copyright © Jedo Dre 2011

America’s Army (2.0)



Rati ng:


Impact: Memorable

Well we've come a long way since I first saw the little character from birdview stealing cars and killing policemen. The latest game in the GTA series gives a new meaning to freedom of action in games.


The Core:


This time you'll be taking a role of a black bro returning to his hood in San Franc...Andreas. This by itself is a plus to the game. I haven't seen too many games with the main character being a black man. IN fact I don't know any games where that's the case. I don't know did they ever make the game from the movie Blade?...Anyways I'm digressing again...


After you're given control of your character you are totally free to run around, beat up and/or shoot and/or cut and/or screw people (in some cases), steal their cars, destroy them and just generally break moral boundries. You can also follow the storyline which is, although absolutely insane, still is very evidently present and is well worked out. Throughout your trip you will meet some really wacko funny and sometimes annoying characters as you make your way up the finanicial and territorial ladders.


There's SOOOO much to do in San Andreas I just don't know how I will ever finish this review. I will not name everything but I can tell you that there's a little bit for everyone. If you just like living everyday life you can go to bars where you can play pool or to Casinos where you can play cards, slot machines, roulette etc. You can go to the gym to work on your abbs and your moves or you can forget the gym and become a burger-man. Earn money different ways and then spend them to buy yourself some new clothes or take a flight to the Strip in Las V...Venturas.


Each of the smaller in-game games I named here are very well worked out. I mean I've played games totally devoted to pool that were worse than the simple pool game in GTA San Andreas.


Also very important is to mention the territory control in GTA San Andreas. You could call this one the biggest of the small in-game games. By attacking and then holding certain areas of the city (alone or with some of your homies) you can take control of them and earn respect and...well the territory.


The abundunce of vehicles you can drive in game has increased. Bicycles, motorbikes, buggies, cars, airplanes (jets and commercial), helicopters (military and commerical), boats, tractors...oh I can't count'em all. They are only missing skateboards, horses and the Shuttle...now that I think of it there is a skateboard in the game that you can't skate.


The place is huge! It takes a good while to get from one city to another if you're going by anything other than an airplane. Oh yes did I mention that there are 3 cities in this game and not just one?


A annoying minus about the storyline I'd like to state is that in order to continue you need to accomplish pretty much every mission and some of those missions (and I'm directly referring to the Catalina missions) have so extremely irritated me to the bottom of my heart that I almost given up on the storyline...almost.


Visuals:


Well honestly I can't say I'm too happy with these. Probably this has to do with my dislike of comic-like games. GTA San Andreas just isn't very far from its predecesors. The graphics will however tax your systems heavily. I was barely able to play it on my old 2 GHz machine. That might have something to do with the amuont of stuff drawn in game. It also has that comic-lighting effect (on cars in particular) I didin't really like. Not to scare you off, visuals in San Andreas aren't bad. I just think they could've been better.


Sound:


Very well done. Sound is one of the game's strongest points (as if it doesn't have enough of those...huh...). The voices are very well played and go in harmony with the characters. The radio in San Andreas is full of new stuff..well if to remember that it's generally just someone elses' songs maybe not all that new after all. There are, just like before, different styles to satisfy everyone and of course GTA supports user's own mp3 files. Nice!


I could however not enjoy the sound too much. For some reason everytime I had the sound on my system was slowed down considerably to the point of unplayability. That might just be my weird old onboard sound.


Conclusion:


Well if I didn't have that weird pool bug and if I didn't need HD space for other games and if there was a decent white skin among the availible mods (NO, not a racist but I like being me in my games) I would probably still be playing this game. Could probably be a little more balanced out so the graphics are in accordance with the minimum requirements. Unlike so many other games I think this game is really worth its cost . You'll have your hands full for quite a while with it.