***Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas*** is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the fifth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2002's *Grand Theft Auto: Vice City*, and the seventh installment overall. It was released in October 2004 for the PlayStation 2, in June 2005 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox, and in November 2010 for Mac OS X. The game is set within an open world environment that players can explore and interact with at their leisure. The story follows Carl "CJ" Johnson, who returns home following his mother's murder and is drawn back into his former gang and a life of crime while clashing with corrupt authorities and powerful criminals. Carl's journey takes him across the fictional U.S. state of San Andreas, which is based on California and Nevada and encompasses three major cities: Los Santos (inspired by Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas).

Gameplay
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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
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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
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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.