Grand Theft Auto: Black Andreas
Posted by Morphine Jim on January 08, 2005

If there is one videogame franchise that has defined the Playstation 2, at least until the eventual X Box releases, it has been Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series of games. Taking place in impressive, free roaming cities, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City were the best examples of sandbox gaming you could get on a console. A feeling of freedom and moral laxity was what defined these games, along with controversy and shooting up prostitutes. With the third next generation installment, Rockstar have gone all out to top what has gone before. Scarily huge and engagingly immersive, Grand Theft Auto: Black Andreas is the pinnacle of what the series has set out to achieve.

You take on the role of Carl Johnson, AKA C.J. A black man. A black man who has been living in Liberty City after the death of his brother. He returns to the west coast state of San Andreas, however, when he hears that his mother has been murdered, or "popped" as the black people would say. When he gets there he finds that his gang, The Orange Grove Families, has been torn apart, and it's up to him, and his black friends, to take back the streets that once belongs to their black selves. You get to meet lots of other blacks, and some people who say "Homes" a lot but I don't know what they're meant to be because I'm not from there. There is visible difference in skin tone though, so they're not just being cute.

First things first, San Andreas is huge. It's not just one city- it's an entire state. Full of black people. Think of Vice City, now that was big, right? Well imagine three of those, plus all the countryside in between. Then fill it with black people. Now, my friend, you have San Andreas. Right from the outset, you're given the freedom to do what you want. You start in some turf controlled by rival blacks and you're given a new addition to the GTA series- A bicycle- to get home. Straight away it's a joy to just blackcycle through the streets of your new home, the sprawling city of Los Santos.

San Andreas has a lot of new features. The most important aspect is the customisation of the black character of C.J. In a RPG-lite style, you can train up his skills and mold him to your style of play. If you spend a lot of time with a certain type of gun, for instance, you will find that C.J gets more and more efficient with it. The more you run, swim or train, the more stamina C.J builds, allowing him to sprint for longer distances, like any other black athlete would. There are also plenty of fast food restaurants, such as fried chicken establishments, that C.J will have to visit to keep his strength up, but eating too much will make him fat. With so much to tweak on C.J, and with the wealth of different clothes and hairstyles you can give him, he truly does become your very own personal C.J. No two C.J's should look alike between players, which is hard to pull off, as a lot of those sorts of people tend to look the same.

Of course there's been no radical changes made to the game. The core is very much the same, but with the sheer weight of what's been thrown into San Andreas, one can't help but be impressed. There is so much to do beyond the standard storyline missions it's unreal. From playing arcade machines to practical dating sims, GTA: SA has it all, apart from a white main character. Of course the main missions aren't anything to sniff at either. They all involve hip hop and are about genuine black things like the aforementioned friend chicken, torching homes, shooting each other and saying words like "homie" and "nigge....", sorry, "nigga". I forgot that when you replace the last two letters of that words with the letter "A", it ceases to become racist. It's a really educational and above all, accurate portrayal of life for the average black American.

What I'm trying to say is that the missions are plentiful and varied. From simple taxi missions to adrenaline-pumping shoot-outs, San Andreas has absolutely everything covered. Some of the most thrilling set pieces ever are in this game, and you're always aware that what's currently rocking your socks off is just one of many exciting episodes you're going to encounter. They as good as tells us during the first real pant-wetting moment of the game. After being chased by helicopters, shooting out a mass police force from your speeding car, you go crashing through a billboard that says "A taste of things to come" and it's then that you really do realise that everything that's happened before this moment, and a lot has happened already, is just a warm up act for the experience that is San Andreas.

Rockstar seem to have listened to their fans and worked hard to provide the ultimate Grand Theft Auto. Finally, your character can swim, which makes it fitting that you're character is black. Well, y'know. They're good at things like that. Fighting is also improved, with a much more efficient targetting system and better hand-to-hand abilities, which you can upgrade by visiting one of the many gyms found about town. Again, it's fitting for C.J because black people are notorious for their 'straps' and surly, violent behaviour. I'm not telling you something you don't already know. These additions are very, very welcome, like a burning cross at a KKK meeting, and make the on-foot portions of this game much more enjoyable.

Graphically, this game looks no different from its forerunners. Which means it looks dated. That's not say San Andreas isn't gorgeous looking and amazing in its sheer scale, but it's simple and old looking. There are also a lot of glitching issues, as the game struggles to fill in all the graphical details while at the same time speeding along. These problems are understandable, and small in comparison to the overall product, but it has to be said that the problems are there. Some of San Andreas still looks wonderful, though, from the sunset effects to the way it all looks at night. One problem of course is that at night you can't see C.J. It might've been better if there was a "smile" button so we can at least pick him out by his teeth. When it gets dark, I suggest getting a white T-shirt on that 'mofo'.

Soundwise, however, this game is without fault. Hearing a man shoot impactfully with his shotgun while shouting "motherfucker" really makes you feel like a legitimate black. The vocal work is typically GTA: Very over the top but also well done and enjoyable. C.J is an enjoyable black man character, though not as charismatic as the Italian Tommy Spaghetti from Vice City. The sound effects aren't too different from previous installments, but get the job done, while the music, as ever, is provided by a wealth of radio stations you can switch between while in a car. From driving rock to, surprise surprise, black man's music, you'll find something to your taste, along with the traditional talk radio station, which is always good for a laugh. The huge selection of well known music tracks that have made it onto San Andreas, typifying the 1992 setting of the game, makes simply driving around the city doing nothing an enjoyable experience. To make doing nothing with your life so much fun really keeps that authenticity about being black alive.

The Good

- Absolutely massive
- Highly enjoyable customisation oppurtunities
- Like many games in one
- You can do nothing for hours and still have fun

The Bad

- Dated game engine
- You're lost if you're walking against a brown wall

And The Darkie

This game is huge and good at what it does, which is all you could ask for from a game. This is one of those gaming experiences that is more than the sum of its parts, and really essential gaming for PS2 owners. Just because it's huge and jam packed with stuff, however, does not make it perfect. The physics of this game are more screwy than before, with your car flipping all over the place at the merest touch, even with your driving skill improved, and the graphical glitches really show the age of the GTA engine. Some of the missions are annoying as fuck and sometimes the sheer scale of the sandbox can be frustrating during missions, especially if you fail and end up stuck in the middle of nowhere. None of this should deter you from checking this out, however, as it simply has to be played at least once.

And y'know, it's funny. Apparently there was a big fuss about the main character being black. I hardly noticed.

"Your hoes are bitches, your hoes are bitches" - Lazlow.