Grand Theft Auto is without a doubt one of the most controversial and critically lauded franchises in history. For as long as the games have been around, opponents have viewed their content as extremely degenerative to the public. Clearly these people find issue with running over random citizens without a care, shooting police officers, and having sex with prostitutes and then killing them to get your money back, to name a very small few. But while those people view these aspects as negatives, the millions that have played the games regularly see them as the appeal. You’re free to literally do whatever you want in a wide open space and it’s beyond liberating. Grand Theft Auto has consistently been the gold standard for this type of genre, the “sandbox.” Other games with wide open landscapes try to emulate a similar style but very few ever reach the sheer fun of it all.
10 years ago this Sunday, the 26th, developer Rockstar North introduced what was to become one of their most notable entries: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. San Andreas was the follow up to Rockstar’s 80’s throwback Vice City and it sought to completely revamp the GTA system. By creating a massive open world to explore, and filling it with references to real life events like the Bloods and Crips gang wars and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, it did that and more. To commemorate the occasion, Rockstar is bringing back San Andreas in HD for the Xbox 360 and slashed the prices on all mobile versions. There’s even some exclusive swag coming to GTA Online. So with all of this rightful buzz, you bet this absolutely kick ass game is on my mind this week.
San Andreas was a deviation from the norm at the onset. Set in the fictional state of San Andreas, which takes cues from California and Nevada, you play as Carl “CJ” Johnson, a gang member aiming to hit it big. CJ was the franchise’s first African-American protagonist and Rockstar went all out in making him as stereotypical as possible. First off, he was in a gang, with turf wars playing a main role in the story. He also lived in an extremely run down area and performed a wide variety of felonies to get ahead. Sure, that is GTA in a nutshell, but in a society where African-Americans are tragically depicted as criminals far too often, it was notable that Rockstar willingly embraced that without a care. The journey that saw CJ rise to the top was, obviously, filled with a lot of violence, sex, blood, drugs, you name it. But the game also had a very deep story surrounding police corruption and how people in the lower class are excessively brutalized.
In terms of gameplay, San Andreas was where the franchise took its biggest leap forward. The playable area was the biggest at the time, you could hijack even more vehicles like jet airliners and trains, parachuting and bicycles were a thing, CJ had upgradable stats, and you could date a variety of women. Of course, the latter is what lead to the now infamous Hot Coffee scandal, where hackers turned the after date “beverages” into an interactive sex game. As I’m sure anyone can guess, this started a firestorm of concerned adults trying to get the game pulled from store shelves and given an Adults Only rating. That ended up working for a time but a patch brought the game back with a much more profitable Mature. Hot Coffee was merely a slight stain on the San Andreas legacy though. The game was a best seller and it completely redefined what a GTA title was supposed to be. If you thought Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were liberating, then San Andreas was an epiphany.
Up until Grand Theft Auto V, San Andreas was my favorite game in the franchise. To me, it doesn’t matter how great the story is or how wonderful the graphics are. I love GTA because I can do crazy stuff without any consequence. San Andreas allowed me to do just that to such an extreme. I have fond memories flying around the map on a jet pack and shooting an Uzi in the air, or high jacking a plane only to jump out mid flight to parachute to my destination. The travel was quick and I got to watch a personal airliner crash into the ground. Win win! I still remember with fondness the day I discovered you could hijack a train and derail it onto a highway. When I picked up Grand Theft Auto IV and entered the redefined world of Liberty City, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment. I loved the game but felt it was way too constrictive compared to its predecessor. So when GTA V came out boasting similar material to San Andreas, including the sunny locale, I was ecstatic. Finally, a worthy successor.
Fun fact: I wrote a paper in college analyzing San Andreas‘s stereotypical representation of race, social class, gender, and sexuality, and got a perfect 100. Lots of “research” indeed!
With so many options available in the near future, there really is no better time to get a hold of this game. San Andreas was essentially Rockstar’s equivalent of a crazy grab bag. They put everything they could imagine in one game and it was incredible. Sure, it was insanely offensive, but what would you expect from this series? Sunshine and rainbows? Yeah, if there were hookers and bullets nearby. Happy 10th Anniversary San Andreas, you completely insane game that became the number one selling PlayStation 2 entry.
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Luke Kalamar is Pop-Break.com’s television and every Saturday afternoon you can read his retro video game column, Remembering the Classics. He covers Game of Thrones, Saturday Night Live and The Walking Dead (amongst others) every week. As for as his career and literary standing goes — take the best parts of Spider-man, Captain America and Luke Skywalker and you will fully understand his origin story.
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