GTA: San Andreas 📽 Through the Lens

📢 GTA VI TRAILER DROPPED LAST WEEK! 📢

Best believe I'm still doing GTA articles. 🥳

We now travel to Los Santos, settled in the gang-infested San Andreas. Man, I loved Vice City, but this here was my childhood. One of my favorite games of all time and my favorite GTA game. As I'm sure it's for many others. It's time to talk about the GTA that cemented this blockbuster franchise on the map.

Therefore❗️ In this edition of Through the Lens 🎞, we'll be taking a look at Rockstar Games' open-world, gangster simulator from 2004: GTA: San Andreas. ◀️

(we won't be covering the 'stories' games, next up will be GTA IV for obvious reasons)

Roll it! 📽

🔷 UP TOP 🔶

My personal favorite soundtrack, i.e. radio stations. I get it when some say that GTA III has the best selection of tracks. But I grew up with San Andreas, and for me, this is the best radio.

Also K-ROSE above all other pedestrian radios. Fight me. Here's a playlist for your listening pleasure while conducting your reading pleasure. 🎶

_{Compossed and compiled by Michael Hunter}

I, like many of my friends, played this at release. And for the next two or so years as well. I remember this game being so BIG when it came out. A whole 4.74 GB 😮. I know! Too big for my liking. San Andreas and Oblivion were the only games above 4 GB at the time, and it was a big deal for our plebian PCs. Even if you played it on PlayStation you could still get the version with 8 CDs. It was a crazy time in the world of gaming.

Everyone used cheats and no one cared. It was different back then. The novelty of a polished GTA game was... well, a novelty. Vice City made great strides, but San Andreas is what really established GTA as a lean, mean, franchise-making machine. Let's go through each part in detail and see why this game was so successful and remains beloved by fans to this day. 🌞

🔷 GANGSTA'S PARADISE 🔶

The vision of this game is very obvious and very well executed. It displays a very believable version of 90s West Coast gang life. With a storyline and characters that fit that aesthetic to a T.

I gotta say it now Samuel L. Jaschon plays the main antagonist in this game. I mean, for the time? That $#!@ was nuts. Even now if we got SLJ on a game we would be hype af. He does a fantastic job, along with the rest of the voice cast. They all perform at a level suitable for such a behemoth of a game.

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From the soundtrack to the depiction of gangster life in the streets, to the mechanics. The vision of this game was clear, and Rockstar executed it to perfection. The world was also massive for the time, couple that with the strong presentation and you have a game for the ages.

The stapled +RESPECT you get at the end of missions never felt more apt. And the various mechanics you could do with said Respect also match the tone. Since I'm blabbering a lot about these fancy pants mechanics, let's dive deeper.

🔷 MECHANIC PANIC 🔶

San Andreas let you do more than any previous GTA. I mean, you can have a girlfriend for Pete's sake. And it felt natural! Well, as natural as a GTA game could be. 😆 And while I am jesting, the girlfriend mechanic serves to prove the point that Rockstar went above and beyond with the introduction of fun side activities.

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Those side activities are the cornerstone of this game. And really, all GTA games. But unlike GTA III, San Andreas does a much better job at presenting these activities and rewarding the players for participating in them. There are so many mini-games here that it will take all day to count them out.

I love how you can get buff by working out, get fat by eating, get rich by gambling. All of this is spice on an amazing buffet of features. Like using your Respect to call upon other members of your gang to come gangbang with you. Using this system in the late game once the main story is done to acquire different gang territories. 😎 For the time? There was no cooler feeling.

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Everything also felt great. The tightening up of each and every aspect of the previously set-in-stone mechanics went a long way in making this game feel great. Couple these great mechanics with a great and gripping storyline, well acted with awesome music, and you have a game that people are asking for a remaster to this very day. // and no, the Rockstar remasters don't count

🔷 LEGACY 🔶

Like I've said here often, this is for many people their favorite GTA. Everything Rockstar had learned up to that point went into its development - and it shows.

San Andreas's legacy is stronger than most GTA games. I would argue its stronger than GTA IV, and on par with GTA V even in some circles.

In the storied franchise that is GTA, San Andreas marks a distinct point. A landmark in gaming history that will forever be remembered.

GTA III proved it was possible, Vice City soared to heights we though unimaginable, and San Andreas stuck the landing.

Thank you for reading, you rock! (and maybe roll) 👏👏👏

🖼️ Image Sources: 01, 02, 03, 04 🖼️

Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙

Next week? We're going bowling of course! 😂 GTA IV and all this quirky fun is our next entry on this exploration of the biggest media franchise in the world. Hope you fine folk join me for a return to the numbered games because these subtitle games are for plebs. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. 😛

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I hope you are having an amazing week! 🙌