San Andreas: Near-Final Build Impressions

We get more first hand impressions with San Andreas direct from Rockstar. Come with us on an extensive tour of a near-final version of the game.

Page: 1  2  3 

Page 2

The main purpose of the demonstration was the countryside aspect of San Andreas, which Rockstar has been keen to show off lately. Many gamers wondered whether the GTA world could work and be coherent outside of the familiar city environment, but Hamish assured us, "we'll be showing you aspects that are brand new to the GTA experience that will show you how the game works so well outside of the city as well."

We know that the countryside links all three cities in San Andreas together, but is it really that big of a deal? Well, we spent half an hour in it, and didn't even scratch the surface. "It's absolutely huge," asserts Hamish, "it's living, breathing environments, not just a matter of a few miles with some mud and grass."

The actual demo started with CJ in a very different environment to when we last saw him, in front of a farm, and panning around him we could see a barn and a typical countryside vehicle, a monster truck, compounded by a much dustier, warmer feel on the ground and much clearer air, in contrast to the familiar smoggy type of vibe we got in Los Santos. The whole area offers far much more undulation than previous GTA games. Obviously Miami is generally a flat area and that is what Vice City reflected, but out here in the wilderness, there's an impressive level of variation in the natural environment geometry - and also in the stunning level of natural detail.

In fact, Rockstar North has developed a sophisticated technology that draws in foliage around you, a technique known as procedural rendering. The level designers tag areas as different kinds of terrain, and these terrain types then have designated kinds of plants attached to them, and the game automatically draws them in. This technique allows for a vast, fleshed out world full of unique areas to explore - and it works superbly.

There are dozens of villages in the countryside, woodland, forest, everything you'd expect to be there is present and correct. "And there's miles and miles of it," says Hamish, "Anywhere you can see, you can go." We were pretty stunned.

Suitably meandering, "lazy Sunday" redneck music accompanies an initial sleepy ride around the Angel Pine, in a monster truck with four-wheel-drive and four-wheel-steering - plus a lot of horsepower to navigate the tricky undulating terrain. At stages during the game, there will be a number of races that take place out in the country, whether its rock climbing in 4x4 or big air motorcross races, there'll be plenty to satisfy your off-road cravings, according to Rockstar. Hell, you can even get onto a lawnmower as a last-ditch ride out of sight!

So we began closing in on a factory location for our first mission of the day. A friend of CJ's is in a spot of trouble with a certain gang. They want CJ to act as a decoy in a truck they provide, and lure away the gang members who are after him. There is a damage meter on the screen, and unsurprisingly, the gang members are armed with sub machine guns, attacking you all the time. You have to try and minimise the damage to your vehicle, get through all the checkpoints, and finish the mission.

Next we headed off to a trailer park, one of many landmark sites to be found in the countryside. In the background, we see the sprawling Mount Chiliad, which we'd already encountered briefly in the demo when we drove through the tunnel beneath it. It's the tallest part of the game at 2,500 feet (nearly half a mile) high. If we wanted to get up there, which we'd need to in our next mission, our choice of vehicle would be critical. "A chopper could get you up there in about two minutes," advises Hamish, "but you could even run or take a bicycle up there, another way to keep CJ in top physical condition, as a way to keep customising the character."

CJ is in trouble with some lowlife who's framed him for murder, and now he's blackmailing him to go and kill a federal witness who's somewhere up in Mount Chiliad. He's not content with CJ's word that the assassination shall be done, so he wants actual proof. "So we've brought back the 'camera' from Vice City", reveals Hamish, "and we're gonna use it to photograph the dead body once we kill this guy and bring back the evidence." It was time to mount the quad bike, a perfect vehicle for this type of terrain, and head up the mountain to find him.

On the way up the mountain we took a quick break from the journey just to appreciate the incredible view. The draw distance at this high vantage is four times what it was in Vice City. "North are using a number of techniques to make this possible, most notably mip-mapping, and hierarchical levels of detail on the models," reveals Hamish. We could use the camera CJ had brought with him to zoom into the tiniest of areas such as some huts in the distance. It was pretty impressive.

We arrived at the scene, and there were some FBI agents guarding the guy - naturally, we needed to take them out first, while still riding around on the quad bike, music blaring. It was ace. And after assassinating the guy, we artistically took his photo, and headed off on our way.

Page: 1  2  3 

NEXT PAGE >>