Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

2004

shooter
racing
adventure
action
stealth
open world
single player
co-operative

The story

Returning after his mother's murder to the semi-fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles), Carl Johnson, a former gang banger, must take back the streets for his family and friends by gaining respect and once again gaining control over the streets. However, a story filled with crime, lies and corruption will lead him to trudge the entire state of San Andreas (based on California and Nevada) to rebuild his life.

What it’s like

Sun-bleached early-2000s haze over three fictional-but-recognisable cities: hot golden afternoons on palm-lined boulevards, neon-smeared nights in gang-territory alleys, and vast dusty desert roads that stretch to a flat horizon. The rendering is chunky and warm rather than photoreal, with a bright, slightly grainy palette, and the soundtrack is its own pleasure, a rotation of 1990s West Coast hip-hop, funk and G-funk bounce on the radio, with dispatch chatter and sirens cutting through. The vibe is loose, restless and wry, a sprawling road-trip sandbox where you can drift through hours of aimless driving, bike jumps, basketball, and tinkering with a neighbourhood you're rebuilding. Pacing is uneven by design: long stretches of free roaming give way to bursts of tense, gun-heavy missions and sudden drops into satirical, boisterous side activity. Emotionally it follows a man returning home to reclaim his streets and family, drawn back into crime and corruption, and the arc is about loyalty and whether he can escape the life he left. Violence is frequent and cartoonishly bloody, with drive-by shootings, car chases, and gangland killings, plus drug use, strip-club and sexual humour, and profanity throughout. It suits late-night solo sessions and anyone who wants a big, chaotic playground with heart beneath the mayhem.

More games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

People love Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for its story of a returning gang member clawing back his family's streets, a crime plot of lies and corruption, and the freedom to roam a huge, sun-hazed world at your own pace.

Also close