Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is one of the video games for the Grand Theft Auto game series. It was made by Rockstar Games. The game came out on the PlayStation 2 first and later on Xbox and PC. In this game, the player can do whatever they want, including hitting or killing people, damaging cars and properties and such violent things. That's one reason why the game is so famous. So in the U.S. and Canada it was rated mature (17+) by the ESRB.
The PlayStation 2 version became available on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 4 on 5 December 2015.

Gameplay 
It is set in third-person which means the player can see the person (in this case it is CJ) on the screen. He is controlled using the left and right analog sticks on the PlayStation 2 controller. CJ is the character who is used to play with and he can perform different moves. These are shooting, kicking/punching, jumping, crouching, and even swimming. He can attack other people by either using hand-to-hand combat or shooting them. Sometimes, the attacked person may fight back and try to kill the player. He can get into a nearby vehicle or steal one from another person if it is being driven. If the police see CJ doing crimes, however, they will chase him and try to stop him. If CJ gets caught by the police he loses all of his weapons and some money and he will appear at the nearest police station (the same happens when the player dies, except he appears at a hospital instead). If CJ loses his weapons, he can buy weapons from different gun shops (although he must pay for them).
There are many missions to be taken; the game as a whole has a plot, and the missions the player solves make the plot go on and help the player for his/her abilities (which are for example swimming, condition but also driving bicycles without falling from them and better shooting. Respect is also an important 'ability' players can earn, as they need it to go on in the plot of the game and take more missions), and helps the player to earn money, which can be spent on cars, food (to stop the player from getting hungry), weapons, and a lot of other things. Besides missions, however, the player can also do a number of different challenges, which are not needed for the story but can be used just to help CJ earn some extra money. The game takes place in a fictional state called San Andreas, which has three cities: Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco), and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Between the cities are also countryside, and the desert of Bone County, based on the real life Nevada desert.

Driving 
CJ can drive all sorts of vehicles. He can fly planes, drive cars sail boats and now a jet pack which was not in the previous games. In some vehicles that have hydraulics (where the car 'hops') the analog sticks can be used. If 'nitrous' have been put on (by using a nearby garage) he can drive at incredible speeds which are a lot faster than normal driving. It is also possible to drive around with go-karts or tractors, which was not possible in the previous games; but these vehicles are quite slow and more for fun than for travelling around the map. The player has to be careful, however, not to damage the vehicle too much, because then it might explode, killing or hurting CJ, and causing the vehicle to be useless. Vehicles can also be destroyed by hitting, shooting, setting the vehicle on fire, or driving it into water.

Multiplayer  
San Andreas Multiplayer and Multi Theft Auto, often shortened to SA-MP and MTA respectively, are popular multiplayer edits of the original game San Andreas. They have thousands of servers online and runs game servers.

Radio stations 
Like previous games in the series, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has many radio stations that play songs. The player can listen to these radio stations when in most vehicles, or also from the "options" menu. The radio stations also have DJs and commercials to make them more realistic. There is even a talk radio station, where the player can listen to news within the game and entertainment programs. These radio stations include:

K-DST (Classic rock), Playback FM (Old school Hip-Hop), K-Rose (Country), Bounce FM (Funk), K-Jah West (Reggae and dub), Master Sounds 98.3 (Rare groove, jazz), CSR 103.9 (New Jack Swing), Radio Los Santos (Gangsta Rap), SF-UR (House), and WCTR (News & entertainment).

Plot 

Carl "CJ" Johnson comes back to Los Santos, San Andreas in 1992 for his mother's funeral after living in Liberty City for five years since 1987. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for the death of a police officer. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

References

PlayStation 2 games
2004 video games
Grand Theft Auto