Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a game that has been held on a pedestal for a long time, and is to this day still the best game in Rockstar's 3D Universe GTA Trilogy. Upon its release, it was hailed as one of the best games of 2004 and received wide acclaim. It held its position as the fan favorite in the franchise until Grand Theft Auto V came along, and even then it could still be argued that San Andreas is just as loved.
With Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy- The Definitive Edition being released, San Andreas is back in the spotlight alongside the other two 3D Universe GTA games: Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. All three games are considered classics, and they are the three games that solidified Grand Theft Auto as Rockstar's flagship series. Even with the fan backlash toward the GTA Trilogy remasters, the games still hold up as being as good as they always were.
However, one game clearly stands head and shoulders above the rest, and it takes very little guesswork to realize that game is San Andreas. While the other two are very fine games, San Andreas was the one that put all of the pieces together to make a truly stunning open world experience. Characters, activities, and gameplay all played an equal role in making sure that San Andreas was the best GTA game to date, and it still holds up well to this day.
San Andreas' Los Santos Is Full Of Things To Do
As the setting of GTA: San Andreas, Los Santos provides plenty of opportunities for players to spend their time between story missions having fun and occasionally outfitting CJ with new bonuses. Players can take a break from gunfights by stealing an ambulance or fire truck and drive around town saving lives for cash. Similarly, stealing a taxi will let CJ ferry civilians around, letting the player get more comfortable with the locale. A particularly gutsy or lucky player can even steal a police car to hunt criminals mentioned on the police radio. On the other side of the law, CJ can steal a truck at night to pull off some robberies. All of these side missions are available just by getting behind the wheel of various cars, and that is only the tip of the iceberg for San Andreas' content.
Going exploring around the city reveals several flavors of collectibles around Los Santos CJ to find as well. Gang tags are scattered around GTA: San Andreas' map for CJ to spray over for respect, while occasionally stirring up some trouble with the local gangs and cops. Body armor and weapons are tucked away in corners around Los Santos as well, rewarding players who are adventurous enough to explore out-of-the-way areas around the city. And when they're tired of exploring, they can grab a bike and try to hold a wheelie for as long as they can, making even more money for their efforts.
All of that is before even mentioning the marked side activities in the game. CJ can compete in races at the track, play pool at the bar, and date several girlfriends in GTA: San Andreas. The world having so much to offer makes long drives across the city from point A to point B much more tolerable than many other open world games. Very frequently will a player come across something that makes them stop and check it out, be it a new tag, a weapon they just found, or plenty of other options. Los Santos feels like a fully realized world that the developers took the time to craft and fill with diversions, and many of them hit the mark.
San Andreas Has Plenty Of Exciting Missions
Upon stepping into San Andreas' main story missions, one will find that the game has a wide variety of missions to send them on, and the game goes not wait to fill the missions with plenty of surprises. For example, one of the earliest missions in GTA: San Andreas involves driving the Grove Street crew into a firefight through the streets of Los Santos, and another involves sneaking into a military base to steal weapons. Both of these missions happen within the game's first act, before and after the plot's twists have arrived, and the game only escalates from there.
San Andreas frequently gives the player a variety of missions to perform in any order they would like before moving on with the story, so if they're getting frustrated with one, they can jump back to it later after clearing out a few other goals. Each twist in the story leads to more quest-givers showing up with their own tasks for CJ. Those playing through the GTA Trilogy should save San Andreas for last, as it constantly finds new ways to stay interesting. Sometimes it will be a fairly simple errand, while others will end with him barely escaping with his life. The evolution of the game and its missions keeps players coming back to see where they will be heading next.
Even in the game's more difficult moments, the solution to the mission is frequently close within reach. Once one of those hard missions is finally completed, the player can rest easy with that incredibly satisfying "mission complete" fanfare that has ingrained itself in the minds of fans ever since 2004. San Andreas continues to up the ante until the incredibly satisfying final mission, which acts as a perfect finale to the game as a whole as everything finally comes to a head. The missions of San Andreas always entertain, even if they may take a few tries every now and then.
GTA: San Andreas Has A Phenomenal Cast Of Characters
Even more than any aspect of the gameplay, San Andreas' biggest asset is the spectacular cast that tells the game's story. Of course there's CJ, the protagonist who tries to make a good life for himself but keeps getting dragged back to the streets. The rest of the Grove Street gang is instantly iconic as well. There's Sweet, the gang's leader as well as CJ's gruff brother. There is also Ryder, who talks big despite being arguably the most incompetent character in the game, to hilarious results. No one can forget Big Smoke either - the jolly big man who offers snippets of wisdom while hiding secrets of his own.
But above all else, the character that steals the show is Officer Frank Tenpenny, played by Samuel L. Jackson, one of the many famous voices in GTA: San Andreas. Tenpenny is an absolutely terrible human being, a fact that is established early and hammered in further ever time he appears. Despite that, he remains one of the most entertaining parts of the game thanks to Jackson's phenomenal performance, able to take Tenpenny to joking from deadly serious in a heartbeat. Tenpenny may not be a complex villain, but the sheer charisma that Jackson brings to the role elevates him into a character that draws the player deeper into the story.
The strength of the characters improves the missions as well. The player is treated to The Truth's hippie ramblings while driving his van, the Grove Street crew's comical squabbling during early game tasks, and CJ giving just as good as he gets no matter who he's driving with. The characters are the main driving force of the story, and the cast of San Andreas might be Grand Theft Auto's best. They are what truly bring San Andreas to life and give the game its enduring charm.
Even 17 years after its original release, San Andreas stands proudly as one of the finest games that Rockstar has produced. It eclipses the other two games in the trilogy in terms of quality and impact, rising to the top as the greatest of the three. If one can only choose one game out of the trilogy to play, then Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the obvious choice.