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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

EMAIL PRINT pc

8.0 User Score:

Universal acclaim

Based on 47 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 174 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Rockstar North

Genre(s): Action, Racing

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: AO (Adults Only)

Release Date: June 6, 2005

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. [Rockstar]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Grand Theft Auto III Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Cluckin' Bell Happy Chicken Fear it? Do it! Maccer's Homepage Official Website The Epsilon Program

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

WHAM! Gaming

PC owners definitely will fare better than their Xbox counterparts in this particular gang war.

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100

Stuff

How do you improve on perfection? We’ll tell you how: Take the same genius game that you played last fall on the PS2 and give everything a fresh coat of pixel paint... Then, remove the long load times, allow us to save 30-second replays to the hard drive for those you-won’t-believe-this-booshiz moments and create personalized radio stations by ripping your CD collection to the hard drive.

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100

GameSpy

The PC version suffers from a few technical glitches and generally looks a little dated compared to other PC titles, but still feels like an improvement over the PS2 version, and is filled with weeks of gameplay and unforgettable moments. It's not to be missed.

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100

Game Revolution

Sure, the instant replay feature was left out, but this is a mostly untouched Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one of the best games ever made, and now a version of it can be played on the PC with the best controls and graphics available.

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100

Gaming Age

Tallying things up, that’s three points (improved graphics, load times, custom music) that put the PC version above the PS2 for everyone and one (mods) that appeal to some, with two slight negatives (gamepad glitches and lack of multiplayer missions) that bring it down a bit, but only affect a small chunk of users.

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100

Computer Games Magazine

The soundtrack is inspired, with a heavy emphasis on late-'8s/early '90s rap and alternative rock. [Sept 2005, p.50]

100

Games Radar (in-house)

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.

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Game Informer

A fantastic port of a stellar game. [Aug 2005, p.98]

Next Level Gaming

Kudos to Rockstar for actually including gamepad support for the PC!!

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PGNx Media

It will surely take up hundreds of hours to even the most casual of gamers.

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IC-Games

More cars, bikes, planes, helicopters and boats (and even a hovercraft) then any previous GTA title plus the sheer size and longevity of San Andreas mean this just has be a part of any self respecting gamers collection.

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Worth Playing

Given the wonderful environment design, new RPG elements, and extremely well done "gangsta" theme, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas comes as close to perfect as anything in the past few years.

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AtomicGamer

Rockstar has delivered their best PC port of a GTA game yet with San Andreas.

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eToychest

The greater sense of immersion provided by the crisper graphics and big improvements to pedestrian combat make this a vastly superior version of the game.

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PC Gamer

Easily the best game in the GTA series, and an all-time classic. [Aug 2005, p.52]

2404.org

This game is more than a game, and it's also more than a movie. It's a virtual playground, true, but its characters and main protagonist are human and real--albeit living by an extremely warped version of the conventional system of morals.

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ActionTrip

It is the perfect crime game.

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Gaming Horizon

If you already own another version, you’d be silly to purchase it again, but if you don’t have any copy of the game yet, you should only opt for a console version if you want to play in the living room with some friends watching. Otherwise, grab the PC version for the best experience.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

It’s not perfect – there’s still the odd gripe here and there, and wheeling the same game engine out for the next instalment would be unforgivable – but SA is easily the most polished instalment of the series to date.

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IGN

A huge game. If you're into exploring and finding all the secrets, this should keep you entertained forever. Story gamers will find plenty to keep them occupied as well.

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Game Over Online

There’s an unbelievable amount of things to do and fun to be had, much of it at the player’s whim.

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PC Format

A jack of all trades and a master of some - San Andreas tries astonishingly hard to let you do anything. And so long as you don't crave any meaningful character interaction outside of mow down with a monster truck first, ask questions later, it very nearly manages to pull it off, too. [Aug 2005, p.88]

Computer and Video Games

There's a mind-boggling amount of stuff to do.

