As the dust settles on another decade of gaming, we have finally recovered from the hangovers that the new years celebrations brought and we can turn our heads towards a new console generation that is just over the horizon. There has been a rumbling beneath the surface. A familiar rumble that tends to happen in tandem with a new system coming to the forefront of gaming. The tremors of course are being caused by Rockstar, fresh off their RDR2 success and still reaping the rewards of now eight year old title GTA 5. It seems they are ready to tease another instalment of GTA, with rumours beginning to float to the surface.

There has been whispers coming out of the Scottish based studio that there may be a character near and dear to our hearts returning to the series. The embers of these rumours have for now at least, somewhat been extinguished as Young Maylay, rapper and voice actor of one Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson, stated in no uncertain terms that despite the rumours, he had not been approached by Rockstar studios and would not be returning to the franchise. This is of course, paraphrased as Mr Chris Bellard was just slightly more explicit with his actual statement which you can find on his instagram if you are so inclined.

Despite Maylay’s disposition towards the role, the rumours haven’t disappeared in regards to CJ’s return and in seems that the next GTA title is well into development, with reports stating that it will be coming sooner rather than later. Many also suggesting that the release may correspond with the launch of new consoles in the new year. With this in mind, it’s brought GTA back to the forefront of consumers minds and put itself in contention for most anticipated title of 2020, without even confirmation of any key details. Quite impressive really.

So in honour of gaming’s colossus Grand Theft Auto, we aim to take a look back to a time before Rockstar were leaps and bounds ahead of the pack. To a time when they were amongst the gaming rat race for supremacy and looking for the next cutting edge move to cement them as untouchables in the industry. We look back to 2004’s release of West coast ghetto opera, GTA San Andreas.

What we know now about this title that we didn’t know in 2004 is that it is so highly regarded that it almost goes without saying. This game produced sales figures of over 34 million copies worldwide and that was only as of 2014 and will have only went up due to more re-releases on newer consoles. This game received phenomenal critical acclaim and many gaming blogs, critics and gamers alike have referred to this title as one of if not the best game ever produced.

This was a spectacular achievement considering the scale of the challenge that the developers had before them. Rockstar had galvanised a top down shooter IP and crafted it into an open world juggernaut not once but twice. This was through the releases of gritty new york inspired GTA3 and the neon heavy, MTV crystalline daydream that was GTA: Vice City. They had took a successful title and tweaked the engine, game mechanics and style to up the production value and generally made improvements to an already stellar game. So the challenge was, what now?

So, Rockstar looked at it in as literal a sense as they could. What I imagine is a boardroom of developers with the words grand theft and auto written on a board. A tick beside the ‘theft’. They had the silliness and the ability to vicariously live your criminal fantasies through your avatar down to a tee.They had ‘auto’ checked off also. They had the ability to steal and drive a multitude of cars, boats, planes and bikes, more than any title could offer at the time. So then ‘grand’ was all that was left. So the scale of the game had to rise and it did in a spectacular fashion. Rockstar decided to not just focus on one select area of america. They instead created a micro climate of America itself with focus on three key cities and did so with aplomb.

It’s probably best to say this now. In 2019, the graphics have aged like milk. The blocky character designs that have appearances that somewhat resemble faces, the animations that are poorly timed or just non existent or the low poly textures that sometimes drop out altogether when traversing the world do nothing to prove that wrong. Despite this however, what has to be commended is that every other aspect of world building you encounter has aged like a fine wine.

The game offers so many methods which take the player by the hand and place them into this world. This is accommodated by allowing the player to have a true sandbox experience and play in any way that they choose. Yes, of course there is the main story and a great one at that. Yet how many of us have played this title for hours simply driving around or evading capture from the cops, or starting mass shootouts, or doing mad bike stunts completely oblivious that there is missions waiting for us to start.

The developer’s gave players the option to play the game like a real life simulator where you could date, dress and style your character, go to the gym, learn to drive and fly planes amongst lots of other side content that just urged the player to delve into this sprawling world and create a unique personality for CJ . It seemingly got to a point where it crossed over and it was no longer you playing as CJ, who was a very well written and complex character. CJ somewhat began to blend into the background despite being in the centre of the screen at all times. That is simply down to the fact that the world surrounding you begins to take centre stage and it’s so surprise with the level of detail that is still impressive at current time of writing.

Then you take a look at the story itself that naturally opens the map up for the player and allows them to gradually see each fleshed out area of this mini-american landscape. The story still has that almost cartoonish lense on real life american issues that the franchise has built it’s fame on. Yet in comparison to the titles before it, does try and deal with these issues in a more gritty and serious nature. The opening scenes see CJ return home by necessity as his mother has died and he aims to live a quiet life with his little sister and brother with the hopes of leaving his thug life of old behind him. Yet, predictably, he is dragged right back into the fold and the hilarity and silliness that ensues is still in touch with the franchise but you can’t help but feel that there is a different vibe present.

