GTA San Andreas: Impressions, Gameplay Videos, New Screens & Uncut Trailer

Our 45-minute sit-down with San Andreas results in this huge preview and an onslaught of awesome new media.

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Racing through the moonlit streets of Los Santos, cops in tow, it seems that there is no way out. Faced with a roadblock and a locked-up machine gun (scripted, natch), your only option is to head into a narrow alleyway. Another cop jumps on the hood of the car, just as a police helicopter approaches low from the front. It's do or die time now, and, unfortunately for the cop, it's time to die, as he is brutally hacked apart by the rotor, blood spraying everywhere. The quartet finally evades the cops by making a dramatic jump through a freeway billboard as the scene ends with a summer blockbuster-style explosion.

This five-minute scene, described by Brown as "one of the most amazing action sequences seen in a game," served as the closing point of our demo session. Crucially, while several elements of this scene are scripted, there's player interaction throughout; as well as controlling the shooting, the player controls which direction you're facing out of the vehicle with 360-degree freedom using the right analog stick - much like in other sections of gameplay where the right stick freely controls the camera position. With so much happening on screen and the camera swooping around as the chase proceeds through intersections and around corners, with gunfire lighting up your whole ride, it's easy to forget you're looking at a videogame and not a movie - and the impressive end result feels like a scene plucked from a gangster film you've actually taken part in.

As mentioned earlier, what we were shown is a very early build. As such, it's hard to talk about the visual and aural components of the demo, as these have undoubtedly been substantially improved already. But, even in this early build, it seems that the game is more ambitious in its presentation than either GTA III or GTA: Vice City. There are nice particle effects and good examples of reflection mapping, like the uncharacteristically polished floor of Well Stacked Pizza that displays accurate, real-time reflections and shadows for all the character walking around in the restaurant.

There's generally a greater attention to detail, with these increased graphical subtleties helping to provide a more consistent ambience that draws you into the game. "We've made the whole word of GTA feel more alive than ever before," said Brown. "Rockstar North are pushing the hardware to its limits this time around. There are 30-50% more polygons onscreen, which results in a world that thrives and flourishes like never before."

All the voices in the demo were said to be placeholders - even though they're already extremely authentic and effective - and recent comments out of Rockstar have sought to deemphasize the importance of landing celebrity voice talent for CJ and the rest of GTA: SA's inhabitants. Despite this, though, it seems hard to believe that a group of nobodies will be chosen when the game seems designed to attract certain high profile celebrities. If history repeats itself, we can look forward to an announcement regarding the voice acting soon, but until then this is a subject for message board speculation.

The game's setting and characters might suggest that there will be cutbacks on some of the staples from the previous two instalments, but we've been assured that this is not the case. Look for even more diversity in, for example, the radio stations. Just because the game has a gangster rap image, that doesn't mean this genre is the only music style you're going to be able to listen to. Everything from country to rock will be present, and, while Rockstar could not name names due to ongoing licensing negotiations, we can expect a musical snapshot of the early 1990s similar to what Vice City did for the '80s.

Indeed, the recent announcement on the official website of Death Row Records, which stated its tracks from renowned artists like Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg will be included in the game, was promptly pulled from the site - but in any case it's an indicator of the quality of soundtrack we should be expecting from San Andreas. The tracks included in the build we've seen are neither announced nor confirmed, so we're not able to discuss what they were.

Likewise, the less violent activities are still present, and are set to increase in variety. You'll still be able to deliver pizza and drive taxis and ambulances, but this time there will be even more to keep you distracted from progressing through the story.

Much has been made of the scale of GTA: SA and it's not hard to see why. The map screen - incomplete in this demo - shows Los Santos encompassing between a fifth and a quarter of the onscreen display of the state. In addition to the three principle cities - Los Santos (GTA: SA's Los Angeles); San Fierro (San Francisco); and Las Venturas (Las Vegas) - the state of San Andreas is home to miles of highways, shoreline and rural terrain, and there are smaller towns too. Currently, there are 12 distinct towns that dot the vast intercity regions, each of which will be home to unique people and places. We weren't shown any of these, so we can't say how they looked, but it will be interesting to see if the residents have more of a small-town mentally than their inner city counterparts.

Our time at Rockstar was short, but it certainly achieved its goal. Despite the early code we were shown, the world of San Andreas is coming together nicely. It's too early to say anything regarding the graphics and sound, but the gameplay currently looks set to far surpass previous editions of GTA. We left eager to get hands-on time with the game, which we're assured is forthcoming. With Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas set for release quite soon now, when we see the game again it could well be close to being done.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is slated for release in North America on October 18th and in Europe on October 22nd.

Alex Wollenschlaeger & Adam Doree
Taught Suge Knight everything he knows.

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