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GameZone

The crown jewel of GTA games. The most missions, the biggest cities and the most immersive character building of any previous GTA games makes this a sure-fire hit.

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Computer Games Online RO

I wish you all the fun in the world playing GTA: SA but I should also warn you about its length. Be prepared with lots of smokes and beers around (I’d rather have a few bottles of tequila, but that’s just me), because it could keep you busy for a very long time.

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Pelit (Finland)

San Andreas (Rockstar Games) is neither PC nor up to general PC standards, but damn great fun anyway. [Aug. 05]

Gaming Target

Why is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas such a great game? To put it simply, the game is huge. It has such a variety of things going on that almost everybody can find a part of it that they enjoy.

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GamePro

San Andreas for the PC has the most to offer. But considering the steep system specs and the key binding headaches, casual players may find that it's more trouble than it's worth. [Sept 2005, p.52]

Computer Gaming World

This latest GTA is an epic, involving experience, no doubt--but when you get past the expansive world and the RPG-like elements, it's the same epic, involving experience it was last year.

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GameSpot

With its strong story, well-written dialogue, terrific voice cast, impressive graphics, and extremely entertaining and varied gameplay, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a stupendous thrill ride that shouldn't be missed.

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Inside Gamer Online

A high brandwidth assault on the senses.

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Cheat Code Central

By far this is the best version of the game available, simply because of the graphics and reduced load times. You will need a workhorse to have it run smoothly, but it's definitely worth it in the end, whether you've an old homie of CJ's or you've just been introduced.

Total Video Games

The mouse-keyboard combination does take some time to get use to, but if players have a good gamepad then San Andreas PC becomes much easier to overall control.

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Yahoo! Games

By far the biggest game in the series. Gamers who aren't turned off by the nefarious and illegal activities will find this to be one of the most engrossing games ever produced.

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PC Gameworld

A game with atmosphere and style, and should keep anyone busy for months.

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3DAvenue

It has the same impressive depth and ability as the highly acclaimed PS2 version.

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Boomtown

Casting morality aside for one moment, GTA: SA is a glorious thrilling ride of delinquency. It offers just enough freedom, and more than enough violence, to make for a truly epic game.

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GameBiz

The fact you can complete the main storyline and still only be 30% into completing the game really shows you how much depth Rockstar have included in the game.

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PALGN

The best version of one of the top games of this generation - buy it now.

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Pelaaja (Finland)

Despite the niggles and the fact that the game could be so much more expansive and technically improved on the new platforms, Carl Johnson and his homeboys epic odyssey is something everyone interested in games should check out. [July 2005, p.74]

Game Chronicles

The standout feature of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the expected graphical superiority over its console counterparts. But for the audiophiles, the ability to design and play your own custom radio station is a feature every game needs to have from this point forward, end of story. DEMAND IT!

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Gamer's Hell

A remarkable roster of stars help voice many of the characters, and an important part of the era’s music has also found its way into the game.

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1UP

The experience is still amazing... and that the gameplay is still really, really broken in many areas. Each new port brings with it a handful of new features, yet none of them are anything more than mere tweaks.

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GamingTrend

I don’t enjoy the gameplay enhancements that Rockstar put on the game where it becomes more of an RPG with doing the upkeep on C.J. I also don’t enjoy the subject matter much with all the racial epitaphs flying around.

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Armchair Empire

PC diehards will be less tolerant of its keyboard/mouse control scheme, poor save system and lack of “Restart Mission” option, even if the game does have a lot of positives.

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Gamezilla!

Just seems to be a poorly designed port of a rather good console game.