The game presents themes of the 1990’s gang culture scene with a fine level of detail. Whether that be through the voice acting and writing, the soundtrack that opens the game and the tunes throughout accessed through the vehicle radios or through the missions that, although obviously over the top, do stay culturally relevant through their satire.

The game also has clearly done its research in this respect as well and proves why it is the king of bringing pop culture to the gaming landscape. Within the story you encounter the rap/gang war that was present in the nineties, the war on drugs that was present in prominent in the eighties and the Los Angeles riots of 1992. This is also bundled with more lighthearted references to the likes of big foot, Men in Black and Top Gun.

Looking back at the game play, it’s fair to say that this one is a mixed bag. At the time, the game play was undoubtedly phenomenal. More of the same as previous instalments but with necessary tweaks to make it ultimately more enjoyable. These changes most notably being the free aiming ability during gun play or the ability to swim, making the world even more exploratory and immersive.

However, looking through the lens that is the year 2020, it has to be said that they are very cumbersome mechanics today. GTA5 uses a lot of the same mechanics that are used in this title but they are refined within an inch of their life and have been made better through a much more intelligent physics engine. This game suffers through the fact that it just feels dated. The controls for movement of CJ aren’t a giant leap away from basic tank controls and handling of vehicles is arcade like. In certain scenarios this can be more frustrating than fun, especially when simply traversing long distances during missions. The number of times that you are tasked to drive miles to another destination only to crash the quest vehicle in the water and have to travel all the way back to begin again is anger inducing to say the least. Which brings me onto what may be my biggest pet peeve with the title.

If you fail a mission and wish to restart that mission, you have to travel all the way back to the starting point and try again. To the games credit you can usually save games at these areas before you begin and load past saves to cut travel time out but it feels almost medieval that you cannot simply enter the pause menu and select retry mission.

The mechanics do themselves justice in other areas however. The gun play, although simplistic, fits the setting well and does exactly what it needs to without impeding the player in what they want to achieve. The vehicle and core gaming mechanics lend themselves to creating a fun gaming experience well despite their short comings but the real wealth in terms of the mechanics comes through just how much is on offer. These come through mission based mechanics and mini games as well as optional side events.

Just for context, a list of things you can do and this is by no means exhaustive are. You can start turf wars, sell stolen vehicles, drive 18 wheeler trucks making deliveries, operate cranes lifting storage containers, go to the gym and lift weights, run on treadmills, box and do martial arts training. You can dress your character, go to fast food joints, do taxi runs and police vigilante missions through operating the appropriate vehicle. You can enter low rider competitions, modify you cars, pick up sex workers, operate an RC helicopter, recruit gang members as companions and gamble in casinos. This amongst many more features that add together to create a game full of content and possibilities to explore. Can i also highlight, this was all in 2004. That is staggering.

There was also the ability to play the game in multiplayer mode. This function however was not one of the most inspired decisions present within the game as it didn’t offer a split screen and instead zoomed out the camera to accommodate two players. This however, felt clumsy and tacked on, you could only inhabit the open world and were unable to play missions together. Also due to the limited screen space, if the second player was to peel off in another direction, the camera would centre on CJ once more and play would return to normal. In short, the novelty was appreciated but implemented badly in hindsight.

With this power of hindsight we can then look forward to what this game created. GTA IV was the next instalment and it was clear that this title was very much influenced by the shift in attitude that GTA San Andreas brought to the series. As although it was not strictly a massive step away from the usual formula, San Andreas brought a certain level of realism and depth to characters in relation to their emotions and motivations. GTA IV took this and ran with it, arguably with too much focus on gritty realism. However, what this allowed GTA to do as a franchise from there forward, was create great narrative without the crutch that was over the top silliness and gimmicks.

With GTA 5, rockstar addressed the fact that they perhaps over stepped the mark by taking all the silliness out of the franchise in favour of a on ultra gritty realistic romp through liberty city and gave us a re imagined Los Santos that married the best of both approaches. With the power of hindsight you can’t help but feel that San Andreas truly played a major role in creating this refined GTA experience that we have available today.

Summing up GTA in 2020, if you can get past its rough around the ages appearance and game play, this game holds up beautifully. In many ways it feels like the alpha version for the GTA we have today. Yet it still does things that GTA 5 couldn’t even achieve. One notable thing this game can boast over its successor is that despite GTA 5 boasting a much larger map, San andreas feels so much more alive and complete. This is down to the fact that it boasts three separate cities and the outskirts in between that allow for so many varied characters and american demographics that are right at home in their respective environments.

It’s no surprise that GTA 5 is the more complete experience when all is stacked up in comparison but it’s commendable just how competitive San andreas can still be today. After all it’s the aim of all parents to see their children reach heights that they never could and San andreas allows GTA 5 amongst other Rockstar titles with great narrative such as Red dead redemption or the Mafia series, to stand on it’s shoulders and reap the rewards.

What are your views on GTA San Andreas in 2020, has it aged well or is it obsolete and not worth another look? Are there any other retro titles you want to see covered? leave a comment in the comment section and thank you for reading.