re-visiting GTA San Andreas

Still my favorite GTA, by a very, very, very large margin. I replayed it the week before GTA4 dropped, and it still held up. It was the original PS2 version I was playing, and the graphics looked like hell though. I wonder how the Xbox Original one on 360 looks.

I might start dicking around on this again tonight. I got so used to playing it on the PS2 that I had a tough time with the controls when I downloaded it from XBL, and that targeting system is still busted as fuck.

This game is awesome. I've wasted more hours on this one then most other games combined. I did revisit it again a few months ago after a year + break and will finally concede, that yes, the targeting system is broken.

I love so many things about this game!

I've come to the conclusion that while GTA IV is the game I respect as a piece of work, this is vastly the more fun game, for so many reasons.

This has one thing I like, that 4 doesn't: The Ability to take photos and save them.

I must have taken somewhere in the range of 300+ on the x-box version. C.Js Road trip adventures.

Great fucking game. One of my favorites. Targeting still pisses me off.

Don't shoot me but the older GTA games were almost unplayable for me, because of the terrible aiming and save systems. I played San Andreas for a bit, and it forced me to go buy Saints Row 1, so I could actually have some FUN while playing a Gangsta themed sandbox game. Not saying the game didn't have enough ambition. Had that in spades. Just half the shit that should have made playing it fun, didn't work.

My fave of the GTAs too, though most seem to prefer Vice City. And yeah the photos I took bring back good memories. Good, sick memories.

I feel Vice City had the best soundtrack, but San Andreas was much more fun. It really does hold up well. I didn't think I was gonna get into CJ with him being a "gangsta" but he's actually one of my favorite GTA characters.

I'm a big fan of GTA4, but SA is still my favourite. Spent many a happy hour just wandering off exploring the map; there really is so much to see.

I'd advise people to get the PC version of the previous games. They have none of the issues with targeting, coupled with the benefits of higher quality textures and excellent draw distances.

For me, it was all about the built in custom soundtrack. Yeah, I know, the 360 lets you plug in your IPod and all that, and that's not to disparage SA's or GTA4's awesome soundtracks, but getting into a car, turning the engine, and without picking it myself, having Rage Against the Machine magically come on while LITERALLY rolling down Rodeo with a shotgun is one of those little joys I will always miss.

Currently trying to pass the flying lessons for the first time. Like Run DMC said so long ago, it's tricky.

Wait till Supply Lines. You'll BEG for "tricky" after that.

Do it in first person mode, it's a great help.

I love the game. And I love your introduction to that world. I remember playing it for the first time and just getting a sense of exploration I didn't really feel with the other games. I think it helps that you start off in this little Cul-De-Sac weirdly enough.

I remember all the rumours at the time, like there being a masked killer, or Ghost Cars (Which in reality was just a glitch) or even BigFoot (Thanks to some guy's photoshopped picture).

I've always thought that with GTA4 re-visiting Vice City I'd be happy with the other games following suit. Seeing a next gen San Andreas would be fantastic, I'd even take a hit on the graphics to visit that world a few years later. Fuck that miniplane mission though, I don't think I've really forgiven David Cross since for that.

The only real failing I think is I don't think the game nails the ending. CJ's brother is incredibly annoying and the game presents this weird thing where CJ has literally taken over everything but is still somehow tied to the 'hood. I get what they were going for thematically, but the ending just outright sucks.

Yeah, Supply Lines was FUCKED. I actually skipped the rest of Zero's missions due to that one.

Is supply lines the one where you had to use the RC plane to gun down/bomb the delivery vans, and THEN get back to home base in time?

Yeah, that stage was a bitch and a half. It didn't help that flying/drive-by controls were slightly fucked on the Xbox version. I breezed through flying school on the PS2, then it bit me in the ass on Xbox.

This game is still amazing. I still bust it out occasionally just to kick off an epic car/jet/motorboat/chopper/hovercraft/motorcycle/foot chase. It's the only last gen GTA I couldn't get 100% in. There's just TOO much to do.

I remember "wasting" an hour and a half one time just riding around the entire map on a bicycle, and it was glorious.

I was legitimately sad when Smoke and Ryder betrayed me.

I do love the great variety in story-telling. This is a looong ass game, which goes through many, many stages. Truth be told, I STILL haven't learned to fly yet. Kept crashing.

I think the key to flying is to not overcompensate when you come out of a turn, just allow the plane to adjust itself.

The frustrating flying missions made me abandon the game back in 2006; I returned and completed it in 2008 in advance of GTA4.

San Andreas was great in many ways, but the simplistic combat and stupid enemy AI really detracted from the experience; GTA4's combat is so much better. The only things I really miss from San Andreas are my mp3s and stealth. I just don't know why they didn't include stealth in GTA4.

This is still the only game that took me longer than a few days to play it. It took me 3 FRIGGIN' WEEKS! The flying missions were the ones as well for me that kept me frustrated for a day or 2.

I still remember one time being chased by the cops in a car that had it's tires blown out, and I just barely skidded into a paint shop to have it repaired and lose the heat.

This game is so great. Now I want to revisit it, since I bought GTAIV for my PS3, but I haven't played it yet.

GTAIV just doesn't work for me. I was looking so forward to that game, played quite a bit of it and then ended up playing 'Saints Row 2' and was in love with it. It's really a spiritual successor to San Andreas. Trying to play GTAIV again after that just wasn't right.

I can appreciate what Rockstar did on an artistic level. I think that technically it's a GREAT game, but it's also one that's really devoid of playability in some aspects. The missions seem to just repeat themselves with the odd 'Four Leaf Clover' thrown in. I remember an interview with Dan Houser where he said that people really criticised them for the Kitchen-Sink mentality with San Andreas so they deliberately went in a different direction (They also knew it would be the last game in that series, so went out with a bang). But though there's a plethora of flaws in San Andreas, I'd take it over the polish of GTAIV anyday.