for higher caliber goods, as more affluent homes will tend to hold better prizes for you however they are often better guarded than the projects in the hood.
The money paid to you by your fence can be used for buying anything in the game from low price items like food and clothing to big-time buys purchasing property and businesses -? whatever you do with your filthy lucre is entirely up to you.
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