GTA San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (abbreviated as GTA: SA) is a sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by Rockstar North. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004,[2] the game has since been ported to the Xbox and Microsoft Windows, and has received wide acclaim and high sales figures on all three platforms, and is the highest selling game of all time on PlayStation 2 so far. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.


The game is set in the fictional state of San Andreas, comprising three metropolitan cities. Set in March 1992,[9] San Andreas revolves around gang member Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home from Liberty City to Los Santos after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his old friends and family in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother's murder while exploring his own business ventures. Like other games in the series, San Andreas is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features "open-world" gameplay that gives the player more control over their playing experience. The game adds several features, such as car customization, and character personalization.

Much like the previous entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas's critical and commercial success has not been without controversy. The most notable controversy was over the explicit "Hot Coffee" sex minigame found on the Microsoft Windows game, which was disabled but left within the game's code. Its discovery led San Andreas to be re-rated briefly as an adult game and pulled from retailers' shelves. After the Hot Coffee minigame code was removed, the game was re-rated as M again.

HISTORY

Following the success of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, consumers anticipated a new Grand Theft Auto game on the PlayStation 2 in late 2003. The first concrete evidence of a new installment came on October 29, 2003, when Take-Two Interactive announced that an untitled GTA game was set for release in the "later half of the fiscal fourth quarter 2004".[10] Although no further information was available at that point, as to the setting or plot of the new game, there were rumors that it would be based in either the fictional city of San Andreas, California or a Las Vegas-themed Sin City, Nevada.[11]

On March 1, 2004, Take-Two announced in a press conference that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would be released on October 19, 2004 in North America, October 22 in Europe, and October 29 for Australia.[12] The first news of the game's content was revealed on March 11, when it was divulged that San Andreas would not be a city, but rather an entire state consisting of three whole cities and the surrounding territory.

On September 9, 2004, in Take-4's third quarter financial results for 2004, it was announced that the release date would be pushed back by a week. In the same release, Take-Two announced the Microsoft Windows and Xbox versions of the game.

San Andreas was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2004 in North America and on October 29, 2004 in Europe and Australia. It was released in Japan on January 25, 2007.[13] The Windows and Xbox ports were released on June 7, 2005 in North America and June 10, 2005 in Europe and Australia.

On 20 October 2008 it was made available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace as an Xbox Original.

SOUND TRACK

Main articles: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Soundtrack, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Soundtrack Box Set

Just like the previous two entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas has an extensive amount and variety of tracks taken from the time period the game is based in. Notable inclusions to the game's soundtrack include The Who, Toto, Faith No More, Depeche Mode, James Brown, Soundgarden, KISS, Rage Against the Machine, Danzig, Cream, Alice in Chains, Guns N' Roses, Snoop Dogg, N.W.A., 2Pac, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Stone Temple Pilots, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Ozzy Osbourne.

San Andreas is serviced by eleven radio stations; WCTR (talk radio), Master Sounds 98.3 (rare groove, playing many of the old funk and soul tracks sampled by 1990s hip-hop artists), K-Jah West (dub and reggae), CSR (New Jack Swing, Modern Soul), Radio X (alternative rock and grunge), Radio Los Santos (gangsta rap), SF-UR (house), Bounce FM (funk), K-DST (classic rock), K-Rose (country) and Playback FM (classic hip hop).

The music system in San Andreas is enhanced from previous titles. In earlier games in the series, each radio station was essentially a single looped sound file, playing the same songs, announcements and advertisements in the same order each time. In San Andreas, each section is held separately, and "mixed" randomly, allowing songs to be played in different orders, announcements to songs to be different each time, and plot events to be mentioned on the stations.

The Xbox and Windows versions of the game include an additional radio station that supports custom soundtracks by playing user imported MP3s.