GTA San Andreas Dripfeeds More Info To Eager Public

Thanks to GameSpot for its updated preview of Rockstar's ravenously awaited Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The article first gets down to basics, explaining: "The state of San Andreas will feature three main cities, each inspired by real-life locales. The city of Los Santos is based on Los Angeles, San Fierro is derived from San Francisco, and Las Venturas will mirror the glitz of Las Vegas", before delving into new mechanics like character strength ("You'll be able to visit one of several gyms spread throughout San Andreas so that you work out to stay in peak physical health"), and comments on audio that lend credence to a rumored partial tracklisting of recent ("Despite San Andreas' superficially hip-hop trappings, the game's soundtrack will feature a full range of early '90s music".) IGN PS2 also has a new hands-on preview, including fresh info on customizable in-game tattoos ("[designed by] Mister Cartoon... [featuring] gang names, guns, and women.")

Too Violent For Me

[Blakey Rat]

I really don't enjoy playing Grand Theft Auto games because they're too violent... because of this, I kept wondering what made the games so compelling that they were these huge uber-best-sellers.

Then I got a copy of Simpsons: Hit and Run, which is basically the exact same play-style as GTA games, but without any violence. Now I get it, it's pretty damned fun, very forgiving if you fail a mission, and really easy to just pick up and play even if you only have a few minutes.

Re:Same old engine?

[NanoGator]

So?

Rockstar is one the ball.

[xtacyhonx]

As a company, Rockstar is smart to release San Andreas on the same graphics engine and gameplay style. Going along with the "If it aint broken, dont fix it" theroy has proven successful in the past/present (Tony Hawk anyone)? The game play in that game has been virtually identical, with some added tricks. I expect San Andreas to be no different. I own both GTA3 and GTA:VC, and aside for some different moves and cars, the gameplay and graphics are exactly the same. And seeing how again, PS2 will be the flagship base for release, this wont change much (although expect it to be ported to PC and possibly XBox in the near future). If you liked the original GTA3/VC games, you'll probably play this too, just don't expect any changes to graphics or gameplay. Of course, if you didnt like the gameplay, you wouldn't be aquiring this game now would you :)

Re:Same old engine?

[hawkbug]

It's called the PS2 - it sucks. It only has 32 megs of ram, and a 300 mhz cpu. Granted, it's not a standard processor - it's pretty tricked out, but still, 300 mhz pales in comparison to the Xbox or a PC. I own a PS2 because I love the selection of games out for it, and for me, the graphics are acceptible - but if you check out a game like Far Cry on the PC and then play GTA on the PS2, you will be disappointed. Sony REALLY needs to make the PS3 kick a lot of ass, or they will fall behind the PC even further.

Re:Same old engine?

[Blakey Rat]

For example, Nethack is still one of the most beloved games of all time and is still widely played, its still just ASCII (the way the hardcore play it anyways).

Oh, please. What the hell are you talking about? There are about a dozen people in the world who love Nethack, and all of them are Slashdot posters. I polled my friends and family once, and not a single person had even heard of it. (Anecdote = fact, right?)

But seriously, most people into PC gaming now started around Half-Life or later... other than the HUGE earlier games (Wolf3D, Doom, XCom: UFO Defense, SimCity, few others), they don't know anything about them. (For instance, nobody I knew except one other gamer knew that Morrowind was actually the third game in the Elder Scrolls series.)

But nobody plays Nethack. Hell, there are probably more people playing Mission: Thunderbolt than Nethack. (What!? You've never heard of Mission: Thunderbolt? But it's "one of the most beloved games of all time and still widely played!")

Yeah, graphics don't equal gameplay, yada yada yada, but for criminy's sake come up with a better example!