GTA: San Andreas (Screenshots)

[D.C.]

GameSpot has some screenshots of GTA: San Andreas here. They don't look too bad, but they're not awe inspiring either. What do you think?

[Jayel]

nice ghetto. they really know their target audience, don't they?

seriously they don't look so bad considering it's a ps2 game.

[MrHoatzin]

nice ghetto. they really know their target audience, don't they?

seriously they don't look so bad considering it's a ps2 game.

Hey now! As the proud author of that GTA feature and as an intellectual snob, I take offence.

[Jayel]

Hey now! As the proud author of that GTA feature and as an intelectual snob, I take offence.

Hehe I didn't know your article had any point. I'll go read it now and see how it relates to my offhanded remark.

gaaah! it's 4 pages long!!

Edit: Stevan you magnificent bastard, that was an awesome article!!

[Kolzig]

So is the game going for early 90's now?

I get that feeling from those first pics.

[D.C.]

GameSpot says modern times, but that's not really definitive.

[Huz]

At first I thought the bike was a Chopper and we were in for an excellent 70s adventure, but that was just me being stupid and bad.

I hope for copious amounts of Bullitt subgames though. Even though that was the sixties. But late sixties, at least, the best kind. :devil2:

Hmm, pretty smileys.

[Ginger]

seriously they don't look so bad considering it's a ps2 game.

Those can't be PS2 shots the reolution is far too high. If they are, there is going to be the biggest blur affect ever seen in a game once u start moving.

[Mr Manager]

It's "PS2 exclusive" for now, isn't it? Anyway, they've probably just pumped up the resolution for the screenshots, that's not exactely a unique marketing move.

[Jake]

Yeah, see: every screenshot ever generated for magazines that doesn't look like crap.

[MrHoatzin]

You know what would be really funny? If Take-Two and Rockstars just said, fuck this, and made the game X-Box exclusive with a shitty hand-me-down Playstation port...

[Jake]

They could afford the ensuing lawsuit.

Is ensuing a real word, Sam?

[MrHoatzin]

They could afford the ensuing lawsuit.

Is ensuing a real word, Sam?

HAHAHHA....

[vimes]

Is it me or GTA 3 and Vice City were enough?

I mean, they're not going to visit every gangsta movie genres till the end of times, are they?

Anyone want the same kind of game takin place in for example, the caribbean islands, with a humroistic outline, a hero that is an eternal pirate wannabe ?

[Erkki]

Is it me or GTA 3 and Vice City were enough?

I mean, they're not going to visit every gangsta movie genres till the end of times, are they? ...

I disagree. I really feel like Vice City added a lot to the series: even more freedom (motorcycles and helicopters etc.); a minor hint of strategy provided by the purchaseable businesses. One thing I really hope from San Andreas is that they take the businesses even further. That was for me the strongest point in Vice City that set it apart from the previous game.

[Huz]

Is it me or GTA 3 and Vice City were enough?

I mean, they're not going to visit every gangsta movie genres till the end of times, are they?

Anyone want the same kind of game takin place in for example, the caribbean islands, with a humroistic outline, a hero that is an eternal pirate wannabe ?

I agree up to a point - Vice City added helicopters and bikes and, er, that dull business-purchasing stuff, but it was essentially the same game as GTAIII. What are they going to add in San Andreas? Rocket-powered skidoos? I hope so! But you're right, it's just going to be more of the same. I hope GTA4 is going to shake up the gameplay entirely, the same way as GTA2 was completely different to GTA1. Until then, let 'em milk a successful formula.

[MrHoatzin]

Is it me or GTA 3 and Vice City were enough?

I mean, they're not going to visit every gangsta movie genres till the end of times, are they?

I sortof had the same thought when I first saw the screenshots the other day...

[Thrik]

This game looks great. Visually, it's nothing huge - but I suppose an xbox/pc port (which will probably exist at some point) will provide prettier graphics, like they did with GTA3 and Vice City.

With regards to gameplay though, it looks brilliant - much larger than the previous games, and there's many smaller things which impact the general play - such as having to eat to stay fit, yet if you overeat you become fat and slow, complete with people on the street calling you a fat bastard. Brilliance.

Also..

"San Andreas is not a city - it's a state." declares Houser. "Probably the most interesting thing you (need to) think about for a second is that we're not setting the game in a version of Los Angeles or San Fransisco or Las Vegas, but in all three - and with the countryside in between."

Article

[Mr Manager]

Seriously, eating burgers, shoot people, steal cars and rob houses. That is the route I should have taken with my life. :~

[Erkki]

San Andreas is starting to sound really good!

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=55550

allegedly six times the size of Vice City, unlocked gradually over the course of the game, and besides the cities it also features all the roads in between, allowing you to race through the desert, countryside, and even over a mountain...

This was actually exactly one of the things I was hoping to see in a next GTA game.

four-character drive-bys

"Obviously you still have missions you have to do," he tells Game Informer, "but when you're not on a mission, not only are there a thousand things to do, but what you can do relates to where you are in the story." And besides, that, you pick up skills."

"There are hundreds of skills to learn in this game so you can't have hundreds of tutorials. So each mission you learn a new skill. In every mission you'll be doing something new." And that something could be recruiting gang members to fight alongside Carl, gambling in a casino, robbing the much more pregnable (and thoroughly modelled) buildings for cash (something which requires careful planning - "If you don't do very well, someone's going to shoot your head off, and if you do it well, you'll get away with plenty of loot."), carjacking as a group, swimming, scooting around on a bicycle ("it just feels like a bicycle"), or even building and running a casino.

OMG THIS IS BECOMING MY DREAM COME TRUE!

[Erkki]

I just have to say OMG once more. OMG! I can't believe this game is heading in the exact direction I envisioned and secretly dreamed of while playing VC the first time.

Now I have to buy a PS2 again because I can't possibly wait for the PC version.

[Jayel]

I wished they'd make all the buildings "enterable"

There's no reason why you can't do it. If you're a smart programmer, you can make the engine generate the floor plan procedually during runtime instead of modelling each one by hand (which could take forever). and it doesn't need to be rendered until the player opens the door, so it won't tax the videocard that much.

I think that could open up a lot of new gameplay possibilities...

[ysbreker]

jayel, you will be able to enter most (if not all) buildings If I read the article correctly

You can then steal stuff and make a profit as a burglar

[Alex]

ah yes, but can you leave their baths running and crap on the beds too? Selotape the cat the the door, etc. Now THAT'D be worth doing

[AndrewT]

Stevan you magnificent bastard, that was an awesome article!!

I agree. That article was fucking great Kingz. Particularly the first page. Laughed my ass off.

Keep up the good work.

Edit:

In other more related matters, San Andreas looks inexpressibly fantabulous.

Three cities to explore instead of one. Wow. I guess this will have to be a multi dvd affair. (Or PS2 hard drive, as some have suggested.)

The screenshots in the Game Informer article look really cool. The searchlight on the cop chopper is an interesting addition.

Anyone who hasn't read that article really should.