Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Image
Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 58 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

  • Summary: Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas... a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers. Now, it's the early 90s. Carl's got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 58 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 58
  3. Negative: 0 out of 58
  1. 100
    How can Rockstar follow this? San Andreas is a masterpiece; the outstanding gameplay from the first two games has been extended, tweaked and applied to a fresh, original and fascinating setting. There's more than enough meat to keep you going for months, and the sheer variety of gameplay is bewildering.
  2. What does make it great is that it actually delivers on nearly everything it promises while still being fun to just pick up and play.
  3. 100
    This is arguably the biggest game ever made, and if you were to complete it 100%, it would take you several hundred hours, I'd estimate 400 to 500 at least.
  4. Xbox owners will always be left with the bitter feeling that this game should have been so much more on their console.

See all 58 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 25
  2. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. 10
    What is there to say? This game is a beast.
    Even today, the amount of content it offers rivals many full fledged releases- and much of it rate
    s highly- perhaps not in finesse, but definitely in the fun factor. If you don't like the shooting, you'll probably like the driving, if you don't like the main missions: be a taxi driver, race motorbikes, put out fires, play dress-up...
    If you can't find something fun to do in GTA:SA, something's wrong. And not with the game.
    Fine, some of the controls are less than intuitive, some of the missions are pretty tedious, and Carl takes some getting used to. But it will be a long time before you can't just pick up this game, jack something fast, and feel like you're really going somewhere. And this transcends demographics- from hard-core gamers, to lazy stoners, this game has plenty of appeal.
    Impressive.
    Expand
  2. Learn to fly Carl, learn to fly... Grove Street for life... The sunset as you drive that beat up old VW over the hill, the smell of burning weed filling your senses as you cruise to Freebird... Something special was injected into every copy of this game... Expand
  3. You will suffer a ton of cheap deaths through out and a few missions are rather frustrating but overall, The satisfying gameplay and storyline make is worth checking out. Expand
  4. Jon
    5
    Hmm. It's about time the GTA bubble were burst. If you're over 13 years old you're gonna need a bit more than a bit of random swearing to get excited about a computer game. The GTA experience goes something like this: drive from A to B (sometimes then on to C); get out of the car for the inevitable abrupt bout of gunplay: discover an atrocious and fiddly aiming system that will have you tearing your hair out even before the message MISSION FAILED flashes up on the screen. Then reload (cos who, after all, actually wants to go back to square one via hospital or police station?) This is BAD DESIGN, pure and simple. Sit up and take note, Rockstar: It's not size. It's what you do with it that counts. And this sandbox stunner deserves to be frisbeed through the nearest window. Collapse

See all 25 User Reviews