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GameShark

I honestly cannot give Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a decent score in good conscience just because this could have easily been so much better as a PC title Let’s hope some patches roll around quickly to resolve the worst of the damage.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 174 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Christian H. gave it a7:
The good parts of SA are the most of the missions, the excellent world, the great animations (not counting the extremely ugly graphics), the soundtrack and the voice actors which are making this game favourable, if there weren't many aspects that prevent this game to be one of the greatest of all time. These aspects are: The graphics are riddiculously and unbelievably ugly, for 2005, and the graphics are soo dorky awkward programmed that it WILL stutter even today on an extremely decent machine where I get on everything turned up max. 50 FPS (without Frame Limiting). This states that it was a very rushed PS2-to-PC conversion. IF done well, this could have been prevented. Next are the vehicles. While I do like the driving behaviour of some vehicles, most vehicles drive so awkward and unresponsive that I would almost threw one keyboard/gamepad after each other against my wall since the controls are so poorly executed that sometimes you get, combined with terrible collision detection, you hit the very very near edge of a stone and will get flipped over, ruining everything. Same goes for the flying controls which I think most people agree, are completely a pain in the ass. At the flying school missions, after days of getting nothing right, I quit the game there and never got any further than that in the game because of the controls. Also the game consists of many components (dining, training, RPG-system) which on the first look looks impressive, but being in the game for some 10,20 hours they appear poorly executed and could aswell be left out without the player missing anything. Someone was not thinking completely to the end here, especially the RPG-system which feels unnecessary as it is in the game, Rockstar didn't even try to implement it well. As for the conclusion this is very close a good game, but many aspects where ruined and all partially ruined aspects add up to the point that prevents the game from being one of the best games of all time. But the extremely great animations combined with the brilliant voice actors and the great soundtrack make me to some point ignore the game's flaws as stated above.

polk gave it a10:
Let me just say the gameplay is amazing. Oh Wes M. Have you met a group of (cultured) black people(usually men)? They call themselves or others "nigger" or "nigga" every 5-10 seconds. What a moron.

Sam B gave it a9:
The best grand theft auto in the series. The graphics are good. but the reason I put nine as my rating is because you have to load to go into a building. (which stinks) but overall, its an amazing game.

Azar A gave it a9:
While not as good as the original 3D GTA (GTAIII), this is the second best game in the GTA franchise. A really fun game to play which doesn't get repetitive even with it's huge gameworld. Despite what others say, the story is remarkable and clings you all the way. Every aspect of the game is good.

Bill B gave it an8:
San Andreas is a lot of fun overall. It's what games such as Shenmue tried to be but didn't quite deliver. That said, the flying scenes were pure frustration and felt out of place since driving in SA is very intuitive. I could only tolerate the flying missions for so long before finally giving up on the game. Graphically, SA gets the job done but it appears nothing was done in translating this title from the consoles. Character animation is good, but the models are extremely blocky. Explosions, environments, etc. all look quite dated. It says something that this game is as good as it is despite those shortcomings.

Matt M. gave it an8:
This game was okay... But I'm impressed with Rockstar. It impressed many people, including me. Jumping into the local PD with a pistol was pretty fun. But there were many bugs and gliithes in the game. The cops will chase you into the water in their SUV's til they drown. If you are new at playing games with stories, and want to play HL2 soon, I recommend you try this first.

GT gave it a9:
I recently purchased SA after completing Vice City. Both games are great with different themes and nice soundtracks. I did prefer the control of Vice City slightly more, as this version took some getting use to. However, I felt that Vice City was just too short. This game seems to have far more depth and length. There are different gang territories you can take control or lose control of, character attributes and custom character appearances. I also like the fact that you can gain hit points by stopping in at a fast food joint. This gives you slightly more options than finding a heart or picking up a hooker. I've had a few cut scene glitches which made some of the dialogue hard to comprehend. The AI for the rival gangs during the gang wars / territory disputes also seems a bit glitchy. Sometimes they run out of the territory all together or get stuck behind a wall or in a canal. If you run out of the territory to kill them to kill them, you are quickly prompted to head back to the war zone. The fun factor of the game far outweighs the problems though. I would recommend this game for anyone (17+ years of age) that enjoys this genre or the other GTA games.

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

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Summary

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