Review: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas -- Page 3
San Andreas also makes a few attempts to solve some of the problems that come with navigating an entire state, but you'll still find plenty of frustration getting around town. Inexplicably, San Andreas ditches Vice City's convenient checkpoint system, which let players effortlessly re-start failed missions by hopping in specially-marked taxis. Though the new Trip Skip feature lets you bypass some repeated lengthy drives, it's no replacement for the missing cabs. But San Andreas's antiquated map system definitely deserves the most scorn.
Though the simplistic mini-map worked just fine in pancake-flat Vice City, San Andreas's complex multi-leveled environments make navigation a far more laborious process. It's too easy to lose track of your destination amidst the blurry, hard-to-decipher icons crowding the radar. We suffered through it with Vice City, so why are we suffering through it again with San Andreas?
Movie Madness
Compared to Vice City's stilted movie scenes, San Andreas's in-game cinematics are a definite step in the right direction. But because the cinemas feature polygonal actors who lack nuanced facial expressions, you shouldn't expect Masterpiece Theatre.
Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Penn are able to wring some energy from their roles as corrupt city cops, and James Woods shines as bright as ever, but many of the supporting voice actors just sound uncomfortable and unconvincing--perhaps the witless dialogue and stereotypical situations are to blame? And despite some amusing one-liners, protagonist C.J. (voiced by rap up-and-comer Young Maylay) just can't match Vice City's darkly charismatic Tommy Vercetti (voiced by the great Ray Liotta). In fact, it almost seems that Vice City's wicked sense of humor was its biggest strength.
Though San Andreas sports some amusing moments--as usual, the goofy radio spots get the biggest chuckles--its tone is alarmingly straightforward at times. Unlike Vice City's subversive sense of humor, San Andreas does less parodying and more parroting. Where Vice City relentlessly mocked 80's fashion and music, San Andreas wallows in 90's nostalgia while regurgitating a foul stream of profanity. Yes, characters drop the n- and f-bombs regularly, but not in any clever or amusing way. Profanity can be great fun, guys, but is it asking too much to have solid character dialogue to back it up?
While San Andreas is sure to show GTA players a great time, it's not quite the revolutionary experience some diehard fans may be anticipating. Some of the gameplay improvements are totally evolutionary, but others are utterly disposable; lifting weights to increase your attack damage is one thing, but having to constantly visit fast food joints in order to stave of starvation is simply sloppy game design.
In the end, San Andreas's chief advantage over Vice City is size. And for many players, that's good enough. But another group of fans will come to quietly understand that, at least for the time being, Vice City remains the high point of the GTA series.